Our Good Works Bless Others

July 28, 2013

Today, for the first time, in terms of my church callings, I was blessed to team teach the Primary CTR 7-8 class with Carolee. We had five children attend. Matheo, Ella, Jack, Leah, Emanuel. The parents of the last two may not have been baptized yet. They were beautiful little children. I love to hear their accents as they talk. Sometimes they spill the beans on what recently happened at home.

 I told them the Book of Mormon story of King Lamoni’s conversion and acceptance of the Savior’s teachings and consequently the conversion of some of his subjects (who took on the name The Anti-Nephi-Lehites as they no longer wanted to be called Lamanites). As the story goes, these converts to the teachings of the Savior (and former blood shedding Lamanites) buried their weapons of destruction, swords, spears and bows and made a promise to never take them up again, even at the peril of their lives. They were tested to be “Accountable” to the promises they made as new converts to Christianity, and they passed with flying colors. Carolee handed them each something to be accountable for. Leah was given an egg and boy did it get extra loving care. She understood the consequences of her not being accountable (she didn’t know it was hard boiled).

This teaching experience was a reminder to me of the importance of being accountable to the covenants we make as church members, baptism being the first. Again, this week, we saw many come to the House of the Lord, both young and old, to demonstrate their accountability. I must say, I have been impressed. Saturday we had nine young men and women endowed prior to missionary service or marriage. I really enjoy watching and helping them in this experience. 

It was a challenging week for us because they are thrusting new responsibilities on us, from “fluffing pillows” in special gathering areas to being perfectly organized in important duties, thus allowing temple patrons to have a memorable experience.  Another reason is that MANY of the local full time temple workers will be going home for good at the end of August. Their years of experience will be sorely missed. Hope the new comers are ready to fill their shoes when the temple re-opens in November.

The temple president’s wife, Sister Lowry, has returned to their home in the Manor House after having major surgery due to cancer. Her return is truly a blessing. The Lowry’s are a special couple. Their loving nature and kindness permeates the temple and will be missed when they finish their term in November. They have been a wonderful example of dedication to their calling.

This week a brother traveled from Italy, only to discover upon his arrival that his temple recommend had expired six months prior. The temple presidency was able to work things out so he could enter the temple. The French continue to patronize this temple more than I would have ever imagined. They are counting the days until their temple will be built in the outskirts of Paris.

During a lunch break conversation, a Brother Manuel, a temple sealer, asked us if we knew David Fox, son of Merlin and Joan Fox. We told him we certainly did. Elder Fox baptized Bro Manuel’s wife many years ago. And then he asked if we knew John and Carma Hafen. They served with the Hafen's in Frankfurt, Germany, the Hafen’s being Humanitarian Missionaries. The Hafen’s certainly left a deep impression on Bro and Sister Manuel. John, he also remembered you as a Two Star General. And Carma, they knew you were the quiet spiritual giant standing with your husband.

My friend and classmate, Lee Taylor, continues to keep us up to date on various issues at home. One not so happy event was the passing of Don Eldredge (husband to Kaye Tucker) due to cancer. One happy event was the fifty-year reunion of the SHS class of 1963. This is the class our friends, we refer to as the “dirty dozen”, graduated in. Rick and Rebecca, Rulon and Marylou, Mike and Karma, Dave and Lucille, David and Adriene, Alan and Carol. We are happy they adopted us into the group. My SHS Class of 1964 will be having a fifty-year reunion next summer. Unfortunately we will miss it. Fifty years! Unbelievable!

I am feeling much better physically. However, my knee has been in a holding pattern in terms of improvement. It will happen I’m confident. Other than that, we are both fine and enjoying this wonderful opportunity of serving in the London Temple.

I didn’t realize it would be possible to live without a television and other luxuries. It is almost as if we are in a cocoon. We miss you all very much. We pray for your safety and welfare. We also feel your prayers in our behalf.

