February @ England London Mission

For this installment, we have decided to tell you a bit about how we do things.  Thought we might give you a view of how we get around and do our Church callings.  We use a variety of means of transport: foot, car, van, bus, horse, tube, train, and airplane.  Ok, we only used the airplane to get to and from England.  No flying during our mission - yet. Lets take a look.

Each day when we start out, we leave our flat and walk about 3/4 mile toward the Hyde Park Centre. We walk up through a pleasant community, passing a dozen or so shops and stores, several indian restaurants (4 or 5), we can turn down either Queens Gate Terrace or Elvaston Place and cross over

Queen's Tower at Imperial College Campus

Queen's Gate Road and proceed to the Falmouth Gate of the Imperial College.  If we try to pass through the gate at night after 11:00 pm, the gate is closed and we have a longer walk around the outside of the college campus.

Falmouth Gate to Imperial College

As we split Imperial College essentially in half, we can look ahead and see the HP Centre on the east end of the campus.  At the center of campus we pass the Queen's Tower.  This tower was built about 1887 as part of Queen Victoria's Imperial Institute.  In 1960 the Institutte was being replaced, most of the original structures were torn down.  Through extensive lobbying the 287 ft bell tower was saved. The Queen's Tower has ten bells each named after royalty and the bells chime on holidays. Of course, the area around the Queen's Tower is called the Queen's Lawn. They really like the Queen over here.  So much so that only the Queen can have a queen-sized bed.  There are doubles and king-size beds, but you never find a Queen Sized bed - only for the Queen.

Hyde Park Chapel

 As we depart from the college campus we are face to face with the beautiful Hyde Park Centre.  This is home to four wards (Hyde Park 1 & II, City Ward on wed nights, and Britania Young Single Adult ward).  And in addition, it is the only building in the world with a complete Visitors Centre, Stake Offices, Bishop's Offices, a Self-Reliance Centre, and the London England Mission offices. A very well used building and hub of constant and varied activities.  We often have varied high profile guests that come and vist the Centre.  The HP Centre is home to mission conferences which most recently had Elder Quentin Cook.  Two weeks ago we were host to Brian Grim, President of Religious Freedom & Business Foundation who later that day addressed Parliament on the impact of religious freedom on politics.  Sister Baxter and I were privildged to take Brother Grim to dinner and talk about our Self Reliance program, some of which he is moving to incorporate into his work. (By the way, he is Catholic.)  He is now writing and speaking about the positive impact and inspired programs of the Self-Reliance Initiative of the Church to the Vatican.

The Hyde Park Centre is used for a miriad of activities. We have spoken of the International Celebration put on by the HP Stake which has representation of 110 cultures within its membership. Other activities include extensive sports / games enjoyed by wards, stake, mission, missionaries, and others.  The Chapel is also home of a most beautiful organ and we often have special events there. The most recent was the presentation of a very funny 1925 classic silent movie, The Freshman. Harold Lloyd, the star of the show was a friend of David O McKay's. (Mike Ohman accompanied the silent file on the large pipe organ.) See the pictures below. Remind us to tell you about the amazing impact that Harold Lloyd had on the Church in the Los Angeles area.

Mike Ohman to play for The Freshman

The Freshmen @ Hyde Park

OK, other ways we get around in our London travels.  As Self-Reliance Missionaries, we have a car - a small one, but a nice car to transport ourselves to meetings and training.

Toyota Meriva

 I have taken driver's training to help me adapt to the driving on the wrong side of the road - where did we lose our way when we separated from England.  I guess we just had to rebel to make us left side drivers on the right side of the street as opposed to right hand drivers on the left side of the street. In any case, we try not to drive for two very good reasons.  One, there is usually no place to park, and second, it is really slow to drive (average within around London is 7 mph).  Traffic congestion can be the worst in any part of the world.  The street system runs randomly through the city (Random as in odd angle intersections, streets narrowing from three lanes to one lane or perhps you are driving and all of sudden the center two lanes force you to turn right - ready or not :-) ) with varied one-way streets and you are also limited because you have to dodge the River Thames which runs through the middle of the this huge city.  Bus lanes add to the confusion. Thank goodness for GPS, it is a lifesaver.

