WAIHEKE ISLAND TRIP

While the weather has warmed up, the wind has been blowing all week here.  Not much of a problem since I spend my days indoors working. But not much fun when I go jogging in the evenings.

Work progresses.  The rush this week was when I got notice from one of our local attorneys in the Cook Islands that he had a hearing in 2 days on a hostile request for a substantial rent increase for one of our chapel properties in Rarotonga, with the request being retroactive over 20 years!  This would have been over a $200,000 hit in back rent had the request been granted.  The problem was that he had had the matter for over a year and had never informed our office that the case was pending!  I quickly retained other competent local counsel to respond and to ask for an extension of time for us to respond and to get our own valuer to assess the fair rental value.

Our Temple Prep class continues to go well.  We are averaging 6-8 students each week.  I’m getting more skilled at using Power Point which I believe makes the lessons more interesting and easier to teach.  There are no regular Church meetings today since the Saints here watch General Conference the weekend after since the live sessions are on Sunday and Monday, the latter being a work day here.

For fun, Friday evening Alisa and I went out to dinner with the Romneys in Devonport.  The restaurant was in an historic building, and we had reserved the First Table.  That’s a tradition here where if you get the first table of the evening, everything on the menu is half price.  On top of that they don’t tip servers here.  So Alisa and I got our meals (her’s Salmon on a salad, and mine pork ribs and fixings) and a shrimp appetizer for the equivalent of US$24.  Not bad.

Saturday morning I rode my bicycle for my regular 2 laps around Pupuke Lake for 10 miles, visited with Rachel’s family, then Alisa and I caught the 45 minute ferry to Waiheke Island.  We just hiked around downtown there, had lunch at a Thai restaurant we had eaten at before, then had some terrific gelato for dessert before catching the ferry back.  I took a nap, then once again moved my office from the extra 3^rd floor apartment in our apartment building back to the 3^rd floor of the Area Office building, since we are at level 1 again, the lowest restrictions of covid 19 here.  I calculate that this is the 7^th time I’ve moved offices in the 16 months that I’ve been here!  As a result I’m getting quite good at it, and it only took me about 2 hours this time.  After I had again set up in my old office in the area office building, I came back and cleaned and re-set up the apartment as it had been before.