Missionary Journal

England (June Wk 2 – July Wk 3 2009)

June Week 2 2009
It was a fairly standard week with nothing much interesting to talk about. District Meeting was on Tuesday and Elder Harding, as usual, gave us a great lesson. We had a fun day on Thursday when we manned the Weymouth Family History Library for the day (8:30 am to 4:30 pm). We had the opportunity of working with 5 non-members and, of course, chatting informally about the church and why we were in England.

Weymouth had a “Missionary” Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, with both Walt and I speaking along with the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is always my pleasure to teach or talk about it anytime. Here are the highlights of my talk:

BEYOND THE HORIZON – GOING FORWARD IN FAITH

I would like you to close your eyes and imagine you are in an airport. It is dreary and rainy outside. The clouds are menacing. You are not at all happy about flying in this weather. You get onto the plane and after a little while, the plane starts taxiing. The plane lifts off the ground and gains altitude. Soon you are flying through clouds and can’t see anything outside your window. You worry a little about how much the pilot can see outside his window. Then the clouds start to thin and you can see filtered light. All of a sudden you are above the clouds and in the brilliant sunlight.

Missionary work is just like that. You are scared of the unknown, but once you try and it succeeds, you come to know the brilliant light that is the gift of bringing another to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, too often we don’t have the faith to even get on the airplane. We’re sure we will lose a friend by offering up one of our most precious possessions.

Brothers and Sisters, believe me, missionary work is not quite as scary as you think.

I’m going to take my talk from Doctrine and Covenants, Section 18, starting with verse 10:
10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

Looking at these four verses I would ask: What is the worth of a human soul?” The worth of a human soul is its capacity to become as God. It is worth so much that our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ suffered the pain of all (men, women, and children), that all might repent and come unto him. Not just some, but all because He has great joy in every soul that repenteth and follows Him. Remember, it is His work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all His children; each and every one of us.

On to verse 14: Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

Looking then at this verse, we are here to cry repentance to the people. Let’s ask the question, why me? My question is: Why not you? You may be only one person, but you can do something. You are special. To one certain person you might be his savior on mount Zion.

“On February 16, 1849, Brigham Young stated to the Twelve, “As God was, so are we now; as he is now, so shall we be.” One of the greatest blessings of the restored gospel is the knowledge that we can become perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. We know that through living certain principles we can approach perfection. In fact we are told that by taking the gospel to others and bringing them to repentance, by doing genealogy and temple work, and by living Christ-like lives, we can come to stand as saviors on Mount Zion. By freely giving his life, Christ, and Christ alone, atoned for all mankind. We have the opportunity of aiding others to accept his love and his sacrifice—the gift of the atonement—and thereby aid in the work of exalting the human family, becoming saviors on Mount Zion” (Gordon C. Thomasson, “Becoming Saviors on Mount Zion: The Place of Suffering in the Gospel of Unselfishness,” New Era, Apr 1973).

In verses 15 and 16, we read about joy.

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

Because of Jesus Christ’s great, divine love for us, He wants us to experience the kind of joy that He experiences. He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). So how will we bring souls to Christ that we might have the great joy he promised?

In Doctrine and Covenants Section 64:33-34, we read:

33 Wherefore, be not weary in well–doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.
34 Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.

We need to be anxiously engaged in the good cause of missionary work. Even though you are only one person, the Lord has told us that out of small things come great works. Although separately we are small in the whole scheme of things, you can start a process that gives another person, another family, another generation the blessings of (1) membership in the Church of Jesus Christ, (2) knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, (3) the saving temple ordinances, and (4) eternal families.

However, in order to see beyond the horizon and get started on your missionary work you need firm and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. In Preach My Gospel it says:

“When you have faith in Christ, you believe in Him as the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father in the Flesh. You accept Him as your Savior and Redeemer and follow His teachings. Faith in Him means that you trust Him and are confident that He loves you. Faith leads to action, including repentance, obedience, and dedicated service. When you have faith in Jesus Christ, you trust the Lord enough to follow His commandments—even when you do not completely understand the reasons for them. You accomplish what the Lord wants you to accomplish. You help bring about good in your own life and the lives of others. You are able to do miracles according to the Lord’s will. Your faith will be manifest through diligence and work. Faith is a principle of power."

