The last couple of weeks have kept Sis. Gubler and I on the
road. Last week on Friday we traveled to
Hamilton for a mediation hearing before the Human Rights Commission. The mediation was held in a rented room in
city hall. The usual 2 hour drive is now
1.5 hours, since the new Hwy 1 has been finished and is more like a freeway
now, not needing to pass through each small town as before. Anyway, the hearing involved a disgruntled
Church member who felt that the Church had been unfair in how it marketed some
home lots in Temple View. Supposedly in
his mind there were two sets of Covenants (what we’d call CC&R’s in CA),
one set being “bank friendly” for good members and the other “bank hostile” for
less actives or non-members. Thus, according to his claim, there was religious
discrimination. In fact, the Covenants
involving these building lots were registered prior to the lots being sold, so
the Covenants applied equally to all in each stage of development. Additionally, all marketing was done by
Cambridge Homes, an outside development company unrelated to the Church. The complainant is a nice enough guy, just
has his facts a little mixed up and has his own agenda against the Church. Anyway, the matter didn’t settle, and he may
now file an action with the Human Rights Review Tribunal if he chooses. If he does, we will prevail based on the applicable
law and facts. We started the hearing at
10 a.m. and went straight through until 3 p.m.
Afterwards, from Hamilton, Alisa and I drove another hour on to Rotorua.
This will likely be our last trip to the resort town of
Rotorua, known for its geo-thermal wonders and rotten egg smell from the sulfur. There are a lot of hot springs and steam everywhere. We checked into the Prince’s Gate, an historic
hotel dating from 1897, located downtown near the I Site. Not only did we get a discounted rate, but
they put us into the master suite, a living room, bathroom and two
bedrooms. We thought we were pretty
special. Because we were tired from a
long day, we ate dinner at the nice restaurant in the hotel, then went to the
Polynesian Spa down the street to soak for a couple of hours in their 8
naturally heated pools, before bed.
Saturday morning we slept in a little, then walked to the
Farmers Market by the city park. We
bought food there from the vendors for our late breakfast. Then we walked back to the I Site and
selected our activity for the day, a visit to the Waimangu Volcanic
Valley. It was a pleasant drive in the
country to arrive there, lots of sheep and rolling hills. We hiked through the valley, about 1.5 hours,
seeing lots of geo-thermal activity. At
the end of the hike we took a cruise around the adjacent Lake Rotomahana. It was early evening by now, so we drove back
to our hotel, then walked downtown and found a Mexican restaurant for
dinner. It was the first standard Mexican
restaurant I’ve found in NZ, almost authentic.
I enjoyed 2 fish tacos and a burrito.
I’ll add that on this visit we were about the only foreign tourists in
town, unlike before, due to NZ’s borders being closed. This time the only tourists were locals and
people like ourselves who lived in NZ prior to Covid 19 arriving. As a result, most tourist attractions are
half priced. Tourism has really taken a
hit in NZ as a result of Covid 19.
Sunday morning we soaked in the naturally heated outdoors tubs
at the hotel, then checked out and attended
Church at the Fairy Springs ward in Rotorua, then drove back to Auckland.
This week Monday through Thursday were pretty standard
office days. Friday morning Alisa and I
got up early and drove to Hamilton again, this time to the Mendenhall Library
in Temple View. This case involved a verbal fight that took place
at the David O. McKay stake center 2 Sundays ago. One young family was exiting the building
after Church when another couple from the next ward accosted them. They got into a shouting match about some perceived
rumors and gossip, and it wasn’t pretty.
Even more unfortunate was the fact that the husband of the 2nd
couple is a grounds supervisor at the temple grounds, employed by the
Church. Of course, a complaint was filed
with Church employment by the family of the first couple, and I was given the
job of investigating who said what for the HR department. Usually HR does their own investigations, but
since everyone knows everyone else in Temple View, including HR personnel, they
asked me to handle the investigation since I didn’t know anyone and no one
there knows me. So I borrowed some office
space in the Mendenhall Library and interviewed the two couples involved and 2
others who claimed knowledge of the incident.
Alisa did some shopping meanwhile.
In the late afternoon, we drove back to our apartment, stopping in Pokeno
for some ice cream cones. Cheapest ice cream in NZ, $2 for single, $3 (NZ dollars) for double scoop, Tip Top brand. Saturday I
went for a bicycle ride, then spent the rest of the day in the office typing up
reports from my notes from the day before.
I'll be leading the music in Sacrament meeting today. Alisa and I were just called to teach the temple prep class in the YSA ward starting next Sunday. This afternoon we'll have 3 young adults over for dinner. We've been trying to invite a few each week to get to know them better.
