Serving the Lord in New Zealand: HAMILTON AND HOBBITS

Temple Culture

I wrote at the conclusion of our MTC experience that we loved being involved in what felt like “the culture of Christ.” We felt the same coming back from our weeklong experience of worshipping and serving in the Hamilton Temple—only 100 times more. Serving in the temple every so often gives one a boost, a pick-me-up, that strengthens one’s resolve to live more faithful to God and Christ. But while “living in the temple,” participating in endowment session after endowment session during the same day, eating lunch with fellow workers, and performing sealings and other ordinances—we were immersed in a life-style and a glory and light that lifted and edified us unlike our occasional temple attendance has ever done.

Leaving Dunedin

Once again we packed our bags, and left for the Dunedin Airport. It was around 9 am, but the sun was just barely coming up over the horizon.

Sister & Elder Edward, Sister Ward (Where's Elder Ward? That's right: behind the camera.)

We found members waiting to board the flight.

Bishop Mather, Hannah

Serena, Erni, Tyrone

Bishop Mather and his family served as ordinance workers for the full two weeks.

Brother & Sister Jenner, Fern Price

We enjoyed getting to know Brother and Sister Jenner, who were instrumental in coordinating the temple trip.

Bus Ride

After landing in Auckland, we took a bus to Hamilton. The trip took about 4 hours.

Brad Oriinge, Bus Driver

We stopped on occasion for “pee-breaks” and ice-cream. The Tip-Top in Pokeno was a favorite—particularly because this is where the ice-cream was.

Just the thought of it makes you happy.

Sister Ward with her Companion: Chocolate Swirl

We talked with Brother Reihana, a Maori member from Timaru. He is a cut-up: loves to tease and laugh and joke.

Brother Reihana on Left; Ross Overhand on Right

His wife, on the other hand, is strict and stern—speaks with the sound of a smoker’s voice while she affirms her Maori rights were stripped from her people by the British. She talked to herself about this over and over as we rode, humming the first lines of a Maori folk theme to accentuate the injustice. She told me later that her father taught all the 11 children in her family to sing. But he would allow them to sing only hymns and songs of Jesus to praise His name. She accentuated her commitment by finishing up with a “Glory . . . Hallelujah . . . Praise Him!”

The Light on a Hill

It had become quite dark when we rounded the corner to be met with “a light on a hill.” The site was impressive. It was our first view of the Hamilton Temple, and the intensity of it’s light was a precursor to the light we were to receive throughout the coming week.

A Gospel Invitation to Our Bus Driver

By the time we drove up to the temple, Brad Oriinge, our bus driver, had heard quite a bit about our beliefs. Between Brother Reihana telling him about the temple and sealing of families, and others sharing various aspects of our theology, Brad had been more than introduced to the gospel.

As we got off the bus, I took out a “I’m a Mormon” pass along card, waiting for the right time to give it to Brad. After he unloaded the last piece of luggage, I walked up to him and put out my hand to give him the card. He thought I was going to shake his hand, so he extended his hand to me. I pressed the card into his palm, and thanked him for his service. While doing so I said, “Brad, you really owe it to yourself and your family to look into our church. Go into Mormon.org and have a look around. Our church needs people like you.” He said he would, and we parted company.

The Temple Apartments

From everything everyone told us about them, the temple apartments would be cold units.

Shades of Wymount Terrace: BYU Housing

Waiting to check in.

They lived up to their reputation. JannaLee and I entered into rooms that reminded us of Wymount Village—except the cinder block was white instead of restroom green. It was cold in the room. We turned on the little heater, and things began to warm up a bit. But it took the rest of the night to get things warm. We found out that the place had experienced a power outage, and that’s why the place was so cold. We talked with the Edwards a bit in our room. Then decided to go into the kitchen area to have a bite to eat and play UNO.

The kitchen was frigid. We wore our coats, wondering why it had to be so cold. Little did we guess, but the windows were open at the top. It wasn’t until the next day that I found a ladder to use to close them. After doing so the kitchen warmed up comfortably.

We played UNO until around 9:30pm. Debbie was cutthroat. She kept giving JannaLee Draw Twos and Draw Fours. She didn’t let up. JannaLee was a good sport. We enjoyed playing until our fingers were numb, then we turned in for the night.

Top 2 cupboard were ours; half the fridge.

We had the entire kitchen to freeze in.

Exhausted, but Warm

First Temple Day

We got up for the 8:30 session. It was foggy like everyone said it would be. As JannaLee and I walked up the road to the temple, we could feel it “misting” on us. We were walking through water as we made our way up the steep incline to where the walkway leveled off for the rest of the way. We entered into the temple, strangers to procedure and place in this particular building. But one thing was the same: the hospitality and courtesy extended to us to help us find our way throughout the temple.

The endowment room is the largest in the world. It seats 220 people. It has a large main floor with a mezzanine floor that encircles three of the four walls. We witnessed how many people it can accommodate on Thursday morning. During the 11 am session missionaries from the MTC joined us—maxing out the seating capacity of the room. JannaLee and I were privileged to serve as the witness couple for that session. The Spirit was extraordinary!

One afternoon, we decided to walk across the lawn to our apartment, rather than around the sidewalk. The slope was rather steep. At the bottom, we found ourselves looking at a lemon tree, a lime tree, a mandarin orange tree, and a grapefruit tree. For some reason I’ve assumed that these fruits grew on trees, but over the years, seeing them only in the fruit section of grocery stores, made me forget this fact.