Brothers and Sisters we have entered into a covenant with our Savior to do His will and to be obedient to His commandments in all things that he small command us all the remainder of our days.

Because of the covenants that we have made at baptism and in the temple we are the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters (Mosiah 5:5–7).

Hopefully our hearts have been changed through faith on his name and we love our brothers and sisters dearly. Dearly enough, I hope, to take the following challenge:

I would like to suggest a simple way in which you can exercise your faith and start your personal missionary service. Let the Lord help you as you pray for guidance from our Heavenly Father. Fasting would help as you seek a spiritual experience as the Lord inspires you.

I know from my own personal missionary experiences that the Lord will bring to pass extraordinary things. He will bring names to your mind and put people in your path who are ready to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You will be blessed to know what you should say and how you should approach each person.

When we took the Elders back to their flat after church, I noticed some beautiful yellow roses growing there. Of course, I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

June Wk 3 2009
Monday was “P” day and Walt walked me. He seems to like to do that as often as he can. These are seagull chicks that belong to a pair of seagulls (obviously) who have nested on the house across the road from us. The noise is unbelievable (they sound like hurt puppies) when they are scaring off some marauding bird that they think might be after the chicks.

After taking pictures of the chicks, we walked up the path and over toward All Saints (Church of England). As we walked I took pictures of the church and flowers (of course).

Here are some of the headstones along the wall of the church. I have no idea how old they are since they are so worn down you can’t read anything on the granite.

As we walked back toward our flat, I thought this picture was facinating as the purple flowers are growing right out of the wall. Almost all the rock walls around have some kind of flora growing out of the cracks. Talk about overcoming ADVERSITY. Here it is.

We visited 21 members this week. Since we’re still having problems getting to some of the less- active members on a consistent basis even though we pop in at very different times (most of them whenever we get near their homes), I wrote letters to the 15 less actives we haven’t been able to contact for a month or two. We are making this a monthly activity and, hopefully, it will make a difference in someone’s heart. We’ve seen it happen before in Alma Branch and pray constantly for the Lord’s help.

Sunday turned out to be a very special day for us. Two of our less-active sisters made it out to church. We are re-energized and so thankful to the Lord for His direction and kindness to us. He sent us to this lovely part of England where we have made such good friends and absolutely love the people. We love being part of the growth of the Weymouth Branch – it’s not a flurry of baptisms and reactivation, but it’s slow and steady. We really feel the Lord is softening hearts and strengthening commitment here.

June Week 4 2009
Monday was “P” day and Walt walked me again. We try to walk 30 to 60 minutes at a time. This time we took the car and went up to the Esplanade to walk along the beach. The weather was lovely and warmer, and we found a few hardy souls soaking up the sun.

These chalets are small (10’X10’) and are rented by the year. They have electrical outlets and some people have put chairs, washing machines, refrigerators, etc., in them.

From here we went to the Greenway Gardens that are just off the Esplanade. Not a whole lot in the way of gardens, but still pretty enough to take pictures.

I quite liked this flowerbed.

After we finished walking through the garden, we headed back toward the car along the other side of the Esplanade.

We passed the lawn bowling group. It’s so funny to see them out bowling in their white shirts and ties.

The next picture-worthy item was St. John’s Church (Church of England). It has a lovely gothic spire and is well used and well kept.

Just up the street is this row of hotels (yes there is more than one although it doesn’t look like it).

We then walked past “my house.” Boy is this great – I’ve always loved turrets and circular bay windows. I have no idea how much it would cost, but I would really love to own this one (right across the road from the beach).

Here is the Esplanade going down toward the Clock and the beach proper.

Here is one of the quaint little hotels right on the ocean front. Aren’t the flowers lovely?

Here’s the clock I was speaking about previously. Notes: “Erected in 1887 to mark the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign the Jubilee Clock was originally positioned on a stone base on Weymouth sands, but in the 1920s the Esplanade was built around it to protect the sands from the encroachment of shingle from the eastern end of the beach. The clock is one of Weymouth's best-loved landmarks and has been a meeting place for generations of both locals and visitors. On New Year's Eve it's the place to be as midnight approaches and the fancy dressed revelers gather beneath its four faces to welcome in the New Year.”

