Tuesday in Waitomo

Black Water Rafting/Glow Worms

    Now way way back clear at the first of the semester we had a brilliant idea that we wanted to go black water rafting! We were debating if we wanted to do it from the South Island or the North Island but we were told that we could to it better in the North Island, so we have been planning on this for ages! Now the second part of this story is, usually  all the groups take a boat tour through the caves to see the glow worms. Janet decided she thought it would be extremely fun to go rafting through to see the glow worms. She proposed this to Jim, and he put it up to a vote. We could pick the "Adventure route, or the sissy boat tour." Of course we all picked the adventure tour! Especially when Jim phrased it like that. So needless to say, this was such an anticipated adventure!

      We got to where the adventure began, and we waited for a little bit. None of us really knew what to expect, but it were really excited! They then called our group out, and we went in. We first had to sign our life away. I don't know what it is about everything I am doing over here, but I seem to sign my life away and have to fill out a medical chart more than I ever have in my entire life! So we fill the papers out, and then we are on our way.

 

   Once we signed our life away, it was time for us to go get ready! The first thing we had to do was go put on our wet suits! This was such an adventure! We first had to mix and match to try and find some socks that could fit on. Then we had to walk over introduce ourselves and get fitted for a wet suit and jacket! Following this, we had to go put it on and then put our helmets and boots on! We looked really silly! We all felt huge, and like we should be taking muscle pictures! I'm not really sure why, but that's what it felt like!

After we had taken a few pictures, it was then time to get started on our journey! We took one last picture (just in case we didn't make it back) and then set off on our journey!

      We got down to the place where we had to pick our tubes and started picking. Now we were instructed to go and stick our bottoms all the way through the tube. If we couldn't fit our bottoms all the way through the tube we were in trouble! He then said  if you are questioning anything at all, go bigger! Better safe then sorry! Then he said, okay it's time to have a check. Turn around and let me see. Little did I know, he was taking a picture of us all! Oops! Yeah we look a little bit dorky! But it was so much fun!

   After we have captured the picture and picked our tubes, it was time to give a few quick instructions! They taught us the eel. This is how we would be going down through the caves! We were to sit back lift our arms up tuck the person's feet behind us under are arm pits and hang on tight! Every once in a while we were suppose to check to make sure the feet were still in the boots just in case they slipped under the water or something.

     The next set of instructions we were given is how to jump off the cliffs/waterfalls we would be jumping off of in the cave. We were to put our hills on the edge of the rock, hold on to the tube close our eyes and jump back far. If we jumped straight up, we would hit the top of the cave. If we didn't jump far enough, we would land on a pile of rocks in the bottom of the cave. For this reason they took us up on a bridge and made us practice. This is the picture they took of me practicing. I was really nervous to jump off of the waterfall backwards! I was scared! No worries though, I made it! (That's me splashing in the water.)

   After we had all successfully mastered the jumping off the waterfall technique, it was time for us to head off and go caving! We had no idea what we were getting ourselves, but we were really excited!

    We got to the cave, and we turned around and waved goodbye! we were now going to enter the cave! The cave was found by the Maori people when they were hunting dogs. They followed the dogs into the cave, and then when the dogs drowned, they brought them back up for food. We were now going down into the cave.

    Now the tour was so much fun! We climbed down into the cave and then the adventure began! First there were HUGE bugs! They were like daddy long legs on steroids! I have never seen a bug this big in my life! It was super creepy! Then we climbed all around the cave holding the tubes! Then we got to jump off our first waterfall! It was a little bit scary, but I'd like you to know I successfully passed and made it! From there we went down into the cave even farther. We got to a point and they had us sit down on the edge of the cave. The we all turned off our head lights, and looked up and there were the glow worms! It was incredible! It looked like you were looking up into the night sky, and you were out looking at stars! It was incredible! Then when you would shine a light up on them, you could see the little silky strings where they catch their food! It was incredible! I don't know why, but the glow worms fascinate me. I think they are one of the most magnificent creatures I have ever seen! The rest of the cave we got to go through the river looking at and admiring the glow worms!