Love to you all,

Elder and Sister Strong

Hello again from the UK!   In thinking about what would be good for me to write about and also, good for you all to read, I’ve decided to do a little comparing. I have found that there are a few things I really miss by being over here in the UK, like my grandkids. I hope you all know that there will be a LONG group hug when I get home and it may not stop for quite a while. The second thing (and don’t put this in the same category as grandkids) is PICKLES. Every time we go to the store I buy another jar of pickles, hoping that what I am buying will be good, sour, salty and dilly tasting.  To date, I’ve thrown away every bottle. What I wouldn’t give for a jar of Klausen’s Dills. I would just eat one right after the other, really. They wouldn’t even have to be Klausen’s, just Vlasic or anything else. However, we have a wonderful selection of cheeses and yogurts to choose from. The milk here is also excellent. I managed to find my favorite soda on our last Monday off. Yes, they have Coke Cherry Zero!  Halleluiah! There is a market here called ASDA, which is supposed to be the Walmart of the UK. It’s pretty close. The fruits and veggies are simply wonderful too.

On our day off, we went to see an estate called, Chartwell, which is very near to us. Wow, what a beautiful estate. It is the home that Winston Churchill retired to after he served in public office. We’ve included some pictures. We didn’t get to see all of it. Maybe we can take someone there to see the rest.  There is even a bomb crater from WWII on his property. Black swans and kitchen gardens and lots of his and other famous artists’ paintings. A lot of WWII memorabilia too. Lady Churchill had a gorgeous rose garden that Grandma Jane would have loved to see.

Churchhill Rose

The restaurant and shop at the entrance

Amazing Plants, and empty pool in background due to a leak

Rose Gardens

Mrs. Churchhill's Rose Garden

Wall in Rose Garden

Chartwell Manor, Rear View

Manor Side View

How would you like this to be the entrance to your front steps?
Carolee with the Littlefields

Part of the Back Yard. There is a bomb crater off to the left.
Churchhill build the wall in the background himself.

Granny and a Pine Tree

Chartwell Landscape

School of Hold Fish

Carolee's favorite wall in the Rose Garden

More rose garden

Chartwell Front Entrance

Lilly pads for our little Lillicans

There are all kinds of beautiful and interesting Evergreens here

Can't get over these plants!

Adam and Eve could make an entire wardrobe out of these leaves (haha!)

Beautiful landscape

Our FAVORITE Fish and chips in East Grindstead. We can taste them now! 

Temple work takes up most of our time and has been a truly wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much. The other workers have been a blessing to get to know.  We hear all kinds of accents, Welsh, Yorkshire, Scottish, and Irish to name a few.  Today, I helped people from France and Korea in the temple. Great experience! When I showed the Korean card (words) to one of the other workers, he said it looked like double-Dutch to him. I bet Will would have understood it though. 

Hey, everybody, send us pictures from your phones, we love them. Thanks Julie for your pictures.  

We love you all so much.  

MOM 

Connections to Home

 

Front blue and pink blouse are Cecilie Lundgreen, pro golfer from Norway and Laurette Maritz, pro golfer from South Africa. Middle blue is their coach Reeve A. Nield from Zimbabwe. These ladies are partly sponsored be a shipping company. The HC 6th Ward, filled a shipping container and these ladies personally distributed the contents in Zimbabwe. They knew Tafton Weight as a missionary. They also manage a foundation called Eyes 4 Zimbabwe which provides eye sight restoration surgery. In short, these sisters have got it together as LDS Church humanitarian  representatives

The sister in the picture wearing white came through the London temple returning from Zimbabwe

where she served a humanitarian mission with her husband. They dug water wells!

