Unseen

Our March Auckland Senior Missionary Couple Family Home Evening.

The Downs brought the islands to them when we shared a bit of our Niue adventure.

Including Niuean crafts

And the proverbial (and sometimes dreaded) "slide show".

Senior FHE

At our monthly Senior Missionary FHE we give new couples coming
and those leaving a chance to share a few words.
But what else do senior missionaries talk about when they get together?
Among other things they talk about THOTL and adventures serving the Lord,
new places to see in this beautiful country,
and their family at home.
This time we also talked about another unseen...unseen critters,
the kind that plagued some young missionaries and even occasionally
some seniors in a few areas of Auckland...
fleas.

This is a perfect mild climate for many wonderful green and beautiful things but also for fleas.

Seems everyone at our table had known the joy of the unseen critters at least once
(and needed a flea bomb).

Life is full of Unseen things

Unseen are the calories in the "Crab Salad and Butter Chicken" at FHE...but worth every bite.

Maybe the calories will become "seen" later if we eat too much.

Other unseen things include radio waves, atoms, air, gravity, emotions....and on and on.

Happy birthday Gwynee Larsen

Even the day of your birthday doesn't really "show up" in a physical way...

(though when you are over 50 it feels like it sometimes)

it just exists on our calendar

(well, unless you get to wear the birthday hat and hold the birthday bear at pre-school).

Sometimes we get clues to things we cannot see. Maybe in things we feel.

We are always looking for clues as to the initial unseen stuff...
like the unseen goings-on in the life

and mind and heart of our wonderful YSA.

Often it surfaces in questions and comments so we try to listen, and look, and love them.

Dinner on Tuesday night (unseen to you...it was meatball soup).

When we heard the unseen rumblings of their stomach ...we did feed them.

Setting up to do some Karaoke.

Some of them surprised us with heretofore unseen talents.

Thursday Lunchside crowd...

Some of our faces stuck in the picture, yes,

but not our art work (Disney I am sure)...the art work of someone else who posted it on social media

Our Thursday Lunchside was none other than us... the staff, taking on our role as

AVENGERS of the faith (an unseen side of some real life avengers).

Faith may be unseen but it can be a real and great source of power.

web photo MoviesDisney.com

Seems appropriate that a few of us sat down and watched the Disney movie Mulan this week...

where the identity of some characters were at first unseen.

We may find that "unseen character" in others and sometimes even ourselves.

These great YSA in Henderson may be "unseen" by us for weeks at a time but oh how we love "seeing" them whenever we get back out their way to share institute with them.

This week there was a big fire alarm at AUT next door. When a fire alarm goes off you don't always know if its a drill or real. Lots of fires are unseen in the beginning.

We also commented that we had no idea there were quite so many students in just one building!

The volume of students was, to us, unseen until they began piling out .

We wish we could send you the sound as we walked by these trees to the beach in the morning. The trees are FILLED with chirping singing birds...
unseen because of all the foliage, but definitely not unheard!

This is the beautiful Waiake Beach in Torbay. At just the right tide its a great place to walk in the shallow water. But we learned by experience ...

rainbow hydromedusa jelly

...that often unseen in the water are tiny Hydromedusa Jellyfish larvae. Their stings are not as bad as the big guys, but still "owie"
Beach Beware: Watch out for the unseen.

Lighthouse near Rangitoto Island

Dotting the coastlines of New Zealand are many lighthouses, a reminder of some dangerous coastline and New Zealand maritime past and great dependence on ships and shipping.
Unseen under her waters are hundreds of shipwrecks,
those who weren't so lucky navigating the unseen dangers.

web photo NZ Herald

Lighthouse at Cape Reinga, on the northern tip of New Zealand

where the waters of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

At night the lighthouse is a beacon to warn ocean vessels of the location of

unseen land and the dangers.

Lawrence Eugene Hess 1954-1988

My brother Larry was a strong, disciplined athlete (faithful, missionary, businessman, husband and father) and had faced numerous challenges and foes on the field and in life.

When he was diagnosed with liver cancer, he began another valiant fight against another foe.

But after many months he commented that this fight was different.

This time his foe was unseen, hiding in a place and a way he couldn’t see or address clearly.

He wished it would just,
"Come out like a man so (he) could face it and have a fair fight."
The unseen can be a very tough fight.
Larry fought a good fight.

Whenever we feel overwhelmed with challenges we think of the great enduring and faithful

prophet Job. He surely faced one unseen challenge after another.

Both he and Larry taught us much about endurance and how you face the unseen,

...by having faith in the One who CAN SEE

the end from the beginning.

We know, too, that many bear

unseen burdens,

known only to them and God,

but with God there is help and hope.

This quote from Billy Graham resonated with us on our unseen challenges
and trust in the One who can see it all.

Lots of good folks in this world have trusted in unseen things.

Abraham and Sarah found that unseen blessings and promises

can and will be fulfilled with faith

when they were given a son even in their old age.

If you were one of the Israelites fleeing Egypt
and came to the shores of the Red Sea with the army of Pharoah at your back,
would you trust in the unseen power of God through His prophet Moses...