Bill is Back! - and Other Fine Experiences

 SK started his day earlier than usual by driving our Oxford Elders down to Newbury...about a 45 minute or less drive. They were picked up from there and taken in to London for Leadership Council. When Dave was here, we attended those meetings when we could and we were always invited, but I am unsure if we are invited to them now with a new president.

If we were to show up, I am certain that he would welcome us with open arms, but we didn't show up. Days are screaming by and we needed today to prepare for several things. We are unnecessary at those meetings, even though we enjoy them immensely. And it is always nice to be with our young missionaries.

Tomorrow, we'll have District Council here, which means I will be serving lunch and even though I go into so many of these lunches thinking "This will be a piece of cake," it almost never is. It always takes longer than I think it will to get a meal on for ten people.

Hot dogs and chili are the order for the day, otherwise known as chili dogs. We'll see how it goes. We drove out to the super grocery store where we wandered up and down the aisles. Every now and then I would pause in front of something and the fleeting thought would wander through my mind, "I wanted to try that before we left." Silly, I know. We were buying for tomorrow's lunch and Sunday night's dinner, so we purchased a fair amount.

Sometime in the afternoon tomorrow, we will leave for London. We'll get there in the evening, and then in the morning, we'll do some more legitimate touristy things. We'll join all the other seniors in the evening for a pot luck dinner and Family Home Evening. It will not be a formal thing at all, but a casual good-bye to Roskelley's and us. In the few times we've been with the other couples, we have enjoyed them immensely. 

I spent a couple of hours making cream puffs for tomorrow's lunch, as well as Friday's get together. I froze the shells and will put them together in our flat in London (I wish we really did have a flat there!)

In the evening, we walked a mile and a half to "The Coconut Tree," a Sri Lankan restaurant. We met Adam and Madeline there, young adults who are married....seems like a match made in heaven...or somewhere. There is such a rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford and of course she is from Cambridge, and graduated from there, and he is an Oxford man. She served a mission in Hungary and speaks five languages, he served in Switzerland and speaks four. 

They are both wonderful and adorable together. I love to watch them interact.





The food was quite tasty and so interesting! We got a variety of dishes and shared. On the menu was goat, and chicken, cuttlefish and a whole host of vegan dishes. It was fairly spicy. It was an experience. We sat on the patio which was very pleasant except for a pesky wasp who wanted some of our meal.

We had a marvelous visit with them and then walked home together....they live about a half mile farther from our flat.

I have fixed a couple of things for lunch tomorrow and now, I am so ready for bed!

p.s. We were thrilled to see Bill this evening. He has been absent for nearly two weeks. We asked where he has been, but he was so intent on hunting that he barely acknowledged our presence.




Comments

melissa said…
Bill!!! Did you tell him about the good hunting at the castle?!
August 9, 2021 at 1:58 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