You've Got Mail! And Other Delights

 I am breaking my new rule - AGAIN.  It just seems to be the wiser choice to write this evening instead of the morning when we will be trying to leave for the day.  This is the week of transfers.  We have thirteen missionaries leaving for their homes, and four new elders and eleven new sisters who have arrived in UK already.  They are all isolating now.  That means some serious changes of assignments.  

Tomorrow, we will get away from home while it is still dark (that isn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds - it is still mostly dark a half hour past supposed sunrise at 7:30).  We will travel east a couple of hours, pick up an elder and take him to his assignment - which will be an hour and a half to the west.  The flat where we will leave him is in Newbury - where my great grandmother Checketts was born (nee: Shingleton).  We will take one of the elders who now reside in Newbury and drive him 2 1/2 hours to the east and north to his new assignment, close to the North Sea.  Doesn't that sound romantic and dramatic?  Windswept coast of England.

When we leave him in Ipswich, we will pick up one of the elders who resides there and take him to his new assignment, south and west, close in to London.  That takes care of three changes out of some 69 companionships.  The few senior couples will all be doing the same, until we have everyone straightened out.  Next week, as the newer missionaries finish their isolation, we will be transporting them also to new assignments.  

It should be an enjoyable day.  SK still loves to drive, as he always has.  Somehow, this driving on the left side of the road has taken some of the joy out of it for me, because of the sometimes stressful navigating I am responsible for.  One thing the departing couple said last night as they gave a few comments in our meeting was "We've driven around England for the last two years, and we still love each other."

That gave us a good laugh, and I'm sure it would do the same for any other couple who have served.

We will do a half day's driving on Tuesday, taking our own Oxford elders into London to Hyde Park Chapel, where we will say good-bye to our Ghanaian Elder Akuoku - a giant among men.  He has been a tremendous missionary.  His energy, his enthusiasm for the work, his persistence, his testimony, his perpetual good cheer is amazing.  I think he must be around 5'8" and maybe weigh 140 pounds, but he is a giant and will have left his mark on Oxford.  We love him and will miss him.  He has been a tremendous trainer and district leader.

We love this young man!

We will leave him and bring back a dynamic young man from South Africa, who will come back with the Oxford Elder - Elder Watford - who is a Brit.  The time spent in the car is priceless.  We get to visit.  Do you know how precious that is?  We get to just sit and talk to each other, find out about these young people, what prompted them to come and how they are feeling about England and their mission.  It is a tremendous blessing.  There is no other place in England we can do that.  We can't meet in our apartment or theirs, we can't meet in the church.  We can't even meet outside because each of us must be with our companion, and you can only meet one other person outdoors.

I am looking forward to it.  We gave out some cookies today and then I saved several little bags back for the next couple of days of travel.  I will put these snacks and some bottles of water in the back seat, and let them snack away.  




It's not much, but it will help pass the time for them, and they may be things they wouldn't get otherwise.

Speaking about what we might not get otherwise....the most delightful package arrived yesterday.  I was on my way to bed and glanced into the little entryway, and there hanging precariously from the mail slot was a package!!!!  I pulled it out, read the charming envelope and the cards inside, and saw the wonderful contents:  Cavenaugh's chocolates!  Be still my beating heart.  

The combination of the envelope, the cards and the chocolate just tickled me.  Thank you all for remembering us over here on this little island.  Mary, Erin, Derek, Melissa and Lia....you are all too too kind to us.  We so appreciate it, and we love you.








Comments

Erin said…
Oh the package and chocolate are so fun!

And the drives around England while visiting sounds wonderful!
February 2, 2021 at 12:20 AM
melissa said…
Those visits and drives DO some delightful...despite the stress. And what fun to get chocolates!
February 2, 2021 at 10:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Master Teacher

In the 1st Ward today, an 11-year-old boy gave a talk that was one of he best sacrament meeting talks I have ever heard.  He got up to speak and his head just barely cleared the podium.  He is small and has a shock of dark hair topping a cute slightly freckled face. It will be several years yet before his voice deepens.  He had his written talk, and he read most of it, but he was familiar enough with it that he looked up often and it seemed as if he was speaking from his heart. He began with a quote from Nephi in 2 Nephi 25:29, where Nephi prophesies about the future and then tells us how to worship the Savior. How? this boy asked us. He went on to answer his own question.  Nephi says "with all our might."  The boy then asked how that is done. He cited the story of the converts in the Congo who threw all of their idols into a massive waterfall where they were unrecoverable.  The boy said that when we worship the Savior with all our might, that mea...
Read more

Going Home

  Fifteen missionaries are returning to their homes this week.  For this Saturday night zoom conference broadcast, each bore their testimony from their flats with their companions by their sides.  SK and I teared up many times as we listened to humble, sweet and strong testimonies.  It is easy to see the difference as they get close to their release date.  It they have been faithful, there is a maturity and a sweetness that is unexplainable. Here is a smattering of what was said: There is no growth in the comfort zone.  I am about to go home to my comfort zone...but it struck me that my old comfort zone is no longer comfortable for me.  I want to be in a growth zone. The early apostles did not succeed, but they knew we would. One elder quoted Dave's poem "If."  "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same...Hold on...even through the hardest times."  "How can I accomplish these things?  Jesus Chr...
Read more

Shark!

Image
We left our flat way too early for my taste this morning, heading out to go south to Farnborough.  Forty-eight miles, supposedly an hour and twenty minute drive.  We got into some heavy stop and go traffic and it was closer to 2 hours before we got there. We inspected the two young sisters' flat, which was beautifully clean and organized.  They are cute sisters.  They had been in London yesterday for zone conference and excitedly shared all they had heard and been taught.  They had their notes out and were very cute to repeat some great messages from President Checketts.  I hardly ever talk to him when he isn't dealing with numerous issues in the mission and in the middle of at least one or two crises, and planning the next gathering....all at the same time.  It must be that he and Deb are in a constant state of stress.  But he has cleared the half-way mark.  I wonder if he knows how highly he is esteemed by these young missionaries, who ...
Read more