Happy Birthday to our eldest granddaughter, Carly Marie! She turns 15 years old on Saturday. She is our Tax Day baby! We love you so much Carly girl!
 |
| Hot Dogs in a can, anyone? |
degrees, and from the looks of Facebook posts, I think Utah got a little snow? Yikes! What’s up with that? Spring in Utah! Better weather here than in Utah must be a sign of the times. Ron even played a round of golf yesterday with someone from work, and I did some cleaning and a major operation on the vacuum cleaner with the windows open and a cool breeze blowing. It was glorious.
This past week we hit our two-month mark. The days and weeks go by so fast! We had another eventful week that I can’t wait to share with you.
Tuesday we needed to go to London to work with Elder and Sister Parrish and to also pick up an extra TV from the office there, so we had to drive rather than ride the train. Normally we would never drive to London. The plan was to just get up early Tuesday morning and go and try time our arrival to avoid the horrendous traffic London is known for. We decided last minute to leave Monday evening and get a hotel outside of London so we could just drive into London Tuesday morning and have plenty of time to get the work done with the Parrishes that we needed to do. Hotels in London are VERY expensive. If you know me well, you know that Ron has spoiled me with really nice hotels for a number of years, and my idea of camping is anything less than a 4 star hotel (I know, I’m a snob). Well, let’s just say we roughed it in the wild Monday night, and we will be paying the very expensive prices in London next time we have to go. I don’t want to ‘diss’ anyone’s favourite chain of 2 star hotels, so I won’t say where we stayed, but... when Ron got out of the car to check in I said, “Oh no you don’t, you’re not leaving me here in the car by myself.” Ya, that kind of neighborhood, that kind of hotel. Lesson learned.
When we go to London to work, Elder and Sister Parrish are great hosts. They take us to their favourite spots to eat, and this time we snuck away from the office in the afternoon to catch the matinee of the Broadway play BEAUTIFUL – Carole King Story. It was just that... beautiful and fun. Along with the story and music, something else made it fun also... the sweet lady sitting next to me. Funny thing, this badge I wear, it takes away my reservations of talking to people. It’s the most amazing thing. Margaret (her picture is on my Facebook post) was there with her daughter celebrating her 84th birthday. She was as British as they come. I told her she reminded me of my own mom, who is also 84. She told me she had 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls, also like my mom. She sang loud and off key to almost every song, and at the end of each song she threw her hands up in the air. She was delightful. She also told me she was celebrating her 84th birthday, she had 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. We talked, and visited, her daughter kept trying to subdue her just a bit, I told her no need, we were having a ball, and then she told me she was celebrating her 84th birthday, she had 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls... you get my drift. She sure reminded me of my sweet mom. When the finale was over, she turned to me and said, “Is that the lot of it?” I told her it was. “I knew it” she said, “I knew it.” We hugged, and I kissed her cheek, and for a minute I felt like her other daughter, and I think she thought I was. It’s those kind of experiences that I wouldn’t trade for the world. When I’m 84, I hope I can feel like singing out loud, even if I’m off key.
 |
| Birmingham Mission Presidency taking a P-Day with the senior missionaries. President Gardner, President Leppard, President McKee |
We also went about four miles from the castle and hiked up a hill to the monument erected in honor of William Tyndale who translated the Bible in English, in the end being put to death for it. The monument itself is quite tall. 121 steps in a tight spiral takes you to the top. How do we know there were 121 steps? Yup, I counted them up and down. And the view of the countryside was absolutely breathtaking. We don’t get a lot of association with other senior missionaries in our area, so it was a really fun day for us.
When we arrived home, there was a new face outside on the walk, having a smoke. I told Ron, “I’ll bet that’s our new neighbour Gordon mentioned, the one that is sub-letting the flat above us.” As I approached him, I noticed his hearing aids, so I knew it was the new guy upstairs. I said, “Hello!” and he gave me a little wave. I looked him in the eyes and said,“How are you?” He smiled and gave me the thumbs up sign. I gave him the thumbs up back, and we exchanged smiles. And so we met, and we talked a little sign language, in case Gordon asks. I passed the test.
One day this week whilst in the office, the Area Director of Family History came in and invited us to attend the “Who Do You Think You Are” conference in Birmingham as his guest. He wanted to talk a little about getting Public Affairs involved next year. This conference is similar to “Roots Tech” in Salt Lake City on a much smaller scale. We went on Friday afternoon and had fun looking around and chatting with missionaries and Family History consultants from Salt Lake as well as Birmingham working the booth. I learned this week of a woman in our ward that joined our church as a direct result of attending that conference two years ago. Her cousin got her involved in Family History, and she actually traced her line back to Brigham Young. When her member friend invited her to go to the Family History conference, she jumped at the chance. She visited the Ancestory.com booth, where they opened up even more lines of Family History for her. The visit ended with the Family History consultant asking her if she would like the missionaries to visit her, and the rest you can guess. Her name is Sharon... (another Sharon friend!) and I adore her.
Ron taught his first “Gospel Doctrine” class today here, and as usual did a great job. I just love to hear him teach. This was my second week leading the singing in Primary. There were only 13 children today. Because it is the beginning of half term (Spring Break), if one family is gone it can take our numbers down quite a bit. We usually have closer to 20 children there. We had fun finding hidden plastic Easter eggs that had song titles in them. It’s fun to be back with the children. I learn the names more people each week and feel a little more comfortable each time we go. Testimony meeting is always a favourite of mine. At the end, “my cup runneth over.”
Thank you to everyone who emails, comments on FB, and helps us to not be as homesick as we could be by keeping us up to date on your lives at home. We are having some amazing experiences here, but always feel a little sad about what we are missing at home. We love you and pray for you and appreciate and feel your sustaining prayers for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment