September 2015

September – Busy Month

Ben at London Temple

     September was a wonderful month, full of special experiences and great people.  We have mentioned "Ben" Zhang, our Chinese friend who has sought asylum here in the UK.  He is so good and so strong.  He was able to go to the London Temple and receive his own endowments.  He has given up everything in his quest for freedom and has chosen to stay here in England to build a new life of service and growth.  Ben asked me to be his escort at the Temple. Everything was a new experience for him and he was so ready that the Spirit was there teaching us and strengthening us.   As a trained attorney, he is starting to get his training transferred to the UK so that he can again be a productive part of this new society.  He is currently volunteering his legal services for the Red Cross.  May God be with him always!

    Some of our Stakes have been a little slow to come on board with Self Reliance.  One Stake had given the Self-Reliance assignment to a Counselor in the Stake Presidency.  Because of “holidays” and other delays, nothing  happened.  The Stake President decided to take the responsibility back upon himself and he called a new Stake Relief Society President and was prompted to assign her to be the Stake Self-Reliance Specialist as well.  Her husband, a past bishop, has been called to the High Council and so he was given the Self-Reliance assignment and so now when we need to have a Self-Reliance Committee Meeting, the Shepherds and Stake President get together and they nearly have a full Self-Reliance Committee.  All we need is a representing Bishop.  We went out to train the couple and they were so very responsive.  They realized that the next “Bishop’s Training Meeting” was not for three months so they took the initiative to call a special meeting with all of the Bishop’s.  It was brilliant.  Every Bishop was there, we were there supporting, and the Stake Pres. Counselor attended.  The principles were presented and all were responsive.  President North asked Bishop Gonzales what he thought of it all.  He had been quiet most of the meeting but spoke and said that he loved the ideas, immediately looked at Sister Baxter and I and asked us to come speak in Ward Sacrament Meeting, gave us the date he was going to present this to his Ward Council and he had a date for the MY PATH devotional. The other Bishop’s there felt the urgency and their plans started to be formulated.  We left the meeting with three assignments for follow up and support.  That was terrific.

     September was also a good month for training.  We had Clayton Christensen visit.  He is a Seventy and also a Harvard Business Professor.  He has a special way of teaching where the Gospel is important  and we should share that with our friends and neighbors.  As a successful missionary, he invites the Spirit and listens more than he speaks.  He asks investigators what they know and what they have difficulty with in terms of the Church.  Then he invites the investigator to read and as they talk, he guides them to answer their own questions.  Reading from the Scriptures and allowing the questions to come and fall where they will he allows the Spirit to direct the teaching.  He is a brilliant teacher.  We attended one of his public business meetings and heard him explain Disruptive Management and he explained it so well that even we understood what was being taught.  If you understand something well enough, then you should be able to teach in terms and ideas that anyone can understand.  That is what happened, not only in a Mission Conference, but also in the House of Lords and his prominent government meetings.  What a great ambassador for the Church.

    

Upon leaving the meeting from the government office building across the street from Parliament, we were walking toward the Tube when a tall man whizzed by.  He spotted our name tags and immediately stopped to chat for a moment.  It turns out he was the Stake Executive Secretary for one of the stakes that we had been trying to get a meeting with.  He asked us about Self-Reliance after noticing our name tag designation and then told us of a Bishop’s Training meeting that was scheduled for the following week.  After a brief chat and our explanation of the Self-Reliance Initiative, he promised to get us on the agenda for the meeting.  What a “tender mercy”.  We followed up with the Stake Self-Reliance Specialist who had previously been unresponsive.  Things are now starting to move forward in that stake.

Lincoln Just Arrived

    September we welcomed Grandchild #18 into the family.  Lincoln was born  to Neil and Brittney. He will be in good hands with his Brothers and Sister.   

   

Lincoln with his Sister and Brothers

   

     Another Tender mercy.  A few weeks ago, we had been invited to a Ward to make a presentation.  We enjoyed their Sacrament meeting and during sunday school we were checking out the electronic equipment and trying to get the TV to talk to my computer.  They would just not talk to each other.  As I kept trying different configurations, several men dropped by and asked if we needed help.  Of course, we said yes.  Each tried, each suggested, and nothing seemed to work to get the two pieces of equipment to communicate.  This was destined to really scramble our presentation.  A young missionary from Germany walked by on his way to an assignment.  He stopped and asked if he and his companion could be of assistance.  How could a German speaking missionary, in a British meeting house get an American and a Japanese piece of equipment to talk to each other?  Whatever he did, it worked. We whizzed across to the Chapel with 2 minutes to spare and made a  successful presentation in a MY Path Devotional and signed up 21 participants for workgroups.  We felt the Lord watching over us and bringing us assistance in our time of need so that His work could continue moving forward.

