"You're the Head Boy of our family"

In her 6-year-old way, Joyce has been keeping up with happenings of her older siblings, including Oak's selection as one of four boys in the final round of candidates for head boy at New Plymouth Boys' High School.  In the kitchen one day, as Mike and I asked Oak about his prospects, Joyce gave her verdict.  As if it was all that mattered, she told Oak, "You're the Head Boy of OUR family."

Oak has had two high school experiences lately that are very different than my own high school experiences:  the selection process for student government and taking the ACT.

The selection process for student government started with an year-long leadership seminar option or boys in their junior year of high school.  At the end of the year, 25 boys were invited by the faculty to a leadership camp.  Camp was a mix between team-building and boot camp, and the boys were watched carefully by the headmaster and other teachers who attended.  Boys who were interested in student leadership then submitted a lengthy written application.  A few of the boys were then asked to give a speech to the entire school faculty and staff.

The final selection process was a 40-minute interview.  Oak was interviewed at length by the headmaster and six other faculty members.  They asked questions like "Who are you?  In your speech you talked about your two older brothers, but who are you?" and  "Are you ready to be head boy and how long have you been ready?"

The faculty also gave Oak some personal criticism.  They told Oak that they noticed that he wore his sandal straps down, although they noticed that he'd "upped his game" the last couple of terms.  (Oak responded by saying it was a bad habit, but it didn't reflect any negative attitudes he had toward the uniform policy at the school.  He jokingly added that it would help him relate to the other boys, since almost everyone had problems meeting uniform code at one point or another.)

The faculty also told Oak that they'd noticed that he was either just on time or 1 minute late for his first class in the morning.   (Oak said that he rides his bike to school so he gets to decide when to leave in the morning.  If he arrives early, all the other boys are just on their phones waiting for the teacher, and he felt he could use his time more effectively at home, so he spends as much time there as he can.)



Oak was then asked to pick one of the faculty who were in the room and offer constructive criticism.  (Oak picked a Mr. M - "I appreciate the total silence you get at assemblies; it feels great when we are totally unified.  I would suggest that you work on relationships with boys outside of assembly so boys know you care.")

In addition to going through this high school selection process, Oak has also had the interesting experience of taking the ACT exam.

I heard all the details about Oak's ACT exam at the end-of-year Tiger Jacket awards dinner.  Stories from Mr. Leath have been one of my favorite parts of the Tiger jacket awards dinner.  Here's the one from Noah's year.  Danny's year was memorable because Danny was picked as Performer of the Year.

This year, the dinner was memorable because of Mr. Leath's entertaining monologue about administering the ACT exam to Oak.  Mr Leath had only administered the exam one other time, but the ACT exam board had instituted new security measures since then.  For Oak's exam, the ACT board had sent a massive briefcase, similar to a fire-proof box, to Oak's school.  Mr. Leath had to take a photo of the lock on the box, of the lock on the door of the room, and of the school security system.  Each from multiple angles.  All photos had to be sent back to the ACT board.

Mr Leath was already finding the situation hilarious and full of potential hacks, but if that wasn't bad enough, there was the additional security measure of two padlocks on the fireproof briefcase.  The code for the two padlocks was to be sent from the USA to Mr Leath just minutes before Oak started the exam.

On Saturday morning, Oak arrived for the exam, the ACT sent the code....however, the code only opened one of the padlocks.   So, Mr. Leath gets on the phone to the USA and spent half an hour waiting for several people to talk to their supervisors, but nobody could tell him how to open the other padlock. Finally one of them suggested that Mr Leath get his "maintenance engineer" to cut open the padlock.  (Mr. Leath was splitting his sides at this point!  "Maintenance engineer!!!" he kept saying.)

He walked to the office of another teacher who had one of those big chain-cutters in his office (?!) and seemed to find great satisfaction in using the giant hedge trimmer, or whatever it was, to personally bust into the fire-proof box (taking pictures before and after for the ACT board).

Oak got to start the exam 40 minutes late.  Mr Leath got a funny story to tell about Americans, confirming several stereotypes about American, I'm afraid.

