Missionary Journal
England (May 2010 Weeks 1 and 2)
May Week 1
Monday was hair day, laundry, and cleaning. Not much else but working on lessons and a little shopping.
Tuesday was District Meeting and we visited folks in Weymouth in the afternoon.
Wednesday we spent the day in the house working on Gospel Doctrine, Primary Sharing Time, and the Speaking Assignments for the next three months (May through July) since we knew we wouldn’t be at home Friday and Saturday due to the trip to London for the Partial Conference with Elder Snow. Arranging speaking assignments is a lengthy task as it involves reading the talks from General Conference (I made up an Excel spreadsheet with the links to the talks for Walt), matching them up with speakers, and then getting acceptances from the proposed speakers. Once that is done, then another spreadsheet is sent to our Music Director (with the speakers and their topics) to put in the music. Once that is completed, doing the bulletin is very simple and quick.
Thursday morning Walt made peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies and we set off in the early afternoon for Salisbury. We visited ten families (mostly less-active) and enjoyed meeting the Salisbury folks. So far we’ve visited 42% of the Salisbury families.
Friday morning we headed to London to meet the Webers (another Senior Missionary Couple who are serving in Plymouth) at Kew Gardens in Richmond. As we were traveling I took this picture of the rape seed fields. It is so beautiful here in the spring when the trees are leafing out and the fields are brown (just plowed, green (growing), or bright yellow (rape seed).
We just made it to Richmond at the appropriate time, but couldn’t find a parking place near the Main Gate where the Webers were waiting (see map). We finally parked (very close) to the Victoria Gate (a quarter of the way around the park from the Main Gate) and walked over.
Wikipedia says the following about Kew Gardens: “The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are 121 hectares (299 acres) of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. The director is Professor Stephen D. Hopper, who succeeded Professor Sir Peter Crane. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is also the name of the organisation that runs Kew Gardens and Wakehurst Place gardens in Sussex. It is an internationally important botanical research and education institution with 700 staff and an income of £56 million for the year ended 31 March 2008, as well as a visitor attraction receiving almost 2 million visits in that year. The gardens are a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Created in 1759, the gardens celebrated their 250th anniversary in 2009.
“The Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is responsible for the world’s largest collection of living plants. The organisation employs more than 650 scientists and other staff. The living collections include more than 30,000 different kinds of plants, while the herbarium, which is the largest in the world, has over 7 million preserved plant specimens. The library contains more than 750,000 volumes, and the illustrations collection contains more than 175,000 prints and drawings of plants. The Kew site includes four Grade I listed buildings and 36 Grade II listed structures in an internationally significant landscape.”
One thing that was quite interesting was the “seed walk” which holds 28 very large willow sculptures of seed pods. This is the “Devil’s Claw” seed pod (left) and this is the Banksia seed pod (below).
The trees here are absolutely beautiful. We really enjoyed getting close to these flowering trees. I believe they are called “double pink cherry.”
Here is a picture of Walt and I under this tree.
And here are the Webers.
Here is a closeup of the flowers.
As we came in from the Victoria Gate on our way to the Main Gate we passed the Palm House Pond. The pond was surrounded by these stone vases planted with pansies and tulips. They were just gorgeous.
Here is a closeout of the flowers.
Our next stop was the Palm House. It was so muggy and hot in there that my glasses wouldn’t defog; I had to borrow Walt’s hanky and wipe them off. In this hot house, there was a walk way all the way around with circular staircases at each end (supposedly one up and one down, but people didn’t seem to pay much attention to the up and down.
This is a picture of Walt coming down – you can see his “dorky” hat and, of course, his white shirt and tie (we were the only women there in skirts and Elder Weber and Walt were the only men I saw in ties.
We came through are some more of the formal gardens. There were many, many people working in the gardens the day we were there.
There was also this duck family. (I thought they were cute so I took the picture.)
One of the last things we (well, not me) did was the tree-top walkway. It was 107 steps up (59 feet).
Walt is looking down at me (sitting on a bench and waiting for them to come down) from up there in the tree tops. This is probably enough for Kew Gardens. If you want to see more, I have hundreds of pictures – thank goodness for digital cameras.
When we finished at Kew Gardens, we headed out for the London Temple. We planned to meet the Webers at the Mission Office, go out to dinner, and then do a temple session. We brought the remaining cookies with us since Walt didn’t want them to go stale. We gave Sister Wege (the only person working in the Mission Office at the moment) a bag and chatted with her until the Webers showed up. Then we went to the Peacock to get dinner, came back to the Temple and did the 7:00 pm session, went back to the accommodation and went to bed (boy, was that bed hard and the pillow was big and hard). I woke up with a crook in my neck that wasn’t nice. Not only that, but Walt had set the phone to wake us up at 6:30 so we could be on our way by 8:00 to the Wandsworth Stake Building for a Missionary Conference with Elder Snow. Unfortunately, the phone alarm didn’t wake us up at 6:30 am. In fact, it didn’t wake us up at all. I woke up at 7:26 am and we rushed through cleaning up and getting out by 8:15 am. Fortunately, the traffic between the Temple and Wandsworth wasn’t at all bad and we made it there in plenty of time to get a good seat.
