Sending Them Off

This is our Alpine German District + Sister Horgmo who is going to the Oslo Norway Mission.
They departed at 3:30am to get to the airport and get all checked in for their flight. 

These are our Scotland/Ireland missionaries. They departed at 5:30am
on a coach headed for Scotland.

These are our missionaries heading to Manchester.
The Assistants to the President came to collect them at 7:00am.

These are our missionaries heading to Leeds.
 They were taken by bus to their mission.

We also had two sister missionaries that were ESL that went by cab to Birmingham and London South.

All of our missionaries were gone by 7:30am. Four times a year we end up with no missionaries here. We had two that arrived very late Tuesday night, grabbed a snack and went to bed. It was very quiet and strange to be in the MTC without them. Waking up at 3am is a little strange for me mentally. I felt tired all day. :) It was nice though to have some time to prepare for tomorrow and to clean out my desk.

Running and Driving

This is the beautiful path that I ran on this morning. It is a canal that runs from Chorley to Liverpool. Of course I got a little lost when the path ended and I ran on the street. I couldn't find my way back to the canal. I've decided if I go a day with out getting turned around, I'm not really living. I am constantly turned around. My run was four miles today instead of three. Yikes!

These are the first cows I have seen in England.
They must be such happy cows with all of the green pasture!

 

Horses with blankets. After being in Heber, I think these horses are a little spoiled.

 

Learning to drive on the wrong side of the road has been interesting. You constantly tell yourself to "stay left". I feel like I am doing better, but the roundabouts can still get to me. My gps tells me, "take the fifth exit on the roundabout", in an English accent, and then I count outloud and every once in awhile do it wrong. I am pretty sure it is the gps's fault! Twice I have gotten off too soon and got onto the motorway and eight miles later I can get off and turn back around. Luckily, I haven't been in a rush to get anywhere. When Jon and I go together, I am constantly trying to go to the drivers door to get in. He has to tell me, "that's my side!" He is very patient with my lack of directional skill of any kind. 

Monday

I am very surprised, in only two weeks, how much love I feel for the fifty three missionaries in our MTC. They will all depart tomorrow and my heart is a little broken about it. I find myself wishing they were all our missionaries, and that I would be able to spend the next 18 months - 2 years with them, serving with them, observing their growth, and building life long relationships with them. I will never forget them!

We have had six districts of missionaries; Alma (German-speaking), Nephi (English as a Second Language), Lehi, Jacob, Ammon and Abinidi. The Nephi district classroom is very close to my office. I see them a lot during the day. They are from Italy, Colombia, Tahiti, Ukraine and Hungary. It is amazing that when they arrived, six weeks ago, they spoke no English. They have come a long way, and they are happy, happy missionaries. They are nervous to all split up and go to different missions and have to start speaking all english. I am so proud of them! They have incredible testimonies and desires to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would love to be a fly on the wall and watch their progress in the next six months! I love these beautiful people!

Then in the Lehi district we have missionaries from South Africa, Idaho, Namibia, Italy, Netherlands, England, Latvia, Philippines, Germany and Ecuador. They all came speaking varying amounts of English. They have all worked together and helped one another, It is quite a blessing to watch. In our other districts they have mostly been very good English speakers. We have missionaries from America, Germany, Taiwan, Uganda, England, Ukraine, Australia, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Norway and Fiji. Some have been members all of their lives and some only 2-3 years.

We sat down in our little chapel last night (the Heber C. Kimball room), and had a departing testimony meeting with this little band of brothers and sisters of all colors, nationalities and backgrounds and felt an incredible unity as children of our Heavenly Father. They have grown very close to each other and have felt love and support and encouragement and strength as they have prepared to teach and serve the people of England, Scotland/Ireland, Germany, and Norway. My heart is full to have been present at such a sacred meeting. I feel so blessed to be able to have this experience with my dear, sweet husband. I have missed serving by his side for the last 4 1/2 years.

Sundays are long days in the MTC, but it is the good kind of long and tired that I feel when the day is done.

Church History Tour in Preston England!

This morning we got on a bus with all of our 3-week missionaries and went to see the church history sites in Preston and Downham. It was FREEZING and windy (but not raining) and we walked around the city for about an hour and a half. My tights and shoes didn't quite cut it...I need some different equipment...! Anyway, it was beautiful! I can only imagine what it will look like in the spring and summer. 15 Wadham Road is where President Hinckley was living when he received his letter from his father that said, "Gordon, forget yourself and go to work." He said that was a "day of decision" for him. He went upstairs to pray about it and when he got up off his knees, he got to work and never looked back. The tour guide, Peter Fagg, told us a sweet story of how the Prophet came back to this apartment a few times and actually went back up stairs to the bedroom where he prayed. I really felt the Spirit as he told us about President Hinckley's experience there! I love President Hinckley!

 This is a beautiful park on the edge of the River Ribble. Such a peaceful sight, and probably since it was -1C degree, we were the only people outside.

In Downham I saw my first Red telephone booth. This one had a defibrillator in it! We are anxious to return to that village and do some exploring.

