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!)