TEMPLE WORK

This week I began drafting the acquisition paperwork to purchase the land for the future temple in Kiribati.  It will be a beautiful location, across the street from their Parliament building and a stone’s throw from the Pacific ocean on one side, and the lagoon which the Parliament building sits on on the other.  Our Physical Facilities department had been negotiating to purchase it, the price had started at AUD$800,000, but had dropped to AUD$500,000.  The temple department said close enough, just close the deal.  Hopefully we’ll have the purchase contract signed by the time the temple is announced, I’m guessing in the upcoming General Conference.

Another interesting thing that happened was earlier in the week, when Alisa just happened to casually mention that the actual sites and drawings for the new temples already announced in American Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea were going to be published in the Pacific Newsroom the next day.  Since I had worked on the Property Reports on each of those as well (we go through local legal counsel since they don’t have escrow companies and title reports in the Pacific nations), I knew that the property report for PNG was not completed yet!  I suggested that they hold off on publicizing the PNG information until after my local attorney got that property report done.  Well, that went up and down the heiarchy in SLC, before they agreed that they better hold off announcing the PNG information, so only the other 2 temple locations and plans were published, albeit a day later than planned.  My local counsel finally got back to me and let me know that there may be some zoning issues that would have to be addressed for the PNG location; as usual, if there’s a problem it will be in PNG.

The other big news this week is that we are back in self isolation in New Zealand.  Earlier in the week, after NZ being Covid 19 free for over 100 days, 4 new cases were found in south Auckland, all apparently in one family.  They weren’t sure how they had gotten it.  So there was a return to level 3 lockdown Wednesday through Friday, and the Church closed the area offices. Everyone else left, except for me, I decided to stay put and see what happened.  For 3 days I had the 3 story office building to myself and got a lot accomplished.  But on Friday evening the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced another 2 weeks of lockdown.  Saturday I went into the office building and worked for half a day.  Then in the afternoon I moved my computer stuff, printer, office chair and everything else back to the empty missionary apartment on the 3^rd floor of our apartment building and got everything set back up again, ready for Monday work.  The irony is that it was probably safer being in the area office building by myself than working from our 5 story apartment complex filled with people.  But I know that I’d take flack if I didn’t move so if you can’t beat them, join them. 

Since Church services are also cancelled at least for the next 2 Sundays, Mom and I will go on a long walk on the beach later today.  My exercise program is going well, still jogging, riding the bike and pickle ball.  The weather has been sunny this week, Spring is just around the corner!