TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

I spent a lot of the day cooking for Monday.  SK spent a great deal of the day doing the shopping.  He is way more comfortable doing that than trying to help in the kitchen, and frankly, I like being in that tiny kitchen alone to listen to podcasts etc.  Erin keeps me in good supply of good listening. Derek, Heather, Brooke, Clint, Ally, Kimball and Andersen arrived this evening.  We have been excitedly anticipating their visit for months.  They drove to Los Angeles yesterday and boarded a plane at 9:30 p.m., flew through the night and lost 7 hours.  The got into Heathrow Airport at 3:30 p.m. and then took a bus to Oxford, arriving here at 6:30 p.m.  They all looked great. I don't know how any of them feel but they are taking it all in stride. We brought them home to our flat where they changed and then we went to a pub for fish and chips.  But alas and alack, pubs don't admit anyone under 18 on a Saturday night!  So we wandered ...

District Meeting was changed from Wednesday this week to Friday (today).  That means that we had a little more leeway on Wednesday in what we did, but it also means that today was taken up largely with that meeting. I thoroughly enjoy those meetings with the young missionaries.  None of the four are the original young missionaries who helped us get settled in nearly 6 months ago.  I feel such an affinity towards them, such grandparently (I made that word up!) pride in their goodness and their accomplishments, even though I had nothing to do with either! Our zone leader will be leaving on the 10th, and we will miss him.  He is a cute young man who is from Colombia I think, and he drew a picture of Christ for me.  He went with other missionaries who will be departing then to the temple today.  Dave and Deb always take them the week before they leave.  They have lunch with them and a devotional and send them on their way full of memories of the incred...

Not much to report on today.  We filled it.  We planned menus for the next several days.  We'll feed the missionaries tomorrow for lunch and district meeting, we'll have dinner here for the YSAs on Monday, and I wanted to plan several meals for the time Derek, Heather, Brooke, Clint, Ally, Kimball and Andersen will be here. We drove out to the city limits where the superstores are and did our shopping.  We always divide the purchases up and make two transactions, one for our own personal use, and one to submit to the stake for the YSAs.  SK is getting used to that by now, but it still is stressful for him....the same way trying to place an order at a drive-through window for 6 people is stressful.  We purchased a fairly large order for ourselves. (Feeding the missionaries is something we choose to do and so it is out of our own pocket, which we love doing.)  We make quite the picture unloading several large bags stuffed full of food from the car, c...

We went on another double date with Berklee and Seth.  It was such fun.  We went to see Emma.  I've seen other productions of the Jane Austen story, and loved them all.  I loved this one two.  It was gorgeous to watch, with England taking a starring role.  I understand that some parts of it were shot in the surrounding countryside of Oxfordshire. I love looking at a story through someone else's lens.  It is fascinating how we all see in our minds the settings, the characters, the plot, they way lines are spoken.  That is the risk any film maker takes when he takes a beloved volume and films it.   If that book is beloved by us, we can be harshly critical. For Institute tonight, we watched portions of the new Book of Mormon films.  I think they are well done, but some of the YSAs are not particularly enamored with them.  Just not what they expect to see from their own reading of the book. Otherwise, the lesson was excellent...

Today seemed like a good day to visit what SK refers to as "The Neighborhood Castle."  We went in the afternoon....a walk of possibly four minutes, maybe three.  The entrance is in the gift shop (a shop I might add that I quite like) - which immediately made me think it was kind of a rinky dink show.  I don't know why.  I was pleasantly surprised with the marvelous tour. We were very fortunate that the tour began within 5 minutes of our arrival and purchase of tickets.  Esther, our guide stood in the entrance to the castle with an old-fashioned cape.  She was very British and looked and sounded the part for our one and a half hour tour.  She was delightful as she regaled us with the history of Oxford, the castle and England itself. This is the hole through which one aimed a cross bow. From atop the Motte. Do you see in the lower center a road?  It is the road The Lion Brewery is on - St. Thomas.  The red brick b...

On the first Monday of the month, we have Family Home Evening at the Bishop's home.  It is not quite a mile away, through the busiest streets of Oxford.  We walk past the beautiful Ashmolean Museum,  musty old used-book stores, an iconic hotel that must have been glorious in its day,and The Eagle and Child Pub (where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and friends used to hang out to talk about their writing).  We pass a large department store that must have been the place to shop several decades ago, and "The Flying Tiger" from Denmark which is full of mostly useless yet fun things. We pass by the bus depot, the site of the open market (only open during daylight hours), Italian restaurants and pizza joints. It's a pleasant walk.  We enter their home through a small gate, just a few stops off the main sidewalk to the front door.  We are greeted by Amy the Bishop's wife and Bunny - their tiny little white dog.  We throw our coats on the coat rack with a coupl...

What's not to love about a day like today? We trotted off to church (drove) at 8:30 to attend the 2nd Ward Sacrament Meeting.  It was Fast and Testimony Meeting today, and like every first Sunday was beautiful. Several individuals bore their testimonies and it was uplifting and inspiring just to be there. The 1st Ward was next, also with wonderful testimonies.  I sit there and marvel about how articulate everyone is when expressing the inmost feelings of their hearts. The last meeting was the Gospel Doctrine class taught by a professor from Oxford who is writing a book about Alma the Younger - if that gives you any idea about how well-qualified he is to teach.  We spent the entire hour on 2 Nephi 25:23.  He basically threw out the questions:  1.  What does persuade mean?  What does it mean to be reconciled to God?  And the big question almost every member has muddled over:  What does it mean to be saved by grace after all we can do? It...