Mid-September, we were asked to come to the Wandsworth Stake to help out at a YSA weekly meeting. School is just starting up again and the leaders wanted to help the youth gain a bit more direction.  We came to administer a Work Choice Profile (psychometric testing experience).  This is the first time we have used our new tool which is an electronic version of the vocational interest evaluation.  We had 22 YSA all attempting to do the test at the same time.  We met in the family history room of the church and had only 4 working computers.  However, with two additional laptops, 6-8 tablets that the youth had brought and the rest using Smartphones, they all got on line and took the test.  See LDSJ.org if you would like to try it.  Amazingly, everything went pretty well.  We were there to help counsel the students once they had completed the testing and help them identify and prioritize occupations that they showed interest and aptitude for.  It appeared to us to be a good evening.

It is not all work over here.  Some may have heard that England is hosting the Rugby World Cup for 2015.  We have one senior couple that are Rugby fans.  The opening match of the tournament was England vs Fiji.  Well, this couple served a mission in Fiji just prior to coming to England so we got together and watched the opening match on our TV.  What a brutal game.  Not sure I know all of the strategy, but I am learning.  I know that when you Try, you get points, and at times the men on the field are actually gentlemen.  After the guy with the ball gets brutally tackled, he merely sticks his hand out of the pile of bodies (keeping at least a finger on the ball) and no one takes it away until one of his own team members picks up the ball and tosses it down the line to his team mates.  Scrums are hard to describe and the throw-in actually causes one team member to be thrown into the air to catch the ball about 10-12 feet off the ground.  I guess you have to see it to believe it and it takes more than one watching to understand the game.

We have to tell you about Anna, a Hungarian tour guide.  Anna is a cute little lady about 75 years old.  Keeping up with the new working conditions of guiding tourists is driving her crazy.  She has to use the computer to get her instructions, set up tours, make reservations, and to communicate with her office.  She is not a member of the Church yet has found some dear friends in our Hyde Park chapel.  She comes up to our SR Centre and asks for help to get past her logins, her web searches, and dealing with passwords that seem to change every week.  Anna invited Afton and I to go to a Hungarian restaurant and to a Hungarian concert to say thank you for the repeated help we have given her.  She could not get a reservation at Rules, the oldest restaurant in London, but we did walk in and look around. Then we walked up the street to a restaurant named Carlucci’s  (Italian, not Hungarian).  As we went in, Anna asked if Carlucci was in and the waitress said she had not seen him in the last couple of days.  I thought they were making jokes as Carlucci’s is a chain of restaurants over here.  During dinner, we found that Anna actually knows the originator of the restaurant chain and that this was his original restaurant.  Meal was excellent.  The Concert was held in a Church in Covent Gardens – a very popular shopping and entertainment area.  The concert was a tribute to Bartok, a prominent Hungarian composer.  It turned out to be absolutely amazing.  There was a 24 year old violin soloist who was incredible playing mostly in chords instead of single notes and the young pianist was an award winning girl of about 21.  One of the best pianists I have ever heard play.  Quite an evening.

London has so much to see and do.  There are many many homes and estates that have been built in the past by families with boo-coo loads of money.  They are usually tucked in the middle of very busy part of the city.  You only see a driveway with a small sign, and then when you go in you can find these magnificent estates that sit on hundreds of acres of ground and are beautifully built architectural marvels.  These places are usually loaded with interesting artifact,historical treasures and magnificent art collections... Two we have visited include 

                           

                          Kenwood House 

Kenwood House - home of 1920 Mayor of London

 Beautiful Library

Loads of cool Art

Poacher taking game

                         

                            

   

                                 and ….

     Waddesdon House.  This second one was built with the Rothschild fortunes and employed 20 full time gardeners during its hayday. A group of senior missionaries took a P-Day and drove out to see this magnificent place.   Here are a few pictures.

