Kia orana! Our excellent adventure continues with some thoughts on Yogi Berra and one of his more famous quotes. It was 1960 and the beginning of an amazing decade for the New York Yankees. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were in their prime and hitting one home run after another. As I recall, that decade featured a contest of sorts to see who would break Babe Ruth's home run record first, and Mantle and Maris were racing towards that goal neck and neck. The world was watching and it was exciting. One day, Yogi Berra, who was the Yankee catcher, watched from the dugout as once again Mantle and Maris hit back-to-back home runs . The story goes that as Yogi noted yet another pair of back-to-back homers, he was heard to observe," It's Deja vu all over again."
Ward and I are about to experience our own version of Deja vu, as we trade in our Cook Island "Kia orana" hello for the Kiwi version, which is "Kia ora". We are about to set forth on a new and wonderful adventure in Paradise as we prepare to leave for New Zealand! All over again, we look forward to spending time with and serving the people that we love. So many of our friends form the Cook Islands now reside in Hamilton and surrounding areas, that we truly feel that we are going home. Our Deja vu is an eighteen month call to the New Zealand, Hamilton mission and we couldn't be more excited. So, again, we are preparing to live on a beautiful island, albeit, a much larger one than the last time. Our greetings will still be kisses on the cheek, bear hugs and huge smiles. We will now be welcomed with "Kiora" instead of "Kia orana" and we will still be taking off our shoes as a sign of respect before entering the homes. I have had to upgrade a bit from flip-flops to real shoes, and I may actually need a sweater or two for the Hamilton version of winter, but we will cope. We are going home all over again, Yogi, and we are thrilled!
I am struck by the difference in my attitude from one of our adventures to the other. There is no fear of the unknown. There is no angst or concern about living situations. There is instead, great peace, and I have always found the presence of peace to be an indicator that all is well. Many years ago, I attended the going-away reception of an army colonel and his wife. They were being assigned to yet another posting and that assignment would last three to five years. As an young and fairly inexperienced mover, I could not imagine what it would be like to move from place to place as often as that family did and to do it happily, especially since they had no part in the placement. They were not choosing their new direction; they were being assigned and I found that idea unsettling. In speaking with the colonel's wife, I asked her how she managed to keep such a positive attitude move after move. What was her secret? Her response was one that I will never forget. She told me that before each move, she made a conscious decision to choose to believe that the next place she lived would be the best place she had ever experienced. She also confided that she had never been wrong! I learned a valuable lesson during that conversation and it was one that I have never forgotten.
We are going to begin our best ever adventure, the afternoon of November 3, or November 4, if you are using the New Zealand calendar. During our twelve hour flight, we will lose one day but gain so much more that we can begin to imagine. I am particularly anxious to hug the three children that we began loving in the Cooks, who now live in Hamilton. They are a little older now, which only means that they can give bigger hugs. Ivan, the oldest of the three was not just praying for our placement to Hamilton, but in addition to crossing his fingers, he told us that he was crossing his whole body in hopes of having us come "home". Thank you, Ivan. It worked!
Also, thank you Yogi, for giving me the inspiration for the first blog in volume two of our Adventures in Paradise. We will still use the name "Blackrock Bullletin". although we have moved a few hundred miles from that rock in the Pacific. We feel it appropriate to keep the name, as we consider our new home simply an extension of the old one. Although Yogi one stated that he didn't say most of the things that he said, I have found him to be an infinite source of valuable advice. "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else". No chance of that, as we are absolutely aware of where we are headed. "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." We will! "It aint over till it's over." That's because there are always new beginnings.
And my personal favorite: "Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too."
We love you all and please enjoy a baseball game or two in our honor while we are away.And should you be the least bit interested, we will be speaking in Sacrament meeting, Sunday, October 26 at 11:00 am.
Haere Ra (good bye)
Love, Ward and Susan Elder and Sister Belliston, about to be serving in the New Zealand, Hamilton mission.
