Driving on the Left Side of the Road- by Erma Bombeck

I suppose a lot of you think your ancestors came to America to escape religious and political persecutions, don't you?  Did it ever occur to you that these brave emigrants migrated to the New World so they could drive on the right side of the road?

My husband and I have just returned from a vacation to a British owned island (New Zealand) where drivers drive on the left (wrong) side of the road, and frankly, we are lucky to be alive.

From the moment we climbed into the rental car, we sensed something was wrong.  My husband said, "Where's my steering wheel?  I said, "I have it."  I thought you didn't want to drive.  "Crawl over the gear shift and it's yours."  He eased the car out of the parking lot and into the traffic.  I'm here to tell you, we have lived life in the slow land, and life in the fast lane, but until you have spent a few weeks in the left lane, you have nothing to talk about.  Every time a car approached, my husband came to a dead stop and shut his eyes until it passed.  Everything about the car defied familiarity.  When he tried to turn on the lights he succeeded in releasing the hood.  When the windshield wipers began racing back and forth, I asked,  "What are you doing?"  Signaling for a left turn, he said.  In the entire two weeks we were there, we never passed another car, put our car in reverse, parallel parked, or made a right hand turn.  About the 50th time I told him he was drifting to the wrong side of the road, he reminded me that he was doing the best he could while I just sat there and sucked in my breath.  That's when I exploded,  "Being a passenger in this car is no day at the beach!" I said, "I have been flogged to death by tree branches, drenched by gutter water and have seen fear in the eyes of pedestrians that will haunt me for the rest of my life."  I don't know why the Europeans make it so hard on themselves to drive.  They've got enough problems without driving on the wrong side of the road.  I'm just glad my ancestors dreamed of a new land...a land where passengers didn't have to impale themselves on the brake to get to their seats...where you didn't have to be left-handed to shift gears, and where the tranquility of the country side was not interrupted by the hysterical wife shouting to her husband,  "Idiot!  We're turning left!  Put on your windshield wipers!"

This was given to us the other night by a New Zealander.  Elder McVey kids Don that he must be praying a lot because when we go down a narrow crowded street where there are usually a lot of cars there are no cars and all the cars on the street have their mirror put in.  It's as though Heavenly Father is looking over us.  However, Don it doing a great job it just seems strange to me to be on the other side.  Every time I get in the car I want to put my foot on the brake and my hands on the steering wheel. I even sometimes as a passenger go the driver's side of the car and Don will just laugh.  Hopefully, I will get use to it.

Festival of Carnivale

 On Thursday, September 29 eleven destroyers came into the harbor.  They haven't been to Wellington in over 20 years.  When they entered they did a twenty one gun statute which you can see by the smoke behind them.  We saw them come in from a distance and saw the smoke but couldn't hear the guns.  They will be here over the weekend.

 On Friday we was finally a really warm day. It got up to 17 celius so we decided to play hookie for an hour and go up to Mt. Victoria for the nice view.  It was very clear and we could see in every direction.  It was really a beautiful day.

 On Saturday October 1st the sailors from the destroyers did a parade down Lambton Quay.  There were sailors all over Wellington for the weekend.

 Here are some of the destroyers up close.  People were allowed to go on them but the line was extremely long so we decided to just enjoy them from a distance.

 At Te Papa Museum there was a couple who did tape art for the festival.  They used the blue painters tape to do a mural on the side of the museum.  It will only last for about 2 days and then it will start to peel off.  So if you ever wonder what to do with your painters tape maybe you can try this.

After the festival we decided to go for a ride along the coast and then up into the hills.  This is another view of Wellington.  We still get our directions mixed up because of the ocean on the wrong side on the town.  This view was taken from near the most southern tip of the north island.

On Monday at Family Home Evening they had sundaes with toppings.  They had sprinkles that go on top of the ice cream but they don't call them sprinkles they call them hundreds and thousands.  We were a little confused when they asked if we wanted some hundreds and thousands on our ice cream.

