Kiwiana Aroha!: Bittersweet. . .

Me and Junior! Yes he is in his P.J.'s but at least he has clothes on!

Oh what a week in the land of no worries! It all began with a family home evening straight out of a storybook, or possibly little house on the prairie! We went to a little family in our ward, the Kristy's, who is absolutely perfect! They have 4 adorable children and their house all by itself but surrounded by rolling hills, trees, horses, and beauty! We had a little lesson and played some games such as three legged races which got pretty intense, and then they let us ride their horses. I rode to the top of the hill and could look out across acres and acres of pure green bliss. The stars are amazing from their house, so peaceful, as we sat around the campfire and ate homemade blackberry pie, not to mention the blackberries had been hand picked that morning by the kids! Basically my dream home! Anyway, moving on, this week was like any other, except a little bittersweet seeing that this was our last full week and weekend in Auckland! I continued to teach my crazy class and try and help as much as I could. We went on a field trip on Thursday to Polyfest which was fun except some of the kids are little complainers; so every now and then I had to do Happy Checks and make sure they were smiling! They ended up having a good time and so did I, it was fun to see what 9 year old girls spend their money on. . .lots of food, and random Bob Marley bracelets, and you can't forget the twilight attire!

Friday was our sleep in day. . and we did just that! Caught up on sleep we don't get throughout the week and did some homework, which I am almost all the way done with and I will be free of school forever! We then had almost all of the girls over for stay late/sleepover with some. Emily brought her famous homemade cheesecake and mum of course was too sweet and served all of us ice cream even though we told her not to worry about us! She is too nice, always so welcoming, and makes all of us feel right at home! And if you were wondering, what does a group of 12 girls talk about. . . horror stories of our classes of course, I mean we are all teachers! It was good to talk to everyone because it made us realize we are having crazy adventures and we just have to tough it our this last week. Not to mention that when we get back to the states, we will have our own class with our own rules,(that is if we get accepted into an internship which I will find out in a week and a half) we are keeping our chins up!

Saturday we went to brunch at the top of the Skytower! We felt all fancy, seeing as it was like a 5 course meal as we rotated around the city! I don't think I have felt that full since being here. . . there were danishes at the beginning, then an appetizer, main course, side, and dessert. None of which were small! It was a fun adventure though, that took 3 hours!! Later on that evening, after we had digested and felt a little less full, we got picked up by a boy in our ward (Derryk, the ward mission leader) and his friends and they took us to another rugby game! It was the Auckland Blues vs. Wellington Hurricanes, and oh yes, we got free flags to support our home team, The Blues! WE got really good seats again but even better than before because we were in the middle! We could literally see their calf and thigh muscles from our seats! In fact, Derryk, he plays rugby and knows a lot about the teams, pointed out a guy on the Wellington team that recently had surgery on his calves because they were too big!! these guys are not small. . .anyway it was a really fun game, and WE WON!! Afterwards we went to get a feed, thats what they call it but it's very traditional to always go get something to eat after hanging out.

Well it was a long weekend so it has been a relaxing Sunday but sad too, it was our last day in our ward. I will be in a new city/ward each coming Sunday for the next 3 weeks, 4 technically if you count home. Our ward has been absolutely amazing to us and I looked around today and it felt like home. It was sad to say goodbye to our ward and the young woman that we have been working with. I have had an amazing time and many great experiences just being in their with them. It was the last time I will get to sit by those cute kids in church, and good grief it was the first Sunday little junior kept all his clothes on, what a treat!! These kids are great examples, little junior who is 2, sat by me in church and held the hymn book with me as he pretended to sing he entire closing hymn. He closed it right up, folded his arms and was ready for the prayer! They learn so young! It will be good to be back home but I am sure going to miss my kiwi family here in Auckland!