OK, I guess we should mention the huge fleet of taxis.


  Apparently there is one manufacturer of cars here that builds nothing but Taxi Cabs.  They are specially built with very tight turning radius' to get around the narrow and winding roadways.  They are all the same shape but they are now being painted in every imaginable color and decoration.  The interiors are utilitarian open in the back so you can often get up to 5-6 passengers and some luggage into a single small cab.

You probably already know that we use the "Tube" or underground train system.  When you get out of Central London, the trains do run above ground, but the tube is definitely UNDER ground.  We walk to the Gloucester Road Station and walk down a flight of stairs to get to our most common train. By the way, the Circle line was the first underground train and it was built in 1863.  Now, however, the Picadilly Line runs underneath the Circle & District lines. In some areas of the city you can have trains running at four or five different underground levels.

Gloucester Station 

Paddington Station

 There is one point where escalators are taking passengers down to their trains and there are two of the elevators like the one pictured here.

Escalators

Some of the escalators are the longest in the world. The Tube carried 1.23 Billion passengers in 2013 and that number keeps increasing.  It takes a lot of equipment (lifts and escalators) to get people to the varied levels to catch their trains. The Tube then can drop you off at places like Waterloo Station, Paddington Station, Kings Cross / St Pancreas Station, or Victoria Station.  These are major hubs for rail service taking you all over the counry in every direction.

San Pancres / King's Cross Station

 Done with walking, lets take a bus ride.  Many Londoners get around on one or more of the 80,000 busses. The iconic Double Decker red bus is everywhere.  Included is one picture of a stack of busses near Picadilly Circus (not a Circus circus, but a tourist shopping area and entertainment centre).  (Sorry, could not find the picture showing 9 busses criss-crossing Picadilly Circus.  Here is a picture at Hyde Park Corner.  I can count 9 busses here as well.)

9 Busses @ Hyde Park Corner

Bus Ad

The busses can take you wherever you need to go and are good for getting closer to your destination. It is kind of fun to see the "Mormon" influence on the buses.  The play's advertising plan has given an unexpected rise in notariety for the Church.

Queens Brigade -

Oops, Just kidding.  I said that we included "horses" in our transportation.  Not us, but we do hear Her Majesties horses trotting down our street on their way to Hyde Park for their daily exercise early in the morning.




A train related experience.  A young man named Jagath hails from Sri Lanka.  He comes annually to London to visit his X-wife and young son.  This year he came and the mother and son had left for the USA without telling him and he ended up stranded here in London. In late December, Jagath was trying to get in contact with friends and was taking a train toward Northhampton.  Some strong urge told him to get off of the train and to take the next train.  He described it as something dragging him off of the train.  He got of the train he was on and took the next train.  Shortly after, he noticed a young lady talking to another passenger and she mentioned something about a very important book. Jagath was intrigued and wanted to hear what was being discussed.  But Jagath is a real gentleman and could not butt in and he certainly could not approach a single young lady directly on the tube. A few stops later, the lady got up to get off of the train and to his surprise, a second young lady got up and walked out with her. This made it more appropriate for him to stop them to talk,  He jumped up and got off of the train and as they walked down the platform, Jagath stopped the sisters and asked about this Book of Mormon they had been talking about.  The Sister's asked him if he would like to know more and he said yes so a meeting for set for 6:00 that evening.  They met and the Sister's brought the ward mission leader with them and they taught Jagath a first lesson.  They asked if Jagath would like a Book of Mormon and he said yes.  They committed him to reading the book. The Ward Mission Leader could see that Jagath was sincere and also was in need of help.  He took him home with him and Jagath lived a few days with him.  Through help from the London North Ward, and with continued teaching from the Sister Missionaries, Jagath developed a strong testimony and was soon baptized.  The Sister Missionaries introduced Jagath to us during his teaching and we helped get him employment.