So much for our “P” Day. We went back to our flat, washed several loads of laundry, and took them to the Laundromat to dry. Then we had Ron and Jan Colvill over for dinner. They are a lovely couple and we have been to lunch at their home a few times. Here are Walt and Ron and Jan on their patio.

This week was a busy week. Tuesday, as usual, was District Meeting. Then on Wednesday we had Zone Conference at the London Temple. Since this was the last week for President and Sister Swinton, we had conference by area as usual (that means our area consists of Bristol, Plymouth, and Poole Zones). It was wonderful being in the temple with all the Elders and Senior Missionaries (unfortunately, the only sisters were Sister Swinton, Sister Weber [Plymouth], Sister Bringhurst [Bristol], and me [Poole]). Every other seat was taken by Elders.

After the temple session we had lunch in the temple cafeteria. As usual, the meal was wonderful (remember, I said the temple chef is a retired 4-star chef). Then we went into the visitor’s center for the conference. Conference was more like a retirement party, but good.

That is President Swinton in the glasses at the far right of the picture and Sister Swinton in the red jacket. On the easel is a gift that we (the Senior Missionaries including the two Senior Sisters in the Mission Office) had made for the Swintons as a going-away gift.

Here is a larger copy for your perusal. It shows the map of the England London South Mission with the Christus in the background with the hymn “Jerusalem” printed on the top with the Crest of the Mission at bottom center with crests from all the counties that are in the mission around the map. The crest to the right of the mission crest is Dorset (our county).

We got home that evening tired but content and full of the Spirit.

Thursday was a relatively low-key day. We visited people and had Sister Sally Ann Woolrich over for lunch. This was a celebration luncheon for getting her back to church. This evening we got a frantic call from Sister Paula Whitthread that we had a new family moving into town on Friday and they needed help getting moved in. We said, “Sure” and made plans to be there at 10:00 am in the morning and bring the Elders (after all they are young, strong, and resilient.

Friday was tiring too, but we unloaded a great, big truck of lots and lots of furniture and met a great new family. Our new family is the Lawfords (Tony, Vickie, Jack [15], and Tiger Lilly [5]).

Really, our Tiger Lily is blonde, cute, and 5-years old. We didn’t see much of her on Friday since she was sleeping through all the noise and clatter.

Here’s their new home with Jack coming down the driveway. Really nice and big and they are not paying much more rent than we do; they just have furniture and are out quite a ways.

This is Elder Arrington (coming toward you) and Joe Walker (a priest) coming to help. That’s Tony in the truck hand out things (he was being helped by Elder Allred (our newest missionary)).

Of course, here is my missionary helping Jack carry something fairly heavy. That’s Elder Allred in the truck.

We had quite a few people out to help on a Friday morning. Fortunately, even though it was drizzling, we managed to get the trailer unloaded in the time the Lawfords had. If it had taken any longer, they would have had to pay a big premium.

If Wednesday and Friday weren’t enough, on Saturday morning we did a “Mormon Helping Hands” activity. The local Wyke Regis Methodist Church has a congregation of elderly folks. They needed to have the foliage cut back, the cracks in the cement driveway weeded, and a wall painted.

Here is a picture of the church with the foliage. We cut and pruned and carted away a trailer load of stuff.






This is President Chasteauneuf. He’s 84 I believe.

These ladies are Fiona Payne (1st Counselor in the Primary) and Liz Kagi (RS President) weeding the cracks.

This is Tony Webb. He’s 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency. I’ve got three pictures of this stance – this is the middle one.

Here’s Elder Arrington sneering at me while he rips out plants (top).

Then Elder Allred showing off his muscles (right).

And last, but not least or all, here are two of our Primary young women (Lizzie Whitthread and Esther Kagi) with John Dadds showing them how to paint.

So that the wall could be painted efficiently we left the workers and went to the Value Store (real name) and bought some more paint brushes. While Walt was picking out brushes, I went into the garden section and took some pictures (what else).