Waddesdon House

Gardens behind the home

Coming from the Aviary back to the main house

     We walked the grounds to find riding area, stables, a huge Aviary, fountains, and so many beautiful places to explore.  At the time it was lived in by the family, there were about 20 of these estates in Europe all supported by this family fortune.  When the WWI and WWII broke out, they could not get enough domestic help to keep the places running.  This estate has been turned over to an historical trust for  preservation and public viewing.

    Well, we have to get back to work.    Our last P- Day was spent at Costco.  We had to get supplies for the Self-Reliance Centre, for the Self-Reliance training meetings where we had to provide meals for two days for 13 people, Pathway treats for the three groups we have each Thursday, supplies for the Mission Office, and we also a bit of shopping for ourselves and for some of the other missionary couples.  Costco is not close so it is almost a full day experience when you are shopping for so many different groups.  But it makes life a bit more interesting and life better for others, so we do it when we can.   We did manage a walk in Hyde Park to visit our Parrot friends.

     One big joke around London is that someone will say that they are going to have a spot of Royalty drop in.  Well we did – sort of.  Each the other morning we were walking in Kensington Garden / Hyde Park. As we were walking and we heard a large machine coming in from behind us.  We looked around and there was a deep blue helicopter coming in for a landing about 100 yards away from us.  It was landing next to Kensington Palace. Police drove up and guards were quickly posted on the edge of the park while Prince William got out of the chopper and shuffled passengers around. A few minutes later they were off.  I guess that is how Royalty drop in and get ferried out. 

Just want to let everyone know that we are working hard, loving the experiences, especially the people, and hopefully doing some good.    Note:  We have a new friend here, Michael Warner.  He is a retired actor who has performed with Audrey Hepburn, Lawrence Olivier and others.  He was the voice of the BBC for many years with his clear deep and rich voice.  For his own project, he decided to read and record the full Book of Mormon.  It took him about 3 months but he got it all on cassette tape.  Now he has asked me to fix a few spots and then to record it digitally so that it can be preserved and shared more easily.  It took me a while, but I now have the means to duplicate and share this wonderful work with him and his friends.   He has some other writings that he has done and recorded on cassettes.  Looks like I will be doing some more for him in my spare time.

We leave you with the Family Home Evening lesson material for this month :

See: My Foundation, Principles, Skills and Habits, Chapter 7  Become One, Work Together

       Found at SRS.LDS.ORG

Check out this video and ....

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-06-1170-in-the-lords-way?lang=eng&category=principle-7-become-one-work-together

     Copy and past the above link into a browser and hit enter

For home evening you can do the activity in the manual, see Chapter 7 above.

Keep Calm and Carry On

         Steve & Afton from JollyOlde' England

August Adventures

August Adventures

Small portion of the Gardens

Have you ever heard of the Horniman Museum and Gardens?  Neither had we, but we wanted to try something out of the ordinary.  The museum was founded in 1901 by Frederick John Horniman. Frederick had inherited his father's Horniman Tea business, which by 1891 had become the world's biggest tea trading business.  With lots of inherited cash, he started doing what wealthy people do, collect things (stuff).  He collected all sorts of animals, birds, bugs, trinkets from all of the world.  We found his collection of musical instruments the most fascinating as it displayed the development of several family types of instruments. 

String Instrument Display

BBB♭ Tuba

I loved seeing the BBB♭ Tuba (Triple B-flat Tuba).  It stood about seven feet tall and it plays low notes down to the next to last on the piano keyboard. Wouldn’t want to carry that in a marching band. 

Let me share a driving experience in London.  One Sunday morning, we made an appointment with a Bishop in a neighboring stake.  Little did we know that there was a major bike race going on through the middle of London.  We left our flat for a leisurely one hour drive and gave ourselves an extra 20 minutes just to make sure.  We drove about one block from our flat and the traffic came to a halt.  Not slow, but a halt. It was Sunday morning and they were making movies on the edge of Hyde Park.  We turned around and headed another direction.  The GPS kept taking us back to this same location.  We were hemmed in by Hyde Park on one side, movie making on the other. We turned south and almost immediately were blocked by the London Bike Race.  Oh my, what a crowd.  Not to worry, we would try another direction to get down to the River Thames and try crossing any of the many bridges to get to our meeting.  All roads were blocked so we asked traffic patrol for help, construction workers, and even stopped a taxi driver and asked what to do.  We could not get through the race and we were in trouble.  We called the Bishop and told him we would make the Church meeting, but would have to reschedule our meeting with him to be after Church instead of before.  That was good.  As a last resort, we asked a patrol “Bobbie” officer how to get across and he said the only way across the river was to go through the Blackfriar Tunnel.  That was good news.  As we approached the tunnel we found it barricaded and not accessible.  Argh!  After driving for nearly three hours, we were not yet to the River Thames.  End of the story – we never did make it across the river.  We went back to our flat, parked the car, called the Bishop to reschedule and then we walked to Hyde Park for Church.  However, we arrived early enough at church to visit one of our Self-Reliance workgroups in session and were very pleased with the progress they were making with individuals.  (sweet blessing)

