Yesterday

 No, I am not referring to the famous song by the Beatles, but to the fact that I am writing to report on the events of September 1, this morning - September 2.

E&E and SK are climbing the Bath Abbey Tower as we speak, whilst I am doing a quick recap of yesterday’s events.

There was still so much for E&E to see and do in Oxford…but isn’t that true of almost any place worthy of our attention?

They took off traversing the town- Erin’s goal was to see the inside of the Bodleian Library. She was much disappointed since there were no tickets left.

They returned to the Covered Market and down Broad Street with a stop in Blackwell’s, an incredible bookstore.

By the time they came back, SK and I had run several loads of laundry and vacuumed, dusted, delivered all my happy little houseplants to dear friends and generally made the place ready for new inhabitants.

We had a quick bite of lunch and then E&E left to go down to the car, leaving SK and me alone in 40 The Lion Brewery to have a tearful prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for his bounteous blessings in the last 2 years, and for the privilege of being missionaries bearing His name. It was hard to say goodbye. 

We dropped by the elders’ place to say goodbye and give them a hug. The Sisters were in another city so I sent them a note.

We drove a half hour to Burford, the “doorway to the Cotswolds,” and walked the main street there. It would have been lovely but was so crowded with visitors and cars that it was difficult to see the charm.











We pressed forward seeing Bourton-on-the-water, Bibury and other beautiful and picturesque villages.

We ended in Bristol around 9, had dinner and crashed into bed….I was going to write about the day in bed, but even the best intentions failed me once in a warm bed.

Comments

melissa said…
Oh, I can’t imagine how difficult that goodbye was!
September 2, 2021 at 7:37 AM
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