Close

 Just a few weeks until this incredible mission for us comes to a close. Oh how we will miss wearing the badge with His name, being in His service with these great YSA in New Zealand,
this beautiful country and all of the adventures we've been given.

Close  ("klohz") can mean an end. 

But it can mean heaps of other things as well...all appropriate for our time here it seems.     

 In the "City of Sails" close is a nautical term.
"Close to the wind" is the direction opposite from which the wind is blowing.  

And we've been told that no other big city in the world is even close ("klohs"-nearby) to the number of sail boats per capita as there are in Auckland.

 Close also means compact and tight.  We've been to no other country in the world with lanes on roads and car parks so close and tight.  On the sidewalk we are basically 12 inches away from the road and the big buses.  Took a bit of getting used to we confess.

Jisu's photo

 Mates (friends) are very close (joined together, tight friends).  Jisu graduated from Uni and good YSA mates Amakura, Urim, and Asena were there for her. So was finance Atticus!

Some close friends, the Yangs, invited us out to IMA's (means mother in Hebrew), a lovely Mediterranean/Israeli restaurant downtown for Mothers Day. 

We sat close to the unique food grater lights...

...and thoroughly enjoyed the close friendship and great fish, hummus, baba ganoush, cucumbers and naan bread!

Fall and winter bring more rain, and more rain brings heaps of rainbows.  And often close to one rainbow is another...a double rainbow is common on our morning drive.

Close can mean both hover "nearby" as well as  "come together"...that's what the seagulls do when a fishing boat comes in for the evening.  The birds are quick to get close and converge on the left overs.

We have loved being close to so many harbors full of boats and the ocean that keeps them afloat.

Close can mean working together, being together and SINGING together.  These little Primary  people came together to sing  "Happy Mothers Day" songs to the mums in church on Mothers Day .

Close can be location as well as devotion and dear.
Like the close Livy and Gwynee feel when it comes to being with the chickens.

Close can also mean devoted...here we are being close as we come together for our devotional with the AUT Chaplain Reverend Linda Hope and a new mission couple the DeLora's

The close YSA group in the Ascotia Ward, Waterview Stake YSA.  

They really do love to be together and are close friends. 

"Meet" is also a synonym of close.  That would be our Tuesday night classes, who meet faithfully for the word, the food and the great friends afterwards.

Lunchside this week featured Elder and Sister Saunders.  

He is the area doctor for missionaries here in the Pacific.  He has had some very close calls with very serious conditions; from cancers and leprosy, to amputations and TBI's.
We are told that the islands of the Pacific stand next only to Africa in the many health challenges
that require great time and attention. 

Elder Saunders has traveled in one years time the equivalent of 7 times around the world 

just getting the sick and afflicted out of remote areas and back to places they can be treated.

CLOSE and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE MARKET

At the Saturday Market in Otara we were serenaded by a close family with pretty amazing close harmonies, standing close and singing songs in Tongan to earn a bit of extra money.

While here we've had the chance to get up close to and taste some new seafood.

(Been told the "cray head or body" has only a little meat and lots of not so tasty yellow mustard stuff...somebody must enjoy it to pay $14.90) 

The folks here love it all, including these frost fish.   

Our favorite by far (not even close) is still a nice familiar grilled salmon.

We got up close to some new kinds of vegetables

that we didn't even know existed.

UP Close and Close UP

Literally when we walk 3 or 4 blocks from the AIB we get to see close UP the iconic Sky Tower.

 Our walks also take us close to several beautiful cathedrals ... 

...with some amazing architecture.

No matter what time of year we walk there are all kinds of flowers, heaped close together,

 to take home to your flat and make you feel close to nature.  

Funny that it is fall but they are selling, among other things, hyacinths and tulips?????

A NZ close up adventure for us here...

...was to get to watch from the stands an All-Black's Rugby game! We now really like rugby!

 One of the things we have loved the most, besides the great people, has been the chance to live close enough to the ocean to fall in love with it daily, whether in Niue or New Zealand.

 Oh how we will miss being close to the sights, smells and sounds of God's incredible creation, 

the Ocean.

More folks we get to be close to here

The Relief Society Presidency in Balmoral Ward finds that
wearing matching dresses make them feel close.
Puni, on the left, is one of our dear YSA...just a kid!

Picked up the DeLora's (left) early morning this week.  They are here originally from Stockton, California to serve up North as MLS Missionaries.  On the right are the Lewis', who have been here just a month.  Love them all! 

Our last FHE with the Senior Missionaries that we have grown really close to. 

President Walker spoke and shared with us the

"behind the scenes" stories and efforts to call down an "outpouring of the spirit" here. 

He also shared the sweet miracles that have resulted of those pleas. 

 In righteousness we all have the power to do that.   

At the close of our "friends" week here at AIB we had a jar full of lollies and a guessing game

...the one with the closest guess to the number of lollies in the jar won the candy.  

Our winner, Tuelitia (sp) was beyond close...she was exact at 847!

 

Another meaning of close is pronounced "klohz", 

to shut the gate or the door, to end or conclude.

With lots of mixed feeling we are about to do that here in New Zealand.

We are released May 31 and will take a short detour with the Henderson Stake to the

 Sydney, Australia Temple,

 then fly home June 4.

web photo

Throughout life we frequently close doors, 

we close books and chapters

so we can start new ones.

I guess we do that at the close and beginning of every day.

lds web photo

One of the great joys and blessings of this mission has been the feelings of 

closeness to Heavenly Father, His Beloved Son and the Holy Ghost.

That kind of "close" has been the kind where you

-feel them nearby,

-they become more dear to you,

-their influence and hand (THOTL) in your life is clear and evident,

-and you want to be even more devoted, similar, faithful and near to them.

Its a sweet kind of "close".

So, we ask ourselves, how do we keep that closeness to God even after we go home...

when our lives and our schedules change, and we jump back into "the world"?

Louenda's father had this quote hung on the wall of his work office.

It holds not only perspective, but answers.

Being close to God didn't just start here,
we've known Him and been dear and close to Him long before now.  

May that closeness continue long after the here and now of this life
comes to a close.

All our love,

Vance and Louenda
Elder and Sister Downs