Islands of Faith: New Zealand

By Randall R. Ripplinger and Linda Lee Ripplinger

Visit New Zealand at home – we’ll take you there.

Islands of Faith engages the reader in a never-before written collection about the peoples of New Zealand. The volume opens the doors of faithful Kiwis—from Omamari, near the country’s northern tip, to Invercargill, close to the nation’s southern-most point. Au

• Language: English
• Publisher: Islands of Faith
• Release date: May 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9781643161600

Randall R. Ripplinger

Randall and Linda Ripplinger are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with exposure to the church and its peoples in three nations. Following a brief courtship, Randy served as a missionary in New Zealand from 1970-72. When he returned, the pair married in the Salt Lake City Temple. During their life together, Linda dedicated her time to rearing seven children, and, later, as a school teacher for children with special needs. Randall worked as a television news reporter for 20 years. He later entered the public relations arena for two more decades. Job changes gave the growing family exposure to people of different values and cultures throughout Utah, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. After raising their children, the pair again left the U.S. to serve as missionaries in British Columbia, Canada, where they were assigned as authors for the new Canada.lds.org website. The couple published scores of articles for the website during their 23 month assignment. Later, they determined to return to the land of Randy's first mission - New Zealand. For three months, Randall and Linda scoured the islands, searching for stories of faith. After hearing scores of inspiring accounts from Matauri Bay in the northland, to Invercargill on the south, the pair put the compelling stories to print. In this volume, the reader will absorb the principles of sacrifice, sorrow, repentance, and satisfaction, and, it is hoped, gain an appreciation for a people who, possessing so little, have made substantial progress toward the eternal. VITA - RANDY RIPPLINGER Brigham Young University, 1969-70, 3.04 GPA B.S., Broadcast Communications, University of Utah, 1975, 3.45 GPA Scholarships University of Utah/KUTV News Scholarship, 1973 Radio and Television News Directors Association Scholarship, 1974 National Association of Broadcasters Scholarship, 1974 Professional Experience -Radio announcer, KALL AM/FM, Salt Lake City, Utah -Television news reporter, KUTV Television, Salt Lake City, Utah -Television news reporter, KOOL Television, Phoenix, Arizona -Television news reporter, KATU Television, Portland, Oregon -Marketing Communications Manager, Hart Enterprises, Vancouver, Washington -Public Information Officer, Utah Department of Human Services, Salt Lake City, Utah -Media Manager, Public Affairs Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah -Director, Communications Department, Granite Schools District, Salt Lake City, Utah Ecclesiastical assignments Stake high council, executive secretary, clerk Bishop, bishopric councilor, high priest group leader, elders quorum president, young men president Missionary - New Zealand North Mission Missionary - British Columbia Canada Mission Media manager - Portland Temple Open House Committee Mesa Arizona Temple Pageant - cast member VITA - Linda Ripplinger Associate Degree, Brigham Young University, 1972 B.S., Special Education, Weber State University, 2009 Special Education Teacher, Davis School District, 2010-13 Homemaker, seven children Ecclesiastical assignments Primary president Young Women president Relief Society counselor Missionary, British Columbia, Canada

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Temple Dreams

Trevor and Gill Neale¹

Templeview, North Island

In the early 1950s, the saving and sealing ordinances of a temple of the Lord were out of reach for most residents in the lands down under – Australia, New Zealand, and other South Pacific islands. For these people, something so eternally important seemed too distant, and they dared not hunger for that which, they were sure, would not be possible during their mortal journey.

That great wall began to vanish in February 1955, when the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the building of a house of the Lord near Hamilton, New Zealand. Three years later, Church President David O. McKay, during his dedicatory prayer, emphasized the importance of the first temple in this part of the world.

New Zealand Temple October 1971

We express gratitude that to these fertile islands Thou didst guide descendants of Father Lehi, and hast enabled them to prosper, to develop and to become associated in history with leading and influential nations among mankind.²

With its proximity to Australia and the South Pacific islands, the New Zealand Temple became a crossroads to the people of these lands. Though it was much closer than the nearest neighboring temple, Los Angeles, at 6,538 miles (10,522 km) away, due to time and money needed for the journey, it was still unreachable to many Latter-day Saints living in the temple district.

