Devonport

We went to dinner with the Blackburn's the night before they flew to Fiji.

We went to Devonport

Devonport is located just south of Takapuna on the coastline

About 15 minutes away

These are large trees downtown by the quaint shops and restaurants

     

We went to North Heads Historic Reserve

We witnessed the beautiful sun shining through through the clouds

           

 

North Head Historic Reserve is an old Naval Point

Bryce really enjoyed this adventure!

   

       

February is flying by!

We have been working hard as a team to prepare for the Training Cycle.

We will be traveling to all of the schools to work with Administration, Counselors, Teacher Coaches, HOD's and ITEP/TVET couples.

Bryce has been working on the "Learning Mountain"

He had large bulletin board banners made for each counselor

We decided to hang out with the Family on Saturday! 

We finally got our family pictures hung up in the new apartment! 

We were asked to help out with the young single adult activity Saturday Night!

Oh to feel young again!

They had a scavenger hunt for the first 30 minutes.

Then they came back to the cultural hall to play "Minute to Win It"

Bryce manned the table for the cups to be blown off by air in a balloon.

The Blackburn's our a new TVET couple here for training and waiting

for their VISA's to Fiji.

They had the table where pencils had to be bounced into cups. 

Another couple manned the table where candy was tied to thread.

The kids had to suck in the thread to get to the candy.

This young woman beat everyone - 67 seconds!

I was in charge of the cookie on the forehead to the mouth.

That was fun! 

The same young woman did this in 15 seconds!

They had 1 minute to make it through the string "laser" maze.

These girls had been boiling chicken feet, chicken hearts, and fat.

The  teams had to see how fast one of the members could eat it! Yuck!

 Jonathan Warwick demonstrated eating the chicken foot for us!

Yes, we work with Jonathan! He is awesome!

He is in the YSA bishopric.

These are the missionaries that had fun with the YSA!

 On Sunday we had Stake Conference.

These are the beautiful flowers that were arranged!

               

 We invited the Blackburn's to dinner on Sunday evening.

They worked with Elder & Sister Downs. 

We had the Down's come and spend time with their friends.

 Both couples are from Davis County.

It was Sister Down's birthday Sunday!

Elder Down's birthday 3 days ago!

And Sister Blackburn's birthday on the 20th!

It is so fun to get to know so many wonderful people!

We are grateful for their service!

Hopefully I can get our next months pictures loaded as we travel.

We leave for Samoa on Feb. 26th - Mar. 2nd

Tonga on Mar. 5th - Mar. 10th

Fiji Mar. 14th -18th

Kiribati Mar. 19th - 23rd

Cyclone Gita took her toll

Cyclone Gita took her toll on the Pacific Islands!

Cyclone Gita first hit Samoa as a Category 1.

Sustained heavy flooding.

This is the Sheraton "Aggie Gray" hotel.

We stayed there a couple of months ago. 

The place that had the large gingerbread house.

Totally engulfed and under water.

They are currently closed.

We were supposed to leave for Tonga on February 14th.

Plans were changed with Cyclone Gita which was a category 4

Cyclone Gita hit on February 13th.

Friends in Tonga have been posting pictures:

Liahona High School was damaged quite a bit.

This is the front area and entrance roads.

The trees were shredded.

This is the Facility Managements roof. 

It lifted the roof off and blew one of the cinder block walls down inside.

The dorm boys helped a lot with clean up. 

Here they are getting ready to move the roof off of the road.

This is the computer room wing.

The roof was torn away and 4 classrooms were soaked.

It looks like the computers might be a total loss.

This is the keyboarding room located in the same building with FM.

Roof collapsed onto of all the keyboards.

I shed some tears over this tree.

I loved these trees in our front yard.

Yes, this is the duplex we lived in - house #26.

 The dorm boys helped to move the tree off of the roof.

Malakai Kioa and his family had a terrifying experience.

They live in house #5 on campus.

The roof in their house came completely off.

        

 This is a bedroom, their living room, and their backyard

 The Veanuku's are serving their 3rd mission to Tonga.

We know them well.

She posted that the Senior Missionaries spent the night in the Service Center:

The next morning they mopped out their flooded homes.

 

Then Sister Veanuku was busy doing what she does so well:

Cooking for those in need!

 The Tonga Middle School ITEP couple, Elder & Sister Murdoch

helped Sister Veanuku with the food.

The Murdoch's have been in Tonga 1 month

Cyclone Gita is headed our way this week. It is a tropic storm now.

We are expecting heavy rains and gusty winds.