Happy Valentine's Day

Sunday, February 14, 2010
It is Sunday evening and we have had a nice day. The bishop’s father-in-law picked us up this morning to drive us to the Cashmere Ward building which is located on the south side of Christchurch. The drive took about 20 minutes. Christchurch is one stake. The ward is very friendly and welcomed us wonderfully well. It was nice to actually go to all the meetings and be with Jack. Isn’t it amazing how we are all the same worldwide? The ward is made up of all ages. We expected the Maori but there are also many Samoans and Tongans.
We bought a car yesterday and will get it licensed Tuesday or Wednesday. It is a 2003 Mazda with a lot of miles but a great price. I think it will be fine for five months. It is a station wagon and a bit larger than what we were looking at. I now hope we can get this driving on the other side of the road down.
Sims is in front of the cricket field. I guess the cricket season starts in about a month. We can walk through a hedge and sit on the benches right behind our house. We don’t know much about cricket but I guess we will learn. Lincoln University has about 4500 students, 45% are foreign students. We are realizing we have a wonderful opportunity to be exposed to a lot of different cultures. There was a young couple at church who came this week from Germany to attend Lincoln. We also met the woman over the students association who is LDS. We are really enjoying all we are meeting.
Jack and I have both mentioned how glad we are to be together on this excursion. There was a professor a couple of years ago who left his family home and came by himself. We can’t even imagine that. We have enjoyed the time together. The students come this week and there are several days of orientations. I hope to take many more pictures to show you where we are.
Family, thank you for all your support the past several years. Jack and I feel so blessed to be able to come here. We will keep writing.
Love ya!