HORRAY FOR HUMP DAY!

Yup, it’s official. We’re on the downhill side of our mission. We’ve been here for exactly 9 months and now, we’re counting down. How fast the time has gone. Of course, it helps when you are super busy. 

We have spent the last week with Elder and Sister Condie, running around southern England. We met them at the Gatwick Airport on Monday morning.

 I was shocked at how much luggage they had, but then, I remembered that we brought just as much when we came. They said they had to leave many things behind too. It kind of gave me a moment of panic to realize that we, too, will be heading back with all that luggage. It’s not something I look forward to because, we nearly did ourselves in, moving our bags around airports and such. Niel thinks that he probably damaged his knee in the process and that is why it’s still not where it should be in its recovery. (Enough of that.)

Our first day was spent getting them settled in the Accommodation Centre. The next day, we visited London. 

We didn’t get to see all of it, mind you, but we saw enough. The highlight, however, was our first ever visit to the Hyde Park Visitor’s Centre.

It’s a fairly modern looking building (60’s design) right in the middle of what I would call Museum Row. When we visited the V & A Museum (that’s Victoria and Albert Museum) with Jill and Steve, we were within walking distance of the LDS Visitor’s Centre. I wished that we had known that sooner, but, you live and learn. The couple who greeted us were just beginning their mission at the Centre. Elder and Sister Ohman were their names. 

They were fantastic and brilliant! We got the best tour ever. They had previously served a mission to the Jerusalem Centre and knew one of the London South Missionaries that we knew, Sister Quimseh, an LDS Palestinian, who now lives outside of Bethlehem. Elder Ohman also treated us to a performance on the beautiful pipe organ in the chapel, where three wards meet each Sunday. He’s GOOD! We then found out that his office at BYU was right next to David Sargent’s and they are good friends. It’s always a small world. 

Wednesday and Thursday saw us traveling to the country of Wales. On the way, we visited the Gadfield Elm Chapel. 

Painting of the Gadfield Elm Chapel

It is the oldest (restored) chapel in the church. It belonged to a group of pastors who called themselves the United Brethren. Wilford Woodruff and the missionaries who served with him converted and baptized all but one of them in the pond at the Benbow Farm, close by. Which is the next place we saw. 

The pond at Benbow Farm

Then, we travelled on to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Marylou’s grandmother Evans came from there. We also saw the house where President McKay’s mother was born. The Saints are quite strong in that part of the UK. 

On our way back, we stopped in Bath. Rulon and Marylou took the Roman Bath tour and we shopped. (It was wonderful. I found a Christmas shop and bought a Fairy for my Christmas tree.) We hurried on to see Stonehenge, but it had closed for the day, so we only got to drive by and look. 

By this time, we oldies were just about done in. So we rested up for Saturday, when a quick trip to Dover Castle and the White Cliffs was in order.  Loved it.

At Dover Castle

It was with sad hearts and great amounts of tear shedding that we said goodbye to the Condie’s early Monday morning. That is the hardest part of seeing friends and family from home. At some point, we have to send them off to home and we stay here. We are honestly trying to climb out of the funk it causes, and get ourselves ready to work in the temple again.

This brings us round, again, to the “shocking news” that we have reached the half-way mark of our mission. Every day we say, “Well, we will never repeat this day again.” However---we are so happy that we did this mission. We have grown in many ways. Our hearts are full. It has been a blessing from God to be able to serve these Saints, here in England, France, Germany, Russia, etc., Korea, Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Africa (many countries), Scotland, Wales and Ireland. We have worked with them all.

Niel is taking the driving portion of the exams to get his UK driver’s license on Monday, the 17^th of March. We are being optimistic, but, at the same time, realistic. He has a slight, and I mean 44 % chance of passing, but most (56%) don’t. It’ll happen one day, though. We’ll let you know just how it turns out.

Love and best wishes to all!

Niel (Grumpa) and Carolee (Granny)

p.s.

Alan Carter, our missionary fly fishing guide took us fishing and this was the result. A bit cool and windy but the company was good. Alan is a super teacher and one of those fisherman who goes early and stays late. 

A Week of Firsts

This has been a week that doesn’t necessarily need to be put into the record books, but, needless to say, we have experienced a lot of “firsts”.  To begin with, I sent Niel on an errand for our friends, the Littlefield’s, then locked the door, emptied the bathroom and didn’t come out until I had cut my own hair. Yes, I did it myself and for many reasons. One, it is hard to find the time to get to a hairdresser; two, the one I had been going to moved to another town and doubled her prices; three, contrary to what Niel says, it’s difficult for him to drive me into town for just a haircut, and four, MY HAIR WAS UNCONTROLLABLE and TOO LONG, and I was simply tired of fighting it. I was DESPERATE! Okay, that was a first. Actually, it turned out quite nice, a little too short, but it’ll grow.

