Holiday

Hello friends & family!

We’re a little behind schedule, but since there’s no actual schedule and no one enforcing any missionary newsletter rules, you’ll get this whenever you get it. :)

It’s been both a busy and also a relaxing time for the last week or so. We had a bank holiday a week ago so we took advantage of it and drove a few hours down to the Dorset Coast, part of which is also known as the Jurassic Coast. We also spent half a day on the way home exploring the New Forest National Park, so between those places we felt like we got a little taste of Northern California with the ocean and the forest.

If you read last week’s Legal post by Jon, hopefully you can appreciate why our Saturday or weekend outings are so necessary—he needs a break! He needs to let his brain have a rest and get outside of the office for a little bit.

We took a short boat trip from Poole to Swanage, a quaint harbor village. After exploring the town a bit, we rode a refurbished old steam train to Corfe Castle—a 1,000 year old castle, now in ruins. We trained back to the town and hiked up a hill through beautiful woods to Durlston Castle before getting on the boat back to where we started.

On Sunday we went to church in Poole. Jon had a missionary companion from his young mission who was from there and we went to the meeting on the small chance that maybe that companion still lived in the area. It would have been a great story, but sadly we didn’t find him. However, in that congregation we did meet this sweet young sister missionary who is from my hometown of Richland, Washington! I love small world meetings like that, it makes my heart happy!

We then drove through the beautiful countryside to see Lyme Regis, the heart of the Jurassic Coast, where a young Mary Anning in the early 1800s discovered fossils in the seaside cliffs. I had read a book about her called “Remarkable Creatures” and it was so cool to see where she had lived. And then we made a pilgrimage, along with what seemed like hundreds of other people, down to a rock formation called Durdle Door. (Durdle is derived from the Old English thirl, meaning to pierce, bore or drill, which in turn derives from thyrel, meaning hole.)

On our last day of holiday, we spent time walking through the intensely green and beautiful New Forest National Park. We strolled along a Tall Trees trail, where they freely admitted that their trees were mere miniatures compared to the truly big ones in California. But we felt right at home among the imported Sequoias and Redwoods. Aah, a dose of forest bathing is good for the soul.

And finally we stopped to visit some dear family friends—Felicia was one of our oldest daughter’s best friends growing up, she babysat our younger kids (and survived haha!), and we were good friends with her parents. She and her husband had moved to England for a job assignment about the same time as us and are living about an hour and a half away. We hadn’t met her husband and darling little boy, and we loved getting to spend a little time with all of them. There’s just something sweet about connecting with someone from home when you live far away.

Here’s a highlight video of our whole trip—it’s the only way I know to squeeze in a bunch of pictures.

So much beauty to capture here!

Another chance for even more pictures was a quick trip into London for an appointment. It came during the time of the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show. We didn’t have time to go to the show, but in the fancy Chelsea neighborhood many of the shops and cafes were decked out for the week of the flower show with delightful displays!

Okay, wrapping up with a few more random pictures and thoughts…

This is the small parish church just a few miles away from where we live, next to what is called Hughenden Manor. A Prime Minister from the late 1800s named Benjamin Disraeli lived there and is buried next to this church.

While he may have been an important person, I tend to be drawn towards gravestones of ordinary people and the sentiments that are written for them. These were some of my favorites:

Douglas - a 5 year old boy - “God has saved from weary strife in its dawn this fresh young life. He himself his soul will keep, giving His beloved—sleep”

Rod - 70 years old - “A strong country boy, sadly gone, but not forgotten, rest up now”

James (Jim/Dad/Poppa) - 55 years old - “A man who loved God and who loved people”

We were especially touched by that last sentiment. Isn’t that truly the best thing that could be said about you when you get to the end of your life? It really is as simple as that and I hope I can better live my life so that the same could be said of me.

Inside the chapel, I loved this statement about the font and the reminder in the form of this question: “While you are in this sacred space today, perhaps there are things you would like to ‘leave behind’.”

And then this scripture, one of my favorites, Matthew 11:28-30. I love the version above, and also this original version. Both give added depth: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I’ll end with the last line: “God, help me to leave behind the things that trouble me, and give me the peace of your presence.”

We pray that for ourselves and we pray for it for each of you.

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

P.S.—We so appreciate you taking the time to read our emails, and we love your comments, and your emails. You can always just hit reply to the email and it’ll come straight to my email. We’d love to hear from you and to know how and what you’re doing!

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Words of the Week:

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

Holiday Maker - someone who goes on holiday/vacation.

Services - Similar to a rest area, but with much more! There’s always a gas station, a motel, a food court (with a few convenience stores and half a dozen eating establishments). I think there are similar things on the East Coast, but out in the West we have just rest areas with bathrooms. Apparently local residents often make an outing of going to a “Services” place just because that’s where they find a fast food place they like to eat.