A VISITOR FROM AMERICA

It’s Sunday morning and we’re visiting by telephone with Rachel for her 30^th birthday.  I can’t believe my little girl is that old already!  It’s been a lazy morning so far.  Last Sunday was the final self reliance business class that we’ve been teaching the last few months in the YSA ward.  The students each did their business presentations and I had Bishop Dil and Elder Harris help me critique them.  So today we just have the regular 2 hour meeting block then have the rest of the Sabbath off which will be nice.

Monday evening we had Elder and Sister Kazuhiko Yamashita over for dinner.  He’s serving in the area presidency. Alisa has gotten to be pretty good friends with Sis. Yamashita since she drops by to visit and teach her English every week or two.  Elder Yamashita used to be the stake president in Fukuoka, Japan in the early 2000’s and I was amazed at how many people he knew that I had baptized or known, such as Misao Horio and Hiromi Ide Takamatsu.  We had a nice visit.

Tuesday evening Alisa and I played pickleball for the first time in a few weeks and we got a good workout.  Spent the next few evenings researching what to see and visit with Ed this coming week, and reserving bnb’s to stay at.  Thursday afternoon I drove Elder McMurray to downtown Auckland where we were to attend a law seminar.  Unfortunately, his GPS and my GPS disagreed and we ended up driving around in circles in the downtown area for an hour before we were able to find a parking garage and attend the last part of class.  I'll take the bus to downtown Auckland from now on!  Friday evening we went out for a walk and dinner.  We found a nice Korean bbq buffet where we ate.

Saturday morning was slow paced as we waited for Eddy’s plane to arrive.  So I picked up my shirts at the dry cleaners, filled the car up with gas, went grocery shopping, and helped clean the apartment.  Then we drove to the airport to pick up Ed.  He spent the last week with 8 fellow students donating his time as a dentist in a clinic run by the Church in Samoa, and having a good time.  He said he had a steady stream of patients, did fillings and pulled 29 teeth.  He also found time to go swimming in the ocean and tour the island.  He said the ocean water was the warmest he’s ever felt, and he really liked Samoa.  His group of dental students found a nice luau to attend for $22 each (a lot less expensive than in Hawaii!).  We gave him a lei at the airport, loaded up his suitcase in the car and drove home.  He accompanied us to the pot luck farewell for 3 of our senior couple missionaries who are returning home this month, the Riggs, Saunders and Mickels.  This coming week we will take a few days off to show Ed around New Zealand.