Missionary Journal

England (February 2010 Weeks 3 and 4)

February Week 3

This week seems to have been spent mostly in and out of the car.

Monday was “P” day with washing and drying and cleaning. We just got our vacuum back from the Elders (they had borrowed it because theirs isn’t working very well) and the house really needed to be vacuumed. I bought a cranberry red chenille bathrobe for Christmas and it sheds everywhere. We had cranberry dust bunnies everywhere.

Tuesday was our last District Meeting before transfers. Elder Ard is our District Leader and he is just a lovely young man. He was working in the Mission Office when we arrived in England and met us at the airport.

Here we all are: Elders Marchione, Trevisan, Rodriquez, Ard, Me, and Walt.

We did flat checks today on Weymouth and Yeovil (where we hold District Meetings).

Then home for a late lunch and out and about seeing folks. We are just about getting to the end of what we can do by visiting all the members of the Weymouth Branch every month or so. We still have many people we are working with and expect to continue. However, at our Branch Conference in January we spoke with President Martin (Poole Stake President) and asked him what we could do to help other units within the Stake. He suggested that we might want to work with the Salisbury Branch. At the last Zone Training and during our interview with President Shamo, we asked and received an approval to extend our area out to the branch in Salisbury (1.5 hours away by car) one day a week, meeting all the members (less-active and active) and doing what we can do to help get them from their 80 in attendance on a Sunday up to over a 100 so they can become a ward.

Wednesday a little before 8:00 am, we headed to Christchurch (about an hour away) to do a flat check on the Sister Missionaries (Sisters Pilz and Woodward) who were “whitewashed” into that area last moves. For those that don’t’ know, “whitewashed” means to move a whole new companionship into an area and move the companionship that was there out. You have to whitewash when you move sister missionaries into an area, because they have to come as a team if you had elders there originally. I didn’t get any pictures of the sisters as I left my camera at home, but will in the near future; they are darling. We’ve never had sister missionaries in our Zone before and it is a please to have our sisters around. From Christchurch we went to Poole to see the flat there and picked up Elder Lee (who is one of the Zone Leaders). Elder Warner (the other Zone Leader) had to be in Southampton the night before so Elder Lee stayed with the Poole Elders since he can’t stay alone in their flat. We took him to Bournemouth to his flat and did an inspection there. By the time we got home it was 2:00 in the afternoon. We took a rest and then prepared dinner. That evening, Walt drove Elders Marchione and Trevisan to Wareham (another hour or so) to meet the Elder Lee who along with the Yeovil Elders was driving to the Mission Office in London for transfers. We weren’t surprised that Elder Marchione was being transferred to Crystal Palace in London. He was asked where he wanted to go, and he said that if he had to leave here, he would like to go to London because you don’t have time to think there with all the investigators, teaches, etc. We really will miss him. He gave Walt a picture of him with his address in Italy, home e-mail address, and a note: “Ill never forget you.” In return, we now have the opportunity to work with Elder Gardner from Yorkshire who is Elder Trevisan’s new companion. He is a “pink-cheeked” Englishman with impeccable manners.

Thursday we spent at home catching up on lessons for Sunday. Even though we won’t be in church on Sunday, I am preparing so someone else can give my lesson. In fact, I need to prepare additional information on PowerPoint so that the substitute teacher understands what I mean by the statements on the slides. Thursday evening, Walt again went to Wareham to pick up our Elders (Trevisan and Gardner) on their way home from the Mission Office. On his way home, he stopped and picked up two bunches of roses for me. Since he wasn’t feeling well just before Valentine’s Day he bought a bunch of red roses and, then, so he wouldn’t forget Mother’s Day (14 March) he also got a bunch of yellow roses. The only vase we have would barely hold both bunches in a cramped little grouping.

Friday we spent out visiting folks and working with our sisters who need help. We had lovely meetings with two of the sisters who both needed shoulders to cry on.

Saturday, we did a few errands and went over the Salisbury Branch list name by name in preparation for attending the Salisbury Branch Conference on Sunday.

Sunday were up and out by shortly after 7:00 am to be in Salisbury by 9:00 am. We met and spoke with President Moore as the school where they hold their meetings was prepared for church. Of course, since it was Branch Conference, the Stake Presidency and most of the High Council were there along with the Auxiliary leaders. We know most of them and it was a very enjoyable time. After church was over, they had Munch & Mingle and then we worked with President Moore on the Branch Membership List, and Walt made an appointment with him for Friday, 6 March, to go out and visit those that are in need of disciplinary action. We left finally left the school at 3:00 pm and arrived home slightly after 3:30 pm.

February Week 4

Monday again was “P” day and we washed and worked around the house (cutting back the garden which was a chore) and went shopping. As you can see, Walt really trimmed the hydrangea (it’s that little bare clump right by the fence with the detritus there on the lawn. You can also see the green of the daffodils that we should see in a little while. The ones in the front are already budding – these have a little more time to go.

Tuesday there was no District Meeting due to Zone Conference this Friday. I spent the morning working on my Gospel Doctrine lesson and Primary Sharing Time as I knew it was going to be busy the remainder of the week. I also pulled together the agenda for the Branch Council Meeting this evening and made up some worksheets to support the “Ward Missionary Plan” Walt was going to present. In 2009 Weymouth Branch had six baptisms with a goal of 30. We did get seven of our less-actives back in church after many years of not going, but we have been frustrated that we couldn’t get the spirit of missionary work imbued in the Branch. I used the word “imbue” because of the definition: to make somebody or something rich with a particular quality. The spirit of missionary work will make the branch rich with stronger and more loving members and new blood that enriches our lives and strengthens the church. We were promised by the European Area Presidency that:

We were slightly apprehensive about the reception we would get. We were surprised – the reception was great. As a group, we put together a Branch Mission Plan that is reasonable and doable. We asked for five names of less-active members that would be fellowshipped by one or the other of the priesthood quorums or auxiliaries and taught by the Elders. We not only got five with plans but a sixth. I’ve already done the agenda for the next Branch Council and we are expecting reports on what has happened in the month between meetings.

