TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

 Here we are - over a third of June is over. Is there any way to slow down this ride? We picked up about 15 copies of The Book of Mormon at the Mission Office yesterday to bring back to our sisters.  So we walked the kilometer to their flat this morning to deliver them. It was 70 degrees, 56% humidity and a lovely cool breeze. We enjoyed the walk, and enjoyed standing out in the bright Oxford light with Sister Heder and Sister Jones.  They both seemed so cheerful and optimistic about their day ahead. As we walked away from them, down the street a ways, we heard them talking and turned to see them approaching a neighbor who was out washing his car. They are so cute! It takes a lot of courage to do that. We came back to our flat and worked at various and sundry tasks, and then later walked into the town center (about .2 miles from our flat) looking for a little necklace for Kristina who will be leaving Oxford on Monday. She will return to her parents' home on the Isle of Ma...

 Today was another "first time in a long time" kind of a day. We joined the nine of the ten other senior couples in London for Family Home Evening in person. We were never able to do that before COVID, before lockdown, because it was always held on a Monday evening, and there was no way that the couples working with young adults could get away for the evening. This group of seniors was a little more sympathetic to our plight and declared that henceforth Senior Family Home Evening would be on the second Friday of each month. Tonight's was a special one, since the Sumkos are leaving this coming Tuesday. They have been here a year and a half, arriving less than three months before COVID hit. He is a retired physician and pleaded to stay, knowing that he could be of great help to the mission. They were given permission to stay and he and his wife have been amazing. Dave said tonight that Elder Sumko would bandage up a wound and then fix the broken toilet seat. He healed broke...

 We got off in good time early this morning to pick up our Oxford sisters, drive them to Epsom - a town southeast of London. We made it there by 10, dropped off Sister Bloxham and picked up a sister from Germany. Sister Bloxham was sweet. I felt like a mother dropping her little one off at kindergarten! Sister Bloxham has only served in Oxford since coming to England, and while she has been energetic and focused, she has grown attached to everyone here. She was emotional when we left her in her new flat with a new companion in a new area. We drove our German sister into Hyde Park Chapel, along with Sister Jones, who is staying in Oxford. At Hyde Park Chapel, we picked up Sister Heder (yes her first cousin is THE Napolean Dynamite) and brought them both back to Oxford. We were back in our flat by 3:00. Sister Jones and Sister Heder in front of their Oxford flat. The Elders, wanting to give a lovely welcome to the newest missionary, invited us all to Port Meadow to enjoy dinner toget...

 I stayed up until 3 this morning getting lunch ready, and working on a book for our departing sister - Sister Bloxham. I have started a tradition with all our young missionaries - to give them an Oxford Book to write in. They are not expensive, but I think the missionaries have appreciated them. I didn't start on this until 1:30 and it took me awhile to finish. So by the time I crawled out of bed at 8, I was weary. We got lunch packed up and ready to go by 9:30 and headed to the church, where we had our district council. The young missionaries each keep a T-Book, where they collect testimonies from all the other missionaries they serve with. They spent time doing that this morning. We donned our Oxford District Hoodies and took some selfies. L to R: Sister Bloxham, Sister Jones, Elder Merrill, Elder Bowen, Elder Reybnoldson, Elder Madsen, Sister Madsen, Elder Field We at lunch, said our good-byes and came home, where I promptly crashed. I slept soundly for two hours, cleaned up th...

 It was a long time coming, but I finally can say at the end of a Tuesday that the lesson went off without a hitch. We drove to the church and set up the computer there where the wifi is strong. What you are hearing is a long drawn-out sigh of relief. We have always known the internet here is sketchy, but this confirms it. I always leave the class open for fifteen minutes after, to let participants communicate with each other, and they seem to enjoy that. This evening, the lady who was recently baptized asked if I am going to continue teaching, and I told her yes. (Our French supervisor asked, and I told him I would if he doesn't mind that I am no longer a missionary and living in Arizona. He said that is fine.) She asked if I was going to teach the same class...I said yes. Several asked if I would consider teaching another one, so they can all come along. They have formed a great bond with each other, even though they are continents away from each other. That is wildly flattering,...

 It has been a long long long day! It's been a lovely one, but I am ready for bed. We left Oxford at 7 a.m. and made the hour and a half drive into London. We gave ourselves extra time to get there. We were supposed to be there by 9:30. I took us an hour and a half to go the last ten miles, forty-five of those minutes were the last three miles. Traffic jams around here are no fun. We arrived at Hyde Park Chapel at 10:15. We enjoyed the rest of the morning's meeting. Among other things, about twenty missionaries read the names of every individual the England London Mission has baptized since January 2020, and every person we as missionaries have assisted in going to the temple. It was sweet listening to all 1,087 names. Everyone sat reverently listening. Everyone knew and had worked with at least one person on that list and paused to think about what a gift it was to serve that person and be a small part of that individual's journey here on earth.  We had four people speak t...

 Argh....no pictures again today! We have been home all day attending various and sundry Zoom meetings. Our stake conference was broadcast this morning and was absolutely wonderful. A woman spoke who was baptized in 1979. Her conversion story was amazing. She is black, and had some friends tell her that if she saw any young men in suits, white shirts and ties, stay away from them. She was told that they were preaching that black people can't enter Heaven. A couple of days later two bright-eyed young men in suits wearing tags knocked at her door. She answered and pulled them in by the lapels and said, "I've been waiting for you!" She was ready to make short work of these young upstarts. I guess you know the outcome. She bore one of the most beautiful testimonies I have ever heard. She knows the scriptures, and she knows the Savior, and she knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet who restored the gospel to the earth. I loved listening to her. Later, our young missiona...