       Then at the end of the game, they started playing a game, it was called find your own way out of the cave! Guess what! I was the winner! The rules were you had to keep your light off, and then you were on your way to find your way out! I am going to be really honest here, and say I was terrified! At one point, Neeley and I tried to go through a little small spot together and guess what...we didn't fit! We both just bounced back out and neither of us could get through! It was hilarious! No worries we made it out safely though, and I was the first one out! Yeah!

 We then took our survival pictures! It was so much fun! This has got to be one of my favorite things we have done over here! I am truly fascinated by the glow worms! They amaze me! I am so glad we were able to do this! Once again it was, another successful holiday from holiday!

Monday in Rotorua

Te Po/Green Lake/Blue Lake/Lake Tamaho/Old Rotorua/Dinner Theater

    Waking up early! The daily habits! ha ha! Once again today we had an early start! Today the group was heading out to Te Po! This is an old Maori ground! The front part of it is very similar to The Polynesian Cultural Center (only of course it's only New Zealand things). Then the back is very similar to Yellowstone! I know you are a little bit confused by this, but don't worry it'll all make sense! We walk in at first there is a group of children performing traditional dances! They were so good, and super cute! I think I have a secret desire to be Polynesian. Just a little bit I wish I could dance like them!

 

   Following this little performance, we went in and had our Maori cultural performance! It started out and they did a powhiri for us! This was the welcoming ceremony. They do this for any of the visitors who go to the show! They needed a chief to represent the visitors, so of course all of us girls volunteered Jim! He is now know as Chief Jim! He did such a  good job! 

       Someone came out and did a haka in front of him, then placed the silver fern leaf on the ground in front of him. He then picked it up so they knew we were friends. Then they called Jim and his group forward. Now this was so frustrating since we were traveling with the Chief they called us in to be first, but there were these Asian tourist that kept trying to push their way tot the front! Do you know how frustrating this is?! ha ha! Good thing that the workers were there to hold them back, or we would have all been pushed out of our seats! But no worries we got it and we were the front row (well second since the first row is for the chief and any male traveling companions. Then they went through the ceremonies of speeches and waitas. Following the ceremony, it was time for all of the traditional dance! They came out and they danced with the poi balls! I love these! They are gorgeous! Once they did that guess what they choose people from the audience to try, and guess what, I got to go up on stage and try them! They really are so hard! 

     After we had tried out the dancing, the males came and performed another haka for us! I have officially decided that I love the Haka! It is the best dance that ever was created!

   Now of course they couldn't just let the girls perform and have a chance, they had to have the males come try the haka too! This is when we all got Chief Jim, and James to go up and do the haka for us! This was so funny! I have never laughed so much in my life! No worries I got it all on video. It's not the best video, because of where I was sitting, but it's till pretty good! Be sure and look for when Chief Jim sticks out his tongue! ha ha! It was so funny!

 

    Following the performance we left and then it was time to go look around and see around the rest of Te Po. For this  we were special enough to get a guided tour! Yeah! Now I'm going to be honest and tell you our tour guide tried to hit on all of us girls about 50 times throughout our tour! It was really funny! Especially when none of us responded and just acted awkward! Anyway, the first place that we went to was just an overlook of the hot pools and geysers. This is why I said it's similar to Yellowstone. Only I felt like the surrounding here were a little prettier! It was all luscious and green! It was incredible! Very beautiful!

    As we were walking down to the geysers we got to see and learn a few other things! I got to see my first real live kiwi! They are so cute! I was feeling a little bit sheepish, because I came to New Zealand and I haven't even see a kiwi! What is up with that? Well today I finally got to see one, and not only one, but I saw two! They are interesting animals. I loved them! They were flightless birds just walking around the ground looking for food! They were super cute! As we were looking at these birds, I learned some very interesting things. Our guide was telling us all about the birds they use to have in New Zealand before they went extinct, and you know the white eagle birds in Lord of the Rings, well in New Zealand they really did have birds that size! The Maori people had to kill them off in order to survive, and these birds really did exist (Well not the exact birds, but the birds that are that size). How cool is that?