PS - Oak chosen as deputy head boy for 2018!!!

autobiographical sketch from Joyce

On the way to a shared Thanksgiving.  Such a fun afternoon together in the kitchen!

Books

Shrinking Youth Program

How important is a large youth program?

The first week that we came to the New Plymouth branch, we helped push attendance over 100 for one of the first times in quite a few years.  For the next couple of years, we were comfortable over 100 every week, but lately attendance has been dropping.  (People moving out.)



This pictures shows our YW/YM program.  YM president on the left, and then our four active youth. 

Erin and Kira, the awesome YW presidency, are not pictured.  There's two other girls, Aisha and Caroline, that sometimes come, too.

Since this picture was taken, however, John just got sent to live with his family in Auckland, and Ellie's family has announced plans to move away in the next 6 months.  In other words, it looks like Oak and Mercy will be the only two active youth in our branch in a few months.



Parallel to the shrinking youth program, is our shrinking branch attendance.  Recently, we had 51 people at sacrament meeting, causing one knowledgeable old-timer to remark that it was the lowest attendance in 15 years.

Our youth program is not big, but it is thriving in important ways.  My kids come home from activities feeling happy.  They are in relationships with impressive adults who care about them.  Their teachers prepare good lessons and try to tailor them specifically to the kids.  I couldn't ask for better youth leaders.  The time commitment being asked of my kids seems about right.  Oak and Mercy are sharing experiences with each other in a way that wouldn't be possible in a bigger youth program. 

The district has a youth devotional every month where we see kids from the nearby branches.  In addition, there is an EFY-type program every other year in Auckland for youth from the entire region. 

I feel like our kids are thriving in the youth program here.

******

Halloween:  not a big deal in New Zealand, but Oak happened to get invited to a Halloween party...

This picture cracks me up!

Bush Boy and Jason (living up to his nickname, "Jay-Swan") arriving at a party in Oakura.

Overheard as I drove Oak to the party, as he was persuading Jason to

actually show up, "let's just go be muppets together."

When one of the princesses scrapes her knees doing a twirl.

Orienteering in Napier

National Orienteering club event in Napier.  Oak's been a regular, so Mike and I decided to go see what orienteering events are all about.

photobomb by Oak

waiting around

Friday - short course

Saturday - medium course

Sunday - long course

Monday - relays

It was really low-key event, not crowded.  Competitors of all ages.  The most exciting moment was Jason asking Nathan Fa'avae to sign his hat.  Florian Schneider, an orienteer from Switzerland, won all of the elite events.

waiting at the finish line

love the backcountry orienteering courses-
runners came down the hill on the right and through the bush.  Plenty of mud.

evenings at the backpacker - pool and watching rugby on Saturday night.

Our family missed the Sunday event (the long course) in favour of going to church and then hiked to Shine Falls in the afternoon.

Church happened to be especially interesting - ran into Tof's family, met a gay man who's getting baptized after listening to Mormon Stories for a few years, German psychologist Sunday School lesson about why we need to turn hearts of children to the fathers, RS lesson from a Maori woman who lovingly described her children and grandchildren as "Latter-day Ain'ts" but takes comfort from how beautifully her son sings "Praise to the Man" when he's drunk. 

Shine Falls - Oak and Mercy brave the cold water.

I know this might seem like a strange photo, but I love what it captures.  Mike, who had been driving, stops the car to take a photo.  I took this picture of him from the front passenger seat.  I've loved road trips wherever we've lived!

the Taranaki team

my first time to Napier

Books of the Week

This was a fun audiobook for the 5-hour drive...  lots of laughs

and interesting insight into history. 

"like Santa in mufti" 

Thanks, Jen!  Wish you were here to discuss...

On to Otago!

12:55PM.  Our appointment at the consulate was at 1PM.  

We got to Auckland parking lot 5 min before our appointment to renew passports at the consulate. We made it in 4 hours and 41 min- we didn't even stop going over Mount Messenger for girls to throw up - just threw it out the window as we drove.  Since we were up north, we decided to camp for a couple of nights at Murewei Beach.  

