YEAR END

Three months have flashed by almost without noticing. We have had many memorable events occur to which we will give reference. The first week in October was transfers and MLC, Mission Leadership Council.  The next week we had a Mission Tour with Elder Detlef Adler from Germany. This was a whirlwind to cover the whole mission in three days, They stayed with us at the Mission Home and with all the traveling didn't get home till about 9:30 every night.  The next week we went to Lisbon, Portugal for the mission presidents training seminar, It is always so good to see the other 29 mission presidents and wives. It is refreshing to get feedback and training on how to do our work better. We were gone 4 days. On return we travelled throughout the mission to conduct interviews. It is a daunting task to interview 250 missionaries in three weeks.  Some days we saw 28 missionaries and would often travel up to 150-200 miles per day, and would be gone from the Mission Home 2 or 3 nights a week. It was then time for transfers again. Our days are busy with training, counseling, and ministering to missionaries and their challenges. The rewards are not measurable as we watch these young Elders and Sisters mature, change and assume responsibility. We witness miracles in the lives of missionaries and investigators almost daily. On top of all that, we started with all 9 Stake Conferences the week of Elder Adler's visit, and that meant re-packing every Friday night to leave for the weekend for the Saturday and Sunday Sessions of each Conference, returning every Sunday night.
     The second week in November, we had the privilege of going to Hyde Park Chapel in London with the entire London Mission and about 80% of our mission to a meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was very intimate and spiritual. He talked a lot about the development of Preach My Gospel, allowed the missionaries to ask questions, told a lot about the history of missionary work in this part of England. He served his mission in London 53 years ago. It was a special event. We had the privilege of spending 2 hours with him and his wife for lunch in the mission office at the Hyde Park Chapel, along with President and Sister Jordan, and the area Seventy Elder Herbertson and his wife. Over the past two weeks we have brought a fourth of our mission at a time, into the London Temple for an endowment session, fed them a nice ham dinner, sang Christmas carols and then sent them back to their areas. This requires the help of all our Senior couples, most of it orchestrated by Elder and Sister Cannon in the office. Truly, this has been a busy and blessed season.
     We love our missionaries. We love and miss our children and grandchildren. By the way we now have Elder Mason Millar, B.J's son, serving in Mexico City East along with Elder George Larsen, Suzy's and Matt's son, serving in Bolivia. Sister Lilly Larsen, also Suzy and Matt's daughter, is our first grand daughter and the first girl in our families to serve a mission, received her call to Peru and will be leaving February10th to go to the Peru MTC. We also have 2 missionaries already returned, Benny's son Jesse, from the Las Vegas Mission, and BJ's son Couper, from the Kennewick Washington Mission, Spanish speaking.
     Last Wednesday, Dec 10th, we were invited to go to the Houses of Parliament to a special presentation of the Family Values award, in the Winston Churchill room, One recipient was an MP and the other was a lady Chaplin to the Queen, We had a wonderful lunch and visit with many of the MP's there, including one from Chorley, my home town, and another who lived there.

The view out of our bedroom window in Portugal, Just outside of Lisbon,

Part of the castle we visited in Sintra, a hilltop town were the royal family live, and there are many palaces and a monastery there as well.

The main hall of the Houses of Parliament. We went up the steps at the end of the hall and then down some steps to the left in the next chamber, past the end of this hall we were not allowed to 

take any more pictures.

President Millar entering the Houses of Parliament.

The front of The Houses of Parliament as we were driving away.

Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas, We love you all and miss you lots, but we are very busy and happy serving the Lord and his missionaries, Transfers and departures will be next week so we start all over again. Christmas Eve will find us and a few of the Senior Couples traveling all over the mission delivering Christmas presents that came in at the last minute, just to make sure everyone has a great Christmas. 

On Christmas Day we have invited the 2 Senior Couples and the 2 Senior sisters from the mission office, along with the 2 Senior Couples from the Visitors Center, and the Visitors Center Director and his wife to the Mission Home for Christmas Dinner, It should be a fun time, they are wonderful and dedicated people.

The outside of the Hyde Park Chapel, It's right next door to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and across the street from the National Museum.
              Must close, all our love, Doc and Val,  aka President and Sister Millar.