Yesterday, we flew to Wellington, capital of New Zealand,
for a training session with multi-stake directors of public affairs. Public affairs is foreign to most members in
Salt Lake since for the most part, the Church handles all issues. However, outside Salt Lake it is a vital part
of Church relationships intra- country and more specifically with governmental,
media and community opinion leaders.
This is accomplished through local members since as missionaries, we are
gone in 18 months and the relationships are ongoing.
Dedication of the local leadership is truly
inspirational. For example, our director
for Wellington and the South Island is Sister Riwai-Couch. Sister Couch, maiden name McDonald of
Scottish descent, is the mother of five, a middle school principal, Phd
candidate, wife of a bishop and 11 year public affairs director. The area seventy is President Thomson (yes,
no “p” in Thomson for those with a critical eye), a bank officer and a
delight. Before beginning the training
meeting, we met in the high council room with 6 stake presidents and the
Wellington Mission President to review public affairs and solicit additional
support. Well received.
Last week we reviewed public affairs training provided to
general authorities prior to General Conference. Apostle L. Tom Perry is head of that
committee together with Apostle Tad Callister.
Both are visionaries and see clearly the power of social media. They spoke of the “millennial generation”,
young adults between the ages of 18 – 35 who are less committed to the principals
of faith but faithful to social media.
It is a tool to spread messages of faith which leads me to a second
topic.
Public affairs primary mission is three-fold: faith, family and religious freedom. I have addressed the topic of religious
freedom in a prior blog so I won’t bore you again save to state the Church is
coming together with NZ faiths to form interfaith councils. The idea is we have common interests, values
and objectives. To that extent, we
should work together. While we have
theological differences, secularly, we have much larger battles to fight. In June, a large NZ inter-faith council will
be held in Dunedin. We are also busy
organizing inter-faith roundtables in various communities.
Today, Sunday, was somewhat unusual. Carol and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting, then taught
Gospel Doctrine (wow, never a dull day in the Old Testament) and then, due a
sudden absence, taught priesthood. Full day.
On May 5th, we celebrated our 44th
wedding anniversary by having dinner in the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tall, 722 foot monolith
in the picture above on the right side.
The restaurant makes a complete circle every hour. The attached pictures are from the
observation deck taken through the windows and therefore, reflect some interior
lights.
We miss you all but are both blessed and glad to be
here. As they say in NZ at the end of a
conversation, “cheers”.