Murewei features a gannet colony and wind surfers.

 .

Mocks start next week.  Oak spent one afternoon studying in the camp kitchen
and another morning studying in the camp laundry room. 

part of the Hillary trail

"Yes!  More stairs!"  - Joyce enjoys counting stairs.  This time there were 235.

It seemed like you could look up the beach all the way to the northern tip of the island.
This is Murewei beach - just west of Auckland.

lunchtime

"I figured out how to sleep while standing up!"

We drove to Whatipu for our final day.

 .  . 

Danny:  What was your favorite part of the trip?
Joyce:  How dirty I got!

sea caves

gorse in bloom

We listened to the audiobook with this new cover, but I like the old cover from when I was a kid much better (see below).

Mike:  What did you listen to on your drive?
Joyce:  "On to Otago!"

General Conference Adventures

Conference weekend is the best!  Joyce and Sage and I went to Spotlight on Wednesday and bought a bunch of fun sewing supplies to expand the possibilities in the mending box.  During conference, I mended.  The girls did a little mending but spent more time doing the fun sewing.

Beebes made a tooth pillow (not shown) and this sequinned letter "J".  

Sage made a bathrobe for her dog.  This project is telling; Sage has lately taken to wearing her bathrobe through the morning.  Since Sage wakes up late, and likes to take it slowly, her mornings (and her bathrobe) can last quite a long time, especially on the weekends.  

Other memorable Conference moments....

All the kids got a pack of Bertie Bott's beans.  They might be old news other places in the world, but they are a novelty in NZ.  I bought them in London, actually.  Joyce and Mercy tricked Mike by giving him a vomit-flavored bean which he thought was peach.  There was a lot of spitting out and groaning when the packages got opened in the middle of the Sunday afternoon session.  

Immediately after Sunday afternoon session, we set off on a 90-minute drive through Taranaki farmlands to have dinner with the Swansons in Patea.

I've never driven so far for a dinner appointment before.  We decided to accept the Swanson's invitation based on the recommendation of the last two sets of senior missionaries who served in the Hawera branch (Taylors and Cochrans).  Both of these couples told us that eating with the Swansons was one of their most memorable experiences in New Zealand.  Based on these strong recommendations, we decided to give it a go.



 .
Swansons have 8 kids and live in a hotel that is over a century old.  They bought the hotel fully furnished. 
 
The noise level, the industrial kitchen where the kids cook most of the meals, the "damns" and "dammits" (not considered swear words in NZ), the accounts of ghosts in the hotel halls and old stable grounds, the potion-master inventory, the toddler's survival skills, the food, the good will, the dinner debate about the older boys' future careers, the district matchmaking (Swansons are already matchmaking for their oldest sons, ages 18 and 16.  Noah, the Swansons think that your best possibilities are Tiffany or one of the twins from Waitara, especially since you only have a couple of months between mission and uni) . . . . dinner with Swansons did NOT disappoint.


After dinner, when the younger Swanson kids invited Joyce and Sage to go play, they both looked at me with wide eyes.  I intervened to suggest that the girls stick with me and go on the 'grand tour 'of the hotel and soap business with the older folks.   Joyce and Sage weren't the only ones in our family who felt awed by the energy level at the Swanson's.  On the way home, Mike said to Mercy, "It seemed like you were pretty quiet."
Mercy laughed and said, "No point in saying anything - no one could hear me."

.

I have even warmer feelings for the Swansons now than I had before this memorable visit.  Thank you, Swanson!
http://www.tigerlillys.co.nz/


Jess, Levi and Aslan stayed with us for a couple of days.  They were here with Oak the previous weekend when Mike and I took the girls to Te Awamutu for a piano competition.

Books from the last few weeks:

Thanks, HollyS.  Such a vivid memoir.

I'll never sing "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise" in Primary quite the same way
again after reading Weber...

Question:  If a capitalist could 'hang on' to the religious underpinnings to his/her reasons for work, to a sense of calling, could the 'iron cage,' the rat race, be avoided?