     As we continued on the way, our guide started talking to us about tattooing. He said it's something that is much more common over here than it is in the states. He then went on to explain that the Maori people don't call it tattooing. This was really interesting to me. The Maori village it is called Ta moko. Ta moko is learning about your history. It's tattooing your family history on your body, and showing respect for those who have brought you into this world, and respect for those you help look after. Each design has a finely detailed plan, and everything in the plan has cultural meaning. He then said, "Ta moko is a sign of respect for your culture and background. Tattooing is just vanity." I found this incredibly interesting. 

    After that we made it down to the geysers. This one was the second biggest one in New Zealand! It was really pretty! We got to stop and take pictures and enjoy it for a little while!

    After we had spent sometime here, we went over to the mud pools this is what heaps of people of to Rotorua for. I kind of understand this, but I'm pretty sure the smell wouldn't be worth whatever it does for you body. It was really neat to see them though. They also told some really interesting stories about how the Maori people used these natural resources in the ancient day. 

   Following the mud pools, we went over to the carving and weaving school! They have a school on this Maori land that teach Maori people how to carve the wood and weave the flax. This is so they can continue their heritage, and keep their cultural identity. I was fascinated by this. They had huge pieces of wood and then were just chiseling away at it carving in the most detailed things ever! I was thoroughly impressed by all of this.

 

After we had finished our tour, it was time for us to head out. This is when James took us up to three different lakes. The first lake was Blue Lake. It was gorgeous! I have never seen water so blue in my life before (Sorry I don't have pictures-my camera died. I'll get them from my friends though). Then they took us to green lake. They were side by side, not touching, but complete different colors. Green Lake is a protected lake. No one can swim in the lake nor can they fish or anything. No one can go near that lake, it is left exactly the way nature intended it! I found this fascinating!  Then the last lake was gorgeous! It looked over some of the prettiest mountains. They call them the pink and white terraces! It was super pretty!

    After this it was time to head back down to the home! Tonight we got to go to a dinner theater!  We were all very excited! We went and got ready, and then we set off to the dinner theater! We walked in and it was just a cute quaint little place. It reminded me of a theater that would be up in Yellowstone! It was so cute! It was all decorated in Maori things! The play we were going to see was about the pink and white terraces that we had seen earlier that day! I was really glad we had seen them!

 

    We sat down, and we had heaps of food! They started out and brought us appetizers! We had little spring rolls, then some rolls! They were very good. Then we had our main dish. It was like a buffet style, and you went to the back and got to pick what you wanted to eat. We had potatoes, kumora, shrimp, crab, a couple different types of salads, mussels, and green beans. It was so delicious! We were a little scared to try the mussels, but we all tried them!

 

    After the main course, the play began. It was about a family that was living in Rotorua, and what happened when the city was buried and the volcano erupted. It was a really fun play! There was a lot of audience participation a little bit scary seeing I was sitting in the front seat. Good news though my participation was to dance! I was okay with that! I felt completely comfortable doing that! Luckily for me I didn't have to try and fake an accent like some of the girls did! It was really funny! It was cute! We all really enjoyed it!  Then in intermission, they brought us out our dessert! Pavlouva and ice cream! It was scrumptious! That was a really fun night! I really enjoy going to plays, especially dinner theaters!

