The Fruits of our Labours

30 July 2017

Dear Family and Friends -

Costumes almost ready!

We hope all have had a wonderful week, and those who celebrated Pioneer Day had a wonderful holiday! We didn’t do anything to celebrate here, but it is easy when your mindset is the Pageant, all about the early missionaries travelling to Great Britain, converting many, and the converts immigrating to the USA, to reflect upon our pioneer ancestors and all they did for us. I am grateful for my own pioneer ancestors who accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this country and were brave enough to leave their homeland and travel to America.

Happy 9th Birthday to Nathan and Alexa, our twins this week! Although they live in Texas, we have managed to spend nearly every birthday with them, and we will surely miss being with them on Friday, 4 August. We love them more than grandparents can express in a letter. They are our miracles from heaven, and we thank Heavenly Father daily for them and all the grandchildren. Such a blessing!

We find ourselves at the end of another week, and it was a BIG one! Ten hour days at the office several days this week, but we are down to the final preparation before going back up to Chorley tomorrow for two weeks. We are so excited that it is finally here and look forward to spending time with everyone involved. There is a great spirit on the grounds of the temple there. We have made so many new friends and love seeing them and being with them. The fruits of our labors are coming, as some of the human interest stories we sent to newspapers weeks ago are now being printed, and I am getting at least one phone call or email a day from a TV or radio station wanting an interview from a cast member. We feel very fortunate and blessed! I have attached one story that I particularly love, because eleven-year-old Madison is such a fighter, and I have loved getting to know her and her family as I interviewed them for the article. (Just a note . . .the article was NOT written by Stephanie Bateman )

One bit of exciting news is that we got a new car! The Area Office is now purchasing a larger Hyundai for our mission, and the mission president has designated the larger cars to senior couples, and the zone leaders/trainers will be assigned the smaller ones. When Ron went to pick it up, he came back with the biggest grin on his face and exclaimed, "I'm in love!" In his words, "Where the other car was powered by three squirrels, this one actually has an engine!" I think he is most excited about is the cruise control, although the built-in navigation system and the back-up camera are sweet too. And the seats are so much more comfortable with a little padding! Don't get me wrong, we were very grateful for our other car. We know of many friends who serve missions in foreign countries without a car. The new one is nice, and we are ever so grateful!

The mission president changed some of the Districts in our mission with the last transfer, so now we have another companionship of sister missionaries who live in Birmingham. We met them Thursday, Sister Smith from Adelaide, Australia, and Sister Olson from West Valley City, UT. We also met our new District Leader, replacing Elder Mordue, Elder Holbrook from Park City. Now we have six missionaries to play parents to, and we couldn't be happier.

L to R: Sister Smith, Sister Olson, Elder Boehning, Elder Holbrook, Sister Woods, Sister Bessendorfer

Thursday night we picked up our intern, Amanda, from the airport. Amanda is from BYU and has been interning in Frankfurt at the Area Office and also helping us with Pageant long distance. Now, she is ours to take to the Pageant. She and Ron will work on social media among other things. She made it safely to us, but her suitcase did not. So instead of taking her to her previously arranged place to stay, she came home with us and spent the night so we could supply her with what she needed until her bag came. Again, another chance to play parents, which we loved.

So to get ready to leave tomorrow, you know me, and how I plan each day waaaay ahead, so nothing is procrastinated or forgotten. Last week we had every minute of yesterday planned, our last day to get ready to be gone for two weeks. Then a wrench was thrown in, and the missionaries told us there were two separate baptisms AND a wedding on Saturday! Of course we wanted to support the missionaries, and the new members, so we prayed we could accomplish everything we needed to yesterday and went to the first baptism.

I've told you about our Bishop before. He is a 300+ lb. former rugby player from Samoa who looks like you wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley, but he is the softest teddy bear you've ever seen. He gave closing remarks at the baptism, and his testimony was directed to the non-member family of Grace, the newly baptized member. It was more than my heart could contain. It was so emotional, so powerful, the spirit was so strong . . . so tangible. He is such a spiritual giant. I just love him. He is new in the area of leadership in the church, as many here are, and sometimes lacks in his own confidence. He relies on Ron a lot for answers to his questions and “how do they do this in Utah?” But yesterday in particular, I was so thankful we made the time to go to the baptisms. What Bishop Fakatou lacks in experience he makes up for in testimony and spirit. And you know what? We accomplished everything we needed to, attended the second baptism and had time to spare . . . a blessing and a tender mercy.

