WHAT A WEEK! June 5-11, 2016

This week we have dealt with two elders with an emergency transfer to Vanuatu, a broken hand requiring surgery, vandalism of the stake center leading to a last-minute baptism at our chapel, flat tires, no jacks, tooth decay, two elders being robbed, keys locked in cars--twice, two elders going home, car inspection, getting wrecked cars repaired, (there have been 4--none serious--since we got here),  a propane tank thief, a massive transfer (two weeks sooner than expected with sisters moving into what had been elders apartments and visa-versa). Because of the robbery we had a lengthy session at the police station and with the phone company trying to buy a new sim card and then get a new phone. The internet also quit for periods of time on two days. We have also been training a new church service missionary couple the Gastaldis.

  

At the police station

Fender Bender

Trying to figure out how to thwart a propane tank thief.  These Sisters would like a hot shower--especially now that the weather is getting cooler, but someone keeps stealing their propane tank which is outside their apartment.

The Gastaldis (left)  a local couple from our ward here will be working with us.  President and Sister Granger are on the right.  The Gurreras (also in our ward) finish their mission the end of June.  Gastaldis will be in charge of missionary apartments and cars.

Of a less dramatic nature, someone always needs a light bulb (one apartment had five burned out), a trash can, an ironing board cover, and more forks--always more forks. We are so blessed to have the Gastaldis to help us help these wonderful young missionaries.

LOTS OF VISITORS

Special Stake Conference (May 21-22)

This past weekend we had a special (previously unscheduled) Stake Conference.  Elder Lynn G. Robbins and Elder O. Vincent Haleck and his wife spoke at the conference meetings. President and Sister Granger and his two assistants were with us  in New Caledonia as well.  There was a Saturday morning leadership meeting.  In the afternoon there was a meeting for all of the missionaries in New Caledonia. The whole stake gathered for the Sunday morning meeting and there was a meeting for Young Adults Sunday Evening.  Elder Glade was asked to be in charge of the equipment used for translating which meant we were able to attend the Youth and Young Adult Meeting as well. 

 

All the full-time missionaries serving in New Caledonia and also some of the local church service missionaries.  On the front right side of the pictures are missionaries serving in the Family History Center.

At the airport.  We also did some driving when the Stake President couldn't.

After our Martha-like efforts to help the missionaries get the clothes they needed and get the office ready for the Grangers' visit, it was nice to sit Mary-like at their feet and be taught. 

Part of Getting Ready for the Weekend

Elder Rhodes and Elder Kessler, Office Elders, gave up most of p-day to help me paint the bureau.  They also patiently help me every day as I am learning my office jobs.  For once Elder Glade was grateful for how much office work he had to do.  He doesn't enjoy painting and had reports that couldn't wait.

              After the Missionary Meeting

The missionaries love to take and be in pictures whenever they are together.  Here are a couple of pictures.  

Quelques belles soeurs

Several Elders--some with new clothes.  Their shirts are so white. Next to impossible to get a picture without the hand signals.

And Also

The Stake had already arranged for a Brother Herewini Jones to come here from New Zealand for about ten days before they knew about the special Stake Conference. He is an expert on counseling with various tribes throughout the Islands and also in the United States.  In his talks to church members he talks about how indigenous people are of the House of Israel.  To the nonmember groups he spoke to he talks about precious truths that have been lost from their traditional teachings. He tells them this is why the people are having so many problems--especially the youth.  This is a great oversimplification, but he was fascinating and knows so much. We heard him speak about four times during the week. He would speak for two hours and sometimes the questions and answers would go on for two hours more.  He sometimes had two speaking engagements a day. He was tireless. He was very well received by church members, community counselors, and government leaders as well.  Everyone wants him to come back. 

Brother Herewini Jones.  The woman in the picture is the Stake Public Affairs Specialist.  She arranged everything for Brother Jone's visit and also translated for hours.  She is an amazing person and

we have been so blessed to get to know her.

Still More Visitors

We also spent time with a missionary couple from California serving in public affairs in Australia.  They came for a week to check out New Caledonia and wrote stories on Stake Conference and Brother Jones.  It was good to compare experiences as senior missionaries. We seldom interact with other full-time senior missionaries.  I enjoyed being able to visit with her and Sister Haleck and Sister Granger.  It isn't as much work as when there is a language barrier.  Quite a few people at church speak English well, but I try to speak French there as much as possible.

 

Next week it should be "things as usual"  if there is such a thing here.  There always seems to be something going on.

OFFICE

We are working hard at the bureau to get things in order and many days have spent long hours there.  We are hoping that as we get things running smoother it will ease President and Sister Granger's load a little bit and help the work go forward in this part of the mission.