Lemon Tree, Verrry Pretty.

Mandarin Oranges, Yum.

Lime Tree--Really!

Grapefruit Tree. Where's the Powdered Sugar?

It was a unique experience, then, to see the limbs bend under the weight of the grapefruit that hung upon them, and to see lemons and limes decorate their respective trees.

From Hamilton to Hobbiton

At 8:30 this Wednesday morning we set out for the Shire. Elder and Sister Christensen offered their car. Elder Christensen drove. Contrary to our expectations, the weather wasn’t clear, like it was supposed to be. It was foggy. The fog seemed dense around the temple. We figured that this is just par for the course. But as we left the temple site, the fog didn’t clear. It stayed quite dense, and got more and more dense as we left Hamilton and on through the by-roads that Siri took us through to get to our destination. There was one stretch during which the road became lighter in color, the lines dividing the road grew faint, and we could barely see where to drive on our side of the road, much less the on-coming traffic. Though the landscape was beautiful, the foggy road we had to drive was unnerving. Certainly less comfortable than a hobbit would prefer. We were on an adventure to Hobbiton!

The Farmer's House

Even though the fog covered the farmhouse of the farmer who allowed Peter Jackson and crew to film on his property, it lent to a magical ambiance that had its own charm. On the way to our destination, the bus driver (who spoke with a strong Scottish brogue) told us a thing or two about filming Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The farm is a working farm. There are 13,000 head of sheep that roam its hills. There are 500 head of cattle. During lambing and calving seasons the total doubles. Peter Jackson had English sheep shipped into the farm to keep the English look and feel in the movies. These were black-faced sheep: they were cared for in their own section of the field. Plus, Jackson’s crew set up an eating station in one of the fields. Five hundred people were fed 2 and 3 course meals three times a day during the production of the films.

Walking around the grounds where all the filming took place was a peaceful experience—notwithstanding the 20 or so people we were with in our group. At times I couldn’t believe that I was in New Zealand taking photos of Hobbiton.

Then again I was immersed in the experience, wanting to take this and that shot from this and that angle, oblivious of others except when they walked in front of me, or were unintentionally photo-bombing me.

There was such a variety of landscape with this accompanying trees and bushes and shrubbery and plants and vines and flowers—some encased in moss of one type or another. The environment was pleasant and homey, due to the way the hobbit holes were enshrouded in the loam and turf of the soft green grass, with tools and baked goods, fishing poles and lathes, hinting at the trades of the hobbits.

The Party Tree and Field in the Distance

In a hole in the ground there lived two missionary couples.

And I thought I was short.

Bilbo must be away on another adventure. Oh Ya: The Elves.

Our Post Mission Homestead?

Crossing Over

At the tour’s end, we stayed a wee bit at the Green Dragon Inn.

There we were served ginger beer—at least that’s what we ordered, since everything else was alcoholic.

Drinks Just Over the Bridge

We sat by the large fireplace, warming our hands while holding our drinks.

At the Green Dragon Inn

We then got on the shuttle again, bought a maroon wool hat for JannaLee, some magnets for the family, and left for Hamilton.

Our excursion to the Shire was absolutely idyllic!

No Lunch: 2 PM

Thursday afternoon we all decided to have lunch in Hamilton. Not only did we get lost for a while, but by the time we figured out where we were, all the restaurants were closed. And for what?—Lunch! Figure that out. We finally found a place in the Sky City Building that would serve us.

Looking for Somewhere to Eat Lunch

Left: Elder & Sister Ward, Elder & Sister Osburn; Right: Elder & Sister Christensen, Elder & Sister Edward

The chicken schnitzel was tender and flavorful. The fish and chips, light and tasty.

A Cousin in New Zealand

After our sealing session Thursday morning, JannaLee and I went down to the Distribution Center and Visitor’s Centers. (FYI: We did 43 ordinances, and were able to seal most of the people to each other and their children.) JannaLee wanted pictures of the temple and of Christ. After getting our pictures, we entered the Visitor’s Center. There, seated behind the welcome desk, sat a women who wore the name tag: Sister Zundel. I stopped and asked her if she was related to Jacob Zundel, who taught Joseph Smith German. She said she thought she was. She asked her husband to come out of his office.

Elder & Sister Ward, Sister DeLoach, Sister & Elder Zundel

This couple is serving as the New Zealand Visitor Center Coordinators. It took us no time at all to compare notes and discover that we are cousins through Jacob. We’re from his daughter: Cynthia Matilda Zundel. They are from his son. They are from California. Well we talked for an hour about this and that: about our mission and their mission. Finally we asked if we could be shown the Center. Eder Zundel first asked a Sister who was getting ready to return to BYU-Idaho to continue her studies. Then he noticed she was busy so he turned to another Sister, and called out: “Sister DeLoach, Do you think you can take Elder and Sister Ward on a tour of our Center?” We turned to see Sister DeLoach. As we spotted her, memories of her and us in the MTC came to us. We had met Sister DeLoach in the MTC when we were there. We had high-fived her each time we met throughout our stay, because she was one of the few headed to serve in New Zealand like us. Now, here we were, saying hello again! Meeting the Zundels and Sister DeLoach confirmed in our minds once again how small the world is.