Another Sunday, we were scheduled to meet and train some Bishops in one of our stakes.  There was a Tube Strike going on so all of the sub-ways were closed.  To get around, 250 extra buses were on the road and everyone who had a car had to be on the road.  A sixteen mile trip took us 2 ½ hours of driving and we barely made it on time.

August was our first Zone Conference with our new mission president, Pres. Mark Stevens.  Because we had to man the Self-Reliance Center, we had to split up to attend Conference.  Afton stayed in the SRC and answered phone calls.  One call came in and the man said, “Oh, I really didn’t expect you to answer because the front desk said you were in a conference.”  When she ended the call, Afton was decided to call down to the security desk and tell them that the Self-Reliance Center was open.  Only I was at the Conference.  Then she was prompted to “jog down the 4 flights of stairs (she wanted some exercise) and tell them in person.  After giving security the information she turned around to trek up the stairs.  A family was just starting a tour when the mom stopped her and said, “Wait, don’t I know you?” It just so happened that she was the daughter of a dear friend and co-worker some 16 years ago.  They had a fun visit.  Now really, what are the chances?  We work in an office 4 floors up and for 7 ½ hours almost never come downstairs during the shift.  Such a sweet tender mercy for Afton. 

Holland Park

We don’t want this to sound like a travel log, but we had a good month.  One Saturday afternoon, we went walking. We found Holland Park. A narrow canyon-like entrance that opens into a lovely play area and then into some formal gardens, a life-size chess game, and the most delightful Japanese Garden.  It was crowded, so the next Monday, instead of going to Hyde Park (our usual exercise route) we walked down and explored (re-explored) Holland Park. We went back especially to see the Japanese Garden and water feature without the crowds.  It was delightful.

Holland Park Gardens

Japanese Gardens @ Holland park

Large piece Chess Set

Dover Castle

For nine months, we have been trying to find a good reason to go to Dover.  Finally we just said, let’s go.  Sunday after finishing our ward visits, we took another couple and headed off for Dover and the English Channel.  We stayed one night in a B&B that had the world’s steepest stairs.  After getting to your room, no one worried about how good or bad the bed was because you were so exhausted just laying down anywhere was all you wanted.  We asked about dinner and The Eight Bells was a recommended location and it was down-hill from our B&B.  Great dinner.  Next morning we wanted to take a little walk.  The lady at the B&B said to go down the street and up the stairs. A nice leisurely walk along the Western Heights.  She should have said down the walk, Up the Stairs, turn, Up more Stairs, cross the street and Up more Stairs. It did take us to a beautiful vista of Dover and the Dover Castle.  After wending our way back down the mountain, breakfast at the Eight Bells (so good we went back) we spent the day exploring beautiful Dover Castle. 

Castle Guards

Royalty

White Cliffs and Dover Harbor

After leaving Dover, we made a short stop near Waltham Castle.  Sorry no pictures.  But we did stroll down to the beach.  Afton just had to smell the salt air and see the ocean.  Well, she got her wish and a bit more.  An unexpected wave filled her shoes.  She smiled all the way back to London.

 

Afton Catching a Ware - or - A Wave Catching Afton

Back to reality and our office.  As you are aware from last month, we are now also Pathway Missionaries.  We have been promoting Pathway as a preparation for people to get back into learning or a way to prepare for university studies.  BYU-Idaho initially hoped to get about 30 students and we now have 61 applications in hand.  We have organized a second site here in London and recruited an assistant to help in our site.  We have divided our group and we now have an additional site in the London South Mission.  We will each have about 30 students to mentor and support as they start the Pathway program. 

