Sunday - Auckland

Although Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, it’s not always the most restful day of the week for Mormons because, in addition to simply attending church for three hours, most of us have Sunday assignments to fulfill: we speak in the worship service, we administer the sacrament, we lead the singing, we play the organ, we teach adult lessons, we teach youth lessons, we take care of the children in the nursery, we organize service projects for the coming week, and so on. And if, like Michael, you preside over a whole congregation, you also conduct administrative meetings and hold individual counseling sessions for several hours.

But today, Sunday was truly a day of rest and renewal for us. Not only did we not have any of our usual Sunday responsibilities, but we also didn’t have to repack our suitcases and meet a bus.

We did attend church, however. The first striking thing we noticed when we arrived at the Takapuna Tongan Ward was that although sacrament meeting was not scheduled to begin for another four or five minutes, the pews were already full of families waiting quietly for the meeting to begin. (This is not typical; Mormons tend to arrive at the last minute—or several minutes after the last minute—and most families do not sit very quietly once they get there.) The second striking thing we noticed is that DeEtte, Art, Michael and Nancy were the only fair-skinned people in the congregation. The third striking thing we noticed was that the man conducting the meeting was speaking in Tongan. For some reason, when Art and DeEtte suggested that we attend the 9:00 Tongan service instead of their usual 11:00 service so that they could show us a little more of the island today, Michael hadn’t registered the fact that he wouldn't be able to understand a word that was said.

As it turned out, not everything during the meeting was spoken in Tongan. One of the sacramental prayers was given in English, and the two teenagers who gave talks also chose to use English. We appreciated being able to understand at least some of the meeting, but the fact that one of the ethnic-Tongan teenagers admitted to not knowing much Tongan gave us cause for concern. In a generation or two, will this beautiful, vowel-filled language be lost? We hope not.

Takapuna Farmer's Market

We stayed only for sacrament meeting, then headed back to the apartment. After we changed clothes, we walked a few blocks to Takapuna’s central square where the weekly open-air market was underway. Lots of people were out to enjoy the beautiful day and to bargain for fresh produce, local handicrafts, antique housewares, and the usual flea-market junk. Nancy bought some nice etchings of New Zealand landscapes and birds.

Nothing like ice cream at Phil's for bonding

The market folded up at noon, so we went back to the apartment, put together a picnic lunch, and headed west across the island toward Murawai Beach. 

Even though we had not yet eaten our sandwiches, we had to stop at Phil's Original for ice cream made with fresh berries. (No one objected to eating dessert before the main.)

We soon discovered why Murawai is Art and DeEtte's favorite beach. For one thing, the sand is an unusually dark, dramatic color—almost black. For another thing, the cliffs bookending the beach are awesome—especially when big waves crash against them. There are also some tide pools and a large colony of gannets in residence on the rocks. We ate our lunch sitting on a hillside overlooking the beach (carefully placing ourselves upwind from the gannet colony) and enjoyed watching the surfers ride the waves below. It was quite hot, so Michael was concerned about the sun exposure even though he had put on sunscreen (a perennial problem down here where the ozone layer is very thin).

The gannet colony at Murawai Beach

Michael and Nancy on Murawai Beach

After a leisurely stroll on the beach, we headed back home. We were almost back to Takapuna when Art realized that he had forgotten to stop at Phil's ice cream for seconds. (Oh well; the lemon-lime and mango sorbet still in the freezer at home would have to do.)

Back at the apartment, we did a last load of laundry, wrote another blog post, and repacked our bags while DeEtte and Art prepared dinner. They have been wonderful hosts, and it has been great to hear their funny stories and more serious thoughts over the past few weeks. Friends are good, but friends who are also siblings are even better.