Missionary Journal

England (December Weeks 1-2 2009)

December Week 1 (Really 30 November)

Monday morning early Walt got up and went to Dorchester to take his second driving test. I don’t remember if I told you all he failed his first driving test in October. The Dorchester office has a 24% pass rate (or is it 28%?). Whatever it is, it’s not very high. Walt failed because he didn’t signal when he pulled to the curb and then didn’t look over his shoulder when he pulled out. He checked all his mirrors, but that wasn’t enough. I was beginning to get worried – he can only drive on his US drivers license until 15 December 2009, and I wasn’t looking forward to walking. It takes about six weeks to reschedule and if he didn’t pass this time, we wouldn’t make it before the 15th. Fortunately, he passed. Hallelujah!! Since it was “P” day we did the laundry and then went to the Marquis of Granby for a celebration dinner. This is one of the nicest restaurants in town with a fairly pricy menu (for England); lovely dinner and a good day.

Tuesday was a really busy day. First we had District Meeting which was good as usual. I especially liked one quote: “Definition of a Missionary – A person who leaves his family for a short time so that others can live with their families for eternity.”

We got back just in time for Walt to pick up President Chasteauneuf and for them to go counsel with a member of the branch about his calling. Right after that we went shopping so I would have a gift to take to the Relief Society Christmas Social.

Tuesday evening was the Relief Society Christmas Social. We had an exceptionally interesting time.

We each brought a wrapped gift costing no more than 1£. Fortunately we have the 99P Store in High Street. A good many of the gifts were bought there. Interestingly enough, we had no duplicates.

Our Relief Society President came up with a great game (this is Liz Kagi in her Christmas Tree hat). It was set up like speed dating where you pair off and find out as many things about ech of the other sisters as you can in a short period of time (about 5 minutes I think). Most of these sisters have known each other for years and they were finding out lots of things they never knew. Fortunately, we all got to hear them.

Here are some of the sisters (we had 17 in attendance).

On Wednesday, we baked four batches of cookies in the morning: Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip, and Sugar. Since I didn’t bring any cookie cutters with me, I needed to buy some. There aren’t very many places that sell cookie cutters locally, so I looked on the Web. I finally found one that interested me very much. It was a giant snowflake. I bought pink crystal sugars to sprinkle on it (it is about 10 inches when baked). The center is supposed to come out also, but we were afraid these would be way too fragile. They were fragile enough even with it left in. With the size of oven and cookie sheets I have, I can only bake one of these at a time. Not very efficient! But this is really a “labor of love.”

We made up a dozen plates of cookies (two of each kind but only one snowflake), wrapped and tied them with ribbon. We are hoping to get cookies out to every family in the branch before Christmas.

We decided to go to Portland Island first (we have quite a few families there). It took us three days to get cookies to everybody on Portland, but we did it. We are expecting to go to Weymouth and its environs next.

Thursday was out on Portland during the day and Walt went with the rest of the men to a Special General Priesthood Meeting in Poole in the evening. It was special because they released our Patriarch (due to very old age) and called a new one.

Friday was Relief Society Potluck. I took a Country French chicken casserole. Walt and President had a Presidency Meeting while we were chatting. We almost always have in attendance at least one non-member and one inactive sister.  Good missionary opportunities! 

We offered Sister White a lift home (she lives in Dorchester – about a 45-minute drive). While we were there, we decided to visit Sister Georgina Jones and then the Kagi’s. Liz is our Relief Society President (remember the Christmas Tree hat) and Markus is our High Priest Group Leader. They have a great family. You can see Liz and Markus on the couch and Esther’s back side as she was trying to get to the cookies we brought.

On the way home, Walt took me to the Thomas Hardy (a pub) for dinner. The trio in the entrance was cute so I took a picture. They were busy singing and dancing.

Saturday, Walt made another batch of oatmeal raisin and I did another dozen snowflakes. We decided to head out to Portland and get the last remaining families there (we had been to their homes, but found no one at home earlier). Whew! We did it. Portland is all “cookied” up.

By the time we got home, Walt wasn’t feeling too well. At about 1:00 am he was having diarrhea and it wasn’t much better in the morning. He got up and dressed in his civies and took me to church.

The Gospel Doctrine lesson was “The Whole Armor of God.” What a fun lesson to teach.

I was so tired by the time I got home that I laid down and took a three-hour nap. When I got up I made dinner, made a big batch of brownies and frosted them (for the funeral on Monday; see below), and we both went to bed hoping Walt would feel better in the morning.