Jagath in his Suit

Tie tieing less

We were able to secure a suit from a missionary who had left one behind when he completed his mission.  I even taught him how to tie a tie.  Jagath is going to make such a good member of the Church.  He is resourceful, caring, and honest. He has told us, "I am a totally changed man."

One day when he was the Self-Reliance Center, we were helping him and others.  A Hungarian fellow was in tough straights and Jagath voluntarily gave him advice such as "spend your last 20 pounds on a week bus pass. That way you will have a warm place to stay at night."  Jagath is faithful and is now passing the sacrament and working to save money so he can visit his son in California.

Our purpose here is to help people become more self-reliant through teaching principles.  We (everyone of us) can learn and live these principles, skills, and the habits of Self-Reliance.  The principles will lead us to spiritual and temporal self-reliance.  Here is an invitation to all who are reading this blog to read and examine each of the principles that we will send you over the next twelve months. The first of these principles is FAITH as found in the workbook My Foundation: Principles, Skills, Habits.  

Go to (srs.lds.org > Self-Reliance > Manuals & Videos > My Foundation. Click on the image of My Foundation on the web site and scroll down to Lesson 1, starting on page four.  There are supporting videos at the bottom of the resource page.  Be sure and check out the video listed below. (copy and paste this link into your browser.)

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/principle-1-exercise-faith-in-jesus-christ?lang=eng

We suggest that you study one principle every month until we get home. These make wonderful Family Home Evening lessons.

The Work of the Lord is moving well here in London.  We love this opportunity to serve and love the people we are able to work with.  We know that this is where the Lord wants us to be at this time in ou lives and hope we can faithfully share some of the highlights with each of you.

Welcome 2015

                   London - Fireworks


2015 opened with a BANG!  London had the most spectacluar fireworks that I have ever seen. They were shooting fireworks from barges in the River Thames, from the shore surrounding the London Eye, and from the London Eye itself.  It was truely amazing !!!








Guess who came to visit us over New Year's?

Kari's family from Oregon pictured here at the London Temple grounds in front of the Nativity Scene.

We had a lot of fun in between the work at the mission office.  How about a little shopping - Harrods & M&M Store

Harrods at Night

Grandma shopping with Princesses

M & M's the size you dream about

M & M's of every color

We visited Kensington Palace & gardens and museums.  While at Kensington Palace, exploring King Edward's wing of the Palace, we happened upon Sir Francis who explained the games of chance played by the royalty.  Pictured are the grandkids getting instructions.  Remind us and we will teach you how to play when we get home (5-4-3).  In 1620, if you played this game against the King and you won, was that a safe move?  If you won, you might really lose in the long run.

We loved to go walking and a favorite walk is through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.  Here the grandkids are feeding the ducks and geese.















A major attraction was their visit to Harry Potter World.

So, we were off to the Hogwart's Express.   Platform 9 3/4, right?

Chase, Ambri & Oakli off to get the train

It was facinating being behind the scenes and walking through the original movie sets.  We took lots of pictures by the props and on the actual movie sets. We had to stop and get some ButterBeer to top off our visit.  We walked the actual Diagon Alley and saw the wand shop and other stores shown in the movies.

Entrance to the Great Hall

The Great Hall with food all laid out

Actual Diagon Alley Set

Below are a couple of shots of Hogwarts Castle which is fully detailed.  It was explained to us that all of the flying shots and outdoor scenes were actually filmed on this Hogwarts Model.

Winter at Hogwarts

It took a large team of craftsmen over 6 months to build this castle.  Doors, hinges, windows, and stones are all detailed.

Walking around the model

Afton and I were given a couple of tickets to go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory here in London and it was quite an amazing show.  The staging was spectaular.  At Charlie's home, his inventive father had repaired an old TV.  Dad climbed on a bicycle power supply which cranked up the TV and the image on the TV was opened to our view in a larger than life TV above the actors on stage.  Each of the winners of the golden ticket were shown in news flashes on that Big TV.  The mix of graphics, imaging, and staging were amazing and brought the whole story to life.