The second “first” happened in the middle of the night, during the week. I was having a dream that I was about to fall and the next thing I knew, I hit the hard floor, bam, all at once. There was no feet sliding off first, or just a partial slippage, where I caught myself. I fell flat onto my side. Yes, it did hurt. It hurt my body (but no bruises) and my pride and it knocked the wind out of me. How can a person just fall out of bed like that? Let me tell you, it is no way to wake up. That was what I would call a “rude awakening”.

The final “first” came when Niel and I were assigned to be the baptistry coordinators for the last week of the month. Normally, we would shoulder this assignment without any trepidation, but, this week the Saints from the Lille Stake (we’re talking France) came to do temple work for the week. They came in coaches (buses) and cars and vans. They were outfitted with a lot of their own family file cards too. We were about the only two workers in the baptistry who couldn’t speak French. Which means that someone (an English person) would walk through the baptistry from time to time to see how we were doing. Just to be fair, several of the French patrons could speak English, some more than others. This was truly a blessing for both sides of the channel, if you get my drift. We were told that they would be very organized and just to let them take over. In fact, we were told to be available, if and when they needed help, and to just stay out of their way. So, we swallowed hard and stood back. It was a wonderful week, of making friends, guiding some of them along, working extremely hard (doing laundry, organizing cards, going up and down the stairs to get the ordinances ‘recorded’ in the recorder’s office, hanging up baptismal suits over and over and laying down towels to catch the drips. Honestly, I came home each afternoon and took a well-deserved nap. We felt like we were very busy, but everything went as smooth as clock-work. They were fantastic! You gotta love the French, especially, if they are French Saints!  We could never really understand what they were saying, but hearing them talk became a normal experience.  I did have one poor sister who came up to me and kept asking me for what sounded like “le socks”. I took her into the clothing dept. and showed her a pair of socks, she shook her head, no. Then, I showed her several other articles of clothing, to which she still shook her head, no. Finally, another French sister happened by. They talked and she told us “merci,” and off they went to the exit. That was all she wanted, for us to show her the way out. (I felt pathetic.)

We commented to one of the French leaders that we have seen him in the temple on a regular basis, even with him living in France. He told us it was because he had prayed for the opportunity to faithfully worship in the temple and told the Lord he would if he was blessed with the finances to do so. And that requested blessing was answered. He is an Accountant by trade. He was offered a part time teaching opportunity at a University that would require on 60 hours per year of his time, but the financial reward was beyond his expectation. Thus, the money from this financial “windfall” is all used to pay for trips to the London temple. He is the Lille Stake temple preparedness leader, and is an assistant in his High Priest Group in his ward.

Oh, I almost forgot the last “first” of this week. I have actually finished (unless I decide to crochet an edge around it,) an altar cloth for the temple. I previously put in a picture of it almost done. It has truly been a labor of love. I am ready to start another one soon, too. Wish me luck and happy crocheting!

Niel has been disappearing from time to time, before or after we do our shift at the temple to practice a labor of love. Fly casting practice with Bro. Carter (pronounced-Cahtahr) He is a lovely man, who does a lot a fly fishing and is teaching several of the workers how to do it too. Niel is already pretty good at it, and it is a good way to unwind and relax and rub shoulders with the men, here in England.

Two weeks ago, I (Niel) had the wonderful experience of meeting a former president of the London Temple, President Dougald C. McKeown, (1968-1973) as he was leaving the temple. This frail little man came to the recommend desk, disguised by his age, nearly 94, and because he lives alone, maybe a little unkempt, kind of surprised me. He was talkative, telling me about his recently deceased wife, his ailments and recent close calls with death after having entered the hospital. He told me he was a patriarch and had given over 950 blessings. And then he made a surprising remark by saying, “and I was the president of this temple many years ago”. And so he was. Selvoy J. Boyer from Springville was the first temple president of the London Temple, and this good man was the fourth, called in 1968. I was quite touched by the experience and invited the current presidency to come visit with him as well. President Johnson had spoken to him before, as a General Authority, but other presidency members were honored to meet this faithful man, as was I. When you are in proximity with certain people, you can just feel their goodness. That is the experience I had as I just looked past his natural appearance and looked into his face and eyes as he told me about himself as only an elderly person can do, with years of spiritual maturity under their belt. It brought tears to my eyes. I was honored to meet this faithful British Saint. He had many kind words to say about President Selvoy J. Boyer, who had mentored him many years ago. I love how, in the gospel, the Lord puts a common person in a trusted position, and then nurtures them, through the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, to fulfill their calling. I have been in that position many times.

So, you all can see how blessed we are to be serving here. England is absolutely packed with LDS history. The Lord prepared many spiritual giants in the British Isles. Many came to Utah and a lot of them travelled west with the rest of the Saints, but many stayed here to build up the church. Next week, we will be reporting on our visit with Elder and Sister Condie. We are looking forward to seeing them and showing them around our area.

Love to all,

Niel (Grumpa) and Carolee (Granny)