Bright Nights
BRIGHT NIGHTS
We found another Auckland adventure in "Bright Nights", a light festival down on the wharf of Viaduct Harbour. It consists of a dozen or more light exhibits along a light trail and in the ocean that are somehow related to water and sustainability. It is curated by artists and is a smaller version of a similar one in Australia.
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The lights were colorful and the crowd was full of families and wide-eyed children which made it even more fun. Thought how fun it would be to someday take our grandchildren!
Lighted colored balls floating in the harbour.
The row of red cast iron lights on the Viaduct harbour fence...always there.
The lights of the Maritime museum area of the harbour.
Lula's eatery on the harbour
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| A touch and feel exhibit (about 4-5 feet) covered in water and glowing with lights. |
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| An interactive lighted earth globe |
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A light tunnel (changing colors and patterns and motion) show you walk through.
2 touristy missionaries
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| Lighted streets near the wharf, these are lighted year-round. |
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| An underwater movie shown on the hull of the hoisted exhibited NZ winning America's Cup Boat, complete with great underwater sounds. |
Color changing lighted pillars
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| Included this photo because of the partially cloud-enshrouded view of the skytower in the right background. |
All kinds of "lighted" characters danced through the crowds, as their "lights" changed colors.
As the dark of the night grew, so did the warmth and splendor of the lights at "Bright Night".
Most often nights are anything but bright, it’s usually the
darkest time of the day.
"Night"- Hours
from sunrise to sunset, darkness hours”..
Night and its darkness is for some a very hard time, when the physical world is without much light. “
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| Night” can also be a mental, spiritual, financial, or emotional lack of light. I remember a very "dark" time in the U.S. (when this "dust bowl" picture was snapped) called "The Great Depression". Most have felt the pangs of depression before, but some live with it often, and their world may seem like a long dark (anything but bright) night. |
But don't give up....
Psalms 30:5
... we've learned from experience that
after every dark night the morning comes,
and with it comes the light.
It does that everyday.
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| (Our morning walks verify that) |
And hope seems to be tied to light.
A "bright" spot in our Sunday was this great YSA class in the Scotia Ward right in downtown Auckland.
Another "bright" spot in our week was this "Mothers Day" pumpkin pie made special by Sister Agnes Yang for Sister Downs (it's her favorite pie). They DON'T sell american style pumpkin over here, they don't even grow the big pumpkins so we KNOW Sister Yang went to a heap of work to make it...and the pie was incredible! Not sure it qualified as "light" with all the whipped cream we lathered it in!
Much of the daily THOTL would seem either meaningless in a blog or maybe just personal to us, but sometimes we have one we can share:
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| As you pray to find those you can daily help the Lord is quick to provide opportunities and you can clearly see His Hand: A wonderful young lady from China came into the AIB. She spoke broken English, but said when she saw the Christus statue and pictures of Jesus she just wanted to sit and be near Him. She sat there from before lunch time until we closed around 5. Elder Downs talked to her a little and she shared that when she was little her Christian grandmother in China read her stories from the Bible and she grew to love Jesus. She indicated she was going through some hard times and just needed to feel that love again. For hours she kept her weeping eyes glued on this Liz Lemon Swindle picture of the Savior:  We gave her some pamphlets about Jesus and His gospel written in Chinese. Bless her heart, we hope she returns to find Him and that feeling of peace and light again. |
Fun to share Mothers Day with Sister Beus, Sister Hall and the Stosich's. They "lighted" up our Mothers Day away from home, and the chicken enchiladas helped too.
And on the followihng Saturday we had another chance to hang out with Sister Beus and her new companion Sister Ravonokula from Fiji as we inspected their nice clean flat. These are awesome sisters making awesome differences helping people in the dark find light!
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| Flat inspecting and Sister Downs keeps getting distracted by the flowers ... even in late fall there is PINK!! |
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| These classics were on the doorstep of one of our flats, waiting to be slipped on by one of our cute missionaries to go out to do the Lord's work. Many come from nearby islands without much at all, but that doesn't stop them from serving heart and "sole". We love them! |
Our evening students, Chinese class, Old Testament class and Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel class. Don't they look like "light bulbs"!?! Some with maybe more watts than others, but still with little lights to shine...we love 'em!
Sarah and Junior, our awesome teachers at Papakura Institute on Thursday night (engaged...YES!).
At our lunchside devotional series this week amazing Shilo Kino (front middle in the dress) gave us a taste of her conversion story and her thirst to share what has changed her life...the light of the Gospel! She is on fire!
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Light can make a big difference,
especially if it’s the “LIGHT OF CHRIST”.
Well, in reality, all real light IS His light. The sun gets its light from Him, electricity,
water and solar power, wind, batteries, etc. all come from Him and things He has
created. And He is definitely the light
of all spiritual things. So it’s true…HE
IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, in every respect.
 "If you will follow me, I will lead you out of darkness." |
... hang on, the "Light" will come, and (Romans 15:13)
"...the God of hope (will) fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope..."
So when your night gets dark and you need light or a "Bright Night" to get you through until morning, it would be good to turn to the real Light of the world.
And in a glorious morning ahead HE IS COMING to dispel all darkness.
We testify of it and of Him!
Love you,
Elder and Sister Downs
Vance and Louenda
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