Seven's Heaven!

Feb. 2018,
SM:  How wonderful it's been having Todd's family visiting in New Zealand.  They will be returning home in five days so we are making the very most of their time here.  We're grateful that family time is permitted so we can enjoy being with them while they're here. So much to see in so little time!

As is Trystan!

After being in Rotorua and then Waitomo Glow Worm Caves we headed north to Hamilton where the LDS temple and and other Church properties are located. The kids really enjoyed the Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Centre.  We have some budding architects that could certainly make suggestions for future temple designs.

Hopie is proud of her temple design!

Sydney and her Mom and Dad were able to go and do baptisms for our relatives in the Hamilton Temple.  Sydney later told us that that experience was her favorite of the whole trip.  We enjoyed walking around the Temple View grounds, and enjoying the playground there.

The Bay of Islands is a place we didn't want to miss.  In spite of the rain and wind, we headed out to the "Hole in the Rock".  Normally, the boat ride isn't rough - but that day we were all feeling pretty seasick, except for Todd and Jim.  It's not a pleasant feeling.  We also headed to the beach in spite of the weather and the kids enjoyed boogie boarding again.

Despite the difficult weather, Hope and Edyn found a friend!

And Trystan is ready for some deep-sea diving!

Todd and Celest's family were well prepared for bad weather. Here they are in Paihia next to the pier!

Two little bathing beauties, Edyn and Hope!

Who knew there were mermaids in Paihia? Cute Sydney did!

Enjoying Paihia in the rain!

The lady opposite Jim is Winnie Ye, the manager of the Averil Court motel where we stayed.

For lodging we were lucky to find availability at the Averil Court in Paihia.  Most everything was booked. When we checked in we met Winnie Ye, the motel manager.  She immediately noticed our missionary badges and asked if the Church had sent us. We assured her that they hadn't and we asked if she was LDS.  She was but hadn't attended church for quite a while.

On the second night there, we were trying to decide what to do for dinner. She suggested that we barbecue and she offered to get the meat. She cooked up When she had a break in her work, she cooked up a massive amount of meat, more than the nine of us could possibly eat. She provided chicken, sausages and lamb.

During dinner she told us that she had joined the Church as a young person in Hong Kong. Intrigued, Jim asked her to share the story of her  conversion. As she relived her conversion it was easy to tell she still had a testimony. When we asked why she hadn't been going to Church, she said she couldn't leave work for that long because her assistant-in-training moved away.

Winnie is such a beautiful person. We hope she will find a way back into activity.

Sunday morning we headed down to a regional conference in Whangerei where we were able to meet up with some of our Public Affairs team that was up north on an assignment.  We sure love that group.

On our way back to Auckland we stopped and walked through the Parry Kauri forest. It is a spectacularly beautiful jungle-like area.

 The giant Kauri trees are a perfect backdrop for us waterlogged folks!

Three generations of McGuire men. So proud!

Three generations of McGuire women

Hopie's ready to lift that giant log!

Our last day was a beach day!  Red Beach - a favorite of ours. More playing in the sand, boogie boarding, collecting shells among the rocks, and just relaxing on a beautiful beach.

Balancing on rocks while looking for seashells

Edyn enjoying Red Beach

Jim doesn't look sunburned sitting under this umbrella, but he is!

Grandma Hunny and Sydney, a mutual admiration society

Sorting seashells and getting sunburned

And just what are we thinking? We're thinking of how hard it will be to say goodbye to this gang in the morning.

They couldn't leave without seeing where we spend most of our time as missionaries.
We are so glad they came to visit us in New Zealand. Miss them terribly already!

On the morning they left we finally felt confident enough to video the Maori song I've been teaching the older grandchildren while they were here.  Watch the video below.

Though we've been working remotely we are now back to the office in full swing.