The new Mark and Vicki!

This is the new Markie and Vicki, sporting their new Sunday duds! When they first came to church Mark wore a t-shirt, shorts and crocks, and Vicki wore pants.  Since they got baptized, they have bought a new suit, new shoes, and white shirt and tie for Mark, and Vicki has a beautiful skirt with pretty tops.  They have always been beautiful, but are even more beautiful now - and are full of sunshine! We love these two!

Renaldo Kenneth !

Elder Neider has a “name sake” in New Zealand.  Our friends Penny and Tangi  have named their new baby boy, Renaldo Kenneth !  And they ask him to bless the baby today.  This is a sweet family that we went to the temple with, to see them sealed a few months ago.  That was very special. 

Wonderful family!

We invited this beautiful family to dinner and then realized it was the youngest girl's 4th birthday, so I blew up some balloons and got birthday napkins, and the Mom said she would bake a cake.The Sister Missionaries came too. (I forgot to take a picture with them all at the table). After dinner, we sat on the couch and had everyone bear their testimonies.  It was so beautiful!  The mother said, that this was the first birthday party any of their children had ever had and they were so grateful.  She said usually, they just got together and had a prayer and were thankful for the one who was having a birthday!  She said they were poor, and their children understood.  It was such a tender evening!  After that, Dawn opened a little presant from the Sisters and us, and then we had cake and ice cream, and watched the "Testaments" dvd. It was a very special evening!  What a blessing for us to know these sweet people!  The mom and dad are the Young Women and Young Men's presidents in our ward.  They are one family you can count on the be there to support every activity, smiling and happy, and do a big share of the work. They have great faith and are an example to us. We love them! 

Mark and Vicki's Baptism



A beautiful couple!





We call this the tall and short of it!  Our wonderful  Stake President, Jared Ormsby was at their baptism too!



These are our dear friends Mark and Vicki, who were baptized on July 7, 2012, by Bishop Pongia and confirmed on July 8, by Elder Neider.  It was such a lovely day, and we had a luncheon afterwards. 

There were 18 full time missionaries there, (that includes us!) and many of the ward members who came an hour's drive, to Christchurch, to show their support and love.  It has been such a joy to us to meet Mark and Vicki, and see their testimonies grow.  At first it was Vicki, who worked with Bishop Pongia, who was interested and felt the Spirit, and Mark said he would bring her to church and support her, but that he wasn't interested.  After a while, he started feeling the Spirit, and she slowed down.  But finally they both got the Spirit and it has been exciting. They will be such a blessing to the Ashburton Ward! Everyone loves them - but they are pretty easy to love! We are so happy for them!  We love them!!

This sweet family has moved here from Samoa, where they had been inactive since they were teenagers, and had never gotten married.  Since moving here, they have gotten active, and Saturday, Bishop Pongia married them, and then we had dinner for them at our house, to celebrate!  They are so lovely.  Sunday Tasi was put in as a counselor in our Relief Society.  They are a blessing to our Ashburton Ward! We love them!!

Trip to the Temple!

We had the great privilege  of going to the Hamilton Temple  with these dear friends.  Mata went for her first time before she leaves for her mission to Brisbane, Austrailia. Her Grandmother came from Samoa to go with her. Mata felt so pretty in her temple dress!  What a sweetheart!  This beautiful family, was sealed together.  It reminded us of when we went to the temple and were sealed.  It was such a wonderful experience, and they were all so sweet! It was dark and raining hard when we came out of the temple but we had warm hearts!  We love this wonderful family!! And we love Mata!! 

Happy 70th Birthday Elder Neider!

Our wonderful ward had a suprise birthday party for Elder Neider! To start with, Rommel came and picked us up in this beautiful vintage car, and took us to the antique car museum, which they opened just for us!  Kenny had so much fun, looking at the beautiful old cars and talking with the 3 men who showed him around! Then they drove us "to the school, to pick up Rommel's son" and there they had everyone hiding.  When we walked in, everyone had a Elder Neider mask on and said SUPRISE!  It was quite a shock!   They had gone to so much work - red,white, and blue balloons, and birthday banners and a beautiful cake with our family picture on it, and heaps of wonderful food. They had set a special place for us with crystal glasses and real plates!!  They had different people say nice things, and had brought a big screen tv that they played video's of our kids wishing him happy birthday and a slide show of our pictures, and a jib/jab video.  Three Parata sisters did a Maori dance and singing.  Ramon, MC'd and played music from the '60s!  A good time was had by all - even an old 70 yr old! He felt very loved and special! Thank you Ashburton Ward!