A Busy & Brilliant Week

Thank you to so many who take a minute to help us stay connected to our other world! We love that our friendships stretch across the waters, and of course, that family is always family, no matter where we are. We love you!

Friday is our youngest grandchild’s birthday. Hannah ‘Go-banna’ (was it Hunter that used to call her Go-banna, and it stuck?) will turn 2 years old. We are her iPad grandparents. She was only 8 months old when we left, so we’ve watched her grow via FaceTime, and she grabs the iPad when she wants to talk to us. How thankful we are for iPads! I’ll never stop saying how blessed we are by the internet. Happy Birthday Hannah Lynn Oldroyd! We adore you!

It has been a brillant week in so many ways . . .

After our wonderful but tiring weekend in Paris last week, Monday morning came too fast and I just couldn’t do it. It was the first time on the mission that I said, “I need a mental health day.” My body was tired and my brain was tired. Ron, bless his heart, toddled off to the office without me and covered for me while I caught up on laundry and took a long nap. By the time he arrived home I was feeling like I could face the world again, especially when I saw the very big bouquet of flowers in his arms! How nice! Then he confessed that they weren’t from him, he was just the delivery boy. I was so touched when I read the card. They were from the Salt Lake Public Affairs team, thanking us for helping with President Nelson’s Ministry Tour. Shucks . . .we were just doing our job.

An office day in the life of Public Affairs missionaries:

Elder Christofferson was in London on Tuesday making a presentation at an important meeting on Freedom of Religion. Malcolm attended, as did our counterparts in London, the Parrishes. We were on desk duty. The photographer we hire for Church events was there. As soon as the meeting is over, he finds the nearest Wi-fi, searches through all the hundreds of photos he took, chooses the best 25ish, edits, and sends them to us. Malcolm fills in the quotes from Elder Christofferson’s speech that he had previously written and had ready to go. Ron and I choose the best ten photos, captioned them, and send them to Malcolm. He then sends the article and photos to our webmaster, and by evening the story is on Mormon Newsroom Uk, and shortly after that, the Mormon Newsroom site that you all see from the USA has it syndicated on their website, and also Deseret News picked it up for the Church News yesterday. Tuesday was a late night working.

Here is the link if you’re interested in seeing what we do . . .
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/

While we were waiting for photos, we were also craving a Five Guys burger. We texted the Elders to see if they had dinner plans. They didn’t, so they met us across the street and we had a bite to eat together. They are so appreciative. Their companionship reminds me of ‘The Odd Couple’. They couldn’t be more different. Big tall handsome Elder Vuki from Tonga who loves to eat and is the first to jump up if anyone needs help, and always says ‘thank you’ multiple times. His heart also reminds me of our Tongan Bishop that I’ve told you about before . . . so pure and full of love. Elder Fox is small in stature and pale in skin tone, plays the piano by ear so amazingly, cooks, sews . . . we love them both.

Wednesday was such a crazy day, not in a good way. We drove to Stoneleigh to pick up a prescription from our doctor friend, Ben. As I mentioned before, Ben is an old friend of Alisha’s that spent time at our home during her college days. He has taken care of me when I needed something medical. He lives about 1/2 hr from the office, so we thought we’d be gone about 1-1/2 hours. 4-1/2 hours and two accidents later (one each way, not us thank goodness) we were back at the office. I was tasked with sending photos of Elder Christofferson’s visit to his office that day, so we had to work late again to get to complete that task.

This week was the YSAs turn to clean the church. They chose Friday night, and “let make a party of it.” Sister Partridge can make some of her burritos, we will eat, clean, and just about the time we are finished cleaning, others will join us for our weekly sports night at the church. We were tickled pink to help. They also roped the Elders and Sisters into helping, promising dinner (that always helps!) so then there were 12. If we just had yet another hoover . . . .

Yesterday we took a drive to Stoke-on-Trent, where the factory for Portmeirion and Spode dishes are made. I know Spode is familiar to most, and if you Google Portmeirion dishes they will be also. You can purchase them in most major department stores. The seconds store is in Stoke-on-Trent. I have been wanting to get new every-day dishes for home and was hoping to find just what I wanted there and ship them home as a grandiose souvenir and memory of England, but it didn’t work out. It was a beautiful day for a drive. The whole weekend has been lovely! Tomorrow is a bank holiday, and we were invited to go to the beach in South Wales with some of the ward, but we have an assignment to work tomorrow, so we had to decline. They said it was going to be the warmest May Bank Holiday in history! Too bad we are going to be indoors.

Fast and Testimony Meeting was special today. A family that just moved here from India went to the temple to be sealed (for my non-LDS friends, if you want an explanation, let me know) yesterday, and many from the ward were there to witness it. It sparked a great spirit at church, as we had a melting pot of ward members share their feelings about the gospel. India, Tonga, Canada, French Caribbean, Scotland, and of course England were all represented by ward members. This is one thing I love about serving a mission in a foreign country. Primary was good also, as the children were excited to learn “We Thank Thee, Oh God, For A Prophet”.

Ron doing what he does best, and a look at our very
uncomfortable portable pews in our chapel!

Cheers from the UK,
Ron and Marie