Temple Day!

Man sometimes you take for granted that the temple is only 20mins away from where you are. It is at least a two hour drive to the temple here located in Hamilton, New Zealand. A bunch of girls and I decided to make a day's trip out of it. It was quite eventful you could say. These girls are so much fun and we all get along great. We are already making plans for them to come experience Hurricane,UT in the future.Brittany was our driver and although we were safe we spent a lot of the day making U-turns or missing our exits or even ending up in the same place twice. haha It made the trip very memorable and I know deep down she was just being a sweetheart and trying to show me more of New Zealand.;) Elise and I made sure and documented everything and here is one of our silly videos that we filmed.

we finally made it to Pocono (spelling?) and got some delicious ice cream!

The temple was beautiful though. It was very very small as well. I love that the church is the same wherever you go. We all are feeling the same spirit and believe and teach the same things.

One thing that I have felt while being here is just a huge sense of gratitude for my own life and the way I was raised. In Utah we don't realize how unique our situation is having members all around us. Of course there are still opportunities for missionary work but we have a strong support system in the church and a long history. I had an interview with the Bishop here last week to get a temple recommend and it was so good. He asked about my Dad being Bishop and the challenges and blessings it brings. (he was just put in about 6months ago). Then we started talking about my Grandpa randomly and how he was stake president. The Bishop was just amazed at the history of leadership in the church my family had. He asked if the membership began with my grandpa and we talked a little bit about my ancestors.When I told him I had ancestors that were pioneers his jaw just dropped and he said "Do you know how blessed you are?" Now what I am telling you is a pretty normal thing in Utah and with the people I know. The membership goes back to many many years ago. People here are either 1st or 2nd generation members of the church. It has just been a good experience to take a step back and realize the blessings I have that I may have been taking for granted. All in all...a good weekend. :)

So when New Zealand doesn't have a word for something they call it a  Doofer. So here are a bunch of doofs with their doofer. (it holds your hamburger...quite genius if you ask me)