A Sweet Sabbath

AHHHH!  I just found this "draft" tucked in the bowels of my other posts.  I have no idea why it didn't get published  back when I wrote it, but I am glad that I at least saw it now.  (P.S.  I have since had jellaf rice, and when made not to spicy, it's very good).  Enjoy

I realize that I have not been very good at keeping up on my blog, and even worse in my journal, so I just wanted to share a few thoughts.  We enjoyed a testimony meeting at church today, and I realized that I love these people!  As the members stood to bear their testimonies, I felt an incredible amount of love for each one.  I know I shouldn't be surprised at that, and I'm not. I think I was just surprised at how much I love them, and maybe at how quickly.  We have been in this ward for one month now and because our numbers are few, I believe that I have had interactions with every member.  Each one loves the Lord and is striving to live as He would want them to.  We all have that in common. In our Stake here in the Wandsworth area of London, there are 62 languages spoken by the people.  For the most part, they all speak English, but it is still with a heavy accent from their native country.  Many dress differently, and eat different foods than I am used to.  But regardless of where you are from, we are all children of our Father in Heaven and He loves us all. I am so grateful to be here, to feel the love and support of my family and friends back home and also of my new family and friends here.  This is an amazing experience!

Speaking of different foods, I have an embarrassing yet pretty funny story to share.  Our first few days here in London, we attended a pot luck dinner for the missionary couple whose flat we took over.  They were returning home after serving here for 18 months and the members wanted to have a going away party.  There was so much food! Lots of rice dishes, things with fish heads in it, and an assortment of other unidentified foods.  Because there was so much food, I was able to fill my plate with relatively safe looking foods.  As I was going down the line, a sister said to me in her heavy Jamaican accent, "you did not take some of my Jellaf rice", but here is what I heard, "you did not take some of my Jell-O rice".  Of course I was very confused and asking for clarification, I asked "Jell-O rice?"  She laughed and laughed, thinking that it was so funny that I would think she said Jell-O instead of Jellaf.  Now remember, here in England they have a tenancy to drop off the last part of a word.  It didn't make sense to me that she would have put Jell-O in rice, but the fish heads didn't make much sense to me either, so who am I to question.  Either way, at that point I had to go back and take some.  Apparently Jellaf rice is an African dish and I am here to tell you that while it looks harmless, it is very spicy!  After the dinner, I went up to her and said, "you did not warn me that your rice was so hot".  Again she laughed and laughed.  She told all of her friends what I had said and insisted on having her picture taken with me.  That dumb American who thought Jellaf rice was Jell-O rice.  When I saw her at Stake Conference several weeks later, she gave me a big hug and told all her friends about me again.  I'm glad that I could make her day, but I have to admit, I hope I never have to eat Jellaf rice again!

Margaret got Baptized!

Margaret David got baptized on May 10th.  I can't believe I haven't posted it on here yet! She is so much fun and has such a great laugh.  She is originally from Nicaragua.  AND, she is definitely afraid of  water.  It actually took me some time to assure her that it was going to be ok, that she would only be under the water for a moment, and that Elder Wright would have a hold of her the whole time.  I also had to stress to Elder Wright to get it right the first time because I wasn't sure she would/could do it again.  This was Elder Wright's first baptism and he was nervous.  But it the end, it all went off without a hitch and she did great!  She is a great addition to our ward!

Margaret David, nervous about her baptism.

Elder Wright, nervous about her baptism.

New Assignment

Well, I suppose it's not really a new assignment, but more of an additional assignment.  We are still working in the Crystal Palace Ward, but we have also been asked help the office missionaries on the two days before missionaries are returning home, after completing their missions.  We took the train down to the mission office on a Monday morning and pretty much hit the ground running once we got there.  Meals needed to be prepared for that and the following day.  Sister Adams has done this for awhile now and knew what she was doing so we were pretty much laborers and gofers.  We put on a lovely meal on Monday night and after we got everything cleaned up, we started working on breakfast and the other meals for the next day.  We were able to slip into the testimony meeting and were so touched by the testimonies of these missionaries.  I cannot tell you how impressed I am with these young men and women, and I feel confident that the church will be in good hands knowing they will be heading back to their home wards and stakes to be the future leaders. The next day after breakfast, we attended the temple with them.  It too was a choice experience.  Then there was lunch and getting another dinner ready.  We loved seeing these missionaries, many of whom we had worked with.  I felt like a mom to them and I was sad to see them go. They were a little sad as well.  Not about leaving us, but about leaving their missions. They had grown to love the people and the work that they did here.  We finally left the mission office around ten o'clock on Tuesday night, exhausted, but with full hearts.

The Missionaries that were going home at the April transfers

We worked directly with these missionaries.  From left to right:
Elder Cangas, (in our district);  Elder Bailey (our "trainer" in Crystal Palace Ward);
 Elder Fowler (my companion); Elder Mafubelu  (our zone leader);
 Elder Pond (missionary in Crystal Palace Ward) Front row:
Sister Ylisaari (missionary at the visitors center) and
Sister Santos (in our district). 
 We love these missionaries!!!

Pam Gets Baptized!

Every missionary’s goal is to help others gain a testimony of the restored gospel and enter the waters of baptism.  Really, there is nothing like it!  And what makes this one even more special is that Pam Clarke is not just an investigator, she is my friend.  After 7 months of investigating the church, three sets of missionaries and a lot of prayers on her behalf, Pam got baptized on Saturday March 22, 2014.  She asked Terry to baptize her and me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, which made it even more special for us.  She also invited SO MANY friends and family members.  There were about 40 people there and I would say about half were those that she invited.  The Spirit was strong and I hope that some of those people will want to know more too, but that would just be icing on the cake.  For now, my friend Pam is a member of the church!