One issue lately has been trying to figure out what to do about driving school.  After a year in a French country an expatriate has to get a French driver's license.  The license is good for life.  You have to take the written test in French and pass a driving test. If you pass the test in a car with a manual transmission you are licensed to drive both automatics and manuals.  Otherwise a person can't drive a manual in a French country for the rest of his life.  The missionaries spend at least ten hours at the school preparing for the written test and ten hours driving.  Some have never driven a manual before and it is nearly impossible for the missionary to practice other than with the instructor.  This ties a set of missionaries up for at least twenty hours not to mention the high cost.  If the missionary fails the test there is additional time and money required to repass the test.  It is to the school's advantage to fail the missionaries which they do quite readily.  One has failed four times. Elder Glade has been looking for a school which will test on an automatic only--especially for those missionaries who aren't from French countries.  Just one of so many issues.

We have had lots of light-hearted times at the office, too.  A member brought us a huge bag of pamplemousse--a sweeter and very seedy, juicy variety of grapefruit, and a great source of vitamin c. (We do worry about missionary nutrition.)  Some of the missionaries weren't sure they liked them including the office elders.  We encouraged them to try some with us. We didn't have a good utensils for eating them at the bureau so we sliced them and went outside to eat them.

Hope a tree doesn't grow for every seed we spit here

Consensus was--DELICIOUS! and we were able to give away a few more pamplemousse.

One day the toner wasn't working.  Elder Glade had the Elders take the cartridge out and shake it a little bit to see if the ink would work better.  Look what fell out! A couple of eggs which immediately hatched and the geckos scurried off almost before anyone could get a picture. How many offices have this problem?













This critter was on our car one morning and rode the several kilometers to the bureau.
It was there for quite a while each time I checked, but wasn't still there when it was time for us to go home.  It must have found another ride.

 Stowaway!

An excerpt from Elder Glade's Email. "This week flew by.  Next week will too.  On Friday Elder Lynn G Robbins and Elder and Sister Vincent O Haleck will be flying in.  They will convene a “Special Stake Conference.”  No one is quite sure why.  Pres Guidi (Stake President) has asked us to drive them a few times when he cannot.  They will meet with the missionaries for one hour on Saturday.  

"Our only assignment from Pres Granger was to make sure all the missionaries had decent shoes, white shirts and pants for the elders and whatever for the sisters.  Many of the Tahitian missionaries only have 2 pair of pants and 2 shirts.  They are so dirty.  There are holes in the pants and shoes with 75% of the tread gone.  Although some have bought clothing on their missions, most of the missionaries we are trying to help don’t know where to go to shop.  When we finally get to a store, they don’t have the right size, especially for some of our huge South Pacific islanders. One elder is 6 ft 7 in.  The mission bought a sewing machine.  Meg has two pairs of pants to hem.  

"Meg has organized a major cleaning, planting, painting project for the office.  Missionaries in our ward (on their p-day) will help, then we will share a meal.  She really is making the place shine."   

APARTMENT AND OFFICE

APARTMENT

Here are some pictures since the last post was pictureless.  

Scrubbing grout film off the tile

Moving in

A place we will miss

The changing position of the morning sun shows how long we were able to enjoy this lovely place.

Hotel le Stanley from the back

The pool

Our new address.

The streets where we live.  Both addresses get used by different people.  We like the idea of living on "Rue du Croissant."

The other end of the street

The kind men who delivered bed, couch, fridge, etc. to our apartment.

If they needed to move the washer or dryer they just picked it up.

Was sure this wasn't the mattress I bought, but it grew to the right size.

It was difficult to maneuver a big somier (like box springs) up a low staircase and down a narrow hall into a small bedroom.

It has taken time to buy all that we need and to do what needs to be done in the apartment (like mount curtain rods in cement walls), but we are almost there.

To be continued. . .

INTERNET CHALLANGED ONCE MORE

This will be a post without pictures for now.  We moved out of the hotel where we have been staying since we arrived in New Caledonia.  The hotel with the incredible view.  We moved into our apartment last Saturday.  I don't believe I have ever set up an apartment from ground zero.  When we signed the lease the apartment had a stove, an oven, construction dust, and grout film on all the tile.  There weren't even any light bulbs. We don't have internet at our apartment and it is a complicated process to get it so in the meantime I have some time at the office when my work is done and Elder Glade's isn't, but I don't have access to our pictures.

The first night after the water had been turned on and we went to clean our apartment was a comedy of errors. We finally left the office about 4. Went home and grabbed a quick snack before going to the apartment.  We had borrowed a broom, bucket, fan etc. from the office and thought we were well prepared.

