New Year

2010!
Happy New Year!  The first day of the new year found me traveling to Aotearoa/New Zealand.  The plane ride was quite pleasant as I had 2 meals and an endless supply of movies and music.  I arrived at 6 in the morning and finally made it out of the airport at 7. I had several items to declare as New Zealand is rather strict about what they let into their beautiful country.

On Sunday I met up with Sam at the hotel and we rested for a bit before going to the national YSA conference close by. We were able to listen to talks from Curtis Jacobs (CES speaker), Elder Nielson (Area Presidency) and President Porter (Auckland Mission President).  It was very uplifting and edifying, and everyone was very nice to us.

On Monday we finished at the YSA conference then went into downtown Auckland.  Everything is very expensive here!  I didn’t buy anything.

On Tuesday I met my host lady, Rosie, and her dogs.  Yes, they came along for the ride, too.  She took us to our new home in Waitakere City.  We live in a modest home and discovered that we actually were quite space efficient in our space.  Then we went to the movies to see The Lovely Bones; it was good.