Sunday, July 21, 2013

Summer Is Here



The spot where Thomas Beckett was
martyred in the Cathedral.

Beautiful gardens.


Tyson and Lori on the grounds of
the Canterbury Cathedral.


View of Dover Harbor from the White Cliffs.  Continuous
flow of trucks onto the ferries to France.



On top of White Cliffs of Dover.

Tyson and Lori White Cliffs of Dover.

Flowers on White Cliff of Dover.
Lovely Bria Family Buckingham
Palace London.

Big Ben and Westminster from the Eye.

Frank and girls on the Eye.

Charing Cross Station from the Eye.




View from the Eye.

Inside the Eye.


Looking down on the City Offices.

Another view of the Thames, Westminster from the Eye.

Buckingham Palace poking up from the trees.

Harry Potter Movie filmed in Kings Cross
Station.

Justine experiencing a Harry Potter
moment.

Sonya and Natalie in from of Harry Potter Shop.

Natalie stayed overnight with her grandparents.
  She experienced the Duvet Challenge.  We love
Duvets!!

Beautiful granddaughters.  So nice to spend Sunday with us.

They made Grandpa's day.

Brother and Sister Allred.  They are from South Ogden.  WSU
Professor.  They are Mission Finance and Secretary.


Tyson looking at the former Mission Presidents of the London
Mission.  The oldest mission in the Church.


Missionary pictures in Mission President's office.

Hyde Park London.  They let the grass
grow.

Hyde Park London.


This squirrel was ready to attack.  Signs warning to not
feed the  squirrels!!!

Albert Hall London.


Beautiful buildings around Albert Hall.




Closest we got to the opening day at Wimbledon.  6 hour
queues.

Wimbledon.
We had fish and chips here.

Beautiful hanging baskets everywhere.

Preston Rally.  Like a county fair out in the boon docks.


Lots of steam engines.  All still working.

More Steam Engines.

Aircraft used in the Great War.


More Steam Engines.

Preston village Church.

Large Estate next to Preston village.

Beautiful Shire horse.  Actual demonstration of harrowing.

Another Shire horse.

Canterbury Zone before transfers.

Port at Sandwich.  The home of the invention of the
sandwich.

Shop in Sandwich.

Beautiful roses in Sandwich.

Very colorful doors throughout Kent.

We had lunch at the Haven in Sandwich.

 A Church in Sandwich.

Sheep grazing in Ash.

Sisters shoes !!

Elder Tan and Ho.  Sisters Stewart and Shalvis.

We started with Elder Tan.  He was made a District Leader in
Hyde Park London.  We will miss him.

Our friend Lauren from the Netherlands who will be baptized
July 27.

Lauren with Elders Tan and Ho.  Outside on our deck.


Marion and Mike Harris from our Ward.  On a hike along the white cliffs
of Ramsgate on the English Channel.

We hiked on the Ramsgate beach for 2 miles at low tide.  Once the
tide comes in there will be no beach.

Ramsgate beach hike.

Our hike destination was Morellis in Broadstairs.

Lovely sundaes.

Looking over the English Channel.

Old Lighthouse Keeper built this home on the English Channel.

New Canterbury District.  Includes Canterbury and Ashford missionaries.
New set of sisters.  Sisters Ernst and Hansen.

London Temple.

Summer flowers.  London Temple.

London Temple.

Temple President's home on London Temple Grounds.

My beautiful companion after 45 years.

On our 45th Wedding Anniversary.  London Temple.

Lake by Wiremill Pub.  Close to the temple.

Had lunch at the Wiremill Pub.

Wiremill Pub.

Bria Family Buckingham Palace.

In front of Westminster Abbey.

Street Artist London Millennial Eye.

Many Ancient Churches in Canterbury.  Center
of Christianity in England.



Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey.

Prince Albert Monument.  London.

Looking at Prince Albert Monument from Hyde Park.


Rodney's baptism.  Rodney is from Zimbabwe. He was baptized
by Diva recent convert from Malaysia.

Rodney is on the left.  Diva by the Elders.