Brother Rouse, England

More Pictures From the "Hi"

President and Sister Lowry, Temple President and Matron

President and Sister Lock with President and Sister Cook, Counselors

Elder and Sister Murdoch, Logan

Elder and Sister T. Leighton Jones, Wales

Being Welcomed

July 21, 2013

(Niel) We have now served in the temple for a little over a month. It has been a most rewarding experience and we have been welcomed by our fellow temple workers. Each shift has approximately seven or eight full time couples who work every day including couples from America, India, England, Wales and Ireland and one couple from Canada. In addition, there are other English workers who rotate in their service. They come to serve for a week every other month or some other schedule they have worked out with the temple recorder. So we see a lot of new faces and just as we get to know them, they are gone and will not return for a month or two. Quite a schedule to keep up with, especially when they cannot make it because of health or family issues. But the full time temple workers take it in stride and all goes well if everyone is willing to “bend” a little and not be irritated at last minute changes. (Or should I say last second changes)

My knee continues to gain strength and stability. I am riding a stationary bike every day which has helped build the thigh muscles. 

My companion (Cal Christensen) and I ran into this old windmill 
47 years ago while riding our bikes from Redhill to the London 
Temple. Looks like the years have taken a toll. 
Two of the four blades are almost gone. 

Outwood Antique Windmill

(Carolee) Last Saturday, which was an extremely busy day, I happened to meet several patrons, who were attending the temple. I was introduced to the first sister, a sister from Trinidad. Well, I immediately thought of Mike and Karma Farrer. They served in the West Indies and were located in Trinidad at one time. I asked her if she knew Elder and Sister Farrer and she said that she knew them well. Bro. Farrer had even given her and her husband Patriarchal Blessings.  She said her last name was Mason (she said like the bricks). Her husband was the branch president and they have ten children. She was a very beautiful lady and very gracious. A little later, three patrons came through a certain area of the temple. They really stood out, being tall, blond and gorgeous. When we were doing our laundry later that night, I ran into them again because they were staying in the accommodation center right across the hall from us. They introduced themselves to us and said they were from Zimbabwe. Then, I thought of Tafton Weight, Tad and Tylynn Weight’s son who serve on a mission there. They were very familiar with him also. The one who knew him best’s name was Reeve.  It turns out that they are professional golfers. A couple of years ago, when Tylynn Weight was our Relief Society President, we all helped to contribute to a humanitarian project, wherein we filled a large shipping container with goods etc to send to Zimbabwe. These girls got their golf sponsor, a large shipping company, to ship these containers for free if we could fill them.  So there you go, it is truly a small world. (I am sick that I didn’t get to take their pictures, tho.) They were here to play in a golf tournament on Monday. 

Ironmongery (or Hardware as we know it) Isle at Home Depot

Brad and Lezlee and their family have moved into our home. We hope they can feel at home while they are there. Their home closes on July 24^th. We are hoping Brad can find an opportunity to stay in Utah to practice dentistry. It would require some hard work and financial sacrifice but at least he would be close to family, friends and BYU Sports. 

It has been very hot here. Even up into the 90’s. This is not the England I remember. We have not had a good rain storm since we arrived. And the Temple lawn and landscape is very dry and turning brown. The English say it is not normal but they seem to enjoy the sunshine.

We love you all and hope you will stay in touch with us by email. See the email link at the right side of the blog.

Much love and appreciation

Mom and Dad - Elder and Sister Strong

Pictures From their HI (Introduction/Presentation)

Elder and Sister Wade, American Fork

Sister King, Florida

Brother and Sister Walters

Sister Waldrom, England

Brother and Sister Thomas, England

President and Sister lock, 2nd Councilor

President and Sister Cook, 1st Councilor

Brother and Sister Jones, England

Elder and Sister Christiansen, Lehi

Mexican Chips and Salsa, English Style

Elder and Sister Littlefield, Lehi

Rachel, our HI techi

Sisters Walters and Wood, England

The True Beauty of the Temple

July 14, 2013

The True Beauty of the Temple

As I was sitting at the temple front desk, an older gentleman who had completed his temple work for the day came and sat down. It was evident from the beginning he was there to talk. He was courteous and allowed me to welcome temple patrons and thank those that had finish their work for the day.