The Lord has His hand in everything we do.  About two weeks ago, our Manager, Martin Gardiner, came to our office to meet with us.  He asked us for some success stories, pictures, and videos that can be used to promote Self-Reliance in the UK. That very afternoon, in walks Nathanial on his day off.  We had given assistance to Nathanial two months earlier and put him in touch with a local bus company.  He has been so excited to go through training and now has his own route that he drives five days a week.  He was very happy to write about his success in the Self-Reliance Center and how it helped get his dream job (London Bus Driver). He even had a video of himself in his new bus uniform and images of him driving through the streets of London.  Our area manager is very excited to send this into the Church SR headquarters with his story.

We pray every day for the Lord to guide us to people we can help.  Be careful what you pray for.  Prayers are answered.  In walks lady with a major disaster.  She is a bit of a frail lady who is an artist and writer.  Turns out that two days earlier, she was awakened at 3:00am with water streaming down her walls and out of her light fixtures.  All of her life’s work was floating around in water knee deep in her living room.  She had no idea what to do and her landlord was taking his own sweet time in responding to her needs.  We didn’t really know what to do, but we dove in and helped her start recording everything that was damaged or lost and we helped her push her landlord for help.  We have now gotten her relocated into a Bed and Breakfast and repairs have been started.  She will have to rework many of her paintings and scrape the mold off of much of her writing.  The adventures continue.

Eltham Palace

Jester with kids in Great Hall

A Monday last, we had a couple of hours free so we looked at our Heritage Trust membership (the one we bought in Dover) and found that we had free entrance to the Elthan Palace.  Few people had ever heard of it.  However Charisse had given us a list of 18 little known secrets in London and this was one of them.  When we arrived at this spectacular property, we found a Great 

Eltham - Oldest working bridge in London

Hall that was part of the favorite palace built by Henry IV.  Over the years the building had been run down but in the early 1900’s the Courtauld family purchased the lease on the estate and rebuilt the Great Hall. Then a beautiful mansion was added with extraordinary Art Deco décor with the most modern conveniences of the time (central vacuum, wired phone service, elevator, and hidden passage ways. This is a very well-kept secret that has been one our favorite sites to visit. (If you want more elaborate pictures, Google:  Eltham Palace and view Wikipedia images and history.)

See: My Foundation, Principles, Skills and Habits. 

Lesson #6 is on Solving problems.
“Creative approaches are sometimes needed in order to adapt to local conditions. We have general guidelines and principles, but the Lord expects us to help solve our own problems. . . . We are thinking, reasoning human beings. We have the ability to identify our needs, to plan, to set goals, and to solve our problems. . . . Too often people hold on to ideas, inventions, and approaches to life that will not work. The creative approach is a disciplined approach to meet life’s needs.” ROBERT D. HALES, “Every Good Gift,” New Era, Aug. 1983, 8–9

As you work on solving problems in your life, check out this video.  Copy and past this link into your browser and see what "pig" teaches you to do.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-06-1160-solve-problems-and-make-decisions?lang=eng&category=principle-6-solve-problems

Missionary Miracle:
 Tom, an investigator, is progressing! He ended up coming to church after going on Mormon.org and started chatting with a missionary in Salt Lake. The missionary told a bit about the Church. He came on Sunday and was pretty quiet the whole time until he asked how he liked the meetings. He said that there was just a great spirit about the place. He said he was feeling things he had never felt before. He has always had a general belief in God, but never took it further. Tom was asking a lot of questions. It led to teaching the Restoration and the pre-earth life along with some other principles. He just took it all in like a dried up sponge. When offered a Book of Mormon, he got so excited. He was asked if he would want to get baptized and this is how he responded. "Well, I came along just to see what this was all about because of my friends serving missions, but you guys have hooked me... you just have to reel it in now." He is very excited to have further discussions.

We are thoroughly enjoying this wonder work.  We know the Lord has a hand in all that we do and is guiding our steps and actions and brings us people to teach and assist.  We feel so blessed to be here in the England London Mission.  We love you all and love hearing from friends and family.   Till next month, May your service to others bring you great joy.