Sunday in Rotorua

Church/Lake Tapuou/Driving Adventures/Movie Night

       Sunday's are a great day, and usually they don't have very much to blog about, but you see, this Sunday was rather different. Actually, it was extremely different!  ha ha! We woke up semi early and went to church! Our church was at nine! I don't know if we always just self selected the nine o' clock church, but every church service we have been to over here has been at nine! Anyway, the church services was very nice. We went into sacrament, and we everybody comes up and asks us where we are from and who we are (sixteen white American girls looks a little bit crazy over here, and we are easily noticeable.) Anyway, Sacrament, Sunday school, and Relief Society were very good lessons, and we enjoyed going to church very much. Then after church we were all hungry and wanted to hurry out to the vans! We headed out to the vans! Now all sixteen of us were sitting in the vans, but then for some reason Jim and James were no where to be found! So we sat there and waited for about 15 minutes, then finally they came out! Don't worry...they had been sitting talking to each other ha ha! It's not like they couldn't have just gone home and talked, they wanted to talk there. So now we were set! We thought for sure we would be home in like 10 minutes tops! ha ha! 
      Well guess what, we were wrong! ha ha! Now to get this next story, you have to understand that the vans we are driving are ginormous! One van holds 13 people, and the other van holds 9 people! These things are massive! Then on top of them they have the little shell type looking things, so you can pretty much stand up in the vans! They are seriously huge! So we are in the parking lot of the church, and Jim gets in the van...and goes, "Hmm, what's going to be the best way out of this?" As we all looked out the back to start backing up, we notice a little small car parked directly behind us. We have about 3 metres to back out of the parking spot! So Jim starts backing up, and all of us in the van are freaking out! There is NO way we are going to make it out of this without hitting a car! So pretty soon, James comes from his van, and starts trying to guide us out of the parking spot! We were just like the missionaries who now have to have one person guiding them out of the parking space! So he's telling us to back up, and Jim is about two centimetres from the car on the right hand side! Yet James is still trying to get him to come back! So then a women comes running out from the chapel and is like, "You are so close to my car! Stop! You are so close!" So we stop! Then we pull forward, and we make about a twenty point backing up turn to get out of the slot! No worries we made it though! So now you've got to be thinking that this story is over, well it isn't! Haha! Now we were out of the parking spot, but we were facing the wrong direction! We figured we could just back up down the way we came in, then flip around down there. Well now that we had taken so long, we had a line of cars behind us! Not there is only about ten parking slots in front of us (all filled), and a small grass area! Yes, that is right now we have to go and try and turn around up in that area! So we pull forward, and climb up onto the grass and we are about ten centimetres away from the church building! I thought we were going to hit it! We sit and wait there for a minute hoping some of the people would come out and leave for home and move their cars. Well of course this didn't happen, so we started to try and back out. Now we are on the grass though, and super close to the church building. So we back out, but then we have a basketball hoop right behind us! Yes we are now trapped between the church building and the basketball hoop! It was so funny! By now, the entire chapel/ward is out watching us! No one has any idea how we are going to get out of the parking lot! Then the missionaries come out and try to start helping us back out, but there is no way we are getting out of there! Everyone was laughing so hard! No worries after about a 50 point turn here, we made it out! Now that we are going the right way, we made it out! It took us a solid 50 minutes to get out of the parking lot! It was so funny! We were so embarrassed, yet thought it was so hilarious too! We finally made it home, and went and got in our comfy clothes, then James wanted to take us on a drive to see Lake Tapou! 
      We went down, and we had about an hour to walk around the lake. It was really pretty! It is actually the the biggest lake in New Zealand! It was really neat to see. Then as we were walking around, there was a really fun park across the street, so Neeley, Rebecca and I decided to go check it out! I must say, New Zealand parks are the best! They have so many fun things! My new favorite thing is the round run around thing as I like to call it! It's just a piece of plastic that's about a 1 foot wide, and then it's on a slant. The object is to walk/run all the way around it and not fall off. The trick is, when you walk or run on it it turns in a circle! It was so much fun! I was bound to successfully make it around! So I tried several times, and I was struggling very much! Then this guy comes up and goes look it's easy, don't worry he ran around it about ten times and it didn't even phase him. So he's like the trick is, you have to go faster. So now I wanted to do it even more! So I took off running around it, made it around, tripped off the edge, fell into the middle then tripped over the circle thing and landed on my back! It was absolutely hilarious! Don't worry though, I successfully made it around! 
    After we played in the park, it was about time to go back to the vans, plus it had started pouring rain, so we rushed back to the vans and were waiting for everyone to get there, then Nicole and I noticed a McDonald's. Then we realized this McDonald's had a plane! We had to get a picture of it! We decided this was the plane we were traveling on to get back to the states! We knew we would be safe!

