Adventures in Paradise Volume 2 #57

Kia ora! Our excellent adventure continues with news of a garden party. Last week, as I sat in the shade of Fejoa trees, and listened to the banter that surrounded me, I was reminded of a song by Ricky Nelson. The opening line of his 1972 hit tells of a garden party that he attended where he reminisced with his old friends. In truth, Ricky’s garden party took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, thousands of miles away from our little island. But that song kept looping through my memory as I enjoyed the lazy afternoon, the cool shade and reminiscing with my new friends.

Although we travel extensively as part of our mission duties, our assignment as prescribed by our mission president, is to minister to the members of the Manutuke branch. That little branch, encompasses several tiny villages, including, Muriwai, Manutuke and Patutahi, and we are thrilled if thirty people happen to arrive for Sunday services! You may then imagine that we were equally thrilled when over two-thirds of our little branch attended the BBQ at the home of the Browns. I thought that you might enjoy, if only from a distance, the sights and sounds of our little gathering. We would like you to meet some of the members of the Manutuke branch

Our garden party is better known here as a BBQ. Unlike the hamburger, hot dog and potato salad menus at home, there are grilled sausages served on buttered bread, cabbage salad and lots of fresh fruit. At home, we would suggest a pot luck party; here you are told to "bring a plate."  By the way, Joseph Stevens is wearing the white ball cap and he was baptized the next week. 

This is my favorite photo of the day. Samantha (who is blind) is enjoying a laugh with Ross Honey. Ross is the only non-Maori in our little branch. An interesting side note is that Samantha does not shop for clothing. As a sister missionary is leaving for home, I ask if she has any clothes that she would like to leave behind. I take those to Samantha and we put together outfits for her. She is wearing one of those outfits in this photo!

This is Samatha's son, Jimmi. I keep telling her how beautiful he is and she always replies that she already knows.

As we waited for dinner, the young Elders presented a short message. I forgot to mention that there is always an abundance of fresh fish dishes available as well.

Jenine Brown and her daughter, Ihipera are enjoying a happy moment together. They are the wife and daughter of the branch president.

Jack and his father, Mefe, were waiting patiently for the sausages. Their last name is Whaitiri. In Maori a "wh" combination is pronounced as an F sound and an R sounds like a D. I have spent 18 months totally confused and afraid to address people by their names!

This is Caleb West. He and his wife, Libby just announced that their first baby is due in the fall. The man in the green shirt in the background is our branch president and this is his garden.

And here are two more members of the West family. Mark West works in forestry and his crews  are part of those charged with planting and maintaining the timber crop. If you promise not to tell, Mark's son Eru is close to being engaged, so please keep that secret.. Also try and guess how to pronounce his name.

 Samantha shares a laugh with a new friend that she met at the garden party.

As many of you are no doubt aware, Ricky Nelson did not enjoy his time at the garden in 1972 and vowed never to return.   His disappointment over the negative response he received gave him the inspiration for his song, so at least one positive thing resulted from that experience. I have been humming the last line of that song for about a week and although it has remained a continuous recording in my head, I would suggest that Ricky was only partially correct in his sentiments.  “It’s all right now and I’ve learned my lesson well. You can’t please everyone so you might as well please yourself.”  While I know it’s not possible to please everyone, the lesson we have learned  is there is often great joy in joy in the trying. Pleasing someone else is one way to make ourselves a little happier as well.

Our little garden party was far more successful for those who attended than was the far more famous one held over forty years ago. Ricky would choose never to return, but we would do it a again in a microsecond. We will cherish  reminiscing with people who will become our old friends and although there was no song born as a byproduct of this event, there was a blog created that allowed you have the opportunity to meet our friends and acquire a small sense of our experiences here. Perhaps I should blog in reverse, and leave our New Zealand friends with the opportunity to meet our friends at home!

As always  we are happy and trying to work hard. Along with our over- sized luggage, we will be returning home with larger than life memories. We have now entered that time of a mission where we have one foot in one life and one foot in the other. As much as we look forward to gathering in gardens at home, we will always be aware that others are gathering without us here in our other home. Yet, we are grateful for the memories that please us and for the gift of reminiscing.

Love, Ward and Susan    Elder and Sister Belliston, serving in Gisborne, Zealand