Autumn in the Mission

The street where we live.

Our Hearts are Never Far From Home

We are so thankful for the technology that enables us to talk and even see family and friends left back home.  We love hearing all the exciting news:  weddings, new borns, mission calls, family camp outs, engagements school activities and, of course, planning for Beth’s upcoming wedding.  We also offer up our prayers for those who are suffering in various ways.  To each of you we send our love!

To Dave and Meg - thanks for the recent visit!

Fall must be the most beautiful time of the year in England.

The flowers here are nothing short of amazing!

Inviting Others to Come Unto Christ

We recently witnessed Dominick, one of those whom we had the opportunity to teach, get baptized.  He is such an impressive young man!  He is a mechanical engineer and prior to his baptism he created a CAD timeline of the Book of Mormon complete with names, dates and places - it is amazing just like he is.  He is already such a strong member in the Church.  We are excited to watch him grow in the Gospel.  I had the wonderful opportunity to confer the Aaronic priesthood on him and ordain him a Priest with so much priesthood participating.

The Timeline

Sisters Tenney & Berrett, Domnick and Us

The Ordination Photo

We have also been teaching Sam who is a former professional basketball player. Teaching investigators is so much fun!

Institute

We still love teaching Institute twice each week.  These young single adults and young marrieds are truly amazing.  We have learned so much from our lesson preparations and the many comments that the students share.  In fact, we are convinced that we learning a lot more than they are.

Our classes remain large, which is no doubt due to the amazing dinners Chris prepares for them every week.

London Temple

We were invited by Tina, one of our Young Single Adults, to attend the London Temple with her.  This was such a special experience for us to be with her as she received her endowments.  We are so thankful that she invited us.  Just like Tina, the temple is beautiful inside and out.  

It was a great weekend except for the drive, of course!  The traffic was absolutely horrible - nearly four hours of stressful driving in the pouring down rain, but it was all worth it!  The YSA will be going to the London Temple on November 18 and 19.  The most exciting part about the trip is that it will be the first temple trip for Domnick.

The London Temple was the second temple in Europe.  It sits on 32 beautifully landscaped acres in the southern English countryside located about 25 miles south of London.  Here is a bit of trivia for you:  the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 in the same county of Surrey where the London England Temple is located (bet you didn’t know that). Here is another fun fact for you - the site where the London Temple stands, known as Newchapel Farm, was listed in the Domesday Book of William the Conquerer.

President David O. McKay, who took personal interest in every phase of development of the London England Temple, chose the exact location on the 32-acre site where it stands today. He was particularly impressed with an ancient oak tree on site (at least 450 years old) and instructed that it be preserved. Workmen called the tree the "David O. McKay Oak" and attached a plaque in his honor. In his modesty, President McKay asked that his name be removed, but the name of tree persists out of esteem for this prophet of the Lord.

Senior Missionary Couples’ Conference

We are so grateful for the Senior Missionary Conference we recently attended in Cheltenham.  It was our first and it was wonderful to be with all the senior missionaries from across the mission.  Each of the couples gave a presentation on what their mission assignments were and they ranged from Records Preservation and Member Leadership Support to Public Relations and our wonderful mission office couples who keep all of us on our toes.  After we told them what we do with the Young Single Adults … you know, camping, canoeing, hiking, eating and going to the temple with them several we overheard saying, “wish we had that calling” and boy-oh-boy are we glad that we do!

We all went out for lunch afterwards at Zizzi’s Italian restaurant.  It is housed in a converted church.  They even have a wood burning oven located where the alter previously stood…the food was outstanding!

Zizzi's Italian Restaurant 

After lunch we visited Gloucester Cathedral.  Although it became a cathedral under Henry VIII, its origins date back to 681 AD with many alterations, additions and reconstruction projects since.  As a side note, many Harry Potter scenes were filmed here, but we are ashamed to admit that we have never seen any of the Potter movies so we didn’t recognize any of the scenes like many of the others did.

To you Harry Potter fans do you recognize the following?

Elder Cook

The highlight of the mission so far was the recent mission wide conference we attended with Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  His comments, along with Sister Cook and, of course, President and Sister Leppard’s, were so powerful and inspiring.   Hard to believe, but the room of over 200 missionaries was as quiet as a church mouse when Elder Cook said, “I peronsally know the Savior’s voice and I personally know the Savior’s face.”  What an amazing experience as he left an Apostolic blessing upon us all.

