BBQ WEEK

Not much to report this week.  We got back from our trip to Dunedin Monday evening.  Tuesday I woke up with a case of pink eye and a few sniffles.  I still went in to the office, and was feeling better by the end of the day.  It was the only “sickness” that I’ve experienced on this mission.  Wednesday in NZ was election day Tuesday in America. Everyone here was watching the election results between Trump and Biden.  New Zealanders like Americans and what goes on in our country, it fascinates them for some reason, and they all like to travel to the US (at least per-Covid 19).  By today they had finally announced that Biden won the election.

Alisa and some of the other Senior sisters rented a BnB in east Auckland and spent Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning there watching BYU Education week presentations on-line.  So Friday after work I rounded up a group of the Senior Elders and went out to dinner for Korean BBQ.  Of course we ate way too much, and I didn’t sleep well that night, but we had a good time kidding around.

Saturday I rode my 10 miles via bicycle, and went into the office for a few hours to try to get caught up.  In the evening Alisa and I went over to Kazuhiko and Tazuko Yamashita’s apartment for dinner with them and the Tanners.  Bro. Yamashita had just purchased a new gas bbq, and wanted me to cook the fillets so he could see how American’s bbq, so I was happy to oblige and give him a few tips. 

Our landlord listed our apartment for sale this week.  House pricing is out of control in NZ, at least in Auckland.  Our 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment was listed for  NZD$769,000 which is USD$500,000!  The banks and lenders don't do 30 year loans here, the current rate is around 5%. So we've tried to keep the apartment super clean for showings, quite a number came through.