 

      Anyway, we all finally got back to the vans, and we took off. We started driving, and you see the roads were a little bit slick. This made it a little bit scary. But we were fine, it has rained before, so we keep going. The driving is going great then all of a sudden it isn't! (Now to get this story you have to understand there are next to no stop signs over here.) We are just driving along, and then out of no where a stop sign comes up! So James slams on his breaks, which means Jim (The van I was in) has to slam on his breaks. Now the roads are extremely wet, and we hit a puddle and start hydroplaning, and skidding out into the middle of the road! Then our van starts to tip! AGH! I saw my life flash before my eyes! I was so scared! No worries we were safe, but I must say this was one of the scariest things I have ever had happen! I thought I was going to die!

   Following our little skid attack, we keep on driving! We drive for about fifteen minutes and then we hear, "Thud, thud, thud!" Yup that's right our van of thirteen girls now has a flat tire! ha ha! So we hop out of the van and it's time to change the tire! It was quite the adventure! Who would have thought, near death experience, and a flat tire all in the same day! It was rather scary!

       We fixed the flat tire, and all was well! We were just praying we made it back home after that! We called ourselves the adventure van! But good news we did! We made it back just in time for a baked potato dinner, and then a nice movie night! We watched a Walk to Remember. It was such a good night! We were all just glad to be back home and safe, and no longer in the adventure van!

Saturday in Rotorua

Agrodome Sheep Show/OGOing/Karaoke

     I know you all thought to yourself this morning..."Hmm, what am I going to do today?" You then answered with, "I know, I think I'll go to a sheep show." Okay, so you probably really didn't do this, but I did ha ha! Don't even worry, now I know you think that this is a highly attended event, so we need to make sure we are there SUPER DUPER early! We wouldn't want to be waiting in line, or miss out on being in the front row, so I kid you not, we were there 1 hour early! Sitting in our seats (front row) waiting for the show! ha ha! 

 

     Okay, so I was a little bit making fun of this, because I'm going to be honest and I didn't think this sounded like the most exciting thing, but as I have found, usually what I think sounds boring, and Dr. J thinks sounds fun and has us do, turns out to be really cool. So of course it was! ha ha!

      Anyway, so really though, we got to the Agrodome an hour early for the show! I can't even believe how early we were there. It was crazy! Then we all even sat on the front row and we fit! Anyway, we waited there for about five minutes of the hour, then we decided we would just walk around and see what was around! We started out in the gift shop. Great place to start right? ha Well there was heaps of wool stuff. I've decided it is really soft! Then after we had walked around they had started bringing in some of the sheep. Neeley, Nicole, Emily and I decided we would go snap a few shots with the sheep!

 

(Yup, this is Emily and I as sheep! I know laugh it's a good one!)

[This is the sheep and I (the position I was sitting in on stage) we look a lot a like right.]

(Emily and I with the black sheep. Aka Charly Brown)

    Following this, we noticed a nursery! So guess what we did next? We went over to the nursery. I must say I loved this!!! I got to pet baby sheep!! They were so adorable! They fell in love with me. I wanted to bring one home with me, but then I decided I didn't think he would make it through aeroport security. They were adorable! I got to walk right inside the cage and play with them. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the time playing with the baby sheep.

    After this we went back out to our front row seats, and guess what it was time for the show to start! Yeah! First off, I had no idea how many different kinds of sheep there were. They had 19 different sheep that they breed! The picture at the top is showing all the nineteen different breeds! The first of the show they introduced all of the breeds. Then as they were doing this, one of the sheep jumped the little gate thing. I had no idea sheep could jump! Who would have thought! I now get why you count sheep at night! They really can jump! This was news to me! It was pretty funny. After that they got right on to sheering a sheep. I felt bad for the little guy! It was so cute! It also didn't look very comfortable at all. But at the same time, it was really cool to see. Also, I thought you all would be pleased to know, I didn't even get allergic for any of this! I was super proud of myself!

