January 28 – February 5, 2017

Last fall, Lelu was in a major quandary as to what direction she wanted to take with her life.  Every single one of her friends were either 1) on a mission 2) married or 3) in a serious relationship heading to marriage. She was pretty much asked daily either “are you going on a mission? or when are you getting engaged or what are you majoring in?”   For heaven’s sake, she’s only NINETEEN!  There are SO many other choices in this world for girls who are nineteen than what seems to be expected in the UT mormon bubble.(Don’t get me started…)  She knows she doesn’t want to go on a mission – but that does not imply that she is questioning her faith.  After one particularly difficult week of her feeling pulled in multiple directions, a thought popped into my head about an Outdoor Leadership School that Michelle T. had told us about years ago.  Aub went on a small scale adventure with them about 9 years ago.  I knew they did them all over the world, so I mentioned it to Lelu as an alternative to staying in Provo for Winter semester.  New Zealand had always held this magical charm in her mind, she loves hiking, hates the winter and jumped right on it.  (And yes, I do understand the significance and unusual position that we are in, that we can afford to make these opportunities happen and am grateful everyday).

Much to TT’s anger and irritation, as he also has his sights set on NZ to go mountain biking — and feels a real sense of ownership over the whole country — he honestly told her that she’s “stealing his dream”… we put it in motion.  Lelu did everything required all on her own, aside from making travel arrangements. Since I only have class once a week this semester, it made it possible for B and I to go with her a week ahead and do some sightseeing together before she started.

Oh man, did we love New Zealand!  The large majority of every Kiwi (that’s what they call themselves) we met was unbelievably friendly, helpful, kind and optimistic.  Their accent is not strong enough to have a hard time understanding and they use frequent terms of endearment when just speaking to each other on a regular basis.  Every single person we told about her program was incredibly excited and confident she was going to have a life changing and grand adventure. That’s not even mentioning how beautiful it is.
The day we arrived, I decided to try Uber from the airport since I had gained some confidence in New York using it.  Our driver was originally from South Africa, amazingly friendly and recommending things and then sheepishly asked since we were from UT if we were members. He then excitedly told us he was a bishop there in Auckland getting his PhD in business analytics.  His name is Hans and I promise you, meeting him was no coincidence, it was serendipitous!  For so many reasons….

We were staying in the hotel across from the skytower and on a whim, both Lelu and B decided to jump off of it a couple hours after arriving.  It’s like a controlled bungee jump from 45 stories above the ground.  This was my view from below before they jumped. B was so jet-lagged that he doesn’t hardly remember what possessed him to go for it.  But they both loved it!

The next day we went over to the island Waiheke and biked with a guide named Jacqui.  Lelu and I were kind of sneaky (not telling B beforehand) taking them up on their recommendation to get e-bikes as it is “very hilly”.  I haven’t been training at all and I knew I would suffer. I also knew there was no way B would want an e-bike — as he pretty much dominates mountain biking.  We still had to pedal, but that extra little push was the bomb! And wow did he work hard to catch up to us on those hills.

We biked up to a zip line.  She will hate this photo but I think it’s hilarious. At the bottom of the zips we hiked back up through “the bush”.  These trees are called the grandfather of the bush as they are hundreds of years old. If you can reach your hands all the way around and touch, it’s considered good luck.  This is B just making it.

I am pretty sure we all agree that this was our favorite day. Exercise, sun, beaches, zip lining, a picnic lunch in amazing beauty. Wow. And I love the e-bike!

Day 2

We left B behind to work at the hotel, since he gets terrible motion sickness in a helicopter. We flew up the west coast, landed and went to middle earth, flew back across the North Island to the other coast and over Auckland.  This day was a hair behind our favorite first day, only because B couldn’t go with us. Here is our tiny toy helicopter.  Weird little fact: I don’t get the least bit anxious in a helicopter, like I do an airplane — I really love it and think it must be what a bird feels like.  

This is Hobbiton – the fact that Peter Jackson saw this from the air and created from his imagination middle earth and the Shire is truly genius.  I’ll be honest, I thought this might be dumb, but everything is real and is maintained by the extras that were in the movie from the area.  The are 41 Hobbit homes, with vegetable gardens and bee hives, every tree but the oak above Bag Inn is also real.  This was Peter Jackson’s perspective from the air.

Auckland city..See the skytower that they jumped off of? You can also bungee jump off the bridge, but we passed up on that thrill ride.Day 3

We took a bus 3 hours one way to go see these glow worm caves.  Then 3 hours back.  Not worth it.  Can’t take any photos in there at all, they are freakishly anal about it and the glow worm part lasts about 3 minutes.  The worms glow but also hang down this snot string to catch their food.  That’s kind of a gross sight and thought.  Inside the regular stalagtite and stalagmite part of the cave they said it was good luck to get dripped on with water (not snot).  B got dripped on once and I did 3 times and that was the highlight of the tour.

Day 4

Hans contacted us and asked if he could take us on a tour of some really cool areas, so we spent the day with him seeing the black sand beaches, some cute little villages, volcano rock cliffs and a bird nesting area with a stop off for gelato, shopping and lunch at an outdoor cafe.This was an ancient volcano.this is Hans.  He reminded us so much of Maruan.  He was a great tour guide, conversationalist, smart, laughing and happy and once again — we were so grateful we met him.  He said if Lelu had any trouble at all, he’d be available anytime to help her.  

Day 5

We went and had breakfast in this cute beach town.  Hans dropped us off as he was on his way to a baptism of a little Mauri girl and then came back and took us all to the airport. I flew home alone and B and Lelu got on a plane to the South Island where she was being picked up.  He got to meet a few of the kids in her program.  Lelu met one of the girls who was staying in her hotel and was invited to go meet the rest of them for pizza.  The girl she met is from Vermont and they bonded immediately. After she was picked up by the school, B then rented a mountain bike and explored a little bit of the South Island on his own. This was our last day together.

Meanwhile back in Draper, the twins were being well taken care of by a team of Courtney, Christina, Maddie and then Courtney again through all of their busy schedules.  So much gratitude…

Here’s a little rundown of what it is she is up to:

Her program is on the South Island.

It is 11 students between the ages of 18 and 22 and 3 guides.

She is off the grid for 30 days backpacking through the most beautiful valleys, learning about the environment, climatology, leadership skills and survival skills.  (they have no poisonous snakes or natural predators) We should hear from her around March 9th

Then she is sea kayaking in the Marlborough Sound (this is not too far from where all those whales have been beached, so she will be exposed to some sad events) and camping on the beaches for the next 30 days, learning about tides, geology and water skills – also off the grid. We should hear from her around April 7.

Then she is on a sail boat in the same area, learning all about sailing for two weeks – off the grid.  All of this learning earns her 6 elective college credits. We talked to her once on the phone before she left for the backpacking part. They went to stay with a Mauri tribe for a couple days.  There were two missionaries there and she said she talked to them for about an hour.  One was from UT and his previous companion was one of her friends from Corner Canyon. I have so much peace knowing that even 7000 miles away and off the grid, she can find some “family”.

So so so much faith and prayers going on in our home right now.  Worse than a mission not hearing from her for 30 days at a time….sooo many prayers. What a courageous amazing girl we have.