Day 6 in NZ

Today was a pretty relaxed day which was kind of nice to have after our past couple of days. We drove to the other side of the Hunua Ranges and hiked some new trails that were just cleared out. Our job was to take down some previous markers on the trees and to replace them with reflectors that we nailed into the trees.

The terrain was still pretty steep, rugged, and muddy but it wasn't as long of a hike as the other days. I was in a group with John (our leader guy), John the ranger, Rosie, Robyn, Lizzie, and Matt. Melanie, Laura, Chrissy, Alana, and Kyle went on a different trail while my group ventured down the canyon, across a stream and up the other side to do our work. We had a lot more stops and go's while replacing the trail markers which was nice. I can tell it's been a while since I worked out last...I'm kind of sore from all these hikes! It's good for me and just what I need to get me going active again. We heard some cool birds but never were able to see any really. Something new that I learned today was how people make their own smokes. John had his own paper and whatever he smoked and I watched him roll up his own cigar during lunch. When we were staying in Auckland I saw a couple of people making their own as well on the streets. I've never seen that done in public before but its probably just the fact that I haven't really been out of Utah much.

Anyways, on the drive to where we went today there was a sign that said "Ness Valley" so they let me take a picture by it! I thought that was really awesome! It was nice of them to stop as well because john said it was on a dangerous part of the highway.

We stopped and did some grocery shopping for dinner since we already went through our stash of $400 worth of food. It was a nice day and not very much rain fell which was a first. The interesting fact of today was that we have to spray our boots with a chemical every time we leave or enter the forest. I guess there is a some disease that kills the trees and they spray the chemical so more doesn't get tracked out or in. Wh0 knows if it really works or not.

I read a couple of talks in the Ensign about temples and marriage tonight and i loved them even though I could hear everyone else throwing out F bombs and whatever else they could think of down the hall while playing card games. The more I am around them, the more blessed I feel to have the quality of life that I do and to have grown up with the parents that I have and the gospel. There is a big difference. Over the past couple of days I've had a couple people ask me about something pertaining to the gospel or question me about Mormon's and the things that we believe in. Its been great to be able to share some of that with them. I wanted more of those opportunities and I was able to do that today. While I was reading the ensign the group asked me what it was so I passed the Ensign around and showed them pictures of the conference center. Laura (our team leader) took most notice to it and took the time to flip through every page to glance over what was in there.
After dinner and card games I was able to talk to her about it for a while which was awesome! She doesn't have a religion but has a couple of friends who are LDS and she knew a little about missions. We just talked about some basics about churches, sacrament, missions and temple marriages a little. It was cool to just be able to talk about religion with her and to leave some thoughts open for her. She was curious about certain things and I just did my best to answer in a way that might make sense to her. Overall it was a good talk and a great day.