Gill and Trevor Neale

Such was the case for Trevor and Gill Neale. We lived in rural Australia. The temple was some visionary thing, says Gill. It just wasn’t part of the deal that anyone talked about in the Church. It wasn’t a goal that anyone set because it was so expensive. It wasn’t in the grasp of anybody. Most people didn’t even dream about the temple. But I did.

What had attracted Gill to Latter-day Saint teachings was the idea that families can be together forever. As a young girl, Gill was frequently charged with caring for her siblings in their home. But, it wasn’t a house. We lived in a shed, she recalls.

During one occasion of tending the young children while her parents were away, Gill’s two-year-old sister swallowed a small object and died when her stomach ruptured.

My conversion to the gospel was all about families being together forever. When my little sister died, a friend of my parents, Mary McEntee, a Church member and a lovely lady, talked about the plan of salvation. I don’t think anyone knew about the guilt that I felt, says Gill. "We never talked about it.

But, I was listening – I was listening big time!

In consequence of the death, the family was moved out of the property because it was deemed uninhabitable. Later, they moved to another house with a kitchen, bathroom, and a toilet. I had a bedroom! says Gill.

Though quarters in their new residence were tight, Gill was happy. If I had stayed in the shed, I had fear that my other young siblings, who were always hungry, would pick up something off the floor and swallow it. That move probably saved my sanity.

The family’s relocation brought one other unrecognized boon. An LDS chapel was close by, Gill remembers, and the missionaries then found us and taught us through Sister McEntee."

Then, in 1964, Gill first learned of the Church’s temples while in Tralalgon, Victoria, Australia. "When I was 14, Jan and Murray Lobley came to us and brought a black-and-white post card with a picture of the New Zealand Temple. I told her of my guilt and feelings about the death of my sister.

From the day that she put the postcard in my hand, I was determined that I would go to the temple.

Years passed, and Gill’s parents relocated the family to Millicent, South Australia – a rough town with poorer families sustained primarily by a pulp and paper mill. Gill was dismayed because the nearest LDS chapel was about 500 km (311 miles) away.

It was there, in Millicent, where Gill met Trevor Richard Neale. As Trevor’s interest and affections for Gill grew, her eyes increasingly looked at the post card picture of the New Zealand Temple. When he proposed marriage, Gill’s heart was torn.

Trevor had left school at 14, because of dyslexia. His sister, Dawn, felt that I wouldn’t marry him because he couldn’t read and write, and that he was not good enough for me, says Gill.

I told her, ‘That’s nothing to do with it!’ Then, I showed Dawn the postcard, and I said, ‘This is where I need to be married, and he can’t take me!’

Dawn’s next words were prophetic. He may not take you now, but once he’s boss of himself, he’ll take you anywhere you want to go.

I believed her, says Gill.

Yet, it would be some time before Trevor’s overtures convinced Gill to join him in a civil marriage ceremony, because, Gill recalls, "I still had the post card under my pillow. It was really hard to let go and marry a non-member. Trevor would sometimes travel some distances with me to attend church. I was absolutely religious, but he was just humoring me.

I cried myself to sleep during the six-month engagement. I seesawed every single day, but there was no church or temple for us then.

Six weeks before the couple was to marry, Latter-day Saint missionaries moved into Millicent. In September of 1971, Brother and Sister Phillips, and four younger missionaries, attended our wedding, Gill remembers. A Presbyterian minister performed the service.

Several months after their marriage, Trevor was ready to join the Church, but Gill still struggled with some apprehensions.

Trevor and Gill Neale

"I chose to marry a non-member, but I was not prepared to be married to an inactive member. I thought he was getting baptized for me, and I knew that he wouldn’t have much support from the church organization there in Millicent.

"He decided to join, even though I told him not to. ‘If you don’t want to go to the baptism, that’s your problem,’ he told me. I found out he was getting baptized for himself, and he was wanting to be a forever family. I knew he’s not wishy-washy, and that if he became committed, he would stick to it.

I could look at my dream again to get to the temple!

Trevor Neale baptism

The Sunday following Trevor’s baptism, he was the main speaker, and, on the following week, he became a member of the branch presidency.