The girl promised this was the Lucky Bar 

No golden Ticket in our bar but it was Really Good!

In January we were very busy training four Stake Self Reliance Committies and seven Ward Councils on the Self- Reliance Initiative.  This world wide initiative has gone to Mexico, South America, the Phillipines, South Africa and all countries outside of the US and Canada.  The United Kingdom is the last country outside of  North America to get the Initiative. Self Reliance is the ability to care for yourself and your family both temporally and spiritually.  The Lord has declared, "It is my purpose to provide for my saints" (Doc & Cov 104:15). This revelation is a promise from the Lord that He will proivde temporal blessings and open the doors of self-reliance if we do our part.  Heavenly Father knows us and loves us and is ready to extend to everyone the spiritual and temporal blessings of self-reliance.

We have witnessed many tender mercies from the Lord prompting us where to go, what to say and how to work in helping others.  One example is a man named Francisco (from Portugal) who left his homeland because he could not find work.  He came to London following his faith and hoped for a better future.  Franciso only had money to stay in a hostel and came to our Self Reliance Center every day. We helped him rewrite his CV (resume) and this opened the door to gaining an interview for the very job that he was seeking.  He is a very quiet and conservative personality so we convinced him to let us help him with his interviewing skills.  We started with him coming to our office door as if approaching his appointment and the first time he came in he did not even get past our secretary because of his lack of confidence.  (Afton is a toughy!)   He was very teachable and humble and took instructions well.  We spent a lot of time working on interviewing questions and giving him skills and confidence for his actual invertivew which was to be the the following day.  We did not hear from him for a week.

A week later when we were working with several unemployed people at the centre, we had a fun surprise occur. Kari had taken her kids to a museum and on her return trip home on the Tube they missed their stop.  When they got off of the Tube, they were face to face with a Krispy Kreme donut shop and of course the kids were begging for donuts.  She was prompted to buy two dozen instead of the six she needed for her kids.  She got back on the Tube to try and find her way to our flat. She decided to come to the Hyde Park Centre to see us and share the donuts.  Prior to Kari's arrival, Francisco had come in and told us that he had gotten his job and had been working every day since his interview. He had been hired on the spot. While he was at the Centre, he helped two of our other candidates with computer links for their job searches.  And in walked Kari and her kids. We all celebrated by helping Kari eat the donuts.  Other office missionaries came and celebrated with us. It was a real blessing that Kari had been directed to quadruple her order.  Francisco is now looking for permanent housing.

Francisco

Favorite Foods this month: Pasteries, Fish & Chips, Flapjacks,  and waffles.  Take a look at these gourmet waffles.

Delightful Waffles

We hope you enjoy our adventures and missionary experiences.  We are working hard and loving every minute - well almost every minute.  The Church is true, and we have some of the greatest people in the Church to work with.  We love you all and hope you enjoy our blog.


Mosiah 2:41
 

Thanksgiving Post

Thanksgiving Blog

OK, it is really hard to keep up on everything and that includes Blogging.  So here is the November Blog taking us Thanksgiving through Dec 21^st.

November was a wonderful month with many highlights, not the least of which was a Special Mission Conference.  Once a year (if we are lucky) we call all of the missionaries from every corner of the mission to come in for instruction and direction.  This year Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Twelve came to instruct and motivate the England London Mission (and the London South Mission).  Elder Cook and Elder Holland were companions in this mission years ago and the stories and direction given were amazing.  This was also the kick-off of the HE IS THE GIFT! Initiative for the Church worldwide.  What a beautiful presentation the Church has prepared to share with the world about the message of the Saviour.  If you have not seen it, go to:  Christmas.Mormon.org and watch it.  Following our conference, we took all of the missionaries to the stairs of Royal Albert Hall for a Mission Photo.  It is indeed a special occasion to get all of the missionaries together at one time for a photo opp.