Missionary Schedule Change

Today is a monumental day! The Brethren have made some changes in the missionary daily schedule and number of key indicators! I think ALL missionaries will be thrilled with the changes! We had heard about it at our MTC training and knew that it would be announced today in a Worldwide Missionary Training. The purpose of the change was to 1. Allow the missionary to be more productive each day. 2. Be more healthy. and 3. To use their agency to make righteous decisions about how to best spend their time. I am thinking the news is probably already on line so I won't go into any more details, but it is going to be GREAT for the missionaries!

We had a few hours after lunch, and the sun was shining, so we decided to go and see the ocean on this clear day. We went to St. Annes Pier and this is what we found.

We could see that there was ocean waaayyyy out there, but it was far away. We stopped an old man and asked him if this was normal. He said the tide was out, and the time of year made it like this. We walked around and could see that in the summer there would be fun things for the children to do. We almost froze to death! It was 7 degrees Celsius. It felt colder than that. My legs are always numb if we are outdoors.

As we were coming in to St. Annes, I noticed that there was a golf course. Guess where we went next? You got it! Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Course. No girls allowed. Jon checked it all out. If his golf clubs ever arrive maybe he will have a chance to play!

It doesn't look that special, does it? He says it's kind of special!

Temple Day

Today we were able to take all of our missionaries to the temple, in two different groups. I'm so sad I didn't get my phone out until our second group, but we had a very special day. Two of our missionaries have not been previously endowed. The temple has been closed for two weeks here, so today was the day. Elder Cosmas is from Kampala, Uganda and is headed to the Scotland/Ireland Mission. He lost both of his hands in a tragic circumstance and has a completely remarkable story and attitude. I think you will be able to see from his picture how happy he is! All the time! And his companion, Elder Foster, helps him with everything he needs. He is also a remarkable young missionary.

Elder Foster (England) and Elder Cosmas (Uganda)

Sister Pogisho is from Botswana and she is just as sweet and loving as Elder Cosmas. She was very helpful when Sister Nyoni was feeling so sick.

Sister Valle (Italy) and Sister Pogisho (Botswana)

I am so grateful to live right on the temple grounds. It is such a privilege to be in the temple often and be there with our missionaries! I am amazed at how close I feel to these fifty three souls in just one week. I guess it helps that we are sharing the dorms with them! Haha! Here is a picture of a few of them, each with a story to tell, and each striving to become a great missionary.

Sister Pogisho (Botswana) and Sister Nyoni (Johannesburg, SA)

Sister Schulze (Germany) and Sister Yu (Taiwan/Mandarin Speaking)

Elder Chand (Fiji), Elder Livingston (Idaho) and Elder Beadle (Utah)

Sister Cook (Idaho), Sister Horgmo (Norway) and Sister Pinther (Idaho)

A Visit From Donny Osmond

We got a phone call on Friday that one of our missionaries, Elder Livingston, his grandfather, Elder Foster had arranged for Donny Osmond to come and speak at our Sacrament Meeting. WHAT? It feels like we have had several visitor's since we arrived! That is how I learned the work knackered! HA! Since some of the missionaries weren't familiar with him, he told them he was the "Let's get down to business!" character (Shang), from Mulan. That was our theme song for the day.

I think we had a great first Sabbath. 

A Visit From The Europe Area Presidency

Today we got a phone call that the Area Presidency would be coming to meet with us and to talk to our missionaries and then have dinner with us. We knew they were coming to town for a priesthood leadership training on Saturday, but we didn't know if they would have time to come and speak to our missionaries. What a very wonderful blessing to have them come and visit! Of course, it is always a special reunion when we get to see Elder Kearon. Meeting Elder Johnson and Elder Sabin was really sweet too. These men are the kindest, most Christlike men. What a treat to be with them! 

Our First Day!

Dear Family and Friends,

I think this is how I will journal while I am on my mission to the U.K. I will write the highlights and share some photos. Hopefully it will help me remember what we did and what we felt while we were here.

Our first day was very interesting and way better than I would have imagined. Here is my report...

We left Monday morning from SLC at 9:40am. We flew to Detroit, then to Amsterdam and then to Manchester. We arrived at about 8:30am, Tuesday. As the British say...we were knackered! (Donny Osmond taught me that.) The dictionary definition is "extremely tired" or "worn out or damaged by overuse." Either one works!

We were greeted by Robert and Patricia Preston, the outgoing MTC President and his wife and brought to Chorley. Chorley is a pretty small town that I am starting to love. Since it is winter here, the trees are bare, but the grass is green and the people are friendly. I have been told the further north you go the friendlier the people. I am glad we don't live in London, I am turning into a small town girl. We are on the same acreage as the Preston England Temple, a stake center, a family history center and some temple housing.

When we got here we had a little de-brief with the Preston's, met the missionaries, shook their hands, looked into their eyes and had lunch. We will talk about the cafeteria food later! The Preston's left and we started some training with our MTC Manager, Chris Pattenden. He is WONDERFUL! He is funny, loving, knows what he is doing, is very helpful and has a British accent! We are enjoying our time with him. 

After he felt like we were on overload, we came into our apartment, which by the way was clean, freshly painted and carpeted, and waiting for new furniture. SCORE! Totally opposite of our experience in Santa Rosa and totally better than we had tried to prepare ourselves for. We unpacked and tried very hard to stay awake until 9pm. I slept like a log...Jon not so much. As he would say, "typical".