     Pretty sweet right? I know I thought it was pretty cool! Anyway,  after this they called a few people up and they got to milk a cow! It was so funny though he said I want five volunteers, and three of our girls ran up on stage! He definitely meant that he was going to choose five people, but not today...he just let them run up on stage! It was way funny! Following this we got to see them bottle feed a baby lamb! It was the cutest thing ever! Oh my goodness, I want to bottle feed a little baby lamb now! Then they brought out the herding dogs! These dogs were incredible! There was one that herded only with it's eyes! We even got to see it demonstrated! It was a cute little dog, but the eyes were trained, and the sheep knew exactly what he wanted them to do, I'm pretty sure if those eyes were herding me, I would do what they said too! Cutest thing when it was just playing with you, but when it was herding it was the beadiest eyes ever!

     Anyway, that was the end of the sheep show, and it really was pretty cool! I would have never thought it would be as cool as it was, but it really was a lot of fun! The next thing we did was one of the things I was the most excited for! I have been wanting to do this ever since I did my report for the New Zealand class clear back in October. We got to go Zorbing! Only we didn't go to the Zorbing place. You see we found this all out! The Zorb was started by this guy. Then something happened, and the Zorb wasn't being ran very well. So the same guy broke off and started the exact same thing, only called it the OGO. He created a bigger better track, and now it is the thing to do in Rotorua! I must say it may be one of the thousand highlights of my trip! It was a blast!

     Now for a quick little overview of what Zorbing/OGOing is. Pretty much I know everyone at some point in their life has thought, "What would it be like to be a hamster?" Then the next thought everyone has had is, "What would it be like to be Rhino from bolt running around in a little plastic ball everywhere you go?" Well, I can officially say, I can answer that question. OGOing is one of the funniest things ever! Pretty much you go up to the top of the hill. Then there is a giant plastic ball with a hole cut out for people to get in. They fill it partly up with water, die the water, then you climb in, and then they roll you down the hill! I know this sounds crazy, but it was SO much fun! We went in groups of three, and then we even got to race each other! Emily, Christine and I were in one and we raced against Neeley, Nicole, and Becca! Now's your time to place bets on which team you think will win (little hint, if I would have lost...I wouldn't have told you about the race.) Anyway, so we decided who we were racing, then we got in the SUV,  and they took us up the hill!

   We get to the top of the hill, and we have a little play session with the camera! We take a picture with all of us going down, then the teams! After this it was time to decide the team's colors! We died our water green! Then we were in the yellowish OGOing ball! Then the other team selected blue, and they had a blueish ball. Anyway, then came the best part! We got to superman dive into the ball! I was a little bit scared, but then it was really so much fun! I loved it! You jumped through this little hole, then you sloshed into the water and then stood up and you were in the ball! SO MUCH FUN! 

 

     Now it was time for the race to begin! The guy stood at the gate, and said three, two, one GO! Then we were off! Running down the hill. Okay that's a joke! We started out running, and we lasted about a whole thirty seconds! From there we were just slipping and sliding all over each other! It was absolutely hilarious! We were laughing the entire time down the hill! It was so much fun! Who knew being a hamster could be so much fun! I think I may open one of these in Utah, because it pretty much was the coolest thing ever! 

(Check out how far the yellow ball is ahead of the blue ball! Feel free to change your bets if you need to.)

   Now doesn't that just look like one of the funniest things you could ever do? I know it really was! It was definitley one of the top things I have done here. And by one of the top things, it just goes in with everything else, because every week I say I have a new top funniest thing, and they are all just equal! Anyway, we got to the bottom, and we had the winners jump! We did AWESOME! It was a blast!

 

      Then we decided since we all did it, we all needed to have a picture in front of the OGO ball! This was a memory that all sixteen of us had that we had to capture! 