I’ve been taking the especially nice pictures of flowers, stripping out the background and putting them on transparent backgrounds so that I can put them on black backgrounds for screen savers. I’ve put a few of the ones I took that Saturday together and here they are.

When we finished the church really looked good. Unfortunately, with the rain, the foliage will be back soon.

Sunday was lovely as Weymouth Branch announced the next baptism (4th of July). We are just tickled to see the Lord move the missionary work along in the branch. The Elders humble us as we watch their dedication to the work. We do truly have the best missionaries we’ve ever seen here in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.

These are climbing roses we planted this spring in the front of the flat. We’re hoping they will climb up the dead “whatever it is” that is on that wall and cover it so we don’t have to beat it out.

July Week 1 2009
Monday (29 June) was “P” Day and we left fairly early in the morning for London to attend a farewell party for the Swintons that evening. Of course, the first place we went was Costco to get giant, economy sized stuff (brownie mix, Bisquick, etc.).

After the party we stayed overnight at the accommodations at the London temple and did a session Tuesday morning.

Since we were in the temple and on the road Tuesday morning, we didn’t make District Meeting. Instead, we actually made a rather leisurely trip back to Weymouth (about 3 hours); taking in the scenery and just relaxing. As today was the last of the month, we took stock of our visits for June. We managed make contact with all but two members (active and less-active); although we had to write a few letters. With the work we are doing, the home teaching and visiting teaching statistics are going up.

President and Sister Swinton flew out to Utah on Wednesday evening shortly after President and Sister Shamo arrived that morning. As an interesting note: the outgoing president doesn’t tell the incoming president anything about the Elders or Senior Missionaries (except if there is illness or some other medical issue). He lets the new president come to conclusions himself.

Friday (03 July), we had a Zone Meeting with President and Sister Shamo. They've (President and Sister Shamo and their 15-year-old daughter have been on the road ever since they arrived. The meeting was great and we are looking forward to working with President Shamo.

Saturday, the fourth of July, was a baptism for Esther Shikongo. She is a very lovely lady who is a full-time caregiver.

Here is Esther with Elders Arrington and Allred.

Then, we have Esther with Graeme Hutchings, the Branch Mission Leader (who baptized her).

Here are the members who attended the baptism (not enough but there was a Primary activity at the Stake Center at the same time as the baptism). If you will look closely, they are eating brownies (yes, Hersey’s Brownie Mix).

Sunday was my turn for Primary Sharing Time. The topic was strengthening the family through reading the scriptures. I made up Concentration cards for scripture stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. As each match was made the team received an extra point if they could tell the story. Oh, my goodness, it was hilarious. I wished I had a video camera. They knew the stories and really got into the swing of things as they told each one. In fact, they were so detailed that we only made it through half and I will finish it off next week.

Then they sang I Am Like a Star Shining Brightly as the fun song in singing time. This was another fun thing. Katey Mckay (pronounced McKai) gave out star bobble headbands and they sang. It was so cute.

Here is Fiona Payne (2nd Counselor in the Primary) with her headband. Fiona is a mechanical engineer who designs and tests helicopter structures. I wonder what people at her work would give for this photo?


July Week 2 2009
This week started out pretty slow. On Monday I had my monthly hair appointment (yes, my hair is still kind of red with gold highlights). It is also fairly short – easy to keep without going in to see the hairdresser weekly. The cost of having my hair done here is very economical - £43 for cut, color, and styling. For a weekly shampoo, blow dry, and style it is £13 (that’s about $20).

On Tuesday we got a call from President Chasteauneuf asking if Walt would speak at the funeral of the brother of the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency (Dave Levi). This man was not a member but Dave and his wife, Kirsty, planned the funeral as a regular LDS meeting. This took up a fair amount of time on Wednesday and Thursday as we worked with the family to ensure the funeral was conducted in accordance with the Church handbook and the family’s wishes. Dave and Kirsty are the only members in either family, and the congregation consisted of almost all non-members. Feedback from the funeral is that many are asking about the Church and are interested in learning more.

At the end of the week (Saturday) we were invited to the Elder’s flat for lunch. I have had a few jealous moments since their flat is bigger than ours, their table seats eight, and they have six chairs for the table. We only have two real chairs that go with our table and have to use folding chairs when anyone comes over. Oh, well. We do like our landlord a lot and really don’t want to move unless we have to. Of course, that’s Walt sitting on the sofa.