December Week 2

Monday morning Walt was fine and we were up early to head for the church to be there at 10:00 am to help with food for the funeral scheduled for today. We had an Area Seventy in attendance (who was obviously presiding). This funeral was for our first counselor (Tony Webb) who died a couple of weeks ago. We had our building filled to overflowing. We put out 215 chairs (not including those on the stand), brought out about 20 more, and there were some standing. Brother Webb was a bishop twice, a branch president twice, and served on the stake presidency in Bristol. He’d touched many, many people.

Since there were so many coming from hours away (Bristol, Wales, etc.), we prepared a load of food (200 sandwiches, 20 gallons of soup, and sweets [i.e., brownies, cakes, cookies, etc.]).

Here are some of the brothers and sisters helping set up and getting food on the tables (from left to right: Brother and Sister Colvil, Sister Kirsty Levi, and Sister Melanie Drinkwater).

We really didn’t think so many would be coming back from the graveside. But we had people all over the overflow room (Relief Society Room), the chapel.

By the way, here is the last picture I took of Brother Webb at Helping Hands in July before he found out about the reoccurrence of his cancer.

This picture was in the program today. It was a few years and a lot of hair ago. He and his wife (Bev) met each other about the same age Walt and I did but about 20 years later.

We will miss him so very much!!

Tuesday was District Meeting. Elder Mysyk’s lesson today was on “Enduring to the End.” We read from Preach My Gospel (PMG). Those of you who have copies should study them. The wisdom of many years of missionary work has gone into creating this manual. PMG says: “Once we have entered the strait and narrow path by our faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and the ordinances of baptism and confirmation, we must exert every effort to stay on the path. We do so by continually exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, making commitments, and following the Spirit.

“Once we have been forgiven of our sins, we should try every day to remain free from sin so that we can always have the Holy Ghost with us. In the covenant of baptism, we promise our Father in Heaven that we will obey His commandments for the rest of our lives. If we fall short, we must repent in order to retain the blessings of the covenant. We promise to do good works, serve others, and follow the Savior’s example. In the scriptures this lifelong commitment is often called ‘enduring to the end.’

“By following the gospel path, we can draw closer to God, conquer temptation and sin, and enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost more abundantly. As we patiently, faithfully, and consistently follow this path throughout our lives, we will qualify for eternal life.

“Faith in Christ; repentance; making, renewing, and keeping covenants; and being cleansed by the Spirit become a pattern of living. Our actions in daily life are shaped and governed by these principles. Peace and joy come by following this way, and we gradually grow in Christlike attributes. Eventually, as we follow this way and “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ . . . and endure to the end,” we are promised, ‘Ye shall have eternal life’ (2 Nephi 31:20).”

In order to demonstrate this we did another chair exercise. Elder Mysyk had each of the elders pick up their chair and hold it out with straight arms. They did really well for about two or three minutes. Then Elder Marchione dropped out, then Elder Rodriquez. Elder Trevisan was the last to endure to the end.

After District Meeting was over, Elders Mysyk, Marchione, and Trevisan practiced O Holy Night (they will be singing it tomorrow at Zone Conference). That’s Elder Trevisan on the end (he is singing baritone), Elder Marchione (he is singing tenor), and Elder Mysyk (he was doing a wonderful job of playing the piano and getting the arrangement to the liking of Elders Trevisan and Marchione). After practicing at that piano a few times, it was evident that our Elders needed to be amplified a little. So, we went into the chapel, turned on the microphone, and practiced several more times until everybody was happy with the result. Of course, Walt was directing.


After returning to Weymouth we headed out to deliver a few more cookies. We especially went to see a Sister who has been inactive for the last few years to give her cookies and set up a time to take her to church on Sunday. We came home and Walt left for a Priesthood Executive Committee meeting. I stayed home and worked on my Gospel Doctrine lesson and Primary Sharing Time.


Wednesday was Zone Conference in Poole (I actually left the house without my camera). We had a wonderful time as usual. The statistics President Shamo gave us were superb: almost all the key indicators for November were up 30% over October. This portends a good outcome for our goal of 600 baptisms for 2009. We had lunch and then a lovely Christmas presentation put together by Sister Shamo. Our Weymouth Elders sang their duet, and I felt it was the highlight of the presentation. We did have two other groups that were memorable. One group did “The Fourteen Days of Christmas” with each person ad-libbing his day focusing on missionary work. The other was a duet talking about “Dear John” letters, etc. These two were done at the end after the more serious portion of the presentation was completed. We didn’t get home until almost 8:00 pm.

