Temple Week Finally!

So, it has been awhile but hopefully I can still remember all my grand adventures from the almost 6 last weeks because it hasn’t been boring 6 weeks, never is here. So I last told you about my trip to rugby world cup game that was an awesome once in a lifetime experience. The following week was a bit hectic. I had to get some studying done and go to a few different lectures so that I could take off Thursday and Friday and go to the temple in Hamilton. It was our ward temple week and most people went the entire week but  I couldn’t miss that much school. So I went to some different lab times so I could miss my labs at the end of the week. It is a 5-7 hour drive to them temple, depending on who is driving. Fortunately on the way it only took  5 but on the way back it took 7 L. But ready for a crazy story? Ok so on Thursday I had to leave  4 am to go to the temple and rode with this really nice dad and his niece. It wasn't a bad drive at all and we got there way early, before 10 am but we missed the morning baptism session and they only do certain times a day because they don't have enough people so I just basically had to sit around and wait for the 2:30 session but was ok because it was a really nice day and my room reservation was never made at the temple motel so I had to get that all sorted out. The ward here is super unorganized. I wasn't even sure if I was going to have a ride home but it was fine. Ok so here is where it gets crazy. So to kill time me and tireena (I have no idea what this girls name is but it is something like that ha ha but I was with her all day and she is 19 and getting married next month but she really is pretty fun if not a little crazy) went to go walk around the temple grounds and look for that elusive monkey tree for Kathryn. But then we also decided to go to the visitors centre. And well who should open the door to welcome us to the visitor centre but a cute as ever sister missionary named Jenn Frost ha ha yep. You should have seen her face! Wow she gave me the biggest hug and was just like so confused and so excited at the same time. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole time I was there it was great. I told her how I was in NZ for school and my ward was up in Hamilton for temple week. She loved it! We were talking about it and just the size of her mission and the  fact that she was scheduled to be working the visitors centre and in that area at that time it was just like the most perfect timing, I couldn't have planned it better! But she is doing so so great! I could tell she absolutely loves what she is doing and loves this country. She still has awhile to go but I think she must just be a fantastic missionary. Her companion seemed so sweet too. She gave me a tour of the visitors centre and told me some fun facts about this history of the church here, which is really pretty cool. The whole time she was just stoked. It was so fun to see her for my sake as well, even for me it is crazy to see part of home here in New Zealand. It was pretty exciting. Crazy huh?

So then I went and did some baptism at 2:30 then the temple is not really in the city so without a car there wasn't a lot for me to do but the weather was nice so I just hung outside for a bit. Jenn Frost had left already and all the older people were in the temple doing other stuff so I was just by myself for the rest the afternoon but it was sunny so I just hung outside. Finally I got my room worked out and would be sharing from a lady form the stake. Her name was Rose Mary and she was super nice, but I didn't see much of her. We stayed in dorm like motel rooms where there was a big common kitchen...felt like a hostel all over again. I tried to take a nap because it had been a long day but couldn’t sleep. So I cooked my dinner and was just kind of eating alone because I was the only person under the age of 50 there and didn't know anyone. But then this elderly dude came and sat by me. He said he felt bad that I was alone but it really wasn't a big deal but he was sweet for sitting with me. He told me stories of his life while I ate, it was great. I guess he is originally from Australia and was baptized in Brisbane and he came to the US once and went to conference in SLC. While he was there everyone would as where he was from and he would tell them NZ and most people didn't know where it was! I think that is crazy but this was awhile back. He told me another story and I don't remember what it was about exactly but this is how it started "back when I was living in the Australian outback..." it was as that point I had to try so hard to stop from laughing. I mean I just realized how awesome is it that I can just sit and eat dinner and have it be totally normal that I listening to a guy telling about when he lived in the Australian outback. My life is so great ha ha. 

So after dinner I wanted to take photos of the temple at night I was I out walking and ran into the only other person from the stake 25 or under. It was this dude that used to be in my ward until the split so I kind of knew him. So we went and took photos and just hung out. He told me about his life a bit, it is insane. He is really from a polynesian island, Niue. He worked really hard in the plantations and fished and saved all his money to come to NZ by himself when he was 15 but couldn't speak any english or read but went to school anyway and learned english and how to read. Then when he was 17 he needed money so he had to join the army, and that is allowed when you are 17. So then he was in army and when he was 22 he found the church and joined it and he quit the army and started doing an apprenticeship to be a carpenter because he wants to be builder (sound like someone else  I know). He improved his english by reading church books and scriptures and now he going on a mission in November. This dude was super intense and really stoked about church stuff. It blew my mind, that like when I was 15 the hardest thing I had was basketball and when I was 17....AP tests? big school projects? ha ha nothing compared to moving to a new country with nothing. He is a pretty extreme case but not so unique. A lot of people here have similar stories. It is so crazy, how you can have no idea about someone until you talk to them for a little awhile and find out how they lived in the australian outback, like that older fellow, or this guy, Viladmir, that comes from a country that it took me 2 days to figure out just how to pronounce the name of it, Niue (said like new-way).

Then Friday was pretty low key compared to Thursday. Just woke up to catch the 8 am baptism session and then they cancelled the only other session for the day at 10 am and just made the 8 am one extra long. There were only 3 girls and 1 guy doing baptisms. So after that I had the whole day to kill by myself as everyone else did other ordinances. Jen Frost wasn't going to be at the centre until 4 so I just wandered around the temple grounds and just walked around and laid in the sun and read and stuff. Good thing it was such a nice day. I tried to walk into town but it was super far away and part of the way there was a highway so I turned around and came back. I just ended up going to the centre and watching one of the joseph smith movies but then Viladmir finished his sessions at about one and so I met up with him because I was getting pretty bored. So we just hung out for a bit. We were talking about the US and he had assumed most of the people in the US were all members of the church, ha ha I had to correct a few misconceptions. I think he was disappointed when I said that New York had less than 1% of the population were members. It is crazy here how everyone just assumes that Utah is this perfect zion place and even the US sometimes too. I've disappointed lots of people when I tell them that is not the case but it is still a pretty great place. Anyway so we finally got all the older people together and their stuff loaded in the van I was riding back in that was supposed to leave just after 4 but did leave until 5:30. It was  12:30 when I finally got home. I have never been so excited to get to my bed, I was so tired.

Saturday I finally got a little sleep but then got up early to go to the farmers market because I was out of  food and came back and went to the gym with ema and did another killer leg workout that I certainly felt for a few days. Then to add to that we went and played touch rugby for 2 hours at the park with a bunch of people and so top it all off I decided to walk to town to the festival they were having there to celebrate the rugby games being played here in Palmy. I was  SO tired my legs were about to fall off and we still had to walk 45 minutes home, so I was with 3 other people and we walked around the square downtown and bumped into a dude at the library who one them knew and he was headed back to Massey so we basically begged him for a ride and squished all in his car. It was like a gift from heaven, my legs wouldn't have made it home. So last night I just relaxed and watched a super intense rugby match. Then today got up  and a bunch of us decided to do a pancake breakfast, so that was a lot of fun. Late, I did find out I got the high in the class on one assignment so that was good news. I might just pass a few classes yet! even with my serious lack of studying. No worries though, the only class I worry about the final for is the Maori class and that one won't even transfer to the U but I'll still try because I would not be so ok with failing a class. But should really start studying so I can travel during my week long study break before finals.