Maori Funeral

 On July 13, 2012 Mary Ann Morrell a 87 year old Maori woman passed away in the community of Wainuiomata.  I was asked to play the piano at the funeral service.  The Maori people are steeped in tradition and are a very close knit group of people.  Once a Maori person passes away they are never allowed to be alone so there is always family or friends with them until the burial.  Usually the casket is placed in a Marae (which is this building shown above) and the family stays with the body for around three days.  They bring in mattress and eat and sleep there until the funeral. They also do a lot of singing during this period of time.

They brought the body to the church in the back of a station wagon.  During the service they sang How Great Thou Art in English and then in Maori.  The words in Maori are:

Whakaaria Mai

Whakaaria mai tou ripeka ki a au

Tiaho mai ra roto it e po

Ki kona autitiro atu ai

Ora mate hei au koe noho ai

After the funeral we traveled to the Whenua Tapu cemetery which was about a 45 minute drive.  There are three people who walk backwards and chant while the casket is brought to the burial site.  Then during the service they all throw flower petals into the ground and then a trowel full of dirt and also do a lot of singing.

Following the burial they returned to Wainuiomata and had a feast which included meat which is put in the ground and cooked all day.  Maori people are well known for the amount of food they provide for meals.  Sometimes when they feed the missionaries they are offended if you don't eat everything that is provided.  They are a very giving people.

July 18, 2012

Missionary Farewell/ Friends at Church

Rebecca is the daughter of Alice and Jason who teach the Book  of Mormon Institute Class on Thursdays.  Don has found a new best friend.

Elder Armstrong is being transferred to Dunedin and so he wanted one last picture with the young adult group.

Crystal and Astrid

The girls in pink - Jasmin, Chelsea and Alison

Elder Windhausen (German) and Elder Finlinson (USA)
Elder Finlinson has completed his two years and is returning to the United States (Delta, Utah)  The missionaries always eat dinner with the Jacobsen's on Wednesday nights so for the farewell the McVey's and us were invited to join them.  Sister Jacobsen is the High Commissioner for the country of Niue (pronounced new way) and she lives at the Embassy which is next door to the United States Embassy.  We ate there on July 4th and it was a feast.  We had sausages, roast, chicken and fish and then numerous side dishes including potato salad and to finish it all we had three different desserts. The missionaries say that they are fed that much every Wednesday. The country of Niue is the smallest country in the world with a population of 1500.  Their embassy is unguarded but next door the  US Embassy is heavily guarded.  Sister Jacobsen is the ambassador over 25,000 people from Niue living in New Zealand.

Mikey is moving this week to Auckland to help care for his mother.  Mikey is legally blind but he beat Don at pool the other night and Don doesn't want anyone to know that he was beat by a blind man.

We fed the missionaries on Tuesday night and it was our last night with Elder Armstrong.  He will leave Thursday morning to serve in Dunedin (which is at the southern end of the south island and is very cold).

Elder Armstrong and Elder Florian

West Side Studios

West Side Studios is located in Miramar and is a prop hire studio.  They have the props from many different movies that can be rented for special event decorating.

Elvis

Finding Nemo

Blues Brothers

Yoda

June 30, 2012

Zone Conference

Zone Conference
June 13, 2012
Porirua Ward Building

We had the privilege of attending Zone Conference this past week.  It is always fun and very spiritual to be around these amazing young Elders and Sisters and also around the other Senior Couples.

President and Sister Kezerian are very inspiring.  Sister Kezerian recently was informed by a doctor in New Zealand that she needed to have shoulder surgery. Instead of having the surgery in New Zealand she decided to have her brother  (who is a surgeon at UC Davis) perform the surgery.  Therefore,  she had the opportunity of  returning to the United States and seeing her children and grandchildren before having the surgery.  She returned to New Zealand last Saturday.  She and President Kezerian have five girls who are all married.

It is always sad when the time comes for some of the Elders and Sisters to return home.  In three weeks the mission will lose Elder Finlinson,  Elder Van den Hoogen, and Sister Fetu'u.  Elder Finlinson is an Assistant to the President and he attends our ward and he will be greatly missed.

June 13, 2012

U.S. Marine Forces Pacific Band

 On June 12, 1942 the U.S. Marines entered Auckland and on June 14, 1942 they landed at Wellington in support of the New Zealanders against the forces of Japan.  In remembrance of that event the Old St. Paul's Cathedral sponsored the U.S. Marine Forces Pacific Band to do a performance at the church.

 In this picture the marines are singing "There is Nothing Like a Dame"

The performance lasted about an hour and a half and the members were very energetic and very talented.  They had two conductors and they were amazing to watch their motions while leading the orchestra.

June 13, 2012

New Car Park

 The car park (parking lot) at church is too small to accommodate all the people for church on Sundays.  It is also a Stake Center so they now have to bus people in from the outlying areas to attend conference.  To solve this problem the church bought the house next door to the church and they are in the process of moving it.

 They cut the house into four individual sections.  There are two sections on the top and two sections on the bottom.

 Tuesday night when we took the missionaries out to church they had already loaded the two top sections for moving.  When we looked inside the house it was like looking into a large playhouse.

They moved them around midnight so that the traffic would be light.  Don and I discussed that this is probably the most expensive car park the church has ever built.  The car park will take about 6 weeks to finish so parking is very limited.

June 12, 2012

Alison's Pictures

Alison has only been painting professionally for one and half years.  She had her work shown at an art gallery in Lindale on Friday night so we went to support her.  Her art work is amazing and she is very talented.  She attends our institute class and also attends Family Home Evening.

She was also supported by Kree, Jasmine, Crystal and Ephraim.



June 1, 2012