Meet

Meet the city of Auckland as it meets our eyes on our morning drive

Meet our new Tuesday night institute classes

Meet this "peach" of a class taking "Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel 

Meet Sariah Mangaoa, her biological mom and her adopted mom from Niue.  We first met Sariah in Niue.  What a treat to meet them all at our AIB building this week as Sariah starts school as the top scholar from Niue at AUT.

Meet "Tan" one of our great YSA formerly from the YSA 1st Ward.  Tan surprised us and got married to Louisa while we were away.   Good on him.

Meet our Senior Missionary FHE group.  We had a late Valentines Day "Not-so-Newlywed game"...yikes, we all did poorly.  Time to re-meet our spouses and find out what really is 
"their favorite candy bar."  

While we were at our FHE down south who should we happen to meet working on a computer in the same church house but our favorite sister missionary from Farmington Utah in NZ...Chloe Beus!!

How often we see THOTL in our meetings...perfect timing to meet or talk with loved ones,

 and even random meetings with folks who we are able to share hope, or help, or witnesses of the Savior with them.

Some of those we meet at the beach each morning

Invited to meet at the Matsumori's for lunch (Michi and Doug leave in May after 3 years serving as the Pacific Area Legal Counsel here for the area office in NZ).

The nice water lilies that met us at their front door

Meet the senior sisters who joined Michi for lunch, great friends and missionaries!

We met to have "meat"...well really "Avocado Smashes".

Meet Dr. Seuss.  Simple but profound author, artist and philosopher.  He wrote often about who and what we meet and then what we do next.

web photo's Dr. Seuss above and 3 below

We have met many feet here in NZ...

The Sneetches, one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, includes about 2 great stories about meeting face to face, and reminders of maybe how we act when we meet up.

 "The Zax" - selfish, obstinate and unbudging.  

"What Was I Scared of"- fearful at first but then understanding and friendly.

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More Dr. Seuss wisdom...

Many of our YSA still don't drive.  Meeting that challenge is frightening. 

  It's a long process here and takes two years before a 16 year old can finally get a full license.

Sometimes we avoid meeting challenges that are hard and frighten us.   

It’s common to meet cars on the road with the big L in the front or back window...

L for Learner's License ...to tell other drivers this is a rookie or new driver.  

Identifying the Challenges we are Meeting

In a class one of our YSA, Sylvia, talked about an older lady who, after many years, was finally working to get her drivers license.  She was struggling so she put an additional sign besides

 the "L" on her car that read:

“Please be patient with me, I’m just learning and I'm trying my best”. 

YSA in Weymouth Ward

Sylvia (meet Sylvia, in the red skirt) wondered if maybe we could see other letters on cars, not just for struggling drivers but for other things that are hard and frightening, like:

 “DL”- that meant "Please be patient, I’m struggling with the death of loved one”, 

or a big ”D”in the window, “Please understand, I’ve just been through a hard divorce”

or maybe a “CD”-I just got a cancer diagnosis” 

that we might be more patient, understanding, and forgiving of people we encounter on the road,

 or meet on the street who are working through hard and frightening things. 

Sylvia’s words made us think about the Savior's words about unrighteous judging, forgiving and 

doing good unto others when we meet up with them. 

Wise Sylvia.

Meeting up:

 We got to meet up this week with Bud DeRyke and his daughters Jana and Holly before they boarded their cruise ship to Australia.  We love meeting with dear friends.

Meet the Wrights, we always enjoy meeting up with them..especially when it includes Little Mexico, our favorite place for Mexican food in NZ.

On our walk back to the car park after dinner we began meeting up with hundreds of Uni (University) students headed to join Greek fraternities and sororities. They were wearing toga's and heading in the direction of  what they called the "Great Greek Toga Party".  Sometimes direction and demeanor signal much about us to the people that we meet. 

Meetings

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Our lives seem to be full of meetings...casual ones on the street

or planned and organized ones in our community,  at work...

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or in church.

We get to meet people and places and things we immediately like,

and sometimes ones that we don't like as much...

good influences and not so good ones.  

We meet all kinds.

Dr. Seuss wrote wisely once about some of life's meetings and challenges, and our choices:

(Dr. Seuss “Oh the Places You’ll Go”):

You’ll get mixed up, or course,

As you already know.

You’ll get mixed up

With many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life's
A Great Balancing Act

web photo Dr. Seuss

lds web photo

Most of us cherish the good times when we meet up with dear friends and family.  

Sometimes there is a famine, not of "meat" but of "meet"...we have to wait for those 

meetings for a time.

But if we are doing our best and trying our hardest and having faith, 

those "meetings" 

can ultimately happen. 

lds.org web photo

Someday, like Mary and Martha, even in our saddest and hardest times 

we can "meet" real Comfort, 

"meet" real Peace. 

Don't give up on that meeting.

lds.org web photo

We are sure we will all have a "meeting" someday with Him, whether it's feeling His presence now, 

or the time when we will stand before Him, Creator, Redeemer and Messiah.

As we do our best and obey and honor Him,

we can rest assured that "MEETING" will be wonderfully indescribable.

Elder and Sister Downs

Vance and Louenda