Wednesday morning I worked on the Senior Couples Missionary Newsletter and got that out of all the senior missionaries (including the ones that have left the mission field).

Wednesday afternoon we were out and about visiting. In the evening was the Priesthood Preview put on the by Young Men and coordinated and planned by the Primary. We have five young men that will be moving out of Primary and into Young Men and the Aaronic Priesthood this year. Sister Ros Rowbotham (the Primary President) did most of the work including the program.

This is Sister Bev Webb (YW President) also working in the kitchen.

The Young Women (who served and made up the dessert as part of their service hours). Left to right: Ros, Rosie Walker, and Angelina Whitthread.

These are the primary boys who are moving up to Young Men this year: (from bottom of table to top) Guillard, Nathan Walker, Cody Levi, Reef Haddlesey and, hiding in the corner, Daniel Dadds. The Young Women went to great pains to make the roses that are under each glass out of napkins. Interestingly enough, very few people in the UK use napkins. They are frequently put on the table, but not used.

Thursday morning I spent a little time pulling together a “Mormon” Jeopardy game for the Branch Social this evening. We spent most of the afternoon and evening in Salisbury. We met with the Elders first to go over the Membership List again and do a check of their flat. Then we went out visiting. They specifically asked us to make a visit to a newly moved in sister (Sara Radfield) in Amesbury. They told us Amesbury was only 5 or 8 minutes away – so off we went. We used the SATNAV and it only took a half hour to get there. She wasn’t home so we looked at the listing to find others in that area. Our next stop was at the home of the Pitt family. Of course, we got there as she was starting to prepare dinner. Her greeting was, “You’ll stay for dinner.” It was an interrogative but a statement. We’ve learned you almost can’t say no without hurting someone’s feelings. Well, we had lovely evening and dinner with Jim and Jacqui Pitt.

Friday was Zone Conference, which was wonderful. President Shamo said that we must be doing something very right because he was certainly having trouble keeping the number of missionaries we need in the mission. As of the first of the year, he was told that the London England South Mission would go from 167 to 130. As of Zone Conference, we were at 130 on schedule. However, based on missionaries leaving and coming, we have a loss of four missionaries in April, 18 in May (three for four zones worth), 26 in June, which would put us at 82 missionaries. There are two major reasons for this drastic downswing:

1. On 12 February 2010, a statement was made by the Church in the Salt Lake Tribune: “The LDS Church has a problem of ‘unlimited needs and limited resources. A strong local member-missionary program will be crucial to the growth of the church in these areas.’” Therefore, the Church is adding ten new zones (in high growth areas) and combining more than a dozen (in lower growth areas). This is a map showing the added and combined zones. As you can see, they are combining the Ireland and Scotland Missions. The English Missions stay the same, but the Bristol and England London South Missions were combined a few years ago.

2. The second and least palatable is due to a malfunction of the Missionary computer system in Salt Lake. For some reason, it has been saying that the London England South Mission has a sufficient amount of missionaries and doesn’t need any more. So, we have no missionaries being called to this mission, which means a 3-4 month delay in getting replacement for the missionaries going home. The “glitch” seems to be fixed and we will be getting two deliveries of missionaries (18 and 26), which should bring us to close to our needed number. President Shamo has been tearing out his hair over the problem and has asked permission for the Stakes in the Mission Area to call missionaries for temporary service to get us through July. Elder Kopischke (European Area President) has given his OK for this to be a “one-time” solution. We haven’t seen any missionaries yet, but we’re in pretty good shape through March.

President Shamo quoted a French president: “There are three ways to ruin a country. The first is gambling (which is the worst). The second is women (the most pleasant). The third is technology (which is the most sure). This is coming from the man who was the head of the audiovisual department for the Church.

Friday evening was the Branch Social. I have a Jeopardy template for PowerPoint and so we played for about 45 minutes to an hour including: (1) Jeopardy with five categories (Apostles, Women in the Scriptures, Mormon Numbers, BOM (Book of Mormon) “Things”, and Heros);

(2) Double Jeopardy with five categories (BOM Missionaries, Cool Stories, Modern Day Apostles, Scripture Mastery, and BOM Genealogy). I think everybody had a good time. Brother John Dadds announced at the beginning of the game he wasn’t going to play because he had to leave. He is very competitive and started playing on a team and just couldn’t quite make himself leave while something interesting was going on. I must say, he knows lots about the categories and just swept the Scripture Mastery category.

Saturday I spent my morning bringing my journal up to date and posting my blog (I was so very far behind) and doing e-mails. We were visiting until it was time to go home to talk to the children. Oh, how much we love the internet. It makes it possible for us not only to talk with them (very similar to on the phone) but to see them while we talking. Everybody thinks we should be homesick, but we’re in almost constant contact with people at home. After speaking with Delight, Charles, and Justin we had dinner and I finished off my Primary Sharing Time for Sunday.

Sunday I taught Gospel Doctrine and then hurried down to Primary. I have really grown to love these children. Nathan Walker and I were speaking at the Priesthood Preview and I said something about missing him when we went home. He said, “But you live here?” I explained that, Yes we were living here, but only for two years and then we would go back to the United States.

Folks, it is all so much fun it isn’t a sacrifice; it is love.

My love to you all, Jackie