Date Night with President and Sister Leppard

Autumn is in the Air

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

Baddesley Clinton

We had the opportunity to visit the manor at Baddesley Clinton, which was probably begun in the 14th century, though there are no exact records to verify the date. It is likely that the moat dates back to the 13th century. The existing house was built in the 15th century, and has remained virtually unchanged since the 1630s.

The home was home of the Ferrers family for 500 years and was passed down from father to son for 12 generations until 1940.

After the Reformation of the 17th Century the home became a hiding place for many Catholic priests, who were under the threat of a death sentence if discovered.  Special provisions were made to hide and protect the priests with several priest holes built, and secret passages to hide people in the event of a search.

Baddesley Clinton

St Michael's Church
It was very common for private churches to be built on the mansion properties
to serve the servants.  This church has a current membership of 15.

Welsh Tragedy - The Aberfan Disaster

October 21 was a somber day throughout the United Kingdom and one that will be long remembered.  It was 50 years ago that the horrible Aberfan disaster struck in Wales in which 116 children and 28 adults were killed due to the catastrophic collapse and slide of coal mine tailings in the Welsh village of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil.  More than 1.4 million cubic feet of debris covered a section of the village, including Pantlas Junior School, in minutes.

Happy Halloween

A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween.

Erma Bombeck

The first thing you notice about Halloween here in England is that, much like home, it seems to be more for the adults than it is for young children.  It really is a scare-fest.  The best part are the many tales of ghosts and goblins that continue to haunt the castles throughout the county.  Although time simply has not permitted us to visit them, we thought you would enjoy a few of these ghostly tales:

Coach of Bones  

According to a legend originating in the 17th century, every night at midnight the ghost of Lady Howard travels from Okehampton Castle to her old home in Tavistock, in a coach made from the bones of her former husbands.  The coach is driven by a headless coachman, and a skeletal hound follows behind. Some believe that she has an eternal task, to remove all the grass from around the castle one blade at a time.

Okehampton Castle

Lady Agnes Hungerford

Then there is the gruesome tale at Farleigh Hungerford Castle dating back to the 15th century where two family members were executed by the notorious Lady Agnes Hungerford who is believed to have murdered her husband before burning his body in the castle bread oven so that she could marry the lord of the castle, Sir Edward Hungerford.

Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Whitby Abbey

One of the most forbidding ruins is that of Whitby Abbey where a young nun, Constance de Beverley, broke her sacred vows when she fell in love with a gallant knight called Marmion. When the other nuns discovered her secret, her punishment was to be bricked up alive in the Abbey’s walls. Today, it is said that her ghost can be seen at the site of Whitby Abbey, cowering and begging to be released. 

As a side note and a bit of literary trivia - Bram Stoker found some of his inspiration for 'Dracula' after staying in Whitby in 1890. He stayed in a house on the West Cliff and was trying to decide whether it would be suitable for a family holiday.  

Whitby Abbey

Berry Pomeroy

Then there is Berry Pomeroy which is said to be one of the most haunted castle of all.  It is filled with cold spots, feelings of fear and strange noises.  Reportedly, real dogs hate being walked near the castle and then there is the sinister ghost of a woman named Matilda known as the White Lady, who was said to have been imprisoned by her sister and starved to death in the room at the base of the St Margaret's Tower.

Berry Pomeroy

LESSON OF THE MONTH

Ice cream truck in front of the Preston Temple proves that ice cream really is from heaven!

Learn  It - Live It - Share It

While in the Mission Training Center we were told, “There are angels around your children while you are gone,” and that “your families will be well.  Heavenly Father has a plan for them and He has not forgotten that you are on a mission.”  We have seen many blessings come into the lives of our family over the past eight month.

We love this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley:  “Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others. By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.” 

So much to share, but run the risk of boring you all so we will try to keep this as short and concise as possible mixed with a little humor and hopefully some inspiration!

First of all - it is so hard to believe how fast our time in the mission field is flying by.  It literally seems like we just left the Mission Training Center in Utah, but that was eight months ago.  

Well here goes our latest report…

Since our last update Chris celebrated her birthday and we celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary!  

Birthday & Anniversary Celebrations at Church

Another one of Ruby's unbelievable cakes!

The Proposal

We are thrilled to welcome a new member to our family!  Derek McDonald recently proposed to Beth and they will be getting married in the Sacramento Temple on Saturday, February 18, 2017.  Now just in case you are wondering … YES we will be coming home for the wedding only to return to the mission a few days later.