Family Home Evening

Tonight was FHE and Mikey did a great job with the lesson.  He first gave everyone 3 lollies and then they had to go around and ask questions about the other people.  If they answered with a yes, no or a nod of the head they would lose their lolly (candy).  Then he gave a lesson on how it felt when you got a lolly or lost one.  He correlated it with friendship and how it feels when you are a friend or lose a friend.  We then play a game at the end.  We put chairs around in a circle and then the person in the middle would say something they had never done but if you had done it you had to find another chair and if you didn't you were in the middle.  Don got a little carried away so I don't know if we will be invited again or not.

Kim (who goes by Cree) works for an oral surgeon.  She wasn't busy on Monday so she made some glasses out of dental material.  As you can see she wore them to FHE.

Lupe's Farewell

On Thursday, September 22 Lupe (who worked with us at the archives and lives in West Valley, Utah) left to go home.  She is going to Auckland for a few weeks to visit her sister.  She originally came from Tonga.  She is a very sweet sister and we will miss her at the archives.  Roy and Lorraine Ditchburn brought her to the bus station which is in with the train station and we went early to work to say goodbye to her.  The bus and train station at just across the street from where we work.  We only knew her for 2 weeks but she became a big part of our lives.

A Day at the Archives

 Don and I have to have badges to get anywhere in the Archives Building.  We have to have them to ride the elevator, eat lunch or even to go to the bathroom.  It is a very secure building.

 Sister Van Cleave (the sister missionary who just left decided that the room was a little drab since it use to be a shower room.  The room also can't have any windows because light will affect the cameras so she decided to paint an outdoor scene with a kiwi and also a large kiwi.  This kiwi looks after us all day.

 The documents that we are working with are from the early 1900's and so they have been tied up or put in envelopes for about 100 years.  When we take them out they are very fragile and very bent.  In order for the camera to digitize them they have to be flat so we have to prepare the documents.

 We untie them or remove them from the envelopes and lay them out on blotter paper.  They have to be in a certain order when we lay them out.  We start with the will, affidavits, motions, miscellaneous documents and end with the probate.

 This is a picture of one of the large wills.  Some are small and some are very large and very ornate.

 After they are laid out they are stacked together with a little pink slip in the corner indicating the reference number of the person and their name.  This is important when we put them back in their envelopes and refile them.

 The documents are then placed on shelves and boards are put on top of them to weigh them down.  They have to stay on the shelves for about a week or two to help flatten them out. The pink slips on the boards tell us which box they came out of and the camera operator needs this information to help them film them.

 Here is Don busy at the camera.  When he places the document where it is suppose to be he then lowers the glass and pushes a button and the picture comes up on the screen and he can then see the picture.  If it is OK he leaves it but if it is not OK he can adjust the paper and retake the picture.

 These are the boxes that are empty because all the documents are under the boards being flatten are they are being filmed.

 This is our tea room where we eat lunch every day.  It has a very nice view of the ocean and the ferry (which takes cars and people to the South Island) and we will have a very nice view of the cruise ships when they come in the summer (which is winter in the United States).

Sister and McVey and Fiona (who works for the archives) are getting boxes for us to film.  Those boxes are a very small portion on the boxes we have to film

A Day at the Archives

Ward Conference

Today was our ward conference.  The theme for the stake is "Trying to be like Jesus" and the ward goal is friendshipping everyone.  They are a very friendly ward.  The Bishop spoke and then 2 members were ask to bear their testimonies.  After that the Stake Relief Society President and the two counselors to the Stake President spoke.  The talks were outstanding.  In this ward we always stand for the rest hymns.  It is a nice idea because it wakes you up.

Also in priesthood the counselor in the Stake Presidency ask Don to bear his testimony.  The speaker was left on in the Relief Society room so all of us got to hear part of his testimony.

Whenever they have ward conference they do a munch and mingle afterwards.  They know how to throw a munch and mingle. There was so much food and it was all very delicious.

Also in Relief Society they gave us a new book put out by the church called "Daughters in My Kingdom."  It is about Relief Society and I think that every sister should get one.

This morning we got to Skype Heather and Ethan.  I think James wondered why his grandpa and grandma were on the computer.  It was fun talking to them and especially being able to see them.

Don drove to church today and he is doing an exceptional job.  I would be freaking out if I was driving.  To get to church you have to go through a long tunnel which is very narrow.  Don has to stay towards the middle so he doesn't remove a side mirror.  Elder Brazzeal said it costs about $2,000.00 to replace a mirror.