MEET THE HASTINGS DISTRICT

Our district in Hastings consists of four elders, two sisters, and us. Our zone leaders live in Napier (about 30 minutes away) and usually come to our district meetings about every other week. Our meetings are held at the Hastings LDS Church on Heretaunga St, usually at 10:30 am, every Wednesday morning. None of the missionaries in Hastings have cars, so everyone is on bikes except for us. Obviously, for travel distances, the zone leaders also have a car. Gas is close to $9.00 a gallon, so even the zone leaders use bikes on P-Days. We seniors foot the bill for the gas we use in addition to $150/month charge for the automobile. We drive an air-conditioned 2010 Toyota Yaris, so we're not complaining. Hastings is pretty flat, so we like to walk as much as possible when we're just running errands.

This is Elder Kim (Korean, but from Auckland, NZ) and Elder Nelson (SLC), our Zone Leaders. They are both great examples of dedicated missionaries.

Introducing Elder Haynes (Australia), our District Leader, and his companion, Elder Fukofuka (Tonga). Elder Haynes goes home this coming Thursday, 19 Jan 2012, and he never talks about going home...he is serving valiantly right up until he flies out. Speculation has it that Elder Fukofuka will be our new DL, and he will also be great...comes from a strong Tongan family who has sent out several missionaries. He has a younger brother who will soon be serving in Pennsylvania.

Here's our sister missionaries: Sister Itaia (ee-ty-yah) is from Kiribati and wanted to be a nun. She prayed to know if that is what she should do and met the LDS missionaries the next day. She has only been a member a few years. Sister Palmer (from Austin, TEXAS, a kindred!) is the senior companion, and her father is the Mission President in one of the Washington State Missions.

And last but not least, here's our newest missionary, Elder Hogge from Alpine, Utah, who has been here five weeks; he is a twin, and his brother is serving in Florida among the Haitian people. He is so enthusiastic and will be a super missionary. His trainer is Elder Tebau, another missionary from Kiribati, and everyone loves him. He is so funny and has the happiest disposition all the time.

This is our district in front of our flat, and it's hilarious to get a group picture with everyone in it. The elders balance about 5 cameras on top of our mailbox, then scurry to get in the picture before all the flashes go off. It's amazing we get any pictures this way, but they're pretty good at it.