Welcome November

Novembers back home brought colder days, sometimes snow, holidays, and time to remember things like being thankful.  Here November brings warmer weather, different holidays, but still a time to remember things like being thankful.

We are thankful we get to meet amazing young people at Seminary and Institute graduations

Eden (top) and Xavier (below).  Both spoke at a graduation, Xavier is studying to be a doctor.  Eden is as gracious as she is beautiful.  Pretty powerful testimonies.  Seems floral leis are no longer the fashion this year, it's "lolly" (candy) leis. 

We were reminded of the value of teaching and not just assuming young people will pick truths up along the way by the little short story of the mom who lives by a busy street and tells her little toddler time and again to "Not go near the CORNER!"  When she caught him walking to the corner one day she ran after him just before he got to the edge of the busy street.  She had just begun to scold him when he looked up at her and ask, "Mommy, what's a "corner"? 
They won't know unless we teach them, so we teach them.

Sure thankful for the Lord's Hand, and we can see it in everything we do here and the lives of those we love elsewhere.  Forgot to mention in the last post another The Hand of the Lord (THOTL) blessing.  Its hard not to be there for loved ones thousands of miles distant so we pray for "angels".  One particular night brought some overwhelming challenges for daughter Mary Ann's family...until the "angel" missionaries (out of the blue) knocked at the door and asked if there was anything they could do. Sweet and timely.  Our daughter Ali was an angel to fly out and help but when she left we kept praying for another angel.  Then we got a text from Mary Ann that shared how suddenly 2 year old Livy was being such an "Angel".  They come in all shapes and sizes.  The Lord and His angels are real and there for us if we look. We see them daily in many forms.

Another "angel" - we stopped on our way to
an institute class to take a photo at Mission Bay
and the camera lens cover rolled into an ocean
drain grate...yikes.  Our hands were too big to
reach into the grate, though we tried and tried. 
This cute angel saw us and jumped down and reached his perfect sized hand into the deep
grate and rescued the lens for us.  Didn't speak much English and my big hug and multiple
 "thank you's" were obviously foreign but I
 think he got the message.

The New Zealand MTC in Redoubt, a suburb of Auckland and adjacent to the Stake center where we visited the Redoubt Stake Institute class on Tuesday.  Some of our returned missionary YSA's teach classes at the MTC.

These were the clouds billowing by near the MTC.  Someday we'll try to capture the CLOUDS here, they are indescribable, quick, awesome formations that are 360 degrees long and wow.  We now understand why New Zealand is called Aotearoa - the Land of the Long White Cloud.  You have to see it to understand it. 

Our Tuesday Redoubt Institute buddies, Bro. and Sis. Pereira, Joe, Vincent, Lily, Loisa, Troy, Natalie (Served her mission to Temple Square SLC), and Stacy.  Lots of short sports fans that wanted to talk US sports teams with 6"8" Elder Downs. 

As it gets warmer with summer on its way we see lots more sailboats out and lots of "sailboat classes" where you get your own little boat and they teach you to sail out and back and around in a line. I call them, like fish, "schools of sailboats".

Sailboats everywhere. These are just small ones but Auckland is known as the city of sailboats.

Another sailboat class amid parasailers.  Busy waters on sunny days 

Wednesday Stake Institute at Tamaki Stake.  Instructor that night was guy in the white shirt and bow tie (looks and acted like Alex Boyee) his name was Moses.  Class started with 3 of us but grew and grew and grew.  Something about "Poly-time"...

Thursday night Mt. Roskill Stake Institute.  Lots of man-skirt lavalava's at church now that the weather is getting warm.  Major cake and ice cream awaits!

We had a few hours to explore so we drove up to near-by "One Tree Hill".  You can see in the distance the volcanic Island Rangitoto that we walk by on our morning walks.

One Tree Hill, ancient volcano situated near downtown Auckland.  There are supposedly 48 volcanic cones in the area.      (This one's not my picture but a drones, something most missionaries don't have.) The photo was taken using an aerial photography platform (Ghost Drone + https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38930973

Looking down from One Tree Hill crater

This was how "One Tree Hill" looked in 1990 when there was still one tree on the very top (the "one tree" has been a target a few times of activists so they keep planting a new "one tree").  The hill, called Maungakiekie, is in Auckland and the site of a big volcano that had three craters, one intact (the hill) and two that were breached by lava flows and are craters now.  It became a Maori tribe's home and fortress.  The area surrounding the volcanic hill was named after the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (later became George V) on one of their visits to NZ by owner and Auckland Mayor Sir John Campbell in 1901. (Again the Wikipedia credit)

Sir John Campbell's memorial beneath the obelisk

Looking down east into one of the volcanic craters, now the green pasture for happy NZ sheep. 

To the north of the hill is the race track named for the Duke's mother Alexandra...lots of horse racing in the area.

More of pastures in craters

As we tried to drive down from the hill the sheep made it clear whose hill, road, and surroundings these REALLY were! 

White-backed magpie (yes, even NZ has magpies) cruises the sheepfold.

The incredibly beautiful Cornwall Park below One Tree Hill.  You see lots of floral wreathes and flowers at places here.

Johnny Lingo Downs - Three cow man., practicing one of his lesson plans on his audience.  These cows are in the Olive tree grove, one of the many specific groves of  native and exotic trees in the park (Kauri, Ginkgo Biloba, Cypress, Puriri, Norfolk Pine, Palms, Eucalyptus, Sweet Gum.....and on and on). 

This tree was mammoth...we think it was one of the Moreton Bay Fig trees.

This is a Pohutakawa tree ready to blossom with its red Christmas flowers, just across from the Huia lodge at Cornwall, both from Sir John Campbell.

Another YSA dance where they asked "Fred Astaire Downs" to teach more of his after-hours craft...dancing!

Learning this weekend about another "holiday" here in NZ.  The 5th of November was originally called Gunpowder Treason Day, (referred to by many now as Guy Fawkes day) an English holiday remembering the day in 1605 when a treasonous plot to kill King James I (the King behind the King James version of the Bible) and all of Parliament was foiled.  Guy Fawkes and 13 of his Catholic friends were determined to put an end to the Protestant King and the persecution they felt as the Catholic Church.  Because they were planning to use gunpowder (this coined phrase goes with the holiday:"Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."), this 4th of July type holiday is now celebrated with some bon-fires where they pretend to burn the Fawkes gang, but mostly HEAPS of fireworks!!! 

A borrowed picture, mine showed sadly my lack of photo skills.

Another of our graduates!

Like you, we are busy and blessed.  Life is full of challenges and opportunities, but in all of it we see clearly THOTL (the Hand of the Lord) from finding addresses, people, words to say, beautiful truths, and angels around every corner.  You continue in our prayers.  So nice to share the same moon as you and this good earth, wherever we hang our hats and call home.  Thanks for your prayers, we feel them.  We know God is aware of and loves all of us...whew! So grateful!

Love,
Vance and Louenda
Elder and Sister Downs