TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

 Just a few short weeks ago, our fair England London Mission zone consisted mostly of Brits.  And then the floodgates opened.  In came over seventy missionaries, and they are still coming.  We had dwindled down to fewer than 150, and now our ranks are swelling.  Most are from the States, and many have been serving elsewhere until given the green light.  Most are happy to finally arrive at their original destination. This morning we picked up Sister Tizard, our amazing young Brit who was converted three years ago.  If you tune into the "Why I Believe" Devotional on Sunday, you will see her and hear her conversion story.  she is easily recognized as one of the hardest working missionaries in the mission.  She was a nurse before coming on her mission, and I can imagine she was marvelous, and marvelously compassionate.  We dropped her off at the mission office in London and she went on to her new assignment. Elder Watford, from Sherwood has ...

 I spoke with Deb for awhile, and it is as I suspected.  She and Dave are running themselves ragged trying to get everything done, trying to keep the missionaries motivated and also packing, because their apartment will be renovated before the new mission president arrives.  Dave and Deb will have to move out a month early.   They will move into a tiny one bedroom apartment for that last month, so I don't think there will be any entertaining....even if all restrictions were lifted before they leave.  And Dave and Deb LOVE to have people over for dinner and wait on them.  I've never seen anyone better at making people feel like they are VIPs. I can only imagine what they are spending long hours doing.  Today was the day all missionaries are notified of transfers which will happen tomorrow and Saturday.  Deb is overseeing much of the actual physical details.  She called and talked to SK for fifteen minutes patiently explaining our route fo...

  Sinking to the lowest level of activity today, I didn't do much at all.  After giving my lesson last night, I stayed up to input the data from the week. I must give them a grade for attending, for submitting comments and questions and for writing in a journal weekly. (By the way, I am not going to call it that anymore. I realized as I watched our regular Oxford Institute that I am a facilitator and my primary responsibility is to help them reflect on what they have learned through their previous week's study.) I ended up staying up way too late, I drank some Dr. Pepper - I should know better, and I started plotting about next week's lesson, which left me wide awake.  Perfect storm. By 4 a.m. I was lying awake in bed, and by 7 my head was throbbing. I got up and read and took something for the headache. Then started answering emails and sending questions to the man in Pathway who is the technical guru. I spent some time writing. SK and I had our morning study with a back...

  At midday we walked about a mile to deliver a bottle of Jellie Bellies to Sid, a wonderful young woman who is working night and day at her computer to get her Ph.D.  She has an incredible testimony and is steadfast in her faith. She is serving as a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency, and she has the cutest boyfriend.  He is from France and it is apparent that he is very much in love with her.  I hope it works out for them. Other than that outing, we were here in the apartment so that I could go over the lesson for tonight. SK thought it went well, but I think it didn't.  I talked too much, and didn't get responses from as many as I would have liked.  The ones who spoke were amazing.  One young man from Zimbabwe has a testimony that is just incredible, and I already love him.  I wanted to divide them up into classrooms, but I simply ran out of time.  I will rethink everything for next week....I will ask better questions....I will spe...

 Monday, Monday, so good to me!  This day has flown by.  It is not that we have been busy, but we have been occupied the entire day.  We didn't get out for a walk, which is a little disappointing, but we'll do that tomorrow. You might guess that I have been working on my lesson for tomorrow night and working on understanding the workings of the programs.  I think I am ready - kind of.  It will be nice to have that one lesson tomorrow night and then I will have a better feel for what I am doing.   At this point there are twenty-nine students enrolled, from a 70-year-old woman to a few 19-year-olds, and everything in-between.  There is someone from Zimbabwe, Croatia, Spain, France, Ukraine, Germany, Ghana and a few others. I spoke with my dear friend Becky for well over an hour, which was nice.  I haven't spoken with her for months and it was nice to catch up on all the news in our old ward.  I also spent an hour with a friend that I ...

 Throughout the night, my whole body ached....just a dull ache, and then by about 11 in the morning it was gone.  I think that is the extent of any side effects of the COVID shot, and I am so grateful now that we can be out and about, and feeling a little more sense of freedom.  Our bishop and his wife, on their late forties both got their first shot this week.  He is a professor of business and is amazing.  He spoke about that experience in church today, expressing such appreciation for the medical and scientific communities who are accomplishing miracles. When we first got here, I vacillated between fear of getting the virus and fear of doing nothing when we are here to serve.  The winter is over, and I am looking forward to the next four months.  Four months!  I love this land so very much.  I have to make every day count, and hope that it will stay in my heart and in my memory. Of course, part of the charm of this place is the fact that w...

 I was up at the crack of dawn to bake the chicken for the BBQ Chicken Wraps - the main course for our YA Picnic.  I had to have nearly everything ready by 9:30 so that we could leave to get our second COVID vaccination shot at 10:30.  I bustled around until time to leave. We left at 9:40, hoping that the line would move quickly and that we could get in, get the shot, and get out in good time.  Unbelievably, we walked right in, reported in with birth dates etc, rolled up our sleeves and got jabbed (as the Brits put it) and were back home before 11 to complete the picnic preparations. We walked.  It doesn't make a lick of sense to drive anywhere in this city.  Driving can be very slow, and parking is generally very expensive, and walking is a joy.  Today's tally was three miles, not a great deal, but better than nothing! All we needed to do was assemble the wraps, put them in a bag and get ourselves to the picnic on the north side of the town.  It ...