The Elders found a crock pot that the last Senior Couple left when they returned to the US due to health reasons about 6 months before we arrived. It seems they have been putting the crock pot to good use by stuffing it in the morning and then coming back to eat at lunch or stuffing it at lunch and then coming back to eat dinner. Here is Elder Allred carrying in the crock pot. That’s Elder Arrington in the background.

Here is lunch. It was a casserole of chicken pieces, with peppers, carrots, and a Mexican sauce with rice. It was very nice. It only reinforced our suspicion that they were eating quite well on their limited budget.


July Week 3 2009
Monday I was hoping to get a trip to Bath, but it was raining when we got up and the prognostication was 60 to 80% chance of rain all day until early evening. What really happened was by the time we were starting the washing machine it cleared up and was a nice day. Oh, well; no trip this week.

Tuesday I wasn’t feeling very good (achy, headache, etc.). Last week as we were out visiting members we came across three with Swine Flu (diagnosed unfortunately). Of course, I wasn’t at all sure that I might not have something. We decided to stay home so that we wouldn’t pass it around if that was what I had. I was a little worried since I had taken on partial responsibility for a table of snacks at a wedding to take place at the chapel on Saturday. This was an interesting affair: One member (less-active groom) and one non-member (bride) being married, but his mother is a friend and was at her wit’s end over this wedding. The bride and groom wanted a church wedding and so that’s what they were going to get. There will be more when I get to Saturday.

Fortunately, Wednesday I was feeling fine and we went to Bridport to keep some appointments we had. The easiest way to get to Bridport is along the coast road and it is beautiful. This is looking across the road into Abbotsbury.

This picture is of the tidal lagoon that protects Chesil Beach. The shingle beach is 18 miles long, 660 feet wide, 50 feet high, and has pebbles of varying sizes from pea-sized at the north-west end (by West Bay) to potato-sized at the south-east end (by Portland). It is said that smugglers who landed on the beach in the middle of the night could judge their position by the size of the shingle.

This is a satellite picture I got off the Web with Weymouth where the upper land mass narrows down to a 4-lane bridge and then Portland Island at the bottom of the picture. The Weymouth Branch takes in all the land you see there and a little more. You can see the tidal lagoon along the left side of the land mass.

This was a wonderfully beautiful drive. There are lovely pastoral scenes with the ocean in the background.

Not to mention pastures with lots of sheep and a few lambs.







After we had made all but one appointment, we had some time before our DA (dinner appointment), so we stopped in Abbotsbury to see the Abbey.

Our first stop was at the Church of St. Nicholas; a lovely Norman church that is in use today.

Then we walked over to the abbey. Unfortunately, as you can see in this picture, the only portion of the abbey still standing is the wall in red. It most have been beautiful before 1538 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, and Abbotsbury Abbey was ruined as a condition of its sale so that its stone could be reused. The Great Barn, which at 272 feet by 31 feet is the largest thatched building in the world, and St Catherine's Chapel were spared. St. Catherine’s Chapel was used as a lookout across the sea.

Here is a picture of the wall as it stands today.

And here is the same wall with Walt and Jackie in front of it.

This is the Great Barn that is now a Children’s Farm with petting zoo and other amusements.

The Chapel of Saint Catherine can be seen from the Abbey was built in about 1400 as a Pilgrim chapel for Abbotsbury Abbey. Its position on the top of a hill about 260 feet high, overlooking the coast means that it was a prominent feature for seafarers. Interestingly enough, you can’t get there by car; you have to walk up the hill. There are several paths starting from the village of Abbotsbury.

This is a picture of St. Catherine’s Chapel taken from the front of Church of St. Nicholas. As we were leaving Abbotsbury Abbey we stopped a woman and asked about the church on the hill. She told us that St. Catherine's Chapel has a local tradition of 'wishing,’ involving using the niches in the chapel walls to 'post' prayers to the saint asking for her help. This tradition still goes on today.

