Called to Serve

Life in the Mission

It snowed here last Friday!

This was another amazing two weeks and we now understand what we have heard from so many missionaries in the past when they said, “the days are long, but the weeks fly by.” Nothing could be truer. We can’t believe that we have been here in the UK for over six weeks already!

Birmingham Stake

Last week was Stake Conference and it was great! We had a visiting General Authority, Elder Francisco J. Ruiz de Mendoza from Logroño, Spain. He was amazing - such a humble yet powerful spirit about him. From the very moment we met him we instantly felt like long lost friends. We hope our paths cross again!

We love the cultural diversity here in the Birmingham Stake. We have members literally from all over the world, which is such a loving reminder to us that ALL people have the same origin and equal possibility to fulfill their eternal destiny. We are also reminded that only through the gift of the Atonement and our obedience to the gospel plan can we return and live with God once again.

Just like home, every one of the wonderful brothers and sisters here has an amazing life story to tell. With her permission, we share the following of Camila whose friendship we have quickly come to cherish:

Camila

Camila is a university student from Lima, Peru who has been attending medical conferences in England for the past three months. Oh how we love Camila. She served a full-time mission in Uruguay. She is currently in her third year of college and wants to become a plastic surgeon. We asked her how she chose that field and her story was one of love and compassion. As a young girl she had the opportunity to act as a translator for a group of American doctors who would visit Peru annually to perform surgery on Peruvian children suffering with cleft pallets and other deformities. These doctors freely gave of their time and skill to these young children, who could never afford such care on their own! Camila was so impressed with their service and overwhelmed with the great need for these medical services in her country that she made up her mind at a very young age that she would make that her life long service to the children of Peru.

Her heart warming story does not end there! She too comes from humble circumstances yet always wears a smile and never complains. Even though she is a full time college student back in Peru, she volunteers in a local Peruvian orphanage every Saturday. Camila could hardly contain herself as she showed us pictures and videos of “her children” back home at the orphanage where many call her “mom.” She could hardly hold back the tears as she told us about Juan. He is twelve years old and who was abandoned by his mother when he was a baby. In Peru you must have a “declaration of abandonment” before you can be adopted; however, to obtain such a declaration is a very long and difficult process, which is made even more difficult in a situation like Juan because the process requires receiving statements from the parents or other family members. Obviously, in Juan’s case that is impossible. Now it gets even worse, as we all know, the older a child is the less likely he or she will ever be adopted. Sadly, Juan understands this and although he hopes to be adopted into a loving family someday, he recognizes that will likely never occur. How tragic that one of God’s children must grow up outside the bonds of a loving mother and father!

How many other Juan’s are out there?

Camila heads back to Peru in just two weeks. We have such a strong love for her and a bond that we will never let go. We have committed to remain in touch for the rest of our lives.

Prior to entering the mission field we had already started planning a trip to Peru after our mission with our dear friends, Mark and Terry, where Mark served his mission as a young man. We promised Camila that we will visit her in 2018 and we will do all we can to support her and her amazing example of Christlike service to “her” beautiful orphans.

Lichfield

Friday we conducted missionary apartment inspections up in Wolverhampton and Lichfield. Other than having problems with our GPS unit, which couldn’t identify all of the addresses and our phone that totally failed, it was a GREAT day! These missionaries are wonderful and hard working. We love being associated with them.

After the inspections were over we wondered around the town of Lichfield and visited its most famous landmark, the Lichfield Cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Chad and Saint Mary. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The central spire is 252 feet high with each of the western spires about 190 feet tall. The overall length inside the cathedral is 370 feet!

Construction of the sandstone cathedral began in 1195 and took nearly 150 years to complete. It is currently owned and operated by the Church of England; however, it was originally constructed by the Roman Catholic church.

Litchfield Cathedral

The Nave

Lady Chapel

There is a room in the cathedral called the Charter House, which contains the St Chad Gospel commonly referred to as the Book of Chad. It is one of the oldest books in England and reportedly dates back to 700 AD!

Book of Chad

Self Defense

President and Sister Leppard conducted a self defense class last week after Institute - they are such good sports! As you can see from the pictures everyone had a blast even if at times they looked more like a chorus line than those ready to take on the tough guys!

Sister Leppard Giving Personal Instruction

The Master - President Leppard

Hand Mixer

Everybody love chocolate chip cookies, right? Chris decided to make them for an investigator and the missionaries that we are teaching with. Notice anything strange about the photo below?

First of all, we don’t have a KitchenAide, which we miss a lot! Second, notice the hand mixer sitting on the counter? Yep, you guessed it, the mixer gave up the ghost while in the middle of mixing the cookie dough so Chris had to finish the task the old fashioned and messy way … she became the “hand mixer!”

Convert Baptisms

We enjoyed three convert baptisms in our Ward last Sunday. They are such humble young sisters who will now get to enjoy the hope and blessings that come from being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.