Goodby

This is Milford Sound.  It is a Valley that was carved by glacier which was then flooded by seawater when the glacier melted. The side Mountains are all granite and almost vertical. It is probably the most beautiful place I have seen in my life.

There are beautiful snow-covered mountains and Lakes everywhere .

New Zealand is also called and stormy. We were here in early October which is earl spring .  It was pretty cool everyday. Probably the temperature was around 40 Fahrenheit

Waterfalls are everywhere. Because it rain so much many of the waterfalls are only temporary and disappear if it doesn't rain in a few days

Here is a picture of the Franz Josef Glacier

These are called Pancake Rocks. There are many more than what is shown in the picture. They haven't figured out yet how they are caused.

These are part of the blue pools . The water is so blue because of the clouds, the coolness of the water and the snow in the area. It was a cold day and the water temperature was extremely cold . Not only did these girls jump into the water but they stayed in swam around in it for a little while.

We went to church on Sunday in Westport. It's fun to meet with these little branches . They're only about 10 members here on Sunday. So far we haven't been to a church larger than the one we left in Timor leste. It's fun to visit small congregations to talk with the members and get their stories

This hanging bridge was more difficult to walk across than we expected.

This will be our last blog post . Tomorrow will be leaving to go back home to America.

Our mission was more difficult than we expected it would be. The weather was always hot and humid. Transportation was always difficult with the broken down taxis. It was always depressing to go grocery shopping and have such little variety. We were lonely. At the first part of our mission there were many Sundays where we were the only ones at church. Sometimes we would go several months without talking to anyone from our mission leadership.

The hardships of our nation were pale when compared with the accomplishments that we were part of. We never imagined that's so much could happen that was good for this people. We were fortunate to be there at a time and in an environment where a lot of things could get accomplished. The humanitarian work went very well. Both our large projects and our smaller projects were helpful to the people and created self sufficiency.  There are a lot of people now in this country that have water and food because of the work of LDS charities.

We probably spent most of our time teaching English classes. The four semesters that we taught probably included 500 students. English is critically important in this country. You cannot get a good job without knowing English. Students who finished or advanced course had enough English to get good jobs or to work  overseas.

The other thing that was a pleasant surprise is that we got to be part of the first converts to the church in the country. The conversion process was a remarkable experience . The close friendships we developed with these new kind converts we hope will last forever. We are anxious to get back home to our family, but it was surprisingly difficult to leave our new friends.

Overall we feel this was a perfect mission for us.  It was hard but more than equally rewarding. It has been two great years in our lives.