Trees

This week everywhere we turned we met another great tree.  We ran into trees that were loved,

 and clothed in homemade sweaters with open invitations to tree huggers woven into them by 

sweater-crocheting people. 

We met many other trees about to become unclothed... of their leaves.

We stood under one of our favorites here, the unique ever green Norfolk Pine,  

and we saw many of these southern most Niku palms, one of our all-time NZ favorites. 

 We recalled all we learned about red vs. green coconut tree while on Niue...

who would have thought there was a difference. 

They are all beautiful in their own right.

Joyce Kilmer wrote (and we agree...): 

"I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree..."

We love to recall the sunsets on Niue, which we think would be empty without images

 of the plentiful coconut palm trees 

(not to mention how empty the world would be

 without the great coconuts they give). 

Trees give us heaps, for so many reasons they are pretty incredible.

AIBOur little "family tree" of students

We are now back in downtown at the AIB

 and teaching class after a two week semester break.    

 Nice to be  home with our little “branch” of YSA at our building.  

 Some gatherings are big branches.

 Some classes are merely lovely twigs (Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel class)

Tuesday Night class, sinking down gospel roots.

Nice to be back together.

Auckland Trees

Fall weather is nice and in the afternoon after class we like to go on walks in downtown Auckland.  

 Albert Park is close by and we really love the trees there.  

There are plenty over here (like this Moreton Bay fig tree) with crazy trunks 

and lots with big waxy leaves.

Sometimes we even find them with handsome missionaries standing underneath them.

"Over time" New Zealand has been a seed bed for Kauri, Cypress, Gum, and Totara trees...

 as well as palm and fern trees.

We are still trying to figure out what some of them are…

but no matter what, we love them all.  Thus far, like Will Rogers said about people,

 “We’ve never met a tree we didn’t like.”, we love them all. 

Trees over time....

web image Methuselah

 Scientists have found some trees that they think (in their best way of calculating)

 have been around for thousands of years. 

 Its not unusual to find Olive trees as old as 3,000 years, 

and this Methuselah tree (above-the bristle 

cone pine from Europe) that they think is over 5,000 years old, 

web image Old Tjikko

Botanists think Old Tjikko’s root system is over 8,000 years old. 

If that’s accurate, those trees have been through world wars, Empires, Floods, 

and just about everything.  

 Trees have kept man toasty warm, shaded from the heat, fed, sheltered, even clothed. 
We also know that trees help give us clean air and reduce the ozone, 
their roots can help soak up excess storm water, 
their dead leaves make great soil for other plants, 
and trees even give us nice fruits and flowers, 
along with homes for man and little critters who live in their branches. 

Besides lovely leaves and flowers, trees give us other important things like medicines, maple syrup, gum, rubber, and paper.  Elder Downs even learned how to weave coconut palm leaves 

into baskets (sort of).

Trees have sure made our time in New Zealand lovely and we’ve met some pretty amazing trees!  

web image

Everyone seems to know the first two lines of this poem, but the last line rings especially true...

the gift of a tree comes from God.  

In the Beginning...

Sprouts coming out of old coconuts. 
We noticed they were sprouting everywhere on Niue that an old coconut fell.
They grow very quickly into new coconut trees.

Sometimes we talk about our "family tree", people connected by birth or adoption into families, sprouting and growing quickly from ancestral "roots" into new offshoots and branches,
all connected on the tree branches of being FAMILY.  

gardenofedenclawsonartgallery web image

It appears trees have been around from the beginning. 

The Bible tells us in chapter 2 of the Old Testament in Genesis about two trees, 
the tree of "knowledge of good and evil" and the "tree of life". 


We find references in great literature of those trees as well.
The epic poem "Paradise Lost" by John Milton 
refers to the story in Genesis 
and the same trees.
  







Then we find more references to the "tree of life" appearing in the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Books of Moses and Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price.  

 There are multiple and widespread traditions and stories about the "tree of life". 

 We see depictions of it in jewelry,
  

web image tree of life stone

and carvings, 

webimage Robert Boyd

in paintings

web images tree of life

 and all kinds of art

that tries to capture possible images of the "tree of life".  

Trees of life

In our world, trees are an undisputed source of life.  The "tree of life" can refer to a real tree, 



or, like a “Family Tree” it can be symbolic:
The symbolic source of all life on earth, 

the warmth, 
the shelter, 
the source of necessities, 
our food - both physical and spiritual, 
our clean, life-giving air, 
and of the roots and branches that gather us,
 and house and protect us.

web image Maxwell quote

 Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated it beautifully when he explained the 
ultimate meaning of the "tree of life": 

web image churchofjesuschrist art harry anderson

We love trees, we love how they willingly give all they have to give... to us. 
We agree with Elder Maxwell, the "Tree of Life"  is a perfect reality 
and symbol
 of One who did the same. 
He lives.
Vance and Louenda
Elder and Sister Downs