HLM -Chapter 1113 Attending the Service

When Lancaster arrived, he brought a huge group of people, shouting and hollering like they were there to cause a scene. By the time they left, most of them stayed behind, though he didn’t leave completely alone.

He took two other second-generation rich kids with him. These two hadn’t yet enjoyed enough of the flashy life; for them, Sunset Town was fine as a short diversion, but to make it their whole life? That would drive them crazy.

Williams decided to stay. He wanted to raise dogs here and participate in the sled race with Wang Bo.

So now, Samir, Wendy, and Williams—the three second-generation elites—were going to spend an extended vacation in Sunset Town.

Samir patted his two friends on the shoulder and said, “We should give ourselves a long break. Besides, the scenery here is beautiful; at least it won’t disappoint us.”

“That’s true. Anyway, I don’t want to go to one of those places that looks great online or in books, but turns out to be disappointing in real life,” Williams nodded. His words were more like he was convincing himself.

Being friends with second-generation elites was advantageous—Wang Bo had already sold another villa thanks to this.

The three decided to live together. Samir bought the villa; the other two weren’t planning to stay long. They were basically there to accompany Samir and pursue their own hobbies.

When sending Lancaster off, Wang Bo hugged him and said emotionally, “Hugo, my good buddy, I really don’t want you to leave.”

Lancaster smiled: “Do you want to keep all of us here?”

Wang Bo shook his head. “Of course not. I think it’s better for you to leave, but come back soon—Sunset Town always welcomes you. And, of course, it’d be best if you brought a few friends next time.”

Lancaster: “…”

After seeing them off, Wang Bo headed to the church activity. Bishop Rooney had specifically informed him that he had to attend.

After arriving in New Zealand, he realized that Christians weren’t so extreme—they didn’t feel the need to evangelize to every non-believer they met.

Although the number of Christians was decreasing, it was still considered New Zealand’s national religion. For instance, the New Zealand Parliament prays to God before every session, and many laws, especially social legislation, are based on Christian principles.

Wang Bo had spent the past few days brushing up on his knowledge of Christianity to prepare for attending the service.

An interesting fact in New Zealand: the descendants of colonial Christian missionaries generally no longer practice Christianity, while many Māori still strictly follow church rules.

For convenience, churches were built near residential areas. On a small square, a church with a cross on top stood prominently.

The church was of average size, about fifteen to sixteen meters high, with a parking lot and activity plaza at the entrance. The other facilities were simple.

Construction had been fast, considering the complexity of the decorations—paintings on the walls, small sculptures on the plaza.

Credit was due to the faith of the congregation; whenever they had free time during construction, they came to help. This was the main reason the church was built so quickly.

At the entrance were church stewards—volunteers. Wang Bo envied this; many church activities were run entirely by volunteers. The church had only four full-time staff: Bishop Rooney (also a Bishop), a Bishop apprentice, and two cleaners.

Upon arrival, a steward nodded and smiled at him, handing over two documents.

Wang Bo looked: one was the detailed program for today’s activities, the other a donation questionnaire and a recent income-and-expense report. Everything was very transparent, letting every believer know the sources and uses of funds.

In New Zealand, church funds mainly came from tourism and parking fees; donations made up only a small part. For instance, only 8.5% of this church’s construction funds came from donations.

Church funds also partially came from weddings for newlyweds, but this small-town church was newly built and hadn’t yet hosted any couples.

Inside, the church opened up into a spacious hall with long benches and tables. Volunteers took Eva’s thermal boxes; today’s activity would last all morning, with lunch served by the believers themselves.

Wang Bo had prepared plenty of food. His parents, with nothing to do, had made a lot of dumplings at home—perfect as the main course. They also made some lightly fried pork tenderloin and fried chicken legs, which were always popular at gatherings.

A large figure passed by. Wang Bo laughed: “Atulu, you’re a Christian too?”

Atulu’s chubby face looked solemn. He drew a cross on his chest and said, “God bless us.”

It looked legitimate, but Wang Bo saw through him: “You just want to eat for free today, right? You’re not a Christian!”

Atulu tried to argue, but Wang Bo pointed skyward: “Your god is watching you.”

The Māori man gave up, sighing: “I came in friendship of the gods. I’m not here to eat for free—I am a messenger of God.”

“Ah, so you really are here to eat for free, huh?”

The walls were lined with stained glass windows from floor to dome, each telling a story. Wang Bo had studied these stories recently, so he roughly knew all of them.

Seeing them empty-handed, someone gave them a Bible and a hymnal.

Wang Bo said, “I used to have a Bay Poem Collection. Do you know that?”

“Watch your words, that’s a Hymnbook,” Eva said.

He quickly corrected himself and looked around. Luckily, no one noticed, and no one was going to hit him.

The service was about to start. Because it was the first event, it was a big service, lasting an hour and a half.

After the service at 10:30, there would be activities among believers, singing hymns and preaching.

The choir appeared behind Bishop Rooney, and Wang Bo saw the little girl and applauded in her direction.

Children’s faith was purer. Neither Wang Bo nor Eva had taught the little girl about the doctrine, yet she firmly believed in God. She was waiting—waiting for God to abolish school and cram classes and rescue her.

Just as the activity was about to begin, something amusing happened: a mouse deer somehow ran in!

The little creature had clearly wandered in by accident, jumping through a window. Landing and seeing so many people, it got startled and bared its teeth.

Mouse deer, male or female, don’t have antlers. This one had to rely on its canine teeth to intimidate people. Seeing its fangs, Wang Bo realized it was male.

Male mouse deer have larger canines, which protrude as tusks—primary weapons in fights, though mostly used to scare opponents.