A Week of Counting Blessings

Dear family and friends

First, Happy Birthday to our Lincoln who will be 4 years old tomorrow! He only likes to talk on Messenger video if he can push the buttons and make himself look funny, or if he can show us his Lightning McQueen car. He especially loves his grandpas. We love him to bits.

Our highlight adventure this week began shortly after I hit the send button on last week’s letter. We ran out the door in the pouring rain to attend a youth fireside that Ron was asked to speak at. I was so tired and almost didn’t go, but decided tired wasn’t a good enough reason not to go, so I went. We were going to take our own car but last minute decided to take the rental we had while Gibbs were here because it was a little SUV and higher off the ground. We did have to travel through some places on the roads that had quite a bit of standing water, but we never would have imagined what we would come home to.

Across the street from our flat runs a canal, and the corner we live on is at the low point of three crossroads. As we drove down the hill to arrive home from the fireside, there were more than a usual amount of cars parked along the side of the road. As we got closer, we could see the problem. The canal had overflowed and our street was literally a river. The water was over two feet deep. The gates were closed to our complex with the motor to the gate completely submerged. We couldn’t quite see our car in the carpark, but we could see our neighbor’s Mini Cooper about half submerged. Those same neighbors were standing on the porch and could see us across the street and waved, as if to say, “I’m sorry we can’t get you home!”

We made the decision to get a hotel for the night as there was no way of getting in. Thank goodness Ron had his wallet with him. We had our phones, and that was it. We were able to borrow a phone charger from a ward member, but no purse, no toothbrush, no nothing!

We didn’t sleep well Sunday night as you can imagine. We were up and out the door by 7:30am. Our prayers were answered, and the water was down, the gates were opened manually, and we were home! We are on the second floor, so we weren’t worried about water in our flat. Apparently the water came extremely close to coming in on the first floor. What did come in, however, for the first floor neighbors was sewage up the drains in their tubs and showers. That also meant that the water in the carpark was contaminated, and what got in our cars made our cars “rubbish” as the British say. Four cars were a complete loss, including ours.

We are so grateful for so many reasons. Cars are insured and cars can be replaced. I’m grateful I was ‘nudged’ to go with Ron to the fireside so I wasn’t there alone to watch this all happen with Ron on the other side of the river. We are grateful that we were able to get back into our flat the next morning, and grateful that our neighbors didn’t sustain any more damage than they did. We saw how fast things can change from good to bad, and how a poor decision of trying to drive through water that is too deep could take a life so fast. One life was lost in Birmingham . . . one too many. We are grateful we were watched over and blessed. Monday was a Bank Holiday with the office closed, and we were grateful to have a day to re-group. It was a day of counting our blessings.

Thursday we played hooky from the office and went to London. We were able to snag some tickets to ‘Hamilton’ with the Parrishes, something we wanted to do before we came home. We called it Happy Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to us. We were able to eat probably for the last time at our favourite Indian restaurant, and I was able to get some spices from Shamim and his recipe for Chicken Tikki Masala, my absolute favourite Indian dish. I had asked before about selling me some spices, and the answer from the staff was always no. They would just dismiss me. But I couldn’t give up! I finally got to the owner. “I’m going back to American soon and I will miss your food! I need to make it when I go home, and I will call it ‘Shamim’s Best Tikki Masala.” “Ok” he said, “I give you some.” It was a miracle!

Thursday night at midnight we were able to watch live via webcam the graduation of our grandson, Taylor, from Davis High School. We are so proud of him! I do love technology. We saw him, snapped a photo, sent it to him via Messenger with a hearty Congratulations, and he sent a thank you back. How cool is that. It was the next best thing to being there.

Friday night we were scheduled to have a barbeque at the church with the YSAs and the mid-singles group, hosted by the Bishop. Wednesday night we received a text, “The Muslims have asked to use our building for Ramadan on Friday night . . . “ (something we would not experience at home!) Religious Freedom begins with our willingness to allow others to worship “how, where, or what they may.” The YSA’s came to our little flat instead and we had a night of Japanese curry, games (or challenges) that involved too many disgusting foods in our mouths, and a lot of laughs. Ok, maybe it’s the YSA’s I’ll miss the most. Shhhh….don’t tell!

Saturday afternoon we went to a barbeque at the Church where the Youth were holding an auction to earn money to attend FSY (same as EFY). Who doesn’t love a good auction where you can purchase a carwash, a used guitar, a world famous (or is that ward famous) pumpkin pie, and a custom Rugby jersey all for a good cause?

Last night we met Malcolm and Sharon and the Parrishes in Birmingham for the best Mexican food we’ve found in Europe and enjoyed fajitas and great company. It’s fun to socialize a little outside of the office too.

The people here in the UK that we see every week and work with every day have become part of our world here. It has become as natural to see them as it is to see my neighbors and friends at home. Each time we leave a gathering of any sort with them, I feel a little sad, as we ‘may not pass this way again.’ Our time here is going so fast, as we are down to single-digit weeks before we arrive home.

I express gratitude this week for all we experienced, the good and the bad, and how many times I have been made aware of how blessed we are. We think of you often . . . more often than you know . . . and thank our Heavenly Father for so many good people in our lives and the support you give us. A hundred blessings on your head!

Love to all,
Ron and Marie