What's Not to Love?
It is a beautiful day in Arizona. Our granddaughter Lauren received her endowment at the Gilbert Arizona Temple in preparation for serving a mission to Paraguay starting in January of next year. It would have been such a sweet experience to be there with her, but I think she knows how happy for her we are. We will be in the mission field at the same time....there is something so very sweet about that.
We are in Portsmouth! It was fairly late when I got into bed last night and I was tired. It was late when we went to sleep, but I slept well, and didn't wake until SK whispered, "Honi, it's 11:00...don't you think you ought to get up?"
It was a beautiful day here, according to the natives. Clear and sunny. Deb fixed us lunch and then we packed to be away for a couple of days. We drove down to Portsmouth on the coast for leadership and the Saturday night session of stake conference. Getting out of London was interesting. Busy busy traffic everywhere. Dave negotiated his way through with the best of Londoners. I watched the city go by. Quaint and new and old. People of every kind, old, young, in-between walked along the sidewalks. Shops everywhere. Double-decker red buses. Red telephone booths. And we crossed the Thames River!!!! I know the pictures are disappointing. Dave said it wasn't the best place to cross... but still it is the Thames River! I took some pictures, but I am having trouble downloading them.
The stake center is old, but beautiful and so very large. It has a hardwood floor in the cultural hall and a stage with a beautiful curtain. You could get lost in that building. We were able to help set up chairs for the conference tomorrow. We filled the cultural hall and stage. We visited with other people who were doing the same. Nice....people are general the same everywhere you go.
We walked into the chapel, and I immediately glanced around for the corner where there would be headphones and a translator. I know I'm in a "foreign" country, but it's not really foreign....I understand and speak the language! I can't even begin to tell you what joy that gives me.
Nevertheless, every time a new speaker got up to the podium to speak, I experienced a momentary shock that they spoke with an accent. I laughed later when visiting with a man there who pointed out that Americans are the ones with the accents....The British have been speaking English a lot longer than we have.
We met two other senior missionaries who are the Self-Reliance couple for the England London Mission. Their name is Snelgrove, and if you are from Utah, you know that was a big name in outstanding ice cream for many years. They had driven down for the conference and will be there again tomorrow. So far, every senior missionary we've met has been really delightful. It will be fun to meet all of them. I have heard rumors that we will also gather for Thanksgiving in November, and maybe Christmas Eve....maybe.
The evening conference was excellent. The stake president was the last speaker, and spoke humbly and kindly. I enjoyed all of the speakers very much, except I was fighting sleep and I kept closing my eyes and nodding off....the only thing that kept me semi-awake was the pressure of SK's hand on my arm every time my head drooped.
After the meeting we drove to our hotel, where we were part of a mission-wide phone call which happens every Saturday evening at 9. I am quite in awe of how busy Dave and Deb are with this mission. They spent two hours last night with the APs (assistants to the president) going over transfers. Dave was up very early to make some changes to the changes from last night. They had a guest come for breakfast this morning who was in London and wanted to visit with them.
After 4 hours of meetings this evening, we came back to the hotel, ordered a lite meal to be delivered and then Dave made the phone call which all of the missionaries joined. He had the two APs report on some mission business and rules, and then Dave gave some instructions and some admonishments, with Deb chiming in. She is at his side in everything, including the transfer assignments. The missionaries look to her as a leader as well as to Dave.
It is now after 11, and Dave will be up by 6 to make some 20 or more phone calls to missionary companionships to notify them of changes. Each of the APs will do that many or more as well. After checking out of our hotel, we will arrive at stake conference a little after 9, where Dave will personally hand out missionary name tags personally inscribed with the names of over 300 primary children in the stake.
At 10:30, stake conference will begin. At some point, Dave and Deb will speak for 20 minutes. When we left them a few minutes ago, they were working on their talks.
It will be a two to three hour drive back to the mission home tomorrow afternoon, and then they will still be dealing with transfers. It looks like we will be in London until Friday morning. SK will have a 3-hour block of driving instructions, with him behind the wheel. That sounds like an adventure. On Thursday, we will be a part of a senior missionary gathering in London.