The chapel is frequently visited by women searching for a husband, since St. Catherine is the patron saint of spinsters. The traditional prayer used here says:

A husband, St Catherine,

A handsome one, St Catherine,

A rich one, St Catherine,

A nice one, St Catherine,

And soon, St Catherine.

Since it was getting late, we didn’t take the walk up to St. Catherine’s Chapel. This shot was taken telephoto as we left Abbotsbury and drove to Bridport (10-15 minutes away) for our appointment with David and Joan Ayles (our Branch Missionaries). We met with them and then had a lovely dinner.

David Ayles loves to play almost any instrument. He plays their keyboard, a banjo, and here he is with his harmonica and tambourine. Needless to say we had a delightful time.


When our visit was completed, we had a word of prayer and they saw us out to the car. In England everyone is so courteous. They never leave the doorway or front of their home until you have driven away. Unfortunately for them, a couple of houses down the road I saw what looked like a red hydrangea. I’m sure it’s just a very dark pink, but it looked red to me. Walt stopped the car and I went to the door, knocked, and asked if I could take a picture of the flower. About that time, Joan came up and introduced us and we were invited into their back garden to look at the flowers there – beautiful garden.

Remember I am taking these pictures on a macro setting so that I can strip out the background. These are just a few of the shots I took. They have a 2-level Koi Pond and roses and all sorts of other flowers growing.

The flowers here in England are fantastic. In the spring you get primroses, daffodils, tulips, and some late spring irises. Then as you go into early summer, you get blue bells, more irises, roses, and rhododendrons (to name a few). Full summer brings geraniums, roses, daisies, fuchsias, gladiolas, hydrangeas, begonias, and zinnias.

Here are some daisies from outside Sister Sandra Scott’s home.

And here are some begonias from a roundabout in Weymouth. We also have begonias growing along the Esplanade in planters. The nice part about England is that it rains often enough that you rarely have to water.

Thursday we were out visiting members most all day.

Friday, we had Zone Meeting with President and Sister Shamo that started at 8:30 am and went until almost 5:00 pm. The meeting was great and we had our first real interviews with President. At that interview he told that he loves the Couple Missionaries and plans to ask for more.

By the time we ate and got into bed, I was exhausted and didn’t shop for the wedding the next day.

Originally, I was asked to make some sweets for a table of snacks that would be eaten after the wedding and before the reception (at a local pub). Then, after Sister Carol White did her shopping, she called and asked that I make cheese straws (a savory rather than a sweet) as she had gone overboard in buying sweets. That was all fine and dandy, but I’ve never made cheese straws. I got two recipes from the internet and found they really weren’t too hard to make.

Therefore, first thing Walt and I did on Saturday morning was go to the store for puff pastry, hard fine grated cheese, and cayenne pepper. I made 4 batches of these things. You take the puff pastry sheet, put it on a sheet of waxed paper since I don’t have a roll-out sheet here like I do in the States, and roll it out to 14-inches square. Then you sprinkle a mixture of the cheese, paprika, and cayenne pepper over half. Fold the unsprinkled half over the sprinkled half, roll lightly to marry the two halves, cut into 1/2-inch strips, twist, put on a ungreased baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Unfortunately, ASDA didn’t have any cayenne pepper so I used chili powder. They weren’t too bad. In fact, they went quite well.

Here is a picture of the other two helpers (Bev Webb on the left and Carol White on the right) as we were putting the table together.

The finished table.

Liz Trueman (mother of the groom).

The bride’s maids (Estelle O’Hanlon on the left and her sister on the right; they are both sisters of the groom). Estelle attends church at Weymouth and is a dear.

I never really got a good picture of the bride. Her dress was just a little too long for the shoes she was wearing, and she watched her feet the whole time.

It was a great opportunity for visiting with non-members as over 95% of the guests were not members. This will hopefully put us in the position to teach the investigator lessons to the bride who is not a member and seems to be interested.

I’ve been telling people that I haven’t been doing anything that was very interesting. I guess that wasn’t quite the whole truth – just nothing “BIG” and interesting, like a trip to Bath or Stonehenge. I hope you like the pictures. I will try to do better keeping my Journal up to date so I don’t have to create it after the fact. The good thing about taking pictures is that they jog your memory (a picture is worth a thousand words….)

My love for now. Jackie