Prime Minister and Mayor visit the new MTC in Auckland!

President Tad Callister hosts Prime Minister John Key for a visit at the new Mission Training Centre in Auckland!

A missionary choir sings New Zealand National Anthem to Prime Minister John Key!
He was delightfully charismatic with all the missionaries in the choir!

He entertains one more song from the choir!
He was presented with a lovely book of the workings of the church here in New Zealand!
He stopped for a photo with missionary bikes. The missionary icon!
Auckland Mayor Len Brown also visited the new MTC!
He graciously received a tour from Elder Greening and Elder Fafai!

New! New Zealand Missionary Training Centre!

An Open House was held and youth were invited from all over the mission area to come and see!
Some came in buses!
They were gathered into groups and shown a slideshow in the chapel of missionaries and baptisms and quotes of all the prophets!
They entered the building enthusiastically!
Were greeted by the MTC President and his wife! The Marion's!
They were shown a video presentation of "A day in the life of a missionary!"
They were given an opportunity to experience street contacting in a friendly environment!
They were shown a brief clip of the first vision and challenged to gain a testimony of it all their own!
The best part of the tour was when they were able to ponder on the blessings of the Savior in their lives with these wonderful pictures depicting Christ's life as inspiration!
Elders Edlefsen and Luckhardt spent some time at the table display and referral desk!

They could place sticky dots where they had family members serving missions throughout the world!
President Tad Callister with many perspective missionaries!


Some of the Sisters that were involved in the MTC experience!

The hope and prayer was that they left with a determination to serve missions and be missionaries!

All are safely gathered in!

Some of you may have heard about the 7.2 earthquake that occured in Christchurch, New Zealand and wondered if your missionaries are safe. The answer is YES! Christchurch is actually in the New Zealand Wellington Mission and we have spoken to the President of that mission and all is well. Be at peace, all are safely gathered in!

Welcome New Friends!

Here they are trained by President and Sister Porter and the Assistants and now they are ready to meet their trainers!
After the airport, the first spot they visited was One Tree Hill!
Elder Wigginton is training Elder Kaufusi!
Elder Smith will train Elder Cushing!
Elder Moss will be trained by Elder Belk!
Elder Porter is training Elder Webb!
Elder Haight will train Elder Cannon!
Elder Allred is being trained by Elder Magleby!
Elder Parry will be training Elder White!
Elder Petty is being trained by Elder Christensen!
Elder Walker will be trained by Elder Brown!
Elder Aldridge will train Elder Hussain!
Elder Jeppesen is being trained by Elder Keyes!
Elder Tufuga will train Elder Apelu!
Elder Asaasa will be trained by Elder Papalii!
Elder Preston will train Elder Ulu'gia!

Farewell to faithful friends!

What a wonderful group of faithful missionaries---we loved every one with their unique and valued contribution and loved the bond they felt throughout their missions! Left to right: Sisters Tofilau, Williams; Elders Lyman, Drake, Nelson, Cope, McClain, Watkins, Whyte, Ng, Fawson, Bridenstein, Bridge, Krauss!
Elder Mafua had visa issues that limited him from leaving with his group, so we had a small group departure meeting for him!
The Cook's who served before us, provided the great idea of having the missionaries write their names on a tablecloth when they leave the mission so that we have the names of all the missionaries who served with us! It will continue to be a treasure for us!

Many things require miracles! This was one of them!

Elder Filimaua is a relatively new missionary to the field and when he came down with a stomach ache, the doctor thought it was indigestion---instead it ended up to be appendicitis! It went from bad to worse, requiring two surgeries and then a miracle! Finally, he only recovered almost instantly after a mission prayer and fast was called!
While in the hosptial, his companion had to take care of baptizing the many souls awaiting salvation!

Aua ete maliu ese!

Some of our Samoan Elders sang their testimonies through a wonderful Samoan hymn about the Saviour! Aua e te maliu ese is the name of the hymn! The Elders were left to right: Elders Nu'usila, Seauga, Fiaui, Tulia, Tufuga! Thank you Elders!
(We had to shrink the video thus damaging the quality, but some things are worth it)