Easter COLD

The weather man has informed us that this is the coldest Easter on record. It was snowing a little yesterday. We had a lovely day at church in the Kingston Ward.  Sister Millar was one of the speakers.  She did really well, prepared her own material and gave most of her talk without too many tears. It is amazing to see how much she is growing as she has to be doing more things out of her comfort zone.
     Since our last posting we have had transfers with 10 new missionaries, zone leaders council, and we are working on personal interviews in the nine zones. On Thursday March 21st we left for the Bristol zone at 7:30 AM.  We got home after midnight.  We interview the missionaries, attended a Stake Priesthood leadership meeting and then managed to take a wrong road due to construction resulting in a 30 mile detour.  I think we actually ended up in the Birmingham Mission for a while and didn't get home until after midnight. We interviewed the Staines zone the next day on Friday. Last week we did four zones. We travelled to Plymouth on Monday, stayed overnight since it is a 5 hour drive. Did interviews on Tuesday, drove 3 hours to Poole staying overnight again. Interviews the next day then home.  On Thursday we interviewed in Crawley then Friday back down to the coast to interview the Portsmouth zone. It is a busy time but very rewarding to spend individual time with the missionary. Each zone has 18 to 24 missionaries so you can see it takes a few hours. Next week we will finish the last three zones.
     The Book of Mormon musical opened in London last week.  The church is doing an advertising campaign to see if we can generate increased interest through Mormon.Org.UK.  We think it will increase the number of people wanting to talk about the church by chat.  We are setting up a few companionships that will be able to proselyte using digital and social media: chat, Facebook, Blogs, etc. It truly is a new age for missionary work. Never mind that older people like Sister Millar and I aren't exactly fluent in these technologies.  We are learning as we go and we do not work alone. Well these are the things that keep us busy and away from the computer talking to all our family and friends.
      Let me share with you some of the things that make us Happy. It is amazing to see young missionaries arriving in the mission, timid, scared, and wide eyed.  Two weeks later seeing them talking to strangers and loving it. We see miracles every day of finding those who are seeking for help in this troubled world, We attended a baptism of a young man who joined the church hoping to bring happiness to his family who are non christian and not really approving of his decision. We have several converts from China. There are a lot of students in the UK.  We have 6 Mandarine speaking elders and one sister that speaks Cantonese.  Sister Millar recounted and we now have missionaries from 51 different countries in the mission or are coming in the next two transfers, We have an Elder coming from the Peoples Republic of China, a Sister from Kirabati, and Elders from Mozambique, Nigeria, and Madagascar. Know that our health is good and we are Happy, but we sleep well.
     We will try to get you some more pictures next time.

Marching On

     It is hard to believe that it is actually March already. Since we last visited we have been to Germany. February 27 thru March 1st. we flew to Frankfurt to attend the interim Mission President's seminar for the thirty missions in the Europe area.  We had the privilege  of having Elder Jeffery R. Holland with us for two days. What a blessing to be instructed by one of the twelve apostles. He is very spiritual and quite entertaining as well. He taught us how powerful the Book of Mormon is in the teaching of the restored gospel.  There is so much doctrine even in  the first two books of First and Second Nephi. The second day he talked about the Fall of Adam and all the consequences of it, and how they are all overcome by the atonement of Jesus Christ.
     The Area Presidency trained us on how to help our missionaries improve their daily planning and how to teach with clarity and simply.  It was all very good.  We also attended a session in the Frankfurt Temple on Thursday night .  I will attach some pictures.

Frankfurt Temple at night.

 

 Strange three wheeler

 Lotus

Mini original very small

    We got home on Friday, had a new Sister missionary from France arrive on Saturday and we were right back to work.  After getting the new sister settled in we drove to Slough for a baptism, and then on to Oxford, where they had four baptisms that day. On Tuesday we had a senior couple arrive and another Sister from Albania.  We got them settle in only to make a trip to Exeter on Wednesday.  It is a 400 mile round trip in one day.  We needed to talk to one of our sister missionaries about some family problems and it wasn't appropriate to handle it over the telephone. We crossed over the 22,000 mile mark this week. On our way home from Exeter we stopped for a break at the Haynes automobile museum.  I've never seen so many different cars.  Many of them I had never heard of.
     To get a little break we went into London on Friday to attend a Chinese musical ballet called Shen Yun.  It was very good and very well done. We took the train and 2 underground trains to travel to the Barbicon Theater in central London.  Great adventure.  Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK. It is the equivalent of mothers day in the USA.  Since missionaries can call their mothers on Mother's day we let the British missionaries call today and the rest can call in May.  Some of them try to get a little creative and try to do both.  Most of them are very obedient and aren't a problem.   But their are a few that bear watching.
 This week is transfers: we have one going home and 10 coming in.. We will open five new areas.  In April we are up to 30 coming and even more in May.  We are frantically looking for new apartments (flats).   Know that we are healthy, happy, and loving life.
     We wish all Mothers a wonderful day no matter when Mothers day is, and a Happy Birthday to all our March Birthday people, we think of you all often and miss you tons, but it helps being busy as we don't get time to dwell on things at home, and start felling homesick, Know that we love you all so much and pray for you always,     God Bless,      President and Sister Millar.