Eye catching, Appearances

Eye catching displays and colorful lanterns with the appearances of nature, people and things...that was what we found heaps of at the Auckland Lantern Festival.  Some were 

hanging from the trees, while others were on the ground or floating in the water.  We'll share a few of the photos here that we took on Saturday night, and with many more in our next blog.

Chinese musicians. This woman could sing very, very high.

 Heaps of Trees with lighted lanterns of flowers, birds, butterflies, porcelain vases, and every shape and color of different Chinese lanterns, and more.  

Eyesight is a pretty amazing blessing. By merely looking at things and their appearance we can gain some degree of understanding and enlightenment.  We have been told that “appearances can be deceiving”…and “there’s more to it than meets the eye” but sometimes they can also be reality.  Although outward appearances don’t always tell us what’s inside, sometimes they can make an important statement and lead us to find out more about what is inside.  

Another aspect of appearances are the real “eye-catching” appearances, things that stand out and cause us to stop and observe more closely.  So, for this week we’ll share a few “eye-catchers” and “appearances” adventures. 

We love these people here in NZ, whether Polynesian, Kiwi, Chinese, or other, they are beautiful people.  They appear as a happy people, and love to smile.  To us they are eye catching.  (We think Melissa looks like a Samoan Julia Roberts.)

They are all beautiful (and unique) inside and out.

(Institute at Tamaki Stake - top )

While attending one of our stake institute classes this past week, one of our amazing YSA’s told a THOTL story of the power of the outward appearance and the working of the inward spirit.  She is the only member of the church in her family and her brothers, especially her oldest brother, love to make fun of her and harass her because of her beliefs.  When one of her younger brothers started to be sincerely interested in what she believed, her older brother gave them both grief.  At Christmas time her family was in Hamilton and decided to go together to see the lights at the Temple ground there.  She was a bit fearful of what her older brother would do, he was a rough, tough guy who never showed any emotion and appeared pretty hard.  But as they were walking by the visitors center, he stopped and kept looking in .  A few minutes later she turned around and he was gone.  The visitor center (Christus statue in the window) had caught his eye and he said he was just drawn in by what he saw.  When he finally came out and rejoined his family he admitted to his sister that what he saw and heard there moved him to the brink of tears.  He wanted to learn more and is still humbly learning, and now wants to associate himself with her beliefs and church.  Eye-catchers and appearances (probably his sisters example included) were great catalysts for him to step out of his world, step inside and open himself up to the spirit.  

Sanna, Stanley, Etena and Manakau/Penrose Institute

Henderson Valley YSA's and leaders

Sailboats always catch our eyes. They thrill us, especially at the speed some of them travel. It’s been quite windy lately and there are heaps of them some days out catching the wind.  NZ is hosting America’s cup in Auckland in a few years.

(We  snapped these from our phone as we were driving.  You can tell which way the wind was blowing.)

The Harbour Bridge got some new eye catching LED lights that can be any color. This week they are lighted red at night, still celebrating Chinese New Year. 

There are two charming old churches side by side in Devonport. One appears to be a residence (the boat in the driveway) in a well-groomed yard that doubles as a grave yard. Many of the deceased residents lived in the late 1800’s. I’m sure their current outward appearance (deceased) would be scanty, but in their day they were probably eye catching and pretty amazing folks.

Amid the flowers was the “appearance” of a bird…but it wasn’t real…proof that sometimes appearances can be deceiving

We stumbled onto an eye catching sight, a 1958 Jaguar.  Looked like a pretty sweet ride for all appearances.

Speaking of stories and appearances, and always looking for THOTL we share another story from this week.         

THOTL: About half way through our Thursday Devotional series class at the institute an older student came into the building and sat down at the back.  He listened intently.  After the class Vance approached him to introduce himself and get to know him better.  The young man, in his mid-30’s, was coming back to Uni to get a master’s degree in engineering and construction.  He was not enrolled in Institute but was studying religion on his own.  He was a member of another faith but not satisfied with its teaching.  He showed us a book he was reading to learn more about God and Jesus Christ.  He said he had walked by our building many times and the Christus statue in the window caught his eye each time.  We had a great conversation.  He wanted to know all about what we believed and took a Book of Mormon to read more about it.  He was focused on the Savior and the appearance of pictures and the statue of the Savior “caught his eye”.   If we hope to reflect the light of the Savior I wonder if our appearance speaks somehow of that.  Would we be eye-catching to someone looking for Him.  

We liked this quote...

Something about the appearance of beautiful flowers is eye catching....never tire of seeing them, grateful for the creation of flowers! 

There are more than a few memorials to the soldier of NZ in WWI. This is one of them.  The old uniform gives away the time period of 1914-1918.  There’s probably multiple reasons an army wears a uniform, but one must be that the appearance makes a statement of who you are and whose you are.  Does that mean that if we are blessed to have the choice as to what to wear, we could possibly be giving an appearance or clue as to which “army” we have chosen to be associated with by the “uniform” we wear?

This cannon (c. 1670) and its twin sister flank a big building on our daily beach walk.  Their appearance in front of a large building is eye catching. The cannon came from the wreck (60 crew member and only 3 survived the gale that sunk the ship) of the Hanover in 1763.

Sometimes things disappear from our lives, eye-catching things we loved; things that, for one reason or another, are no longer appearing in our lives.  Our beaches have been doing that a lot lately with the unusually high tides. Here the boat ramp is completely covered.

Sometimes loved ones dis-appear as well. That’s when we hang onto their appearance in our minds and our memories (or our photos on the phone).   .....Olympic Ice skater wanna-be’s and baby bouncers in “distant lands”

Without a doubt our favorite “appearances” would have to be those involving the Savior Jesus Christ.  We love to envision the stories of His appearances during His first coming....   

 ...and His appearance with the God the Father to the boy Joseph Smith.

And we find great peace as we anticipate His appearance at His Second Coming.  We are certain this last one will be pretty eye catching, like nothing we have ever seen before.  We are working to be there, with all of you.
All our love,
Vance and Louenda
Elder and Sister Downs