Many have asked if we have ever met Derek and that answer to that is “yes” and “no” … huh?  We have never met him in person; however, we are so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit with him via Skype and we love him already!  It was only our second time talking with him when we had that special session when he asked for “permission” to marry Beth.  The response was quick and clear - “you don’t need my permission, but we gladly give you our blessing as long as it is in the temple” to which Derek replied, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Derek even had a special video made so we could enjoy this special time in our baby girl’s life even though we are thousands of miles away.

To say the least we have had many phone calls and wedding planning Skype sessions with them ever since.  Thankful for technology that enables us to participate in planning the wedding from afar like wedding dress shopping as shown below:

More Good News

We received wonderful news from our nephew, Dillion, who shared with us that he baptized his grandmother (Chris’ sister) in August.  What a wonderful surprise!  We are so thankful for the Atonement and thrilled that Sally has accepted it, too.

The Atonement is available to all who will accept it.

We had the opportunity, along with the Sister Barrett and Sister Tenney, to teach Maria.  Her conversion story is nothing short of miraculous and because it is you will have to wait for all the details until our homecoming in 2017 for fear we could not do it just here, but here is a bit of a teaser: she was born and lived in communist Yugoslavia for most of her life.

We love Maria and these wonderful missionaries!

A Day in the Life of …

It has been said of missionary life that the days seem as long as weeks and the weeks as long as days - it is so hard to believe that the time is flying by so quickly.  We are now in our eight month of missionary service!

Here is a typical day:  up early to study the scriptures and do some daily planning then exercise (this doesn’t always happen, but we try) and then breakfast.  So this morning we thought we would have a fast breakfast, you know just a bowl of cereal - the milk had gone sour.  OK not a problem let’s just have some toast and juice - bread was moldy and we were out of juice.  Hmmm, now what?  Oh yeah, lets have some yogurt - it too was sour.  Thankfully we had some good bananas left!

As if that is not enough, we received our second warning in as many days not to go downtown and avoid all train stations and bus stops - just stay away from big crowds.  One only needs to look at the news to know what is going on.  So glad church security stays on top of potential hazards to take care of us.

Wales ~ In Search of Our Roots

We had an amazing opportunity to spend a few days in Wales where some of Steve’s family comes from.  It was great doing some family history research while we were there.  As Steve described it, even though we had never been there before, it was like “going home.”  We stayed in Tenby, Wales 0n the coast of the Bristol Channel.  

Tenby

We started our adventure in Cardiff where we had previously determined that Edward Matthews, Steve's great-great-great grandfather, had died and was buried in the cemetery at Llandaff Cathedral, which dates back to the early 12th Century.  We hated for his headstone, but were advised by the local archivist that he was likely buried in the area that had been destroyed by German bombing during World War II.

Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff

Inside Llandaff Cathedral

Searching the Graveyard at Llandaff

Visting Roman Ruins Outside of the Cathedral

We left the cathedral and visited their national archives where everyone was helpful and friendly.

Perhaps the best part of the trip was visiting Swansea.  We had several addresses where our ancestors had once lived and fortunately several of the streets were still there.  Sadly, those areas sustained serious damage during the war as well so although we found the streets and even homes dating back to the 1800s when family lived there, the exact houses were clearly missing.  It was still very cool knowing we were walking down the same streets that our family did nearly a hundred years ago.

Sweet where our family lived many years ago.
They actually lived among this row of houses, but they have cleared been upgraded.
The actual house is no longer there ~ likely destroyed during the bombings of WWII.

Downtown Swansea

The last part of our family history tour included a visit to a coal mine just outside of Swansea.  Although we have no idea which mine he worked at, we do know that Edward Matthews and at least one of his sons, David, worked in the coal mines so of course we had to check out the working conditions.  The tour took us several hundred feet down a shaft and then we were given a tour in several of the dark and dirty tunnels.  What horrible working conditions he and so many others faced.  

While deep under ground Steve had a overwhelming spiritual experience.  As he described it, he “felt the presence” of Edward whom he obviously had never met.  While off by himself he offered a special prayer of graditude and love for him.  No doubt Steve was experiencing the Spirit of Elijah.

Ready to go down into the mine!
A bit unnerving in that NO electronic devices allowed for fear of sparks and then BOOM!

They were obviously a classy lot!

We also had the opportunity to do a little site seeing.

The Green Bridge of Wales
One of the Most Famous Landmarks in Wales

We had our own private tour guides during our visit - Calvin and Theresa Williams whose son served in the California Roseville Mission with us.  We had so much fun with them and they are the best.  We look forward to our next visit with them which will be the homecoming for Elder Williams!