Elders Snow and Donaldson were in Wandsworth to attend their Stake Conference (that afternoon and on Sunday). Elder Snow is a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Donaldson was sustained in April General Conference as our new Area Seventy replacing Elder Kearon who was sustained as a new member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Whenever there is a general authority anywhere in the mission, President Shamo tries his best to get them to speak to his missionaries. Even so, this was called a “Partial” conference in that only the zones nearest to London were invited (which doesn’t include ours). However, all the senior missionaries were invited so we got to go.
The meeting was wonderful and we heard many great suggestions on how to be better missionaries.
We also heard from President Shamo that Elder Cook will be in England this month (I believe) and we will have another conference.
The mission fed us (sandwiches, etc.) and while we were there I realized that there were an inordinate number of our missionaries (those that served in either Weymouth or Yeovil and that we saw weekly at District Meetings or when the missionaries were on splits. I took this picture so I would have it to remember those that were going home shortly. Isn’t that a great looking bunch of young men? [Left to right: Elders Marchione (Weymouth), Mysyk (Yeovil and our District Leader), Bång (Weymouth), Allred (Weymouth), Ellsworth (Weymouth), Crockett (Weymouth), Harding (Yeovil and District Leader), Reimers, Kuhse (Yeovil), Rodriquez (Yeovil), and Arrington (Weymouth).]
When we left I put on the SatNav to get us out of the London area and it said we should be home at 4:05 pm. Oh, boy, plenty of time to rest and get things ready for church tomorrow. Well, not really. It took us a long, long time to just get out of London. It was Saturday and people were thronging the streets. We didn’t get home until after 6:00 pm. We did a little bit of shopping (tomorrow is Fast Sunday) and headed home. I did the bulletin and went to bed. For any of you who don’t know about Fast Sunday, we fast the first Sunday of each month for two meals (I usually fast Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast) and pay at least the amount I would have spent for those meals to Fast Offering to help the needy in the church.
Sunday was good. I forgot to mention that on Friday I received a call from Ros Rowbotham (our Primary President) who asked me to switch Sundays with her for Sharing Time. I said, “Fine, as long as I don’t have to prepare another topic.” So, I was able to attend ReliefSociety. We came home, had lunch, and I took a Sunday nap.
May Week 2
Tuesday was the last District Meeting before moves. This was a short moves cycle of only five weeks rather than six weeks. Here we have (starting back row left to right) Elders Purser, Hillary, Hanks (current District Leader), Barker, and Tom Hagen (second row left to right) Elders Reimers, Greeley (suit coat, Zone Leader) (on floor) Elder Lee. Tom Hagen is one of the temporary missionaries helping the Mission for the next six weeks. Elders Lee and Purser and going home Friday this week. They are two of the 17 missionaries going home this week. In June we have another 18 going home.
Elder Hillary led us in District Study on the topic of Christ’s Teaching Skills. Each companionship was given scriptures to look up and to decide on what skill’s Jesus showed in the reading. Ours was Luke 4:32-37:
32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
33 ¶ And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
Therefore, our skills were (1) know of the doctrine, speaking with power, discernment, and example.
Then (Skill = Using the Spirit to Teach), Matthew 10-19-20:
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
The next was Doctrine & Covenants 11:21 - Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men. The skill was great preparation. How many times do people procrastinate preparation and then can’t get it together at the very last minute. I am a firm believer in early and good preparation!
Lastly was Luke 10:36-37 (Skill=Asking Questions)
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Questions to ask yourselves:
1. Where did you acquire your teaching skills?
2. What helped you become the teacher you are?
3. What attributes did Jesus have that made Him such a great teacher?
In Preach My Gospel (Page 176), we read: “Learn to rely on the Spirit to give you what you should say and do. By studying, developing, and using the teaching skills in this chapter, you will become a more capable instrument in the hands of the Lord. The Spirit will draw upon the knowledge and skills you have developed to help you teach more powerfully. The quality and power of your teaching will help others understand and feel the importance the restored gospel has for them. Their understanding will be influenced by your personal worthiness. Their understanding will also be influenced by how well you focus your attention on them, by how well you explain the gospel, use the scriptures, share your testimony, ask questions, and invite them to make and keep commitments.”
It was a lovely study led by our new District Leader. I still marvel at the dedication and abilities of these 20-somethings. What great young men!!
Tuesday after the meeting, we met President Chasteauneuf at Dorchester Hospital and did some hospital visits. We have two sisters at Dorchester. One sister is waiting for an angiogram and the other is on inhalation therapy for asthma. After that we made more Weymouth visits with President. One home we stopped at was Sister Sandra Scott’s. She promised us that she would come to church with us Sunday, 16 May, since she had to be out of town visiting her step-mother who has cancer. We have been working with her since we got here and I’m holding my breath and praying constantly that we can get her to sacrament.