With her temple picture postcard always at hand, Gill moved forward into family life. In October 1972, Renee was born six weeks early, with complications. By then, Trevor had been ordained to the office of elder, and was learning to use his priesthood authority.

He gave her a name and a blessing in the hospital, Gill recalls. That was huge for me to see the priesthood being used for our family! The next day, she turned the corner.

A subsequent pregnancy produced twins, but only one of the tiny girls, Naomi, survived, barely clinging to life, and stricken with cerebral palsy. She would stop breathing, and so I would hold her day and night to be aware when she needed help, says Gill.

Naomi Neale

Gill’s dreams of a temple family endured. Though her New Zealand Temple postcard had become crumpled and faded with time, she always kept it close by.

In 1975, Gill thought that the time had come to make the sacrifices to travel to far-away Hamilton, New Zealand. I challenged my brother in Sydney to come with us to the New Zealand Temple, says Gill. But, when the travel date came, the Neale family stayed behind

Naomi was too sick, and I was too scared and too poor. When my brother went, and we didn’t, I made a commitment to the Lord. I said, ‘I am crying tired, and, Heavenly Father, if you can help us get to the temple, then you can take Naomi. Just help us get to the temple.’

Following her covenant, Gill looked upward. It was really hard, because there was nobody, even the district president and branch president, who had ever been to the temple. Nobody in the area had ever been, she remembers.

"We had no money. Every three months I took Naomi to the hospital, and I would spend the day with her. It cost another train trip, and Trevor kept working on minimal wage. That, with medical treatment, ate away all our money.

Yet, I knew that money wouldn’t get us to the temple – faith would.

As the family was still well short of funding an international flight needed to receive their temple covenants, they relied on fellow church members for spiritual strength. Missionary couples came and went, says Gill, each of them encouraging us to aim toward the temple.

In time, it was not a heaven-sent blessing that opened the doors for the family’s temple dreams, but adversity. As Gill and Trevor struggled with finances, she approached one of the physicians attending to Naomi’s condition. Is there a way that we can have our daughter treated in New Zealand? she hopefully urged.

The doctor agreed, and recommended that Naomi be admitted to a hospital in Hamilton. Though I was not well at the time either, Gill says, I decided, ‘that’s where we’re coming!’ Ready for sacrifice, the family began to lay all that they had on the altar.

Next to the Neale home was two and half acres of mill land, with long grass. The family obtained permission from the mill operators, who owned the property, to fence the area and raise sheep. Gill approached a sheep sale yard and purchased 20 old, toothless ewes for 50 cents each.

"The drought broke, and we had the best of seasons. Trevor shored the sheep and the lambs. When one died, Trevor tanned the hide and sold it, and we got enough money from selling the wool, the lambs, and the sheep.

We sold the lot, says Gill. We’re going to the New Zealand Temple!

With money in hand, Gill and Trevor’s dreams became tangible. It would be just three weeks there, she recalls. We knew that we would never return to the temple. It was a one-off. The sacrifice was huge to go. We saved all money for the temple.

Family members objected, recommending that the extra income be spent for home repairs. Trevor’s dad visited and said, ‘When do think you’re going to do the floor?’

We said, ‘The point is, we’re saving everything for the temple.’ Trevor just hugged me, and we carried on.

In June 1976, the Neales boarded a flight to Auckland, New Zealand, and then traveled south to Hamilton. As the family approached the temple recommend desk, surprisingly, a friend, George Kaka, greeted them.

He instantly recognized us and said, ‘What are you guys doing here?’ He was gobsmacked! He just couldn’t believe how we got there, because he knew how penniless we were.

Brother Kaka demanded, Well, get my wife Nancy up here, and the Neales received an escorted tour.

Following the family’s sacred sealing experience, their friend again insisted, Where are you staying? Upon learning that they were booked into the temple motels, the reservation deposit was immediately refunded. And George took us home to his three bedroom house and nine kids and two boarders. They emptied rooms for us to stay, Gill recalls.

The next morning, the couple began planning to find care for their girls. But, George and Nancy would have none of that, says Gill.

No, you go to the temple and we’ll take care of the girls, their friend insisted.

Since the day of their endowments and sealing on 29 June 1976, Gill and Trevor Neale have savored and honored the covenants received in the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. The moments shared in that divine space are eternally etched in memory.