Brother & Sister Williams with Chris

While in Wales do as the Welsh do ... or something like that!  While at breakfast one morning we ordered some of the locals favorite dishes.  First we ordered laver bread, which it turned out really isn't bread at all!  In fact, its boiled sea weed that is to be put on toast.  We tried it - NOTE TO SELF: "never order laver bread again."  We also ordered black pudding - clearly another deceptive name!  Black pudding - as opposed to white pudding, which is a favorite in Scotland - it is a sausage made up of pig's blood, pigs fat and oatmeal ... never, ever again!  We will also skip that white pudding, which is more pig's fat than blood - sound yummy?

While visiting Wales we were caught in an unseasonable storm with waves crashing well over 20’ high.  The video below shows one hitting our car, which was 15’ above the beach.  This one caught us totally by surprise.

Temple Blessings

As we do just about every year, we celebrated our wedding anniversary by going to the temple.  This time was a bit different because we went with Bishop Ward and six recent converts who had never been to the temple before.  It was an international affair since two of the converts were from Ghana, two from Iran, one from Hong Kong and one from England.  It was an incredible day!

Having said that we should point out that the night before was the annual YSA Homecoming Dance, which is one of the big events of the year over here.  More importantly, it should be noted that we did not get home from the dance until nearly 2:00 am Saturday morning and then left for the temple at 9:00 AM.  Did we mention that the temple is over two hours away?  It was, to say the least, an exhausting weekend, but it was worth it!!!

First We Eat Then We Do Everything Else

A couple of the wonderful missionaries we serve with were craving corndogs, which, by the way, are no where to be found here in the UK.  Undaunted Chris googled corndog recipes and, to say the least, we had two very happy missionaries!

Chris The Master Chef

Elders Hellyer & Wagner

Nathan is one of the sixteen year olds in the ward and he loves to cook.  Last week he invited us over to his parents house so he could fix us dinner, which was delicious!  He made homemade chicken noodle soup from his own recipe (included a cinnamon stick in the broth) and carrot cake he made from scratch.

Thank you Nathan!

Ruby, one of our most amazing YSA,  invited us over for dinner along with the Sister missionaries.  She made a delicious lasagna dinner to die for.  Just check out this unbelievable desert she made.  Without question with of the very best meals we have ever had. 

Had to believe, but it tasted even better than it looked!

Thank you Ruby!

We love these young missionaries and the YSA as though they were our own kids and we loving seeing them smile!  It is so hard when the missionaries get transferred to other areas or go home.

Giving service with the sister missionaries.

Elder Mohlabang going home to South Africa

Elder Lo from Canada being transferred as a Zone Leader in Coventry.

Elder Kinnenunen (Finland) transferred to Lichfield and Elder Holbrook (Utah) being transferred as Zone Leader in Cheltenham

Elder Corso from Italy

Sheldon District

We have another new assignment - we are working with the Sheldon District in addition to our Harborne District.  Its great to work with these missionaries as well.  They are literally from all over the world: Italy (the District Leader), Zimbabwe, Japan, South Africa and Spain.  They are an amazing collection of accents and loving personalities.  The best part is the District Leader fixes pasta for lunch following every district meeting and all we can say is, “mama-mia Deliziosa.”

Missionary Work

The best part about being a missionary is studying and teaching others not of our faith about our beliefs.  No doubt we continue to learn more and be blessed more than those we teach.  

It is amazing that our YSA activities continue to grow with more and more recent converts and those not of our faith ... the work continues to move forward as others are invited to come unto Christ.

We have been teaching Joanne, who is one of our university students, with the missionaries for a few months now.  During the summer she returned to her home in China to visit family.  During her absence we took care of her plant for her.  She was so happy to find her planting thriving when she returned that she made us this special thank you card:

We are currently teaching Dominic, a young man (23) who came across a talk by President Uchtdorf on YouTube.  He was so impressed with the talk that he googled to find out who the speaker was.  When he discovered he was Mormon he went to the Church’s web site, entered the chat room there who in turn gave him the phone number to the local missionaries.  We had him over for dinner and a lesson the other night and to our surprise he showed up with a cake that he made from scratch and it was amazing and so is he.

A Group of Old People

We love getting together with many of the other senior missionaries that we serve with.  Recently we took a bus tour of downtown Birmingham, which was very cool ... actually it was more than cool, it was freezing cold - the weather forecasters got it wrong!  Nevertheless, we all had fun.  We even saw the location of Charles Dickens' first public reading of A Christmas Carol. We are anxious to read it together this Christmas.

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

Charles Dickens