It's hard to capture a picture of Pam smiling.
 I had to tickle her to get this to get this beautiful smile.

Right before Terry baptized Pam

With Elder Pond (left) and Elder Wright (on right)

Spring is in the air!

It was a cold, wet, windy winter.  Many people have said that it was windier than usual, but that the temperatures were more mild than usual.  Really?  I thought it was plenty cold, but it's true that we didn't get any snow.  Some areas had extreme rain and flooding, we weren't that bad here I guess, but still, it wasn't fun.  But it was probably because we were out it in a lot.  At home, when I wanted to go somewhere, I would walk out of my house into the garage, get in my car and drive to where I wanted to go.  Find a parking spot close to the door and run inside.  Coming home, same thing in reverse.  But here, I walk to the bus stop, wait, sometimes a long time, ride the bus for a bit, get off and walk to where I want to go.  The bus and train system is great here in London and usually they can get you with in 10-15 minutes of where you want to be.  But not always.  For us to get to the train station, it is a 20-25 minute walk.  We ride the train and then walk to where we want to go.  So what I am trying to say, I notice the weather a lot more because I am in it a lot more. 

BUT, I am seeing signs of hope!  Spring is in the air!  We have had some beautiful days with sunshine and as we walk around, I have noticed more and more flowers.  It is beautiful and does so much for my psyche.  Terry keeps trying to warn me that winter isn't really over yet, but I will enjoy this for as long as I can!  Spring is a beautiful time of year!

Not sure what kind of tree it is, but I think I am allergic to it.
It's ok though, it's beautiful all in bloom!

Daffodils are always a personal favorite.

Such a well manicured yard.
 Don't see many like this, but I was sure glad that I got see it!

Bicyclists

Someone posted recently something that made me laugh.  It was a list of things, that I mostly don't even remember now, but the one that I DO remember was: "When I drive my car, I hate pedestrians, when I am a pedestrian, I hate cars, but when I am a driver OR a pedestrian I hate bicyclists".  Now I don't really hate anyone, but this kind of rang true to me.  They scare me to death!  The cyclists zip in and out of traffic, (which is why they like riding bikes, I know, I know), and don't follow traffic rules like they should. 

 From our flat, we can hear the sirens of police cars and ambulances go by all the time.  Every time I hear a siren, I say to Terry, "another Cyclist just got hit".  He used to laughed at me until we heard that last December, 6 (SIX!) people died from bicycle accidents.  I have taken up grading every cyclist that I see.  If they are wearing a helmet and have good lights on their bikes and are wearing reflective clothing, I will give them an A or B.  Unfortunately, too many get F's.  Remember when I said that everyone wears dark clothing, for some reason it seems they also like dark colored bikes.  At night time it is so hard to see these people, especially if it is raining. Even when they have lights, they are usually too small and too dim.  Terry tells me I should be like a meter maid and give tickets to people who are not safe and give out little awards to those people who take bicycle safety seriously. I would if I thought it would help!

Tonight as we walked home from the train station, we saw a bus pulled over and an ambulance behind it.  Then we saw a bicycle on the sidewalk. No one seemed in too big of a panic so I am telling myself that they weren't hurt too badly, because I really don't want to think that they were already dead.

 

Lets just be safe out there, OK people!

Temple & Visitors' Centre Trip

Last Saturday, our ward rented a coach to take everyone to the temple.  While the London Temple is only about 20 miles away, it takes over an hour, usually an hour and a half to get there because of traffic.  Many members have trouble getting there because there are no trains or buses that run anywhere close, and only a few people have cars.  The Bishop felt it would be a worthwhile  activity and so a list was made of all who wanted to go and the coach was rented.  As the time got closer however, the list got longer and the bus got bigger.  We ended up with 35 on the bus and a total of 42 people meeting at the temple.  Seventeen members did a session in the temple and the rest of us spent time in the Visitors' Centre (where we worked when we first got to London) and around the beautiful grounds.  We had 4 investigators, a few less actives, and 1 who was starting to come back into activity again, as well as a handful who were recently baptized. It was so awesome for us to be there with our investigators, especially Pam and Millie.  We have been working with these ladies for awhile now and have grown to love them SO MUCH!  They were both so excited to go to the temple and made great sacrifices to be able to be there.  They loved everything about it.  It was so exciting for me to see their excitement and their thirsting and hungering for more.  We went into distribution and they were buying things that they didn't even know what they were.  They just wanted everything they could get their hands on.  I remember being that way as a new member also and it makes me sad that I have lost some of that enthusiasm.  But I am renewed by theirs and the members, whom I also noticed were so honored to be able to go to the temple even if they were not going inside.  They knew it was a sacred place and they felt it a privilege to be there.  They all teach and humble me.  It was the best day ever!

The beautiful London Temple.  It was a perfect day!



Millie next to me and Pam next to Elder Fowler
in front of the Christus inside the Visitors Centre.
  We love these ladies!

Walking (and playing) around the beautiful grounds.
Jason (behind Millie) is an awesome guy coming back into activity.

Heading back to the coach.  We didn't want to leave.

On the bus ride back home.  Tired, but well fed!