Christmas is coming and it is such a special time of the year.  The Hyde Park Center has been tastefully decorated and there are many many many decorations left over from prior years.  Sister Baxter and Sister Williams have been going through much of the excess and have had great experiences decorating the office, the flat, the halls and lots of other areas from what were left-overs from prior years.  I found a few lights and we purchased a “small” tree and we have decorated our flat.  You will see the home made wreath that we made and the tree that we have dedicated for Christmas for this year and next. 

Shopping for Christmas here in London could really get out of control.  There is an upscale grocery store near our flat that has an “American” section where they have Oreos, Cheerios, Crisco, and even Jell-O pudding.  The Brits don’t buy the stuff, but there are enough Americans, missionaries, and embassy workers in the area to make it worthwhile to carry.  A 3lb can of Crisco, £10 ($16.00).  The pies this year are not so numerous, but the ones we do bake are really appreciated.  Shopping at Harrods is also a special experience.  See pictures.  They really have about anything you could every want, anywhere.  You just have to pay the price.  They have a really cool toy section, a spectacular fruit and vegetable section, a marvelous bakery section, a section specializing in candy, another just for chocolates, clothes of every kind, even furniture and electronics, a full meat department, a cheese department, a diamond department, men’s and ladies clothing, a whole separate department for shoes, sporting gear, and on and on and on. These are not just one row of items, but each is a complete department with its own decoration, theme, full display and complete inventory. A simple ladies jacket was £900 ($1,300) and there were some men’s loafer shoes priced at £1200.  Yes, they were patent leather and with some really cool colors, butt $1,600 for a pair of casual shoes is over the top.  Check out the Rainbow Cake in the picture.

The American’s here did celebrate Thanksgiving.  We had a pretty traditional dinner at President Jordan’s flat with all of the Mission Staff.  President cooked the turkey and made up two kinds of gravy, we had potatoes, sweet potato soufflé, Sister Jordan made a Dixie Salad (Costco here has Pomegranates that are already out of the skin), vegetables and stuffing.  The couple of interesting add-ons were parsnips, cauliflower, and fried rice.  There was a Lemon Meringue pie with at least 8 inch high meringue and I made an apple pie with fresh apples.  That Thursday was still a work day and we spent a few hours in the office, had dinner, and then Sister Baxter and I had to run off to the Wandsworth Stake to meet with their Self Reliance Committee. 

In our run-up to Christmas, the Hyde Park Stake had an annual International Evening with special foods, games, dancing, and lots of fun.  Our Stake is represented by over 110 different cultures.  At this one event, we had an activity where everyone was asked to visit the table and pick out the flag of the country where they were born and post it on the wall.  As you can see in that one night, we had over forty countries represented.  We had some wild Brazilians doing some very active dances, sharing spicy beef, we had some gorgeous African dresses and head gears as shown by Claire Mungo, one of our Self Reliance Center volunteers, we had Chinese, Japanese, African, American, middle eastern all bringing their special types of food and culture to the event.

Crazy Brazillians

Clair Mungo

As we have led up to Christmas, we have had a most wonderful Christmas Devotional at the Hyde Park Center with a Missionary Chorus, and Young Single Adult Chorus, inspirational video clips, instrumental music, inspiration messages and finally the showing of the video, He is The Gift.  As we got closer to Christmas, we have been able to participate in other musical events.  As we visited one of the wards, we met a senior couple who invited us to attend the Messiah.  Then we met an inactive sister and we are working on activating her.  She sings with a group that was singing backup to Maddy Prior.  We went to see Maddy Pryor and the Carnival Band.  We started the week with Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Let me share a bit.  Wednesday was Evensong.  As we went into the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral (THE St. Paul’s Cathedral) we were asked if we wanted to sit amongst the Choir.  Not knowing what to expect, we jumped at the opportunity.  We were ushered up front, into about two-thirds of the Choir seats, just below the Cathedral organ.  Evensong is the mass leading up to the Christmas Week.  The pomp and ceremony were very interesting.  Thursday, we jumped on the tub for a concert at Cadogan Hall to see Maddy Pryor and a six piece band playing 18^th century instruments and singing old English Carols.  There was a lot of dancing and carrying on reminiscent of an Irish drinking pub.  Very interesting.  Friday night we met another missionary couple and traveled down to the Thames River, walked along the river’s edge and turned up toward Bailey Square.  This is where the court system, legal system of London functions.  Right in the middle of all of this is the Temple Church.  That is, the Church first built in 1116 by the Knights Templar of DaVinci Code fame.  A beautifully restored church where the BBC sponsored the presentation of Handel’s Messiah.  There are 26 members of the BBC Singers who performed the full Messiah along with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble.  They were spectacular!!!  We have sung in several excellent presentations of the Messiah with chorus’ of 150 to 300 but none was as moving, beautiful and so professionally done as this one here in London.  What a spread of musical experiences that week.