In the meantime, we need to find meaningful ways to serve as missionaries. I think a couple of shopping excursions are in order...shoe polish and a serious umbrella! (Rain is predicted all week - all you Arizona people are sooo envious!)
I am already in love with England.
We are in Portsmouth! It was fairly late when I got into bed last night and I was tired. It was late when we went to sleep, but I slept well, and didn't wake until SK whispered, "Honi, it's 11:00...don't you think you ought to get up?"
It was a beautiful day here, according to the natives. Clear and sunny. Deb fixed us lunch and then we packed to be away for a couple of days. We drove down to Portsmouth on the coast for leadership and the Saturday night session of stake conference. Getting out of London was interesting. Busy busy traffic everywhere. Dave negotiated his way through with the best of Londoners. I watched the city go by. Quaint and new and old. People of every kind, old, young, in-between walked along the sidewalks. Shops everywhere. Double-decker red buses. Red telephone booths. And we crossed the Thames River!!!! I know the pictures are disappointing. Dave said it wasn't the best place to cross... but still it is the Thames River! I took some pictures, but I am having trouble downloading them.
The stake center is old, but beautiful and so very large. It has a hardwood floor in the cultural hall and a stage with a beautiful curtain. You could get lost in that building. We were able to help set up chairs for the conference tomorrow. We filled the cultural hall and stage. We visited with other people who were doing the same. Nice....people are general the same everywhere you go.
We walked into the chapel, and I immediately glanced around for the corner where there would be headphones and a translator. I know I'm in a "foreign" country, but it's not really foreign....I understand and speak the language! I can't even begin to tell you what joy that gives me.
Nevertheless, every time a new speaker got up to the podium to speak, I experienced a momentary shock that they spoke with an accent. I laughed later when visiting with a man there who pointed out that Americans are the ones with the accents....The British have been speaking English a lot longer than we have.
We met two other senior missionaries who are the Self-Reliance couple for the England London Mission. Their name is Snelgrove, and if you are from Utah, you know that was a big name in outstanding ice cream for many years. They had driven down for the conference and will be there again tomorrow. So far, every senior missionary we've met has been really delightful. It will be fun to meet all of them. I have heard rumors that we will also gather for Thanksgiving in November, and maybe Christmas Eve....maybe.
The evening conference was excellent. The stake president was the last speaker, and spoke humbly and kindly. I enjoyed all of the speakers very much, except I was fighting sleep and I kept closing my eyes and nodding off....the only thing that kept me semi-awake was the pressure of SK's hand on my arm every time my head drooped.
After the meeting we drove to our hotel, where we were part of a mission-wide phone call which happens every Saturday evening at 9. I am quite in awe of how busy Dave and Deb are with this mission. They spent two hours last night with the APs (assistants to the president) going over transfers. Dave was up very early to make some changes to the changes from last night. They had a guest come for breakfast this morning who was in London and wanted to visit with them.
After 4 hours of meetings this evening, we came back to the hotel, ordered a lite meal to be delivered and then Dave made the phone call which all of the missionaries joined. He had the two APs report on some mission business and rules, and then Dave gave some instructions and some admonishments, with Deb chiming in. She is at his side in everything, including the transfer assignments. The missionaries look to her as a leader as well as to Dave.
It is now after 11, and Dave will be up by 6 to make some 20 or more phone calls to missionary companionships to notify them of changes. Each of the APs will do that many or more as well. After checking out of our hotel, we will arrive at stake conference a little after 9, where Dave will personally hand out missionary name tags personally inscribed with the names of over 300 primary children in the stake.
At 10:30, stake conference will begin. At some point, Dave and Deb will speak for 20 minutes. When we left them a few minutes ago, they were working on their talks.
It will be a two to three hour drive back to the mission home tomorrow afternoon, and then they will still be dealing with transfers. It looks like we will be in London until Friday morning. SK will have a 3-hour block of driving instructions, with him behind the wheel. That sounds like an adventure. On Thursday, we will be a part of a senior missionary gathering in London.
In the meantime, we need to find meaningful ways to serve as missionaries. I think a couple of shopping excursions are in order...shoe polish and a serious umbrella! (Rain is predicted all week - all you Arizona people are sooo envious!)
I am already in love with England.
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