Thankful Hearts

Thank you for your prayers for Ally.

It has been difficult not to let our minds wander to Ally and Derek and Heather.  We spent a couple of hours on the telephone with Derek.  They are home safe and resting.  He told us more of what had happened in Ally's accident.

She was with four young men and another young woman, all friends from Institute at ASU.  Four of the group are returned missionaries and one who is preparing to go out.  They had been to visit the San Diego Temple....just to go and be on the grounds and to enjoy the spirit there.  They hit a slick patch on the freeway.  Derek told us that within a day, another car did the same thing in the same place, rolled, and then came to rest against the embankment.  All four occupants died.

The driver and another young man passed away within hours of the accident.  Ally and the other young woman both have concussions and injuries to their faces and hands.  One of the other young men may have broken his neck and the other seems to have aches and pains but no major injuries.

We are profoundly grateful that Ally is alive, and profoundly sad for the families of the two who have passed away.  

We started out this morning at 8:30 for the first of three days transporting missionaries.  Twelve incredible young missionaries have finished their missions and returned home this week.  As they leave, we have few coming into England to replace them.  And they are leaving vacancies in twelve apartments, as well as lone companions.  This is entirely against mission rules.

Dave, Deb and the APs and two other senior couples have invested hours into arranging transportation for missionaries being reassigned and for the new missionaries who arrived this week.  Because of COVID as well as the terrorist threat level, they wisely decided not to have anyone take public transportation.

Today, we were in the car nearly six hours.  We drove down to south east London to pick up a sister and deliver her to her new area, flat, and companion in south London.  All of the other seniors are traveling this week as well with missionaries and luggage in tow.  

It is funny to look at the GPS and see that we have 65 miles to go with an estimated travel time of two hours!  I guess that is London for you.

We will travel into London tomorrow again with one of our own Oxford Elders.  He has been here several months and is technically a Mandarin speaker.  He will return tomorrow to the Mandarin area in London, and we will have a new elder in Oxford.

We arrived home somewhat frazzled from the traffic.  It was hardest on SK obviously.  He is tense at the wheel the entire time we are in the big city....traffic there is crazy, streets are narrow, and sometimes GPS doesn't quite know what she is talking about!  We had a Zoom call with the Seminary and Institute Director and a couple of the teachers.  And we visited with Melissa and Lia.  It has been nice to touch bases with all of them.  Everyone's life is so very busy and complex. 


What a sweet young missionary she is!





Derek said a few times that the things he was worrying about last week have faded significantly as he has been reminded about what is truly important.

As often as our thoughts go to Ally, we also say a prayer of gratitude in our hearts - even in the middle of London!






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