I came to the temple fully prepared that once we had Naomi sealed to us, Heavenly Father could take her, says Gill. When we were at the altar, and saw them bring the girls in, and we were sealed, I said, ‘You can take her now. I have the world. I have an eternal family.’

For Gill Neale, departure from the temple, and the return home, was a bitter-sweet experience. Only upon arriving back to Australia, did Gill realize that something was different.

When I got home from the first temple trip and went to the doctor, he said to me, ‘How did it go with Naomi? Did you have any problems?’ I realized that I never took her to a doctor in New Zealand. From the day she was sealed, she never ever went blue again!

The couple yearned to bring more children into their family. They felt that temple blessings were key, but even before their first visit to the New Zealand Temple, Gill had been told that she could not have any more children. In fact, a hysterectomy had been scheduled. Then, eight weeks after returning to Australia from their temple trip, Gill discovered that she was pregnant, again.

Her doctor demanded, What have you done to be well?

I said, ‘We went to the temple.’

Temple covenants stretched out, says Gill, so I was able to become pregnant with James in Hamilton, and then I was able to have Peter in September of 1978.

As the family settled back into life in Kalangadoo, South Australia, the temple, again, seemed more distant. When our temple recommends ran out, there was no point to getting them renewed.

One evening, in 1981, as Gill drifted off to sleep, she began to dream. "I dreamed that I was standing at what I thought was the steps of the New Zealand temple with my mother and someone else.

"One person asked me ‘How do you get inside there?’

"My mother said, ‘Only special people can.’ I pulled out my temple recommend and showed them. ‘This is what you need!’

When I awoke, I told Trevor, ‘We need temple recommends!’ So, we got them, in 1981, though it meant a five-hour trip just to go to the stake president. Even the leaders questioned why I wanted to do that.

Gill’s temple dream was prophetic. When her grandmother died, just a month after the temple recommends had been renewed, Gill traveled to England with her mother to join other grieving relatives.

"I found myself standing on the steps of the London Temple with my mother, word for word what was in my dream. I put my hand in my pocket, and showed them my recommend, then, I spent all my time at that temple.

From that day, we have never been without a recommend.

Even if you’re not able to travel to the temple, Gill admonishes her fellow Church members, you should have a recommend. Trevor didn’t have the opportunity to use his between 1976 and 1991. We weren’t anywhere near the temple. It seemed an awful expense to travel so far for that second signature on the recommend, but we did it.

The Neales assert that temple covenants and sealings are not just a one-off experience; rather, the sacred promises are enduring and living.

We had James in March 1977, our ‘temple baby,’ and then we had Peter, in 1978, Gill rejoices.

The Neales also learned that living within the covenants also produced protection.

Once, I was on my roof working, Trevor recalls, and my brother, Brian, rang and said, ‘I’m coming over.’ Just before he arrived, Peter stopped breathing! We took him into the bathroom and threw water on him, to no avail. Suddenly, Brian came over brought Pete back. Brian had never come before. He just rang me up and came. He was supposed to be there – he knew instantly what to do. That was a miracle for us!

I think that was because James was a covenant baby, born in the covenant. That’s connected with the temple.

Trevor and Gill Neale view themselves as less that exceptional people. They attribute all that they are, and all that they have received, to temple covenants.

Trev left school at 14, and I left school at 17, Gill notes. "I’m only an average brain box. Trevor is an amazing worker with his hands, but he can’t read and write. Yet, Heavenly Father blesses us with exceptional kids who are high achievers and have always been there for us, as well as being very spiritual children. They are scriptorians.

"Prior to going on his mission, we took Pete to the New Zealand Temple. When he came through the veil of the temple for the first time, he put his arms out and gave us a big hug and said, ‘This is what it’s like when you come through the veil in the next life!’ He came, and he got it straight away!

I firmly believe that the sacrifice that we made for the temple is what makes us a family.

Gill recalls a dream, during one of their trips to serve in the New Zealand temple, in which she saw a woman who stood, with arms folded, in her way. Don’t you dare go home without doing those names! demanded the apparition. I’ve got the family here!

Gill awoke and insisted to her husband, "We’re not