Wednesday I asked our recent widow out for lunch and a walk on the High Street. We had a great time. Walt and I picked her up at 12:30 and he dropped us off on the High Street and went to vegetate for a while. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then just walked up and down looking in shops (mostly window shopping). It doesn’t really make any sense for me to buy much of anything when I either have to give it away or give away something else so that I can take another thing home in five months. I did, however, buy a darling little angel sculpture (the angel is sleeping in a hand). I’ll find a place for it.
After window shopping we crossed over a street and walked along the Esplanade (next to the ocean). I took several pictures of the flower planters there.
Walt picked us up at 3:30 and we took her home. It was just a lovely afternoon. I haven’t taken time to window shop with anyone since we’ve been here. It was good for her and very good for me.
After that we more some more visits out on Portland Island and stopped at Sister Melanie Drinkwater’s to give Orson some cookies (well, we are the “cookie people”) and help Melanie her with computer and printer issues.
Thursday was an “in” day since we had the Landlord (Clive) coming over in the afternoon to check out some issues we have with the bathroom and we didn’t know exactly when he was coming. Unfortunately, he arrived just before 5:00 pm and left about 7:00 pm. We really like him – unlike most of the landlords we’ve heard about from the elders, when we have a problem, he is there as quickly as possible to remedy it.
Friday Walt was out and about in Weymouth seeing brethren. In the evening he went to the chapel to work on some electrical issues in the “Bishop’s Office.” I finished up Gospel Doctrine, worked on Primary Sharing Time and started pulling together a Family Home Evening (FHE) for the Walkers. They invited us to dinner on Saturday evening and wanted us to prepare a FHE on preparing for the coming day by scripture study and prayer.
Saturday Walt was out and about again while I made soft pretzels. This was the first time I’d tried it, but it was fun and they were good. The reasons I made soft pretzels: (1) Nathan Walker has to severely limit his intake of sugar and is allergic to all dairy products (and pretzels have no dairy and very little sugar) and (2) they went with the lesson on prayer.
History of Pretzels
In about 610 A.D. a very creative Alpine Monk decided to make use of the pieces of dough left over from baking bread. The Monk formed them into thin strips folded into a looped twist to represent the folded arms of children in prayer.
This scrumptious treat was given to the children as they learned their prayers. They began calling the treat "Pretiola", which is Latin for "little reward". Soon it was known the world over as a pretzel.
The secret of making great pretzels is not only in the baking but also in the shaping. We, like pretzels, are made from the best ingredients, by the best hands available, the hands of our Father in Heaven.
Have you ever seen a broken pretzel, or one that's lost its shape? We too, can lose our shape when we don't pray always to keep our spirituality intact. Even in the midst of our greatest trials, we must remember, as did Job, to call on the Lord. The simple shape of the pretzel, arms folded in prayer, reminds us to pray each day. Our "Pretiola" or "little rewards" the blessings we receive.
Every time you see a pretzel, remember prayer.
I took my camera, but the battery needed to be recharged. So, no pictures.
We went to the store for milk and bread; then when we got home, I did the handouts for Gospel Doctrine, did the bulletin, and made sure everything was ready for tomorrow. We went to bed fairly early. However, Walt woke me up at about 4:00 am when he remembered he hadn’t put the soup (potato leek) into the Crockpot before he went to bed.
On Sunday, we picked up President and Sister Chasteauneuf up and headed for the chapel (about 8:30 am). That was when the day started to go terribly wrong! My mind must have been “at the punchbowl” last night because I kept discovering things I had done wrong. First, I realized I had printed the front of the bulletin but not the back side with the announcements (which is used to make up the agenda for Sacrament Meeting). I ran into the clerk’s office and printed out a dozen bulletins and hand tore them (a little rough, but not too bad). I also changed the speakers since our first speaker was still in the hospital. Then I proceeded to set up for Gospel Doctrine. As I was pulling the handouts out of the sleeve I keep them in, I realized that I hadn’t put in the reader’s theatre the Primary was doing for Sharing Time. Back into the clerk’s office and I reprinted them. OK, I thought. Everything else must be all right. Well, when I got into Gospel Doctrine I found out that I had two Handout #1s. Fortunately, that was patched over easily. I still can’t believe I managed to mess up three different things for today. Boy, was my halo tarnished!
After church was Munch and Mingle and it went well. The weather has been in the mid to high 50s and rainy this last week. However, everybody that usually bring soup for this event decided it was “summer” and they weren’t going to bring soup. One brought a lovely macaroni salad, the second pizza, and the third home-made chicken wings. Ours was the only soup in sight. We also had home-made quiche, meat pie, Cornish rolls, etc., plus desserts. The only thing that didn’t get brought was drinks (we had water and that was just fine with me).
Love to you all, Jackie