After church today, Bishop Fakatou called us in his office and gave us a new assignment to be done AFTER our Public Affairs assignments, and AFTER our church callings. He asked us to be “parents” to the YSA’s in our ward and re-activate many of them. (Just a small assignment ) And, he also asked us to Home Teach three families that need some extra spiritual attention. I guess we weren’t looking busy enough or stressed enough! No, not really. We are thrilled for the opportunity for more parenting and look forward to working with the great YSA’s in the Solihull area. (Rex and Natalie – we need to chat!)

Elder Mordue’s family from Farmington came to pick Elder Mordue up from his mission. We had met them over FACETIME when the Elders were here on Mother’s Day, but it was so fun to meet them in person and let them know what a great missionary their son was. We said our final good-byes to Elder Mordue at the second baptism. I may have shed a few tears . . . those good-byes are hard, as these young men and women become part of your family here. A piece of my heart will go home with him.

Between the extra prayers that have been said and the feeling of working hard and being prepared, as long as the days have been these past weeks we have had the energy and stamina to accomplish all that needed to be accomplished before leaving. I can feel the Lord's hand in all of this. I ask once again for your continued prayers during our time at the Pageant, as we will have very very long days. One day, several of the Church Leaders from Salt Lake and Europe will be here, including Elder Ballard as well as our Area Director from Europe, so it will be particularly stressful as we execute every detail. We will surely need your prayers then! And since I can't say which day just yet, please just keep the prayers coming every day!

We are especially excited that Ron’s parents will be joining us at the Pageant for the last two days, then coming home with us for a few days before getting on a cruise ship. We are looking forward to their visit so much!

My heart is full today of love and emotion for my many many blessings. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. We will be posting Pageant pictures on social media, so please watch and share this week! May you have a choice week also and are blessed with the things you need and pray for.

With much love,
Ron and Marie

From my friend serving as Mission Pres in Fukuoka today:

I thought you might like to hear about another aspect of my responsibilities - the "medical calls" I deal with on a daily basis. We address many ailments and sicknesses, especially 10 days before transfers when they start worrying about what the future will bring. Missions are hard in every way, Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Spiritually and very stressful, so their immune systems are weakened and they easily catch colds, have lots of stomach and head aches, ingrown toenails, mystery viruses, aches and pains, some even serious problems in emotional and physical health. But thankfully with the help of our Area Doctor and Mental Health Advisors and the Lord, for the most part we're able to keep them going and strong enough to do their work.

Last week I got a call from a sister who was feeling dizzy, had headaches and stomach ache and just didn't feel well. After I get all the symptoms down, then I start my questions, "When did it start? What if anything have you taken for it? "Are you hydrated?" her reply, "yes, I'm drinking lots". (Then the Million $ question) "What color is your output?" (if you are hydrated it will be clear) her reply after some thought, "yellow and white" In my mind I reconciled/rationalaized her answer and then asked, "what about Yesterday?" her reply after more thought "yellow and brown" "Really I said, yellow and brown?" "Yes!" again I asked, "Your output was brown" She started to get flustered and finally I said, "your urine was really brown?" Then she was confused and said, "my what?" "your urine, your output!" long pause…. "Oh, I thought you asked me what color my OUTFIT was?" All in a days work! 

Happy Pioneer Day Tomorrow!

23 July 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

We have thought of so many of you this week as we hear about fun things you are doing, or trials you may be going through. We love you and pray for you and pray for the Lord's blessings to be with you. We hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow celebrating Pioneer Day. We were a little sad not to sing “Come, Come Ye Saints” today at church. :-( We do like our traditions!

Elder Mordue is going home next week! He's the
one across from me. We took him and his comp to dinner....
anywhere he wanted to go. He chose Five Guys!
Hadn't been there while on his mission. Funny, there's a Five
Guys in Farmington where he lives! We're going to miss him...
for the next year . . . Well done, thou good and faithful servant! 

