Menagerie

 MENAGERIE - a collection of things

Clevedon, NZ Boutique 

Prophet and 12th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Spencer W. Kimball

 As a girl I loved to hear President Kimball speak

 because often he wouldn’t just talk about one thing, but a collection of things.  

This week instead of just one theme, you will get a collection, a menagerie...

because our week (still on University break) and travels have been that too.

We visited a little boutique on a drive near Clevedon and found quite a menagerie of things

Mountains in our Menagerie

There are three active volcanoes near Lake Taupo here on the North Island in NZ,

 (left to right) Mt. Ruapehu, Mt. Ngauruhoe, and Mt. Tongariro (last eruption in 2012).

wikipedia web photo

Mt. Ngauruhoe was the movie set for the Mt. of Doom in Lord of the Rings. 

Mt. of Doom (Ngauruhoe) Pinterest web photo

Last Sunday Donovan Bickford, active Navy and military teacher at Glenfield College told of a climb on Tongariro he made with some of his students recently. 

 From experience he knew you must wear 4 warm layers of clothes as the weather changes dramatically, and very quickly as you climb.  

 When his student started up the base of Devil’s Staircase they thought he was crazy 

to insist on the warm layers. They whined and complained and asked him repeatedly if they could change into shorts and t-shirts.  He told them no and to trust him.

 D & C 38:32 "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear."...or freeze.

 It wasn't long into the climb when the sun disappeared and the cold winds whipped up, 

temperatures dropped rapidly, and the climbers actually found themselves in a white out.  

But because they obeyed their leader they were prepared and able to continue the climb.  

Things would have been much different if they hadn’t been prepared 

or followed him with exactness.

More menagerie - Easter with the Pillings

 On Sunday after our feast at church, Bishop Jeff Pilling and wife Stephanie invited us over to their home in Hobsonville (above, the pasture next to their home) for another kind of feast, dinner with their great family!  It was a traditional Easter dinner of roasted vegetables and lamb.  

The Pilling family below (Jeff and Stephanie on the bottom right) - humble great people!   

 Matt 25:35 we were “hungered and ye gave (us) meat.” 

 Alma 32:16 they were humble “without being compelled to be humble.”

Menagerie at Hobsonville Wharf

Bishop Pilling also told us about a great wharf and a walk we should seek out.  

So the next day we did.  Hobsonville Wharf.

There is a collection of all kinds of things there, often a fun market at the wharf,

along with great places to eat like the "Hangar".

There is also a very long, beautiful walking trail...

(the fence posts are made from the trunks of fern trees)

a ferry stop,

 and it's also home to heaps of sailboats.

It houses pictures of the wharf and boats that used to dock here years ago.

Menagerie of more sailboats.

We thought this 20 ft. high wall was a pretty interesting part of this week's menagerie at the Wharf.

A ROCK wall from foundation to squiggles, and not a drop of cement...

just wire to hold it all together.

Menagerie of Cautions

 We knew about the "cunning" devices of the adversary ...

but didn't know he had fish working for him too.

2 Nephi 9:28 "Oh that cunning plan of the evil one.." 

But this fisherman at Hobsonville Wharf is determined and prepared for those cunning ones...

he knows where and how to hunt them out

Entrance to the ferry 

With cunning fish in the waters, you'd better keep an eye on your children.

On the Hunt

This gentleman waited for a very low tide day and took his metal detector and trusty dog on a hunt for old coins...and he told us he found some. 

Jeremiah 29:13 "Seek and you shall find"

Adi, Gwynee, Catharine, and Olivia were also told to seek ...seek Easter eggs.  

So they went on a hunt and did find a collection of them.

web photo exactly like our shell

Sometimes fishermen just hunt to catch and release.  Not to keep.

While on Niue my friend Marliese and I went on a hunt for a giant clam shell

...and WE FOUND ONE!  The clam was long gone from inside so Marliese waded into the tide pool to get the 12 inches long, perfectly attached giant clam shell.  

But... in trying to bring it back to NZ I found that they are an endangered species

 (even without a clam inside)...so...it was a hunt and a find, but not a collection "keeper".

Hunting for Keeps

Proverbs 8:17 "...those that seek me early shall find me:"

Sometimes we seek, hunt and find things that really are ours to keep if we choose.  

Angelo Marundan, a member of the winning Lacrosse team in NZ, searched 

and found the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

He was baptized on April 26. 

 What a humble, amazing young man.  

When he learned about keeping the Sabbath Day holy he actually told the coach he needed to 

quit the Lacrosse team because he would no longer practice on the Sabbath.  

A sacrifice, but this YSA is truly converted to Christ.

Being watchful, dogs, and other menagerie

This week we have seen quite a collection of dogs, seemed everyone but us had one. 

Many of them appeared to be employed for their watchfulness.  This guy's master was an elderly woman.  Though he couldn't help her take out the garbage, he did keep an eye on the gate.

Gotta love Snoopy... but glad he's not my watchdog.

Beach is always full of watch dogs and dog watching.

Alma 7:23 "...be humble, submissive,..full of patience and long-suffering.."

"Fluffy" comes to the grocery store often with her owner...and keeps an eye out for the bike 

while Mum shops.

Luke 12:37  "Blessed are those servants, whom the lord, when he cometh shall find watching..."

 This guy (don't know HOW he made it up on the pillar) truly can see to warn his own of 

what might be coming.

Helaman 1:20 "(The enemy) did cut down the watch by the entrance..."

Many times as I kid I remember mom saying, "Shut the front door!"..in an effort to keep out the unwanted things from our home, from crawlies and critters, to cold and crooks.

We liked the name of this business...a reminder to guard the gate, the front entrance.

Once inside its pretty hard to get things back out..things that enter 

our homes, our hearts, our souls.

Remembering

As each week comes to a close its a good time to remember and acknowledge 

THOTL (The Hand of the Lord).  

This week was full of direction for us and those we love, 

full of blessings of strength for those who struggle,

full of help, hope, and healing...

oh, and angels, 

we're so grateful for the angels on both sides of the veil.  They are REAL.

 

Joshua 4:24

"That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty..."

newshub.co.nz web photo

Thursday April 25 was ANZAC day, a commemoration of the WW1 battle at Gallipole

 where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps suffered terrible losses 

but cemented their patriotism and determination as nations.  

Kiwi’s here are resolute in their commemoration.  

This year Prince William came to Auckland to lay a wreath.  

He also spent time in Christchurch remembering those killed last month there. 

  It was a time NZ remembered as well the lives lost in the tragedy in Sri Lanka.

 It's good to remember.

Helaman 5:9 "O remember, remember my sons..."

 If we “Remember” and learn from the lessons of the past, we usually don’t have to relearn them.

If you remember anything from our photo menagerie and thought collections in any of these little blogs from New Zealand we hope you remember that we are just two regular folk who got the chance to come to a beautiful place to serve the Lord,

He lives, He's real, His gospel is amazing and its the truth.

We love it and we love Him.

Vance and Louenda Downs

Elder and Sister Downs