Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you all had a wonderful  Thanksgiving.  We were fortunate enough to talk to some of you.  Thanks for the calls. We were invited to the home of one of our Stake Presidents. His name is Ronald Judd. He is a American who has lived in England the past 12 years.  He has been the President of the Staines Stake for the past 5 years.  It was very nice and very traditional.  We had a great time. hope all of you were well fed also.
    We receive one missionary this week.  He is from Hungary.  The only one in our mission and only one of 7 from his native land.  He will be a great leader in the church in the future.  We also receive our revised missionary complement .  This means the number of missionaries that the church would send to us to fill our mission.  We went from 124 elders and 20 sisters up to 188 elders and 58 sisters.  The senior couples visiting center sisters and couples did not change. This will mean over the next several months we could increase the size of our mission by 102 missionaries.  That is 51 companionships . `it also means 51 new apartment and a bit more administrative work.  We are excited to see how the work is hastening with the lowering of the age requirement  for both Elders and Sisters.  Pray for us, we will need it.
     We are heading into a busy time with a mission tour from and area 70 this next week, transfers and then the Christmas Season.  We will try to keep the blog current.  We Love you and think about you as often as we can. Seven Stake conferences done, only two more to go.   13,800 miles.

Nov 17,2012

I added a lot to the last blog but I seemed to have lost it and couldn't add a nice photo of the colours in our back yard. Last monday we went to a play called "Deamboats and Petticoats".  I was a clever musical full of rock and roll music fro the 60s.  it was fun.  Tuesday we drove down to Portsmouth and caught the ferry over to the Isle of Wight to visit the set of Sister missionaries.  One of them needed some counsel and a blessing. That evening we went to a video conference with the area presidency from Hong Kong to talk about the returning of new chinese converts back to communist China. We teach a lot of students form China that join the church, but many of them return to China and are becoming the means by which the church is growing in China. Thursday be went to Yeovil to interview a prospective convert with some special problems, then on to Poole for a missionary correlation meeting with the Stake Presidency and the Zone Leaders.  Friday we received a call from one of the Elders who needed a visit and a blessing. He was 225 miles away.  We got in the car after packing a lunch and drove down and back.  Our mileage is now at 13,200 miles since we arrived.Good thing we like to drive and like each others company.  We do spend a bit of time in the car. We have many marvellous experiences some very tender.  We continue to love what we are doing, and feel we are where we supposed to be.  Tomorrow we have another Stake Conference that we will get the privilege to speak at.   Thanks for the newsy emails.  We love the pictures and to hear of what you are doing ,even if we don't have a lot of time to answer each one.  Keep writing!! Love to ALL.    

  I'll try to attach a photo of our back yard.  The colours have been lovely.

Fall is here

   

The trees have all changed colours, and most of the leaves are coming down.  The days are very much shorter and the weather much cooler.  That means fall is here.  We are still travelling a bit.  We ent to `poole last weekend for a play called Redemption.  It was written by a local member. it told of a couple very much in love. He was killed in the first world war in France.   They had two children.  Her children joined the church and after she died as an old women in the first of the play, they found out much more about their grandfather by journals and letters in the attic.  They were sealed in the temple as the redemption of their love.  It was very well done and was put on near Armistice day, or poppy days as they call it here.  Lots of non members came and it was well received.
     We are planning for a visit from the Area Presidency for a mission tour in two weeks.  Lots of plans.  `new missionaries coming. Only five but they are from five different nations: Armenia, Hungary, Fiji, Romania. and the USA.  The diversity continues.

Spain Seminar

 London Eye

 Big Ben and LONDON phone booth

 MADRID,SPAIN TEMPLE ABOVE                           LONDON TEMPLE BELOW

We attended the London Temple on Saturday with our departing missionaries. The Maidstone Stake Conference was on Sunday followed by exit interviews withe the four Elders and four Sisters going home. On Monday we sent them off and welcomed 6 more new ones from 6 different countries: France, Germany, Hong kong,Philippines, South Africa and England.  Tuesday morning we flew out to Madrid Spain to meet with the 30 mission presidents from the Europe Area.  We had a marvellous time, including a session in the Madrid, Spain temple.  We found out all the things we aren't doing perfectly and repented to improve.  We have a very lenient boss or most of us might get fired.
     It truly is a marvellous experience to be involved in a work where you feel the promptings of the Spirit in almost everything we do. The young missionaries have small miracles in everything they do.  The AP s had a flat tyre and while getting it repaired, being led to a second shop they went to, a man came up to them and asked to be taught more about the church.  They truly felt they were suppose to be where they were and the flat was only a minor inconvenience.
      We will include some pictures we have taken this past week to show where we have been.  We are busy, happy, and sleeping well.  We love you all. `hard to believe that halloween has come and gone. There are fireworks the past two nights celebrating Guy Faulk's day.  `he tried to blow up Parliament House on November 5 sometime in the 1600s. It's sort of like the 4th of July in the US.