We are once again in Chorley on the beautiful campus of the Temple, Church, and Preston MTC. We will be here through tomorrow evening. We arrived here yesterday after teaching a class in Leeds, a new area of England we had not yet visited. I remember that one of the Ellertson boys served in the Leeds Mission. It was great to meet President Turvey and feel of his enthusiasm for missionary work as he introduced the pilot programme for "JUST SERVE" to the Leeds Public Affairs Council. Although it has been in the USA for about a year now, they are just in the beginnings of it here.

The "Pageant" buzz is everywhere, as the core cast arrived here on Friday and busy with rehearsals. It's wonderful to be part of it. It feels so much like Festival . . . such a blessing.

Costumes almost ready!

This week went much the same as last, with most of our time focused on preparations for the Pageant, so I'll just share a few of our highlights:

• Watching a video of our youngest granddaughter, Hannah, learning to walk.
• Dinner at Five Guys with the Elders Thursday evening as we bid farewell to Elder Mordue (from Farmington!). We always love to be with the young missionaries.
• Having 125% attendance at our Media Training Class in Leeds yesterday. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear . . . “ Thank goodness we had made extra copies!
• Attending the temple yesterday with Pageant leadership, cast, and crew members.
• Watching the Preston MTC missionaries enjoy a little outdoor time playing volleyball. Matthew, our nephew, this will be you in just one month!
• Singing the closing song in Sacrament Meeting today with fellow British church members, 

Verse 1:

Hark, All Ye Nations! Hear heaven’s voice.

Thru every land that all may rejoice!

Angels of glory shout the refrain; Truth us restored again!

Verse 3:

Chosen by God to serve Him below,

To every land and people we’ll go,

Standing for truth with fervent accord,

Teaching His holy word.

Chorus:

Oh, how glorious from the throne above

Shines the gospel light of truth and love!

Bright as the sun, this heavenly ray

Lights every land today.

We have worked the past two weeks without a day off, and we don't see a day off in the next two plus weeks, so please say a little extra prayer for us that we can stay healthy, and strong, and our stamina will be enough to sustain!

Philippians 4:13. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me."

Have a wonderful week! You continue to pray for us, and we will for you, and light a firecracker for us tomorrow!

Love to all,
Elder Ron and Sister Marie Partridge

The American Potato Salad Lives On

16 July 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

Another busy and full week has flown by. I’m sure you feel the same way also! We leave for our two-week stay at the Pageant two weeks from tomorrow. It’s getting very close, and the time is going by so fast. So much to do . . . so little time. Happy Birthday on Thursday to my brother, Rex, whom many of you know and love as much as I do. And, Happy Birthday to my oldest nephew, Bret, who you can’t help but love. He’s just a nice guy.

We have had full days and a lot going on in the evenings this week, making for some pretty long days. Monday night we were invited to dinner and Family Home Evening with a cute family in the ward, the Fergusons. Now we have the Fergusons from Milford (), the Ferguson cousins, and now our British friends. Jamie and Emma have three girls; Bethany who just turned 7, and Rachael and Abby who are 4-year-old twins, but are as different as night and day, everything from their looks and hair colour to their personalities. We will gladly adopt them as our grandchildren for the next year. They are a bit of a handful for their parents, so they are the children that the ward raises too, flitting about during Sacrament Meeting to anyone who will colour with them or play stickers with them. They are simply adorable. And, we were introduced to the British way of doing the Hokie-Pokie . . .’cause that’s what it’s all about!

Tuesday after work I had my first Physio appointment. It sadly wasn’t a massage, but more a first visit chat about my history and a few exercises to help my neck and shoulders. It did help, and I’m going back Tuesday. But I still miss Sara.

Wednesday after work we went to Coventry and met Sister Romero and Sister Crandall for dinner! Sister Crandall lives in our ward in Kaysville. It was so great to be with them both, and I am able to assure Sister Crandall’s parents that all is well in Coventry and their missionary is doing great. It was so good to be with them both. After dinner we did our monthly Costco run. . . .I’ll tell you what we bought and why in a bit!

