Area Leadership Message
Recently I watched a television program about the migration of wild geese. Each year, wild geese fly long distances in order to spend the winter in areas with more moderate climates.
Attending Sacrament meeting each week provides us with the opportunity to reflect on covenants we have made as we partake of the sacred emblems, and in doing so, become renewed The ordinance of the sacrament makes this the most sacred and important meeting in the Church.
I was baptized when I was eight, in Palmerston North. My mother, Shirley, was baptized just before me. We travelled three hours by car from Hawera. We were new converts and unbeknown to us, we were helping grow the Church. President Kimball stated, “If there were no converts, the Church would shrivel and die on the vine.” (Spencer W. Kimball, Oct 1974).
I have always had a great love for the Young Single Adults of the Lord’s church. Maybe this stems from the fact that my parents joined the church in the early 1960’s as YSA before meeting each other and later marrying in the New Zealand temple. Or maybe it relates to my own conversion experiences as a YSA that led to missionary service in Japan from 1986-88, which set a foundation for my life.
While I was serving as a full-time missionary in the Philippines, my girlfriend who was waiting at home in Christchurch, New Zealand, celebrated her 21st birthday. On this special occasion, a good friend gave her an enduring gift. Using his woodworking skills, he carefully crafted a wooden money box in the shape of the Hamilton NZ Temple.
One of the pivotal blessings we have received from the restoration of the gospel in its fullness in this the dispensation of the fullness of times is the establishment once more of holy temples with all the ordinances...
March 2014 Area Message The prophetic exhortation of President Monson to 'go to the rescue' and 'save the one', has found an extraordinary echo in the objectives of the Pacific Area.
Our journey through the Pacific has come to a close; we have referred to the Pacific as: “Paradise, “The Garden of Eden” and “The Other Side of Heaven”.
The first word of the Lord’s preface to His latter-day revelations to man is “hearken.” “Hearken” means to listen carefully, to give due attention, to give strict heed.
Years of service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reflect, in transparent memory, what learning opportunities have been provided mankind to survive a world filled with dreams, challenges and experiences of a lifetime.