Friday, August 12, 2016, was our good friend Elder James Henderson's 70th Birthday.  Reed and I stayed a little later on Thursday evening to blow up some balloons and make signs for his desk area to celebrate on Friday morning.



Jim with his Birthday Bandello, balloons and Happy Birthday signs!  He loves to celebrate his birthday.



It was Judee Flavell's birthday as well so we did a few balloons for her.  She is the S&I administrative assistant and we worked closely with her while we were also acting as the ITEP Coordinators.

June Anderson is our receptionist for the Area Office.  Every morning she is the first person we see and she is always positive and very friendly.



We all went up to the first floor where Jim and Kathy Henderson's office is and celebrated birthdays with cake and ice cream.  Later that evening we went on the bus into downtown Auckland with Jim and Kathy to have dinner at Elliot Stables.  They had never been there or the Sky City Tower so we showed them around and had a fun evening.

Saturday August 13, 2016 we got up and cleaned the house and Nada fixed cream of cauliflower soup to take to Dallas Olsen's home for lunch.  We work with Dallas and he invited us to come have lunch with his family.  They live about 25 minutes from Takapuna in a town called Hobsonville. 

We had a very nice lunch and visit.

We all helped clear up the table and then we played games for over two hours.  The kids were very polite and fun to be with.  They all helped each other and were very  kind.  Dallas and Angie are very kind, gentle people.  We played a game called Five Seconds, Catch Phrase and another one where you have a topic and six letters that you have to write words using those letters. For instance, the topic is fruit and there would be p, s, p, f, r, l.  The first one to get a word for each letter says done and everyone has to stop writing.  It was very fun.



Here is Dallas's family left to right
Nada, Vanz, Kayla, Izrael, Dallas, Angie and in front is Zion and Cruz.  They really made us feel at home and it made us feel like we were with family. 



At 6 p.m. Saturday evening we met Renee and her family at McDonalds in Onehunga for some dinner and then walked to Mount Sparks Stadium to watch a pro rugby game.

The team is called the Vodafone Warrirors and this is the stadium.  We got there a little early to walk around and feel the pre game excitement.

Renee Solomon, Arwen, Odin and Nada.  Renee and her husband Ricky are season ticket holders and had a couple extra passes and invited us to the game.  Reed was very excited to see a professional rugby game.  This particular team plays Rugby League.  It had been a pretty nice day, no rain a little sunshine so the evening was very bearable.

The Warriors warming up.

Ribbitohs, who are from South Sydney, Australia, are in the white, Warriors in the black.  The Warriors scored the first try which is worth 4 points and made the kick after which is worth 2 then the Rabbitohs owned the ball and field most of the rest of the game.  It was still fun to watch but the home team lost.

This is a scrum.  They do this after a penalty is called.  Rugby League moves very fast.  They play two 40 minute halves and the clock pretty much never stops.  In football they have so many penalties and stop the clock for everything but here the time just keeps going and the game is over and done in 80 minutes.  Reed sat by Ricky and learned a lot more about what was going on during the game and what different things meant.  We feel like we understand rugby a little better now.

 We had a very fun and enjoyable weekend.  We have made some life-long friends.  It is so nice to be invited into peoples homes and interact with their families.  We really miss our children and grandchildren and this helps take a little of that homesickness away.  We work with some great people.  We have had some very nice experiences and been able to learn about so many new things.  Until next time, love Elder and Sister Spencer (aka Reed and Nada)