Had a picnic on the Church lawn to celebrate 4th of July.



FHE in Whitstable with Bishop and Sister Pemberton.

Near Bishop's home in Whitstable.


Tyson and Lori visited us the third week of June.  We showed them around Canterbury, Dover and Whitstable.  They stayed overnight and we took them to the Kent airport where they traveled to see Lori's parents in Sweden.  They returned on Sunday and we stayed with them in London and saw sights in London on Monday.  We wanted to go to the opening day of Wimbledon but the queues were too long.  We had a very enjoyable visit. 

Frank and Sonya and girls also came during the third week of June and we were able to see London with them and they went to Church with us in Canterbury.  Our ward organist was not there so Frank ended up playing the organ for our meetings and the girls sang a special number as part of the Sacrament program for our ward.  It was very good to see them.
The end of June we went the Preston Rally.  It is a small village that hosts every year a rally of old working steam engines and shire horses.  It was like a county fair atmosphere.  It was a lot of fun.

We had a Zone meeting on the 4th of July and we brought potato salad, crisps (chips), hot dogs and pork and beans to celebrate the 4th with the missionaries.  We celebrated the 4th with our Ward members from America on Sunday.  We had hamburgers, salads, crisps and invited and missionaries and their investigators.  We played some interesting games which were a lot of fun.

The weather has turned very warm and we have not had any rain for three weeks so the grass is turning brown.  Our flat is quite warm so we purchased a fan which is helping.  We had the coldest winter and spring in 50 years so who knows what will happen for the summer.  Global warming !!!

We started teaching Institute in Gillingham every Thursday.  We are teaching the Missionary Preparation course and have 14 students.  Three are working on sending in their papers.  We love being with YSA.  We also taught an Institute class in the Ashford Ward which we do once a month.

Our mission is getting very young.  Most of the missionaries in our Zone have been out about the same amount of time as we have.  Missionaries are becoming trainers after twelve weeks and we are getting more missionaries in each ward.  Our newest Elder in Canterbury is Elder Miller from Salem, Utah.  He has been out 6 months and was just made a District Leader.  These are great young men and women and it is such a privilege to work with them.  The Lord is hasting His work and gathering in the elect.  We are humbled to be a part of this great work.  We love serving Him.

Rodney was baptized on July 7.  He is from Zimbabwe and it is great to see the change he has made in the weeks since he met the Elders.  Lauren will be baptized on July 27 and she is from the Netherlands working in Canterbury as a Nanny.  She will be returning to the Netherlands in August so we will miss her.  She is amazing. 

We spent a day in Ramsgate with the Harris'.  We walked 2 miles on the beach to Broadstairs.  We could only walk the beach in low tide so it was great to do it.  The white cliffs are chalk and you can easily chip off a piece.

Our Family Home Evenings for the summer are small since the students at the universities are on holiday and will not return until September.  We are doing interesting activities.  We traveled to Whitstable to walk the beach with our Bishop and his wife.  Kurt and Nicole sent us the Apples to Apples game for Mothers Day and Fathers Day and we played it with the YSA on FHE.  Most of them have never seen the game and know very little about America so it is fun to watch them decide which card to play.  Elder Ho from Hong Kong won and he just played cards as he was inspired to do without understanding why!!  Thanks Kurt and Nicole for sending it.  We had an International Food night and are planning picnics, walks on the beach and more food nights for the rest of the summer.

Thanks to Tyson and Lori, Garrett and Stephanie and Sony and Frank we have a good supply of Jello and  Ranch Dressing.  We love making jello for ward activities.  Also Amberly and Mike sent a beautiful table runner which looks very posh on our dining table.

We spent our 45th wedding anniversary at the Temple and had lunch at the lake.  The following week we also went with the Youth of our ward to the Temple and did proxy baptisms for our ancestors.  Brother and Sister Gleed of our ward are such wonderful family history consultants.  They help so many people find the records of their ancestors.  The youth were able to do the work for 90 ancestors of ward members (13 of these were ancestors of Vorelle) due to the help of Len and Claire.  It was wonderful to see this work done by our youth.