As Seen Through Another's Eyes
I am not a morning person....even though when I get up very early, I invariably enjoy being up at that time of the day. The problem is that I love those quiet late night hours, when I can think and write and concentrate on reading. I can't seem to break myself of the habit of pushing myself into the wee hours of the morning to get things done that I didn't finish earlier in the day.
But this morning, I was up early, so that we could drive to the temple with our three newest members. Leticia is from Dominican Republic, a doctor who is trying to get a license here, Vir who is from London and a beautiful young student in some branch of the medical world at Oxford, and Riccardo from South Africa who is a researcher at one of the universities here.
Leticia was baptized in the Birmingham mission 3 months ago. It is her birthday and her fondest desire was to go to the temple with her mother's name. As it turned out, she also had her father's name.
Vir and Riccardo have both been baptized in the last month. I think all three are the first in their respective families to become members of this church. Each is different yet so dear and so earnest in their acceptance of the gospel.
It was nearly 2 hours to get there, skirting around London. The temple parking lot was nearly full to capacity, and when SK called two weeks ago, they said they couldn't handle any more people on January 25 (today), but come and they would do their best to squeeze us in. We got there at 9:30, signed in and our three new members changed. By the time we got into the baptistry, we were all alone in there because the stake that was due to come had cancelled!
The four young missionaries served as witnesses and the elders participated in the confirmations, but none of us missionaries changed into white clothing. We all made the four hour round trip to be with these lovely young people and to support them.
Leticia was baptized by the first missionary who taught her about the gospel....a young man who has been home from his mission for several months and who came to a missionary reunion, and was so happy to be there to baptize her in the temple.
The baptistry was magnificent. I couldn't find a picture online, but it had one lone huge painting as a backdrop of John baptizing Jesus. Natural light seemed to give it a "light from heaven" appearance. The font was a burnished metal and so beautiful. All three had a marvelous experience. When we got back to Oxford and had Leticia and Veer here, they said that they felt such a peace and a sense of belonging there. I loved listening to their descriptions of the temple, as well as their joy and delight at being there. They both said they wanted to go right back and feel again what they had felt.
Before leaving the temple, we felt like it would be a good experience to eat in the cafeteria, prolonging our time in the temple, and also associating it with another kind of sweet experience. It IS cafeteria food, but filling and I thought pretty good.As we sat there with four young missionaries and 3 young converts, several different temple workers whispered in my ear things like, "How lovely you brought the youngsters today!" And "Kind of like bringing kids home from school." (didn't quite understand that one.)
We all trooped out to get our pictures taken to document this experience.
After a two-hour trip home, SK laid down for a brief nap, while I visited with Veer and Leticia. They both were beyond happy with the whole thing. They walked over to the Bishop's home (20 minute walk) to get a ride to the 5:00 adult session of stake conference, which is in Reading (an hour away). SK and I picked up the elders and we headed off to conference too.
It was awesome. Another hour home, just in time to tune into our weekly mission-wide conference call. Inspiring as always. They said they would begin calling this evening to make all assignments for transfers, assigning senior companions (according to the rules in the new handbook).
We'll find out tomorrow if there are any changes to Oxford, and I am so hoping there are none. We love these guys.
But this morning, I was up early, so that we could drive to the temple with our three newest members. Leticia is from Dominican Republic, a doctor who is trying to get a license here, Vir who is from London and a beautiful young student in some branch of the medical world at Oxford, and Riccardo from South Africa who is a researcher at one of the universities here.
Leticia was baptized in the Birmingham mission 3 months ago. It is her birthday and her fondest desire was to go to the temple with her mother's name. As it turned out, she also had her father's name.
Vir and Riccardo have both been baptized in the last month. I think all three are the first in their respective families to become members of this church. Each is different yet so dear and so earnest in their acceptance of the gospel.
It was nearly 2 hours to get there, skirting around London. The temple parking lot was nearly full to capacity, and when SK called two weeks ago, they said they couldn't handle any more people on January 25 (today), but come and they would do their best to squeeze us in. We got there at 9:30, signed in and our three new members changed. By the time we got into the baptistry, we were all alone in there because the stake that was due to come had cancelled!
The four young missionaries served as witnesses and the elders participated in the confirmations, but none of us missionaries changed into white clothing. We all made the four hour round trip to be with these lovely young people and to support them.
Leticia was baptized by the first missionary who taught her about the gospel....a young man who has been home from his mission for several months and who came to a missionary reunion, and was so happy to be there to baptize her in the temple.
The baptistry was magnificent. I couldn't find a picture online, but it had one lone huge painting as a backdrop of John baptizing Jesus. Natural light seemed to give it a "light from heaven" appearance. The font was a burnished metal and so beautiful. All three had a marvelous experience. When we got back to Oxford and had Leticia and Veer here, they said that they felt such a peace and a sense of belonging there. I loved listening to their descriptions of the temple, as well as their joy and delight at being there. They both said they wanted to go right back and feel again what they had felt.
Before leaving the temple, we felt like it would be a good experience to eat in the cafeteria, prolonging our time in the temple, and also associating it with another kind of sweet experience. It IS cafeteria food, but filling and I thought pretty good.As we sat there with four young missionaries and 3 young converts, several different temple workers whispered in my ear things like, "How lovely you brought the youngsters today!" And "Kind of like bringing kids home from school." (didn't quite understand that one.)
We all trooped out to get our pictures taken to document this experience.
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| Sister Marinello and Riccardo, whom she and Sister Porter (who has returned to her home in Utah) have taught. |
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| Left to right: Veer, Sister Marinello, Sister Gaillard, Riccardo, Leticia, First missionary to teach her (I don't remember his name), Elder Tshendabo Back row: Elder Hathaway, Sister Madsen, Elder Madsen |
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| Leticia and the first missionary to teach her. |
After a two-hour trip home, SK laid down for a brief nap, while I visited with Veer and Leticia. They both were beyond happy with the whole thing. They walked over to the Bishop's home (20 minute walk) to get a ride to the 5:00 adult session of stake conference, which is in Reading (an hour away). SK and I picked up the elders and we headed off to conference too.
It was awesome. Another hour home, just in time to tune into our weekly mission-wide conference call. Inspiring as always. They said they would begin calling this evening to make all assignments for transfers, assigning senior companions (according to the rules in the new handbook).
We'll find out tomorrow if there are any changes to Oxford, and I am so hoping there are none. We love these guys.
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