Baxter's @ Royal Albert Hall

Temple Church 

We did find a few rather spectacular lights for Christmas.  This was Westfield Mall, just Bus 49 to the end of the route.  In the center of the mall they put in a temporary ice skating rink and the people seemed to really enjoy it.  The lights were wonderful.  However, as you look around, there was not one mention or sign of "Christ"mas - it was all secular and worldly.

Westfield Mall

We finished off the week by visiting Hampton Court Palace.  This is Henry VIII’s palace at Hampton Court and was rather special.  The gardens are vast and the palace was gorgeous.  The first room we went in was a large dining hall where the knights would be fed and housed.  A very large, tall room to impress everyone with Henry’s power and wealth.  Of course, Henry never came into this room because he was a rather short King and this would not be the place to present a short king.   We were able to visit a few parts of the palace in the short time we were there but we saw a series of throne rooms each getting more and more ornate.  Apparently famous people would try to get in to see the King and the closer they got, the smaller the rooms would become (it was hard to get permission to move closer to an audience with the King).  The rooms got smaller so that the King would appear to be larger and more powerful.  Lavish is an understatement.  We hope to go back when the gardens are in full bloom which should make this a very spectacular visit.  They also did a bit of a light show in the gardens after dark.  For a palace show piece, this was a bit underwhelming.  We are used to Temple Square and this just did not measure up to real Christmas Lights.  It was “nice”.  Ask Jenee to explain “nice’ singing or “nice” presentations.  I think she will be able to make this a bit more clear.  Christmas week is upon us and I will share more in the next blog.  We were watching a Hallmark type movie on TV and got really deeply involved in the plot and at the end of the two hour movie, it said, “To Be Continued”.  So this is To Be Continued:  J

November

November was a good month. We started to learn what we had been asked to do (Self Reliance Center work) and after two months finally had a P-Day.  We decided to take the "Original Big Bus Tour" and see the layout of London.  We were fortunate to have Malcolm, a Hyde Park ward member as our tour guide.  We started out by meeting him at Piccadilly Circus (it is a circus to drive through, but not an amusement park).  It is an entertainment center with many theatres and shops.  We got a glimpse of The Book of Mormon, the Musical theatre.  Here in London it has been the #1 rated musical for many weeks now.  The missionaries like to come on Matinee days and set up a table and banner across the street.  When patrons come out they theatre they see the white shirts and name tags and the missionaries are able to tell them, "Now that you have seen the show, read the book, it is even better".   
            We saw famous landmarks and tributes and had our picture taken with Paddington the Bear.  To get his full story,  you

The Book of Mormon the Musical

will have to go on-line and do a bit of research.  See if you can find his original birth place and then read the story behind his creation.  He is really famous now in England. 