His name was Brother Hankin from Kent. A fellow temple worker, Elder Littlefield, had visited with him the week prior. This good brother wanted to tell me about his conversion some forty three years ago. He was in the Royal Navy and had developed some habits that were seriously jeopardizing his health. (He could drink booze faster than the Guinness World Record and Guinness offered to schedule him for a demonstration).  His wife had been tracked up by the missionaries and she allowed them to come in. Making a long story short, he was able to immediately get on top of his word of wisdom problems, receive the lessons and be baptized. 

Now, back to his comments that caused me to reflect on the beauty of temples. His feeling was that too many people attend the temple in a rush and never quite settle on what they have heard and participated in. Said he, “the temple and all of its surroundings are beautiful. The Spirit of the Lord is evident in His House. But the real beauty of temple worship is the sealing ordinance where families are sealed for time and eternity by proper priesthood authority”. I thought to myself, thank you, Brother Hankin, for bearing your testimony in an informal setting. I agree with you.

In the D&C 128:9-10 we read:

v9. It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of – a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a ^adispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given. Hence, whatsoever those men did in ^bauthority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled, according to the decrees of the great ^cJehovah. This is a faithful saying. Who can hear it?

v10. And again, for the precedent, Matthew 16:18,19: And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this ^arock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

All six of this brothers children (mostly daughters) have left the church or are not active. My heart ached when he told me that. But they were BIC (born in the covenant) and will someday may come to understand that the binding power of priesthood ordinances, can bring them back to the family fold, both in heaven and earth.

Your mother and I are doing sacred work for both the living and the dead. Even we, at times, are having to step back and renew our understanding of the importance of this work.

Today, I witnessed the proxy sealings of family members from Uganda. An old gray haired Uganda African and a younger African sister brought in dozens of family file cards. The name he used for temple purposes was “Johnson”. His real name, I won’t even try to spell. The names were difficult to pronounce but the sealer did it well to the nods of the participants. I’m still in awe of the faithful Saints who come to the London Temple from ALL over the world. It’s like an icon for them because of the temple accommodations, cafeteria, washers and dryers that are available to them here, but not at other temples closer to their homes. They come from Africa, Jamaica, France, US, Germany, Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries and on and on. 

It has been a rewarding week. My knee continues to heal. My supervisor, Brother Crossland, has allowed me time to rest my knee each day. (Until today.)  It has helped tremendously. We worked with the French members and, today, I worked with a brother who spoke only French. The only way I knew what he was saying was by letting the words go through my mind in English. I think he did it perfect!

Don’t let the true beauty of the Lord’s house pass by your life. Be an active participant in temple work. You will be blessed.

Love, Dad

Dear family and friends, 

on a lighter note, 

We have never been so thankful to get a week over. Somehow, the tension leading up to our “HI” on Sunday night was thick enough to cut with a knife. Both we and the Littlefield’s felt like the blind leading the blind because we didn’t know what was expected of us and were afraid of standing up in front of everyone and making fools of ourselves. I mean, just how much can you say about yourself and sound like you are a normal person? Do you brag or do you say only a little bit? In the end we both showed some of the pictures we happened to have saved on our computers and talked longer than we should have done. Oh well. The Littlefield’s have been having a lot of computer problems and their pictures (scenes from Nigeria, Russia and the Navaho Nation) kind of got lost mid-way through their presentation. I felt so bad, they could have kept everyone glued to their seats for the whole evening cause those pictures were so good. (We’ve seen them and oh, the stories.)

We also showed the DVD Julie made for us  At least two of the sisters from the states came up in tears. It made them miss their grandchildren so very much.

I really wanted to describe what it is like to serve in the temple to everyone. Well, the only way I can describe it is with a poem about a poor sailor, shipwrecked on a piece of drift-wood, in the middle of the sea.  

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!

There are two sets of spirally stairs in the temple and if you want to go ANY WHERE, you got to go either up or down, all the day long. 

Stairs, stairs everywhere and not a lift to take!