Thursday we had a meeting in Leicester (about 1-1/2 hours from the office) with the Mission Presidency, Zone Leaders, and the Leicester Stake’s Public Affairs team, promoting the “I’m a Missionary” programme on social media we are working on. If you happened to see on Facebook the video “What Missionaries Do” about two sister missionaries serving in Germany, it was done by our intern, Amanda, and it went viral. It has been awesome. We are going around the mission, visiting different Stakes, trying to get more of this going. Social media is such a great way to share the good news of the gospel!

So Friday . . . let me tell you about what we did Friday after work. Going back to last Sunday, at the Munch and Mingle I told you about last week . . . Preface: A family in our ward had a daughter get married yesterday. The mum, Sue, is also a cast member in the Pageant, so very busy with that. They also have a son leaving on a mission the week after the Pageant. It is fair to say Sue is swamped right now. At the Munch and Mingle, of which you remember I took potato salad, Sue invited us to attend the wedding. Although we don’t really know the daughter, Beth, very well, because she has been in Manchester going to school, Sue thought it would be nice for us to see an English wedding. We were so happy that she would be thoughtful enough to invite us, and the next words out of my mouth, of course, were “what can I do to help?” (because that’s what we do!) Long story short, Friday night after work Ron and I made three large bowls of potato salad for their wedding dinner, using about 20 lbs. of potatoes, 4 dozen eggs, and a whole lot of mayo. I never ever thought I would purchase mayo in bulk, as I hardly ever use it, but the picture proves it. Good ol’ Costco. And the American potato salad lives on in Solihull.

One thing that is different about Mormon weddings here than in the USA is that by law you must be married civilly BEFORE going to the Temple to be sealed. So they get married in a Mormon church, usually have a luncheon, then make the two hour trek to either the Preston or the London Temple to be sealed. And according to Church policy, the sealing must be done within 24 hours of the wedding, or the couple must wait a year to go to the temple. In a lot of ways, it is very nice, because so many families have extended family and friends that cannot go to the temple, so this way they don’t miss out. At the wedding, there was the traditional bridal march into the chapel with flower girls, bridesmaids, groomsmen, then father of the bride and bride; Opening Song (For the Beauty of the Earth), Opening Prayer, two talks on marriage by a friend and a sister, the ceremony, a signing of the register by two officials (who happened to be in our ward), a closing song (Jerusalem, the traditional English song), a closing prayer, and the procession out. It was all very beautiful (and I’ll just say that someone worked very hard to clean the church because it hasn’t been that clean since we got here!) We were grateful to witness it.

At the meeting, we met Elder and Sister Kent Winder who serve as YSA missionaries in Manchester, the ward the bride and groom were in. We are very familiar with the Winder name it Utah! Winder Dairy is a wonderful supporter of Festival, and several years ago (I can’t remember, Shauna, Robyn, Sharon, who was Chair at the time?) we had Kent for lunch at the hospital. It was nice to make a connection with them and thank Ken one more time for supporting Festival of Trees and the children at Primary Children’s Hospital. I just smile when things like this happen . . . here in another country . . . it’s pretty amazing. One more thing about the wedding:

One of my friends at home asked me when we first arrived in England if the women wore hats to church. Sadly, no! Although in all the fine department stores here there is are beautiful women’s hats for sale. Well, they all come out at the weddings! Hats of every size, shape, colour, you name it. And they were beautiful. I love it that people dress to the ‘T’ here for a wedding. We’ve kind of lost that in the USA.

After the wedding, we grabbed a bite to eat, worked at the office for a couple of hours, and then on a whim went to see the new “Spiderman” movie. It was a nice break after a busy week.

Our week doesn’t stop there. We are home from church, grabbing a quick bite to eat, then on our way back up to Chorley for our last Pageant Board Meeting. We will stay in the Temple Accommodations tonight and come home in the morning. Malcolm is on holiday for the next two weeks, so our workload is heavy. The three Public Affairs senior missionary couples in Frankfurt and Solihull were all given an assignment last week by the Area Director to develop training materials for the Stake PA Directors, due July 31. Bless the rest of the missionaries for knowing how swamped I am with the Pageant and going easy on me. Ron has been busy picking up my slack and working hard on that project. Never a dull moment in Public Affairs. Never.