We left Piccadilly on the bus and saw many unusual and interesting sites and whenever Malcolm found the bus stalled, he pulled out interesting pictures about the area we were in.  He is not allowed to preach Mormonism, but was able to put in a significant plug about the indexing of all of the old English records that were deteriorating in the archives.  During the part of our tour that included a Thames River Cruise, the guides were sure surprised about the number of people that were visiting the Tower of london to see the poppy presentation.  It was amazing and stirring when you understand that each poppy represented a soldier who gave his life during WW I.  You will see below a shot of a Beefeater giving a tour at the Tower of London, a picture of a small portion of the Tower of London Poppies, a Royal Barge passing the T of L. and if you look close you can see the huge crowds lined up to see the poppies and also two shots

and also two shots of Piccadilly Circus - Tribute to double decker tour busses and a shot of Buba 
Gumps Fish Co.  It was a great tour, but you really need to Malcolm along to make is so memorable.  We went on to see the Tower Bridge, and statues and interesting buildings and sites.  Don't go without Malcolm.  Call us for contact information if you come over the pond to visit London. 

Royal Poppies

Royal Barge passing on the Thames the Tower of London

When we completed our tour, we came back to Piccadilly Circus and had to visit the M & M store.  It we quite delightful.  They have M&M's with different kinds of nuts in them, M&M's of every imaginable color and of course toys and gadgets and gimicks to sell more M&M candies.

 

OK, back to missionary work.  The replacement office couple arrived, Elder and Sister Williams.  We are training them to take over the office so we can get back to the Self Reliance work that we were called to do.  After a week of training and in-office work, we were ready for another P-Day.  We are supposed to get one each week and this was number 3 in almost three months.  We were able to visit Kensington Gardens and the Kensington Palace.  We visited the older public half.  The west side is still used today and we under-stand that Andrew and Kate and their child are living there.  We visited Queen Victoria's side and started by seeing her wing of the Palace.  It was beautifully rebuilt in 1637 with Christoper Wren adding his design touches.  In the queen's side there are gently sloping staircases and lots of porcelain pots that the queen liked to keep planted with flowering plants of all kinds.  At one time, there were over 800 potted porcelains.  Nothing like a bit of excess.  You did not get much of a tour, but there were men standing around called "informers".  If you asked them questions, they bubbled forth with the most interesting facts and tales about the royalty.  Next we visited the King's wing of the palace. It was guady and full of stark contrasts.  There was a gambling room with the original games of chance set.  It was tough gambling with the King.  You wanted to win, but if you did, you might lose something other than your money.  Interesting tales were told of ghosts that currently haunt the palace and strange happenings every spring when Mad King George returns to the Palace and every fall when he leaves.  The "informers" can pretty well pinpoint the days when he arrives (stormy, windy, and dark) and the days he leaves (calm and sunny).  In between strange things happen like flying objects, tourist cameras thrown across the room, and other actual manifestations of King George's displeasure with the visitors who do not abide by the rules. :-).  

Fall Day in Kensignton Gardens

Most mornings we have been able to go walking in Kensington Gardens (west half of Hyde Park) and the morning when the weather is good are really beautiful.  You can see just a touch of fall in this shot of Afton.  Our walks are very pleasant.  You just to watch out for the bicycles and runners.  These shots don't show the crowds, but it is a great place to get a little exercise.  A good 30 minutes brisk walk will take you from our flat to the Kensington Garden and across the gardens and back.  Probably abut 2 miles. 

To close this installment, let me tell you that missionary work is alive and well here in London. Our mission goal is to have 500 baptism by the end of the year and we are closing in on that number.  Great things are happening.  A 60 year old man from Egypt was contacted by the missionaries (cold calling) but he was too busy to talk.  Unbeknownst to the missionaries he wanted to know more and so he went to the Mormon Channel and the internet.  He started reading about the Church and because of his interest decided to visit the Hyde Park Center and started taking lessons.  Two weeks ago he was baptized.  His son is coming with him to Church and when he is 18, he will no longer need his mother's permission and he also will be baptized.  Another young lady had been learning about the Church for the last four years.  Three weeks ago she came to London for a short "study abroad" session and met the missionaries and decided that the time was right and she was baptized.  She is going to tell her family when she returns home for the holidays.  The Spirit is strong and the Hyde Park Center is full of the spiritual experiences touching many and helping the Church to grow. 

Watch for  HE is the Gift.  It is touching.  Check out Christmas.mormon.org