Boxing Day

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT IT HAS BEEN TWO WEEKS SINCE WE WROTE IN THE BLOG. This is Boxing Day, which is a big holiday in England. The significance of the name is a little in question.  Val says it is the day after Christmas when the nobles boxed up the left over food and gifts from the feast of Christmas and delivered them to the poor.  In more modern times some say it is the day when people box up the unwanted gifts and return them to the stores for a refund.  Who knows? They both seem plausible. It is a slow day for proselyting.
     Last week was very busy.  We brought one third of the mission in to the temple for a session,  fed then a nice big ham dinner, had a short program, destributed their packages from home and then sent them back to their areas. To cover the whole mission we did this three days in a row, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It was a lot of work but so much joy to have all the missionaries together, and watch them interact. It wA VERY SPIRITUAL TO HAVE 70 MISSIONARIES IN ONE SESSION IN THE TEMPLE. That was the high light for most of them, many of them spending their first Christmas away from family.

     On Sunday we went to sacrament meeting in Kingston Ward and then drove half way to Bristol to meet the Zone leaders with belated packages. Monday we drove to Poole, where we met the Zone leaders from Plymouth and Poole with presents. We then drove over to Southampton to deliver gifts to the Portsmouth Zone. That was about a 250 mile trip.  On Sunday night they had a fireside at the Visitor's Center at the London Temple.  The speaker was Savannah Stevenson.  She is  a British Actress that played the part of Mary in the Bible videos that many of you have seen on lds.org.  If you haven't seen them, just log on to lds.org and click on the Bible video site.  There are many short videos on the life of Christ and many of the stories told in the New Testament.  These were filmed on a permanent "Jerusalem Set" that the church built down in Goshen.  It is Southwest of Provo.  It was very special at Christmas time to hear her feelings of what it was like to portray the mother of the Savior. I'll include a picture of us with her.
     We did not have a white Christmas, but we did have a very soggy one.  It has rained so much.  The ground is so saturated that water just stands on the lawns and out in the fields.  Many  rivers are flooded and it is supposedly one of the wettest years on record. Christmas day was very quiet for us. Talked to most of the family by phone, Skype, or FaceTime . It was so good to hear your voices. Val especially loved the pictures of her Cats.   We are bracing ourselves for a big year in 2013.  We hope we will be equal to the tasks placed before us.  Thank you for all the support you give us.  President and Sister Milllar.

Susannah Stevenson

Flooding in Cobham near Old Mill  Dec 2012

Narrow road in Cornwall Dec 2012