Jolly July

July, what a month to be a missionary.  President and Sister Jordan, gone.  Sort of slipped away in the night.  We did have a really special lunch for the Jordan’s and we even presented a song with special lyrics from My Fair Lady, “I’m Leavin London in the Mornin”   sharing our love and appreciation for them and promising to get them to the plane on time.  President and Sister Stevens, arrived well and happy.  The Church is missing a General Primary Presidency Counselor and the Tab Choir is missing one of its members, but we have a new wonderful couple leading our mission. Day One they were off to meet all of the missionaries starting with the furthest point north and working their way down through the mission.  We shook their hands and said Hi, and that was all that we saw of them for nearly two weeks.  The life of a Mission President is so demanding.  They are so dedicated to knowing their new sons and daughters and stepping into the leadership roles that they now have.  They are going to be just Great!

.  As PATHWAY comes to London for the first time, the Church has asked us to wear a second hat – Pathway Missionary Couple.  Things went really well, for about 20 minutes it seemed.  The first week we had the assignment, BYU-Idaho called to give us some training on what we would be doing.  A Pathway Devotional had already been held and a good number of people were excited about the program.  In fact, before we had our training, we had 22 candidates already signed up. Then BYU-I called us to start our training.  First thing, they had us do was log onto the web site to see how the applications were going.  We noted that names like Salim, Maphosa, Espana, Oliveira, Bueno, Gomez, Massaquoi, and Luzon were signing up.  During the devotional, it was explained that Pathway is only taught in English, but that there were two versions of PATHWAY available – a Standard version and a Language version for those who needed support learning in English.  As we logged on, we asked where the Language version was and how do we assign students to that course.  The response from Idaho was, “We did not make the L version available. You are in England.  Doesn’t everyone there speak English?”  A few minutes later when we could finally control our laughing, we explained that about 30-40% of the people in England speak English.  Then you have all of the other languages from every part of the world represented.  Immediately, they  closed our training, cut the call off in mid-sentence, and said that this had to get fixed – Right Now!  They would call us back soon – when this was fixed. We will definitely have a Standard and a Language version of Pathway taught in London. 

 

Happy 4th of July !

            We had our July 4^th celebration here in the office.  We taped up a few extra copies of the flag, made some flag poles out of straws, and gathered all of the office staff together to watch the patriotic presentation that our son Preston had prepared for a flag raising ceremony he had presented as the guest speaker in Oregon.  It was really touching and  a great way to reflect on the freedoms in the USA.  Well done Preston!

Polish, Hungarian, & Chinese helping each other

            Work here is never boring.  Always something new to challenge us.  We are currently helping a Chinese member of just over a year who is seeking asylum here in the UK.  He is needed housing, food, support, legal aid, and encouragement.  He already feels free from the bonds of his homeland.  He is so positive and happy.   By the way, his name is Ben.  We have a grandson named Ben who is also learning Chinese.  We will have to get them together one day.  Another fellow we are helping is a Hungarian who is trying to learn English and  find work.  We are working with people  to rewrite their C.V.’s, guide them in their search for work, and we are dealing with people from Portugal, Spain, Hong Kong, England, Ireland, and we even have had requests for help from the USA.  We most enjoy working with the YSA.  They are so ready to learn and they really appreciate any help that is given.  We have given many Work Choice Profile assessments and that has given guidance and identified personal interests and strengths. 

Lord Mayor & Elder Baxter at Dedication

            It is not all work.  We have mentioned that one of our volunteers has been starting up her own new business – a catering/restaurant business. She is located in a space that is shared with a non-profit community service organization. She has been open a few weeks and decided to have an official Open House.  What an event.  Her little place can  handle a crowd of 12-16 customers at a time.  We must have had 50 or 60 people show up for the Open House.  The Lord Mayor of Islington was there dressed in the robes of his position with all of the spangles and decoration of his office. He spoke. Another person wrote a poem about the new centre and its purpose and inviting nature of the place. We had some Jamaican men try to teach us some songs.  Oh yes, they asked me to give a dedicatory prayer and blessing on the new operation and particularly for the restaurant.  What a day.  Of course, it was topped off with lots of very tasty food. 

Just thought of something.  With all of the new changes, there is not one senior at the Hyde Park Building that is legal to drive, except one.  That’s me.  I am the only one with a valid driving license for the UK.  That will have to change – real soon.  Elder Ashby has started his training, but you have to arrange for three hours of driver’s training (we have a very good teacher in a local member), learn and understand the rules, take the written exam, pass the “perception” test, and then you have to schedule and take the actual driving test.  About a three month process.  Driving by seniors includes multiple trips to the airport to pick up missionaries, move missionaries during transfers, and special trips to help out wherever needed (like doing a transfer of a missionary with chicken pox who could not ride the train J).  Here are a couple of driving test sample questions – really.  Here is one of the medical questions:  Do you suffer from bouts of disabilitating giddiness?  Another question seemed serious, but it was a bit tricky; “You cannot, should not, may not, or must not park near a zebra crossing.”  Choose the correct answer?