 

    Once we had all finished OGOing, it was time for us to head back to the house. We went in and cooked dinner! We had hamburgers and chips! It was surprisingly very good! And guess what else I even cooked the hamburgers...yes that's right family, I touched the raw meat! I knew you would be very proud of me! Then after dinner it was the karaoke battle! We karaoked for the rest of the night! It was so much fun! I got the award! I won best song for Total Eclipse of the Heart...and Time after Time...and Grease! I know I am a rock star! Next time you see me be sure to ask me to sing them for you! You will be super impressed! Anyway, that was the end of our Saturday, and it was such a good day in Rotorua! It was another great "Educational Experience"...aka holiday!

Friday in Hamiliton

Temple Experience

I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday. To feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, a place for love and beauty, I'll prepare myself while I am young. This is my sacred duty. 

 I love to see the temple, I'll go inside someday. I'll cov'nant with my Father, I'll promise to obey. For the temple is a Holy place, where we are sealed together. As a child of God I've learned this truth, A Family is Forever. 

-Lds Primary Children's Hymn Book 

      This easily was the highlight of the trip! I have been looking forward to this day for so long! There is something I didn't realize I took for granite until I came over here, and that is having a temple so close. I know I don't go as often as I should, but it's nice to have the option of being able to go when I want to go, and not having to travel to get there. I have so much respect for temple going members that don't have a temple near them. I will definitely be attending even more frequently than I did before I left for New Zealand. Anyway, I have been missing going to the temple, and today I finally got to go. 

       We were picked up very early! We were told to be dressed in our temple attire, and be ready to go! We then drove down to Hamiliton. This was about a two and a half hour drive. That doesn't sound like very much, but when you don't have a car to drive two and a half hours is ages away. This is why I was glad I was here with a group who came to the temple! We got there and the temple was gorgeous! It was set up on a hill, and just absolutely stunning!

       

  

         We were really blessed. We were able to go in and do baptisms for the dead! I loved it so much. No matter where you are the temple is always the same. The spirit is so strong. It was such a calming effect on me, and brings me so much peace. I love how I can go to the temple and it feels just like home. There truly isn't a better place in the world than the temple. It was an incredible experience!

      After we had done our Baptisms, we went to the temple cafeteria and had lunch. It was such a good home cooked meal! It even tasted like home cooked food. And by home cooked food I mean American food. We had roast beef, veggies, potatoes, and apple crisp for dessert. It all tasted so good! Following lunch we walked over to the visitors center. In here, we got to go explore a round a tiny bit. After exploring, we went in and watched a movie about Matthew Cowley. Matthew Cowley was an incredible missionary. He was the main influence in helping bring the gospel to the Maori people. He came over here and severed his mission and taught himself the Maori language. By doing this he gained the respect of several of the Maori people. Then he returned to the states. Later on in his life he returned and served as the mission president for the New Zealand mission. This was really neat to see how the gospel came to the Maori people. Matthew Cowley seems like an incredible man. 

     After the movie was over, we concluded our temple journey. It truly was the most amazing thing. I loved everything about it. The peace that it brings, and the joys that come along with the temple are experiences I will never forget.

     Following the temple, we continued our drive down to Rotorua where we would be staying for the next couple of days. We got there, and we stayed at a house. We stayed with the Bronze family. The kiwi people are so incredibly nice. I can't imagine having 18 people come intrude on my house and just take over while I am living there, but the kiwi people love it and embrace it. They welcome all and more into their homes. This is something I will never understand, but am grateful for the experiences. It was a pretty home. The biggest home I have seen since I have been over here. We all had a lot of fun staying in one home together! 

     After we got there, we ate dinner, then had a little bit of time to relax. We played a few card games, and talked, and the best part of what we did that night, was make a list. Some of the girls decided they wanted to make a list of when all of the girls in the group would be married! This was the funniest thing I have ever listened to in my life! I'd like you all to know, I was voted on being last! They think I will be the one who travels, and works a little before I get married! I was completely okay with this! I felt like that was a great place for me on the list! Following this, we headed to bed. We had a early day in the morning.