Snowed in.

We have had a large snow storm passing through the UK. It started Thursday night as we were driving home from three days away doing Zone Trainings and interviews. Tuesday we started in Poole.  We then drove to Plymouth where we stayed two nights at the Holiday Inn. Wednesday we went into Cornwall and had meetings and interviews at the St Austell chapel. That night we drove back to Plymouth for Stake Missionary correlation meeting. Thursday we arose early to drive to Bristol for training and interviews followed by another Stake correlation meeting.  We then drove the 120 miles home in the dark and with it snowing most of the way.  The next morning we got up to over 6 inches of snow.  Doesn't sound like much but without snow removal equipment, freezing temperatures and the hilly type terrain, we haven't been out much.  Stake conference in Reading was cancelled because of the forecast.  It is currently snowing again. Most church services were cancelled.  So,  `i get time to write in the blog.
     I didn't mention that most of the chapels we meet in for the zone trainings are cold and Sister Millar and I both came down with URI "colds".  Val has been in bed most of the past two days but is on the mend.  Luckily be don't have anywhere pressing to go. I parked the car up the street a ways so we don't have to worry about getting out of out driveway and up the first hill. Many airline flights have been cancelled and things are a mess.
     We are trying to prepare for the increase in new missionaries.  We will receive 60 new ones in the next 3 months, I have their files all over the office trying to learn their names and something about them. We are getting more mandarin speaking elders and a new country represented, Albania. |We are trying to prepare for the opening of the musical in the west end theatre ;"The Book of Mormon". It does not caste the church in a good light, so we are looking at how we can tell "the rest of the story".
    I thought I would share one of the miracles that our missionaries encounter nearly every day. One our Zone leaders told me this story.  When he was a new missionary, his companion told him to lie on the floor and visualise someone they would meet that day.  He said what came to mind was a tall man in a black hoody, "like Darth Vader".  They spent the whole day looking for someone in a dark hoody but saw none. Later in the afternoon they saw the man: tall, black hoody and all.  They went up to and talked to him.  It became clear he was high and smoking weed.  They felt very disappointed; two weeks later when in the library to email home, someone shouted at them and came up to them. " Remember me?" he said.  They didn't even recognise him. Long story short, he was the man in the black hoody.  He later took all the discussions and joined the church. That day after they saw him they found dark hoodies everywhere  but none of them would talk to them.
     To update you on our mileage, we now have driven 18,700 miles in six and half months. Good thing I like to drive and Sister Millar is real good company.
  Our front yard

     
     Hope all is well at home.  We love you, we miss you, but we are happy and BUSY.