 On official mission business today, we traveled south to Portsmouth.  We spent the day getting there, touring flats for incoming missionaries and getting back.  It was a very pleasant day, and we enjoyed it, but agreed that the next time we are asked to do something like this, we will take the day, and plan accordingly - possibly even staying overnight so that we can spend some time touring this beautiful land. One of the first things you see when you enter the city is what looks like a modern art sculpture, which as it turns out, is something you can go inside of and see the coastline.  How lovely would that be? If you would like to just look at their home page, it gives you an idea of the view: https://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/ We made one stop on the way down to deliver chocolate cake to a couple of elders, and then pressed forward to Portsmouth to meet a driver and car in the church there.  He was a very kind man who had a shiny clean  cab.  It wa...

 The big event of the day was District Council, with our two sets of Oxford missionaries, and our young zone leaders from Reading - an hour's drive away.  We met in the church parking lot.  It was a glorious day!  The sun shone brilliantly - playing over every surface.  I think it may have gotten up to 60 degrees, which is just right for a layer over a couple of layers.  Besides District Council, It was Elder Reynoldson's nineteenth birthday. The missionaries lugged four tables out of the church and the appropriate number of chairs.  We sat in a square, while we met.  During every district council, two of the missionaries have what we affectionately call here "The Gap."  It is so named in honor of the what the announcement says at the train station as you board a train:  "Mind the gap." - meaning don't step into the foot or so gap between the train and the platform. The gap in missionary vernacular, is a practice of a lesson that the mis...

 First off, let me just say here that SK is ALWAYS asking me why I have to try new recipes.  I am beginning to think he is correct.  No, I know he is correct.  In my travels here in this small flat, I found a recipe book, with recipes from past senior missionaries here and in Europe.  I found this great one from a woman who runs a very successful cooking blog. It is very close to a recipe that I have used for years, with an unbroken line of successes.  Why tamper with it right? I did. Tomorrow is Elder Reynoldson's birthday, and we are having a district council....7 young missionaries and us.  I also promised the whole zone - 13 young missionaries - that I would make them chocolate cake.  Tomorrow seemed like the perfect time to try the "new and improved" fool-proof chocolate cake, or as my daughters and I know it:  "Death By Chocolate." There is a catch, two actually.  You have to use a cake mix.  I did.  They are expensive, b...

 Well, it is time for bed.  It is nearly 10, and I have been trying to get up earlier and be more efficient while the day is yet young. The days are clearly getting longer, the sun is rising earlier and setting later, and I can only imagine what it is like in June...June 21 to be precise. Today, sunrise at 5:55 and sunset at 8:12. It seems like the days are lengthening out faster than in Arizona, without the accompanying heat. The day started out with SK walking over to the Elder's flat to play tennis. He could hardly sleep for the excitement. He was up at 6:30, dressed, and ready to go. He played with Elder Watford against Elder Reynoldson and Sister Tizard. Sister Bloxham jogged around the perimeter of the tennis courts for exercise.  I slept! As soon as I got up, I started right in on the tutorials, and also brushing up on Faces of Christ . Honestly, every single time I give that, I learn something new. I gave it this evening for a ward Relief Society in London.  ...

 Monday is PDay for the young missionaries.  That is the day they do laundry, clean their apartments and do their weekly shopping.  It is also the day when they are free to do a little sight-seeing if they choose.  Elder Reynoldson called last week and asked if we could go to lunch with Elder Watford, Elder Reynoldson and the sisters. They gave us the name of the restaurant, and I googled it to get the address. We picked up the elders and drove to the church - about 2 miles away, parked the car and then walked to the restaurant, one of the very few ways to get there.  This is what an online article said about it: The great thing about the  Isis Farmhouse  is that it’s only accessible on foot, by bicycle from the Thames path, or from the river itself. The spacious garden has lots of picnic tables, where you can sup your pint while you watch narrowboats chugging idly past, or the river path traffic of walkers and cyclists. It’s a welcome stop for many hi...

 I am curious how church will be after COVID has slunk off the front pages of history.  It has dominated the news for so long, and there are still dire warnings about a resurgence. The Spanish Flu just seemed to disappear after two years, and perhaps COVID will too. I have read that it will probably always be with us, like the flu.   We have not been to church in person since last September. I went exactly once before lockdown went into effect.  It looks like there may be in-person church starting on May 3, and then going ever other week after that. That would be for sacrament meeting. We had Zoom Sunday School today.  There were about thirty people in attendance and there was a very thoughtful discussion that I found quite interesting.   I couldn't help but think that we have all gotten used to sitting on the couch in comfortable clothes (although SK and I wear Sunday attire). Only about a third of attendees have their camera on, meaning in the l...

 Flags have been half-mast all over England this week, as this country mourns the loss of the grandfather Philip.  We've seen pictures of him in frames sitting in foyers with appropriate tributes, and bunches of flowers and cards outside of public buildings. We've heard and read many expressions of condolences to the Royal Family, as well as quite a few not-so-nice comments about him.  The BBC was overwhelmed with complaints when they supplanted popular programs with memorials to Philip. Dave began our mission call this evening talking about the funeral today - a very Christian service.  He praised Prince Philip, the Queen, and this great country.  He said that they have been valiant in preserving the cause of freedom, and they are still openly Christian, and they treat us as a church and as people very well. We got home just in time to tune in to the Saturday night call. Yesterday, we drove south past London to Canterbury.  We got away by three in the afte...