When we got to the apartment we realized there were no light bulbs and it was getting dark. We couldn't remember where we put a couple that we had bought to try. (We didn't  want blue light.) Elder Glade decided to go back to the hotel and look for them. He left and I was going to start cleaning the grout film off the tile floors.  That was when I realized that the water I turned on when we first got there was all that we were going to get. I called to say that there was no water after all. Elder Glade realized I had the key to the hotel.  He called me to say he would turn around and go to the office for light bulbs. We realized we needed something to stand on to reach the ceiling.  He said he'd get the ladder at the office, too.  I could see a tap outside so I went to see if I could get water there. The handle had been removed.  I called Elder Glade to ask him to bring some water.  He told me to look for a valve outside and make sure it was on.  I checked on the terrace and couldn't see anything. I called Elder Glade to find out exactly where.  He told me to go to a closet in the hallway. My key unlocked it and I was able to turn the water on.  Called  to tell him we did have water. Missionaries were around the office for an activité sportive at the chapel and wanted to talk to Elder Glade. He kept telling them that he had to go--he had left me in a dark apartment. Our apartment is at the beginning of an indoor hall which is very dark so there is a light switch at the beginning of the hall.  When it is turned on it will stay on for a few minutes and then turn off again.  I kept turning it on and leaving the door open so I could see until Elder Glade got back with the light bulbs.  

We stayed for a while and went over the floors a few times where we had light. It was pretty hot with just a fan. Before we left we plugged in the water heater and it overloaded the circuit. After that we had no electricity.  After running around and so many phone calls I'm glad we finally got something done.  

So far we have spent long hours at the office trying to get things running smoothly here.  We are caught between two systems--New Zealand and Tahiti (French).  Still not sure how it will all turn out.  We wanted to get my signature on a local bank account that Elder Glade had opened and we had to make an appointment and return a week later.  Things are done differently here and in a very complicated fashion to our way of thinking.

In the evenings we have tried to get what we needed for the apartment.  Most stores close by 5:30.  Even grocery stores close by 7:30 or 8.  It's probably good because we are exhausted by then.

We have also kept busy by attending baptisms when we can, a dinner with a sister becoming active again, and dinner with another sister in the ward.  We have accompanied missionaries to doctor and dentist appointments; picked up medicine at the pharmacy; gone grocery shopping a few times with two sets of elders trying to teach them to budget so they don't run out of money half-way through the month; worked through problems with packages shipped from home; corresponded with worried mothers; dealt with visa issues and driving school (a requirement for expats of more than a year); helped with missionary car inspections; and have had a set of sisters and one of elders who have had car accidents--fortunately not serious.

Hopefully internet next week and a blog post with pictures.  

 

 YOUR MISSION WON'T BE ANYTHING LIKE YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE

A former mission president's wife told me that no matter how I imagined my mission would be, it wouldn't be anything like that.  I'm learning the wisdom and truthfulness of her words. The first few days of our mission that we spent in Vanuatu felt more like a tropical vacation. We did receive training and got a feel for that area of our mission. We also got acquainted with the senior couples  in our mission (except for the couple in the Solomon Islands) and some of the younger missionaries.  I think one of President Granger's goals was for us to feel a part of the larger mission and we do.

Here we are blessed with a local, live at home, fullltime missionary couple--the Gurrera's who have been helping us.  I don't know what we would have done without them.  We are trying to learn all that we can because they will be released the end of May. Now that we are in New Caledonia these are some of the things we have been doing.  Elder Glade has been learning how to file gazillions of reports.  He has set things up so that we can handle the finances of this part of the mission when the Gurrera's are released.  He has set up bank accounts, gotten credit cards, gotten WiFi in the office. (This was a small miracle. No one in the past had been able to convince the people in charge of New Caledonia IT, who were in Tahiti, that we even needed it. When Elder Glade was giving it a shot he learned that the Tahitian IT brother was actually on the island.  He was in the office within an hour of when the call was placed to see what was needed and why.  He said that he would have to order a specific router that the church uses. Others cause problems with the church's system; this would take weeks to months.  A couple of days later he had found a router on the island and was back to install it.  There was still time before he returned to Tahiti to come back to the office a couple of times and work some bugs out.  Voila!  We had WiFi for the office elders and me!) 