Thursday we made more cookies and Walt decorated the Christmas tree while I finished off my Gospel Doctrine lesson. I bought a little (3.5 feet) battery pre-lighted tree at ASDA for £5 and decorations for another £5. The star is the one I wrote about last Christmas and really is too big for the tree, but the gold angel I bought to top the tree is too heavy.


I also finished off my Christmas cards for all the Weymouth Branch folks, including the “No Contacts.” I sent cards with a synopsis of the December Home Teaching Message (“Home for Christmas” by President Eyring) and a Christmas message titled “The Three Levels of Christmas.” Boy, signing and writing a short message particular to each family in 100 cards makes your hand tired, but I loved doing it.

The Three Levels of Christmas

This is a beautiful time of the year. We love the excitement, the giving spirit, the special awareness of and appreciation for family and friends, the feelings of love and brotherhood that bless the gatherings at Christmastime. In all of the joyousness, it is well to reflect that Christmas comes at three levels. Let’s call the first level the Santa Claus level. It’s the level of Christmas trees and holly, of whispered secrets and colorful packages, of candlelight and rich food and warm open houses. It’s carolers in the shopping malls, excited children and weary but loving parents. It’s a lovely time of special warmth and caring and giving. It’s the level at which we eat too much and spend too much and do too much… and enjoy every minute of it. We love the Santa Claus level of Christmas.

But there is a higher, more beautiful level. Let’s call it the Silent Night level. It’s the level of all our glorious carols, of that beloved story: “Now in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus.” It’s the level of the crowded inn and the silent, holy moment in a dark stable when the Son of Man came to earth. It’s the shepherds on steep, bare hills near Bethlehem, angles with their glad tidings, a new star in the East, wise men traveling far in search of the Holy One. How beautiful and meaningful it is; how infinitely poorer we would be without this sacred second level of Christmas.


The trouble is, these two levels don’t last. They can’t. Twelve days of Christmas, at the first level, is about all we can stand. It’s too intense, too extravagant. The tree dries out and the needles fall. The candles burn down. The beautiful wrappings go out with the trash, the carolers are up on the ski slopes, the toys break, and the biggest day in stores in the entire year is exchange day, December 26th. Lovely and joyous as the first level of Christmas is, there will come a day very soon when mother will put away the decorations and vacuum the living room and think, “Thank goodness that’s over with for another year.” Even the second level, of Baby Jesus, cannot last. How many times this season can you sing, “Silent Night”? The angels and the star and the shepherds, even the silent, sacred mystery of the holy night itself, can’t long satisfy humanity’s basic need. The man who keeps Christ in the manger will, in the end, by disappointed and empty.

No, for Christmas to last all year long, for it to grow in beauty and meaning and purpose, for it to have power to change lives, we must celebrate it at the third level, that of the adult Christ. It is at that level—not as an infant—that our Saviour brings His gifts of lasting joy, lasting peace, lasting hope. It was the adult Christ who reached out and touched the un-touchable, who loved the unlovable, who so loved us all that even in His agony on the cross He prayed forgiveness for His enemies.


This is the Christ, creator of worlds without number, who wept, Enoch tells us, because so many of us lack affection and hate each other, and then who willingly gave His life for all of us.


This is the Christ, the adult Christ, who gave us the perfect example, and asked us to follow Him. Accepting that invitation is the way—the only way—to celebrate Christmas all year—and all life long.


Our wish for you is to have a beautiful Christmas and a happy New Year.


Our love to you always, Elder and Sister Reimers


On Friday we were out and about again visiting more people and delivering cookies in Weymouth. Next week we will head out to Bridport and areas north of Weymouth.


Saturday Walt did more peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, and chocolate chip cookies, we made up more plates, and out we went again. So far, we have about one-half the branch delivered.


When we returned, I did the bulletin, completed my Primary sharing time (Remembering Jesus during the Sacrament), and dropped into bed. I picked up some free software that makes cross-word puzzles and made one up titled “Remembering Jesus.” The children had a good time with reading the scriptures about the Last Supper and filling out the puzzle.


Sunday Walt got up and put together chicken noodle soup for the Munch & Mingle we were having after church today. Usually at least two of us make big pots of soup. In addition we had two kinds of quiche, mini Cornish pasties, sandwiches, two kinds of pizza, and lots and lots of sweets. At church we finalized the Christmas Sacrament Meeting Program music, I did my things in Sunday School and Primary while trying to make sure our Sister had a good experience at church. Afterwards, there was a short “stand-up council” meeting, then Walt and President did tithing settlement. We finally got home about 4:00 pm. We looked at each other, then went out and did some more visiting. We just love being of service and having the time to devote to it.





I think I will publish this and start again on Monday. Love to you all, Jackie