My leg muscles are pretty darn tired after a 6-7 hour temple shift of climbing stairs.  That’s all I have to say about that!

BUT, we love the work and feel like we are growing by leaps and bounds and stairs.

Love to all. 

Mom and Carolee

Practice Makes Perfect!

July 7, 2013

(This part written by Grandma Carolee)

   Even after years of experience as ordinance workers in the Provo Temple, it is important that the ordinances be performed “word perfect”. That is the phase dad is in right now. The London Temple Presidency and Matrons personally certify our ability to perform our work properly. This is the process of maintaining the integrity of the work. We have both done it all many times but it requires concentration and effort to do it right.  So dad’s still trying to get those checks on his pass-off card. But he does have it all memorized.

    I had a wonderful experience in initiatory, doing work with three new patrons. One was going to be sealed and two were going on missions. It was my first time to do this, and I can vividly remember how special it was for me when I was a first-timer.  They all three came in with that “deer in the head-lights” look, even though we tried very hard to make them feel welcome and comfortable. I started the first sister and didn’t get very far into the ordinance when I, yes me, started to bawl. The second sister came in and sat down and you could see right off that she was really feeling the Spirit because she started to tear up and then we both cried through the whole ordinance. The third sister was not so emotional and we made it through great. Anyway, I loved doing it. Great experience.

   As we were walking into Sacrament Meeting, we were nabbed to teach the seven-year-olds next Sunday. As far as I can remember this will be Dad’s first opportunity to teach primary. We will let you know how it goes.

   Don't know whether we told you, but last week Donny Osmond, his wife and 15-year-old son came to the temple. His is in London doing a show. They called the temple and someone from the temple picked them up at the train station so that they could come and do some temple work. It was the topic of conversation for the week.

 Our temple president, President Lowery, informed us that he would be taking a break from the temple for a few days or maybe longer to take care of issues with his wife whose cancer has reoccurred. She is scheduled for surgery in a week and also his mother is in her mid-90s and is obviously close to leaving this life. We are grateful for him and his attitude and the way he let us know, but he will be gone for a while. In fact, this weekend, all the members of the Temple Presidency left to go, so, our “HI”, as they call it here, when you introduce yourself to other temple workers was postponed for one week. Dad doesn’t know what he is going to reveal about himself and is taking a totally passive approach, saying whatever comes to his mind when it's his turn to speak. However, he is sure he’ll come up with something about how great our children and grandchildren are.

(written by Grandpa Niel)
It has been quite an eye opener to see how many different nationalities attend this temple. For example this week we had French patrons and next week they are scheduled to come in by the dozens. Some of them are set apart temple workers and can assist their own come through the temple. I was privileged to help two fellows who came in from France, one spoke absolutely no English, the other was somewhat fluent in English. He and his wife were active participants in the session. Next week we will tell you about our “French” experience.

I spent some time in the sealing room as an observer and I noticed on the cards that were being used for reference to some of the temple work for these people have been done and temples all around the world, I mean all over the world, from Australia, New Zealand faraway places from England and Mom said that she gave some cards to Julie and Will to do in Korea. So that must happen a lot.

My leg continues to improve, just a tiny bit at a time. It gets very stiff at the end of each day. The “Bakers Cyst” is not huge but is evident. I have been taking an hour to an hour and a half off each day of my shift to try to relax and get it elevated and get the weight off it. That's my primary problem right now is that I'm overweight and am putting a lot of pressure on it. I'm not going to feel better unless I back off a little bit and spend more time resting my leg, keeping weight off of it and doing other things that are helping to regenerate it. When the knee is bent or straightened out, this pocket of fluid puts pressure on the tendons etc. It can be very painful at times.