Our office--Magenta Bureau, Port Vila,
Vanuatu Mission

Elder Glade has gotten various repairs (broken windows) and improvements made to the office, participated with Elder Gurrera in a monthly inspection of the mission cars, and accompanied him on an apartment inspection.  He has learned where to go to buy bus tickets for the missionaries and that he has to be there between 4 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a checkbook (which he couldn't use until that was set up). He is learning how to take care of various missionary needs from buying phones to helping set up a booth in a local market so they can talk to people and pass out information.  He still hasn't figured out how to get copies of the Book of Mormon in French.  They supposedly were ordered quite a while ago, should be here, and aren't.  How can we operate without copies of the Book of Mormon to give people!?!  

I have searched the internet for hours looking for apartments, given countless numbers to Sister Gurrera to phone, visited lots of apartments, and finally decided on one in a quiet area. We let the real estate agent know we wanted it.  He then needed approval from the agency director.  Each day we called; each time he said, "Tomorrow for sure."  One week later he left a voice mail that it was ours.  Now who knows how long it will take to actually sign a lease. We were supposed to meet with him yesterday.  He tells us he will call, but never does. In New Caledonia people have a way of doing things; if you don't like it, they aren't at all concerned.  They are very kind, not at all rude, but truly not concerned. 

What is a sommier? 

Is this a good brand, a good deal?

125,000 for a couch?!

Sister Gurrera has taken me for hours to look for furniture. We were unable to find a furnished apartment.  I'm learning vocabulary for features and qualities of everything from apartments to refrigerators. I'm trying to determine what brands are good quality when I'm not familiar with any of them. I'm learning how to use the French keyboard on the office computer. Learning where to buy what we need.  Getting acquainted with grocery stores. Learning how to cook and eat where groceries are not the same and are very expensive. I'm learning to read store labels and cooking instructions in French. I'm learning how to apply for local visas, "Cartes de Sejours," which need to be gotten shortly after arriving and renewed a year later.  I have brought a bougainvillea back to life and it is blooming already.  President Granger asked me to plant a planter in front of the office and get pictures for the office.  That will be enjoyable, but first things first.

  It was a stick with a few wilted leaves.  A little water and love. Look at it now!

We have both gone to doctors visits with the missionaries and communicated with the mission nurse in Vanuatu about plans for their care.  I have been helping missionaries with budgeting and grocery shopping. We have gone to the city for visas for ourselves and other missionaries.  We are learning our way around the island.  We are adapting to the fact that stores and businesses open early and close early. Some businesses I thought had gone out of business still are in operation.  It's just that they are open so few and such random hours that they appear to no longer be in business. If we stay too late at the office we are out of luck if we thought we'd run an errand after.  We are adjusting to very tight parking spaces and very different ways of doing business.  We are trying to explain to local leaders why President Granger has made they changes he has made in some of the procedures in the mission. When we are not in the office--most of the time we can do with our time what we choose.  Our mission is definitely different from a young person's mission.

We didn't expect a brand new Nissan.  We didn't expect to stay in such a nice hotel for so long. When we have attended church, conference, and a couple of baptisms it seems more like what I expected a mission to be.  We expected to face challenges, and we do.  They aren't necessarily the type of challenges we expected.  We expected to be glad we are missionaries and grateful to be involved in building the kingdom in this part of the vineyard. We are. The people here are as wonderful as we expected.  The city of Noumea isn't as pretty as we expected, but the beauty of New Caledonia exceeds all expectations.  By next month, when we are more settled, our mission will be a different one than it has been this month.  We are beginning to understand that the statement, that our mission won't be what we expected, will continue to be true as we move forward.

WE'RE HERE

We landed in New Caledonia just as the sun was setting on Sunday, March 20, 2016.  The clouds were very pink as we descended through them.  The sky was brilliantly colored as we walked into the airport.  What a great welcome to the country we will be living in for the next 18 months.  

Missionaries picked us up.  Before we went to the hotel we visited the Magenta Bureau--our office. Grangers worked hard to get the office ready for us and were anxious to show it to us.  They had locked my side of the office so that the missionaries couldn't go in there so that it would be perfect when we got there.  It was after dark when we checked into the hotel where we have been living until we find and move into our apartment.  

This is what we saw when we stepped out on our terrace the next morning.

These are our neighbors.

While the Grangers and Elder Stevens were with us here we met with the Gurreras--a live at home full-time couple who have been doing everything here that needed to be done. President Granger gave us some assignments to help them.  President Granger took us and the office elders to dinner.

The next day we had a meeting and met  most of the full-time missionaries who are serving in New Caledonia. 

After that Elder Glade received more training and President Granger bought a few more things for the office to help get it in operating condition. We said good night and goodbye to the Grangers and Elder Stevens. They left early the next morning and we were on our own--feeling a little like we'd just been dropped off at camp or school.