So while I can’t share a lot of spiritual experiences or miracles this week, I can tell you that it seems like a miracle that we are here in this country, feeling needed, feeling loved, feeling appreciated, and working hard for the Lord. The miracles are the blessings we are seeing here and at home. And when I actually stop and take a moment to reflect on all of this, it is very spiritual.

Each of you are our rocks, our compass, our mainstays. Thank you for your kind words to us continually. We love you all, miss you all, and appreciate you so much. May you have a wonderful week, doing all the fun summer things you enjoy with those you love. Many thanks for your prayers for the missionaries. Never before have they meant so much.

Our love to you,
Ron and Marie

From beautiful, rainy, wonderful England

9 July 2017

Top picture – Left: Elder Mordue, Elder
Boehning, Sister Woods, Sister
Besendorfer. Right: Malcolm, Ron,
Pauline, Sue, Shelley.

We hope you enjoyed the holiday this past week! I can picture parades, barbecues, fun family time, and fireworks. It was fun to think of you and our beautiful home country on Independence Day. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home...

Thanks to everyone who wrote us this past week! If I didn’t answer you, I’m sorry! It has been a busy week, and part of it I spent down flat. We appreciate you taking the time to write to us. And, Happy Birthday tomorrow to Ron’s mother, Nita. We love you and wish you the Happiest of Birthdays! Thank you for who you are and your unconditional love to all of us!

Our office lunch on the 4th was fun. It was a smaller crowd, as some were out on the road that day, but we had six from the office counting Ron and I and the four missionaries. The potato salad was a hit (they really liked that it was cold and not warm . . . hmm . . .) and the corn salsa, or cowboy salsa, or Texas caviar . . . each of the missionaries had a different name for it . . . was a favourite. They loved the cans of root beer, even though it was Carter’s root beer, whatever that is . . .but the watermelon, not so much. That surprised me. Who doesn’t love watermelon (except our crazy son-in-law)! It was a REALLY good watermelon too! They were very appreciative and complimentary and it made us happy we chose to honour our country in that way. Sister Besendorfer, our new missionary, was a little homesick, and I think especially on the holiday, missing her family. All I could do was give her a tight squeeze and promise her it would get better.

Busy, busy, busy at the office all week – crunch time for Pageant. We have to pull ourselves away from the computer at the end of the day. There is always more we could do. The stress of it all has once again found it’s way to my neck and shoulders and I am whimpering in pain for Sara (my massage therapist at home) to somehow hear my cries and come to my rescue. Thursday we came home early and I drugged myself up with muscle relaxers and layed flat. Ron went to I don’t know how many stores, Walmart (Asda here), pharmacies (chemists here) to try and find a heating pad. He finally found one in stock at the Argos store, like a Sears Catalog store. I spent the rest of the night flat on my back. I braved work Friday, with the intention just staying a couple of hours. At 4:30pm we finally left, and I repeated Thursday night’s ritual. I did make an appointment with a private physio guy, whom Malcolm says is a miracle worker, like Sara, for Tuesday. I’m counting on it.

We were so grateful for technology this week! Alisha’s three oldest children, Nathan, Alexa, (the twins) and Max have been doing swim team this summer. Thursday was their last meet before All-Stars. It happened to be early enough in their day that she was able to Face time with us, and we we watched as each of them competed. It was almost as fun as being there. And Nathan was chosen for All-Stars in freestyle, backstroke, and freestyle relay. We are so proud of all three of them!

Our outing this week was yesterday when we went back to Gadfield Elm, this time with the senior missionaries in the Birmingham mission. Our special guest speakers was Simon Gibson, who some say is one of the two most well connected Mormons in the UK, and also one of the top three businessmen in in Wales. He is an extremely influential person in the UK, and important to the work of Public Affairs. Malcolm knows him personally and thinks very highly of him. We were excited to meet him. Simon is also one of three men who originally purchased Gadfield Elm when it went up for sale, raised money to restore it, and after restoration, donated it back to the church. His stories, and his perspective, were so interesting. As dozy as I was from the drugs, I was riveted by his message and had no trouble staying awake.