Elder and Sister Masih

In this week’s report, I have given you a picture of Elder and Sister Masih (pronounced Massey). We serve in the temple with brother and sister Masih. They are very humble people and are from India. He came at age 25 and through an “arranged” marriage, as is their custom, they were married. She wears Indian clothes and has offered to teach Mom how to cook real “good” Indian food that isn't like what's in the restaurant she says. She told us their conversion story, in which they had a friend who he worked with him in the post office who changed from being a drinker and womanizer and became a totally different person and so they questioned him one day about why he had changed so much. He said, let me have two young men come and visit with you and tell you why I've changed and of course the missionaries came. It was very hard for them to join the church because Brother Masih's uncle, who was that the family patriarch did not want them to be members of the church. He would not give his okay for them to join the church for a long time and she was so thankful that the missionaries stuck with them and kept encouraging them until they could get permission to be baptized. She is struggling a little due to having had a stroke and has a hard time with her memory. She works so hard to memorize just a few parts. She comes and serves faithfully and is always very concerned and kind to everyone else. We have really enjoyed working with them.

We want to wish Anna happy birthday and know that Will and Jay’s are coming up. We want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY in case we forget. We’ll still try calling face-time with some of you on your birthdays. Beckie, that means you had better start answering your phone. We’ve been trying several times to reach you.

   We are now getting close to going into our fourth week as missionaries. Personally, I'm (Dad speaking) starting to adapt to the surroundings, people we work with, our tiny apartment and being very regimented in our lives. I'm also feeling more of the Spirit of temple work each day and that has been a blessing to me. As I sit in the temple in areas where I can meditate, I've come to realize even more that this really is a wonderful experience for your mother and I, being able to do the work of the Lord in such a beautiful spiritual place.  I do get terribly homesick at times, but I know I’m doing what the Lord would want me to do in building up this part of His vineyard.

Today after church I walked around the temple grounds for a few minutes or I should say limped around the temple grounds at least on the north and east side of the temple and took some photos of some of the facilities just to give you an idea of what the temple landscaping looks like right now. It changes, depending on the time of year. If you will notice, one of the photos is of a field with a horse, taken right out the east gate of the temple. You'll see the gate in the picture across the road and then you'll see the wonderful setting of the temple with a pasture right across the street. (See these pictures in the previous post)

In terms of what we will be doing during the break, which will start on September 4th and go to November 15^th, we haven't been given any specific direction, other than we will be asked to Family History work in the facility provided here. Mom wants to do her genealogy in the Buckleberry, Berkshire area, which is probably about a 45 minute drive from here and I am interested to see what I can find out about my fifth great-grandfather James Strong  born in 1727 somewhere in northern Ireland or England. My goal is to try to follow him, maybe backtrack, from Ireland. His ship probably left from the very top part of Ireland or he might have come back across the channel and left from England. I hope to have a good experience tracking his birth place down.

I notice in NewFamily Search, someone has pinned him in northern England and gave him parents, and sealed him to them. I’ll look at that information and if they documented it correctly, it would be great. If they did not get that kind of information then that will be a good task during the break. One drawback about the areas that he was in when he left England or Ireland is that it is nearly 1,000 miles away from where we are. So I don't know exactly how we can work that out yet.

We continue to spend time with Steve and Ruth Littlefield from Lehi. I may not have told you they were best friends with Terri Curtis and Terri’s wife who was a Boyer from Brookside. Terri’s father and mother were Carl and Renee Curtis just around the corner from where I grew up. On Monday we are having a big barbecue out back of the gardener’s sheds. The weather has been beautiful, but slightly warm. It really feels like late spring in Utah, which is okay, but there is no air conditioning anywhere. It even gets kind of humid and warm in the temple.

Elder and Sister Kelly

Elder Kelly, my temple trainer. Love this little guy.

Happy 45th Anniversary from Dad to Mom

The David O. McKay Oak Tree. Blessed in the 1950's to survive and thrive.

We love you all. Thank you for reading our ramblings. Ashley (Hermana Lancaster) www.sisterlancaster.blogspot.com you are truly wonderful. Hang in there, girl.

With all our love, 

Elder and Sister Strong