            We were asked to help Elder Gale close a couple of flats as the number of missionaries is fluctuating and realignment is needed.  Remember, we are in England and there is NO storage space, anywhere, so items are thrown away.  So, we had furniture from two flats including couches, chairs, tables, beds, a refrigerator, microwave, dishes, etc. (we are voluntary missionaries, we did not sign up to be furniture movers, but oh well….)  We contacted the ward local missionaries to see if they could find a home for the items, with no success.  As we arrived to clear out one of the flats, the Relief Society President showed up and informed us that the Bishop had just heard from a young family moving into the ward from Spain. They needed a place to stay and they had a very young child and a two week old baby. Nothing else. We were able to make available just about everything that they would have needed to get started.  Such a tender mercy. 

Alert !     We had summer here on July 19^th & 20^th.  The temperature actually hit 90 degrees.  

 

(Thanks, Charisse for sending this notice to us.  Now we know what happened to summer and why our daily high is only 69 degrees at the end of July.) 

            One of the first wards that we presented the Self-Reliance material to was the City Ward, a Portuguese speaking unit.  After our 30 minute presentation to the Ward Council, they went about the rest of their ward business. Of course, that was all done in Portuguese and we had no idea what they were talking about.  The meeting was very animated and comments were coming from every single member of that Council.  At the end of the meeting, we had to ask the Full-Time Missionaries what they had talked about.  Had the Ward Council understood what we were teaching and were they ready to start one of the new courses of study?  The answer was “Oh, Yes!  They have grasped the principles.”  They went on to explain that the Ward Council thought the teaching was great, but that the greatest need in their ward was to teach the ward members English.  A class has been developed and a teacher from within the ward is teaching English to a class of about 25 every Wednesday.  The missionaries follow up on Friday evening with a workgroup and support class.  The best part of all is that we have had one baptism so far and 8 prospective members actively participating in the group.  They are all so excited to learn English and improve their job opportunities. 

Hyde Park Flower Walk

Feeding birds and squirrel

            Most days we get to enjoy wonderful morning walks in Hyde Park.  Close to us is what is called “The Flower Walk” which has a gorgeous display of some very unusual flowers.  This part of the park is irrigated so the flowers are quite spectacular.  The park is about 4 miles long and about a mile wide and most of it is very natural.  We came upon one area where the sign indicated an area of colorful and unusual birds.  To our surprise, we walked up on an English fellow who was feeding the parrots.  He has made friends with both the birds and the squirrels.

Hyde Park Gardens - Flower Walk

Birds in both hands

Lesson Challenge for July:  My Foundation, Lesson #5.  Work, Take Responsibility

“Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself .… (and men and women are free) to act for themselves and not to be acted upon.” 2 Nephi 2:16, 26

“Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer.”  Doctrine & Covenants 42:42

For a complete lesson, see SRS.LDS.ORG, My Foundation, Lesson #5.

Missionary Miracle:
In one of the mission areas, Elder J & C were preparing their investigator for baptism on November 30. Because he had some issues his baptismal date postponed. The Elders had to drive some distance for the interview. What happened was awesome! We taught him and through listening to the Spirit and through using the scriptures and being bold we helped him to prepare for baptism on the 7th of December. In the lesson he had a lot of misunder-standings that we had to help him resolve, but at one point we pointed out a scripture in Mosiah 3:19 that we read with him. Elder B asked him a great question and as we waited in silence for him to ponder and respond the Holy Ghost touched his heart and mind and he finally understood! It was so awesome to see how he taught himself from the scripture, or better how the Spirit taught him from the scriptures without us really doing a lot. We were just there to ask a question and to direct him on his way in his search for knowledge and understanding. I've probably never seen an investigator changing so suddenly from misunderstanding and stubbornness to humility and courage. It really was a miracle! I'm grateful for the power of the Spirit in conversion!!

 Keep Calm and Carry On (as they say here in the UK)

 Cheerio from the Baxter's.