Simon Gibson and Leppards

I have mentioned before the strong spirit I feel at certain places we are able to visit that are part of our Church history. Gadfield Elm is certainly added to the list. One funny story – President Hinckley came to the UK to do the dedication of Gadfield Elm. Everyone who had been invited to the dedication was gathered, awaiting for President Hinckley’s arrival, visiting in the church, and the chatter was loud and I presume a little irreverent. The Area Seventy attending the dedication chastised the group and asked them to quiet down. Just then, the door burst open, and there was President Hinckley, shaking his cane in the air, exclaiming to all in a loud voice, “Isn’t today a wonderful day!” and apparently cracking jokes all the way up the aisle to the podium. It was the President Hinckley we know and love – true to form.

After our time at Gadfield Elm we went to the local pub for lunch. It was so nice to visit with other missionaries. I ate fish cakes, goat cheese salad (to die for!) and brownie and ice cream for dessert. As we talked with other missionaries about what we do, how our missions are going, and experiences we are having, some say to us, “I could never do what you do.” And I said the same thing back to them. It confirmed to again that each of us is called by God to serve where we are supposed to be. I am so grateful to feel that confirmation again.

After lunch we visited two more nearby Church history sites. The first was the “St. Michael and All Angels, Castle Frome”. It’s really not a castle, but it is a working church, but not owned by the Mormons. If you remember in British Church History, this is the church that Heber C. Kimball was preaching in when the constable came to arrest him. Although the minister of that church had given consent for Heber C. Kimball to preach to his congregation, he could see that his congregation was being swayed by Elder Kimball’s message, so he ran out and found the constable to have Elder Kimball arrested for not having a license to preach (which he did). As the story goes, the constable interrupted Elder Kimball’s sermon, but Elder Kimball politely asked the constable to wait until he was finished, then he would go with him. As it turned out, the constable stayed and listened to the sermon, and ended up being converted also, along with the entire congregation!

The second place we visited was Benbow’s pond, where hundreds of people were baptised. The church does not own the farm (Hill Farm), but just the pond. The pond itself is nearly dry. I did take a picture of two barns on the Hill Farm property, one of which was likely the original we see depicted in Al Rounds paintings. However, contrary to paintings, the barn and the pond are a good 100 yards or more from each other.

Funny thing about Elder and Sister Leppard – they have a hunting dog, Amber, and she is their baby. And you don’t leave your baby home when you are called to be a mission president! Where they go, Amber goes, especially on an outing like today. So the first thing Amber did when she saw the almost dried up, muddy Benbow pond was jump in and play like a puppy in the foot deep mud. She was covered with mud from head to toe. The Leppards take it in stride, and when it was time to leave, they found the hose, squirted her off, and she hopped into their SUV. Just like that.

Wendy Gibbs, and my other Church History touring friends, I kept thinking of you today, and how much you would have enjoyed being with us. I wish you all could have been there, and we promise to take you there if you come see us!

I attended my very first Munch and Mingle today after church. Don’t ask me how I made it 50+ years in the Mormon culture without ever being involved in one, but until today, I did. I took a “chilled” potato salad again (figured I was on a roll with that), and it was gone very fast. The other potato salad that was there was just that -- potatoes, no egg, so there’s the difference. I have to say it was very nice to come home from church and not have to worry about fixing dinner.

This is a picture of Sam at the Munch and Mingle, one of our extremely needy Primary children, who seems to have taken a liking to me. He’s a whiner, and a crier, and always wants to do something different that what we are doing, but when I’m leading the singing, he likes to stand with me, and when I am sitting, he likes to be on my lap. He has a new haircut, so most of his curls are gone now. Sometimes he wears a fedora on that head of dark curls, and he looks like a young dapper English gentlemen. It’s no wonder he has stolen my heart.

I just want to say thank you again to everyone for your prayers, love, and support while we are serving. In any and every way, it is felt and so much appreciated. Our testimonies continue to grow as we are stretched beyond our abilities constantly, yet somehow we are able to fulfill our callings. We have a greater understanding of the power of prayer. And we have no doubt that the Lord is aware of us, and knows us as His children. We are truly grateful for that. We pray for you, and wish for you a wonderful summer week! Until next week “from the beautiful, rainy, wonderful England . . . “ (a quote from Elder Holland!)