Showers

You’ve heard the saying, “April showers bring May flowers”…Well, if the rain in April and the flowers we already see are any indication, we’re in for an explosion in May! We’re back to our regularly scheduled programming of sharing pictures of beautiful gardens. And all of these beautiful things are made possible by rain! Showers and showers of rain! We’ve had plenty of it, so much so that even the locals who are used to it claim this is one the rainiest winters they’ve seen and they’re getting tired of it. They often apologize for the weather and feel bad that we’ve come at such a rainy time. But we reassure them that we love it here in spite of the rain and that we knew what we were getting into with the weather. And that without the rain we wouldn’t have the lush green hills and the beautiful flowers, so we’ll take the showers and enjoy the flowers!

Here are just a few of the many (okay, probably a hundred or so) pictures I took of flowers this week. We went into London this week for an errand and had a little time to walk through a park, and then visited Hampton Court Palace this weekend (where Henry the VIIIth lived). England in the spring really is a magical place!

A few more…

Not enough yet? Okay, here’s some more… ;)

On to other topics besides flowers…a friend asked to know a little more about my responsibilities in the office so I thought I’d give a quick description. My original assignment was with the FamilySearch department in the office, and I’ve been doing some of that as I’ve helped with database projects to add to/fix family trees on FamilySearch and help make names available for searching and also for temple work. I love anything to do with family history, so I really enjoy doing this.

My other responsibility is an assignment given to me shortly after we arrived to be the Prefield Secretary for the missionary recommendation forms that come from any of the Europe North Area countries. Normally, when a young (or old like us) person from the U.S. (and probably Canada too) fills out a missionary recommendation form, it goes straight to the Missionary Department in Salt Lake for review and assignment. But outside of the U.S., the forms come to the Area Office first to be reviewed and approved and then they’re sent on to Salt Lake. My job is to review all the forms, checking for anything that might be missing, checking passport/residency documents, sending it to a medical reviewer, etc. I communicate with Stake Presidents to follow up with anything missing, and then when everything is done I send it for approval from one of the Area Presidency and then it gets submitted. Whenever I feel like I’m not doing any direct “missionary work”, I can easily think about the fact that helping any one of these young missionaries to go out and serve can have an exponential effect. I’m grateful that I get to play a (very!) small part in sending them on their way to serve wherever the Lord needs them to be.

I’ll close with this picture. We have weekly devotionals for the office employees, plus some of the senior missionaries who are in the office. I was sitting at the piano playing the opening song and then afterwards took this picture. As I thought about the words we sang, I was touched by the sight of all these people working and serving together to do good. These are such good people and they’re each doing their best to do good things to serve God and to bless other people, in both big and small ways. The words of this hymn remind me to look for more ways to do good and be good.

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad, and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone's burden been lightened today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, "Sometime I'll try,"
But go and do something today.
'Tis noble of man to work and to give;
Love's labor has merit alone.
Only he who does something helps others to live.
To God each good work will be known.

Then wake up, and do something more
Than dream of your mansions above.
Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love.

Go and do something good! :)

♥ 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. And said with an English accent, which makes everything better.)

Straight away - directly, right away, “Would you like me to put it in the bag straight away?”

Queue - a line (as in a line at a cashier), “Look at how long that ice cream queue is!”