Leaving Timor-Leste

Over this past week we said goodbye to all of the members of our little church group,, our humanitarian partners and all of the students in our English class. When we showed up to catch up plane we were met by about 30 of our English students who came to wish us a final goodbye.  There were lots of pictures and lots of crying .
President McKay our mission president and his wife came to give us our final farewell interview and to be sure that the sisters who are replacing us have things properly arranged. 
This is the first time we've been able to drink water from a public water fountain in 2 years period we have always had to use bottled water. This is at the airport in Darwin Australia
We went from Dili Timor leste to Darwin Australia to Sydney Australia to Christchurch New Zealand.   We had overnight stops in Darwin and Sydney so we could see some of the sites.

We got off to a disappointing start.  After our English students bid us goodbye they waited around to see our plane take off.  When we went to the check-in counter we were told the flight was cancelled and that we could get a flight the next say.  Fortunately our connecting flight had enough time for us to make it it. The airline then put his up in a hotel that was about 1 quarter mile from our apartment .  It was a disappointing first night off our mission.

When we finally made it to Christchurch New Zealand we rented a motorhome to drive around the South Island for 12 days . In New Zealand they drive on the left side of the road .
We had a one day layover in Sydney Australia so we saw the sights.  We took a tour of the Sydney Harbour. This is a picture of the famous Sydney Opera House
On our first Sunday in New Zealand we went to church in the city of Queenstown. The church has a small branch there. They had about as many members attend as we do in Timor leste. 
New Zealand is strikingly beautiful. I will show you more pictures and give information on next week's blog. It's also very cold. This is the first time in 2 years that we've had to wear a jacket and gloves.

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