When we arrived at the hotel room, Sister Waldron threw open the blinds and a beautiful rainbow greeted us. The rainbow ended at the true pot of gold.
This is a picture from our hotel window of the area headquarters building. It is just beyond the parking lot and on the right hand side. Notice the speck on the white wall in front. It has the offices of the area presidency and all the operational managers (finance, facilities management, legal, public affairs, welfare/self reliance, etc.) The lake in the background, if I remember correctly, is the mouth of a volcano but filled with water now.
Pictured with us are Elder and Sister Reynolds. He is the secretary to the area presidency. He is also involved with the welfare and self reliance activities. They were our hosts and could not have been more hospitable.
We are standing in front of the area headquarters. In the picture two frames above this, you can just make out this sign (a little speck) on the front of the building. It is winter here and because we didn't pack any warm clothing (weight limitations) we had to borrow a couple of coats from the Reynolds in order to brave the out doors and not freeze. Just the two block walk from the hotel to here was bone chilling. Still, not a winter in the Utah sense unless you are from St. George.
This is a picture from the area office taken back to the Spencer on Byron, our hotel. Our room was a corner room with a balcony, the highest one. We had a pleasant stay there. Very comfortable with a great complimentary breakfast. Dinner was another story. A bowl of soup was $15 but was delicious none the less.
This one is a view of the pool from our room. I though I could just about hit it but Sister Waldron forbade. I went the easy way, through the gym, and swam a quarter mile or so one afternoon. It was chilly at best. Great lap pool, though.
Taka Puna beach on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful "winter" day and the place was full of walkers with kids and dogs, sail boats, swimmers (brrr.), and kayaks.
Sister Waldron with her sister, Tina, on the beach under one of the enormous, Swiss Family Robinson trees there. Living in Wellington, she was able to join us for the day for a little site seeing and reconnecting.
When we left NZ we were greeted by the same beautiful rainbow as when we arrived. This is taken from the Area Doctor's office on Friday evening. Sister Waldron wanted him to check her ears and I needed his final blessing to depart for Tarawa in spite of my painful hip. Needless to say, on with the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment