8 Months!

Yesterday marked our 8-month anniversary of the start of our mission—hard to believe! It’s been a month since our last update and, boy, do I feel like we’ve packed a lot into September! So buckle up, here goes! We are doing our best to embrace everything about this experience. There have been moments, hours, sometimes days of things that are really hard. But this month has been especially wonderful because we’ve gotten to share our experience with lots of visiting family and friends. We know that London is a big draw for visitors, and that everyone is not coming specifically to see us, but we are so glad when we get to have a little time with those who come!

Before we get to the visitors, we took an overnight trip in early September with all of the local senior missionaries up to the Preston Temple (Preston is about an hour from Liverpool). We attended the temple together there, it’s beautiful! And then the next day we went on a tour around the area with a member of the Church who shared the history of our Church in England—this is the area where the first missionaries arrived in England and where the first baptisms in England took place in the River Ribble. At one point, there were more members of the Church living in England than there were in Utah, and they became a source of leadership and strength as they then emigrated to the Salt Lake Valley. Many modern members of the Church can trace their lineage back to these British converts.

Our Preston tour with some of the wonderful missionaries we serve with. We walked along the River Ribble where the first baptisms in England took place. A lovely area.

For those who know one of our past prophets, Gordon B. Hinckley, you will remember the story of him serving as a missionary in Preston. The picture on the left is of him speaking in the town square. He lived in this flat nearby. At one point when he was feeling discouraged, his father wrote him a letter telling him to “forget himself and get to work”. It became the mantra of his life of dedication.

Our favorite place was a small village called Downham, where missionaries visited and baptized many people. It has remained relatively unchanged from the 1800’s. We visited the village church where Queen Mary declared it the most beautiful view from a church in all of England. I would have to agree!

The second half of the month was filled with visitors, which we loved! We try to stay focused on our daily missionary responsibilities whenever we have visitors, but I have a little more flexibility than Jon does to be a tour guide for a day or two here and there. And then we’re able to use weekends to spend more time with them.

So here are loads of pictures of our various outings and adventures with our kids from LA, our Roseville friends (daughter’s in-laws), Jon’s former boss and his wife, cousins from Florida, and a long-time friend from Sacramento and her son. It has given us a much-needed boost while we’re far away from home to be with family and friends we love and share with them the people and places that we love here!

We love all who have come to share time with us here!

And now just some random pictures and thoughts from the month…

This is our buddy, David, an employee at the office. He has worked at the front desk (now works in a different department) and greets us every day with such warmth and fun. Jon complimented him one day on his colorful tie. A few weeks later, David snuck a present into our car for Jon to open. It was the tie! It will always remind him of David’s kindness.

I love these statues from Westminster Abbey! They seem to depict the weariness of women, but more likely they just represent death. The one on the left is Catherine, Lady St. John of Bletso, from the 1600s. She must have died from that ridiculously tight corset--no wonder she looks weary! The one on the right is a daughter of a Lord who is also buried in Westminster. The skull apparently represents mortality.

Just some of the beauty in and around London. I have to pinch myself often to believe that we actually live here and get to experience such incredible scenery in our everyday life.

I’ll close with this message from C.S. Lewis. This is a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey, in what is called Poet’s Corner. It’s an area filled with both crypts of authors, poets, musicians, etc. (George Fredric Handel is buried here) and also memorial stones for those who are buried elsewhere. I love C.S. Lewis and love this quote:

”I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.”

That is our testimony as well—because of Christ, we see everything differently. We are so far from perfect. But we are trying to see people and experiences through the lens of Christ’s love, and it makes all the difference.

♥ Until next time, we love you! Cheerio! ♥

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Words of the Week:

(Words or phrases we hear “on the street” that either delight, confuse or amuse us.)

Full of beans - prepared, ready to go

Stonker - a really big thing, “It’s a stonker of a machine”