Beginning of Fall

Our Good friend Phillip.  We met at the train station March 2, 2013.

Peter and Tracy Lewer and family.  Previous Bishop of the Ward.

Claire and Len Gleed.  Brother Gleed is counselor in Bishopric.   Wonderful people that help so many with Family
History work.  Helped Vorelle do research on her family.

Mike and Marion Harris.  Member of the Bishopric.  Retired CPA.  Sister
Harris hugs everyone.  

Elders Palmer and Torres in Gravesend.  Typical missionary flat.  We
love the missionaries.

The flats are not the way Vorelle would keep them.  She smiles and
hopes for the best.

Aimee, Paddy, Phil and Alfred Holden.  On Paddy's baptism.  A wonderful
day.  Phil is an actor and has been in several Harry Potter movies.

Paddy was adopted shown here with his foster mum Annie
red hair.  His Nanny next to Annie and Paddy's Granddad's
wife.

Paddy's Baptism.  Very special meeting with family and ward members.

The Holden family with Granddad, Phil's father.

Esther and John Littlewood and family.  Lovely family.  We will miss them.
John graduated from Kent and got a good job working as a IT systems analyst.

Club house of The Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich.  Hosted several
Open Championship.  Last one was in 2011 that Tom Watson lost on the
last day.

We walked the course on this public footpath.  Public footpaths
are everywhere which is what makes England special.

The Royal St George Golf Course.  Links style.

Wishing I could be playing.

New Zone.  Added a missionary couple (Lovell's), set of sisters, two sets of  elders.  The mission is growing.

Vorelle and Sisters in Gillingham all wearing the same color.

Our Institute class after lesson.  Refreshments after makes it an official church meeting.

Institute class in Gillingham.  Special group of Young Single Adults.  Love them.

Frank and Sue Martin.  Young Single Adult advisors from Gillingham.  Very supportive.  Frank has been a bishop.  Sue
has been Relief Society President.  They served a full time mission in Leeds as YSA missionaries.  Frank is a retired CFO.

Albert and Mariella Cassar at Chartwell House.  Winston Churchill's residence.  The Cassars have a home in London
and Malta. Albert is a retired CFO. Friends of Don Mckean who were very gracious to treat us to a beautiful visit.

Chartwell House.  Winston 'Churchill's residence.

Chartwell House.

The English apple orchards at Chartwell House.

Apple tree.  Notice they let the grass grown under the tree.

Beautiful flower garden at Chartwell.

English vegetable garden.

Chartwell House.

Chartwell House gardens.

Chartwell House gardens.

Took this for Garrett.  Orvis store in Westerham near Chartwell House.

Our Mission Car "Meriva"

Churchill statue in Westerham.  Cassar's treated us to tea.

YSA service project in Gravesend for Humphrey's family.

The YSA did a great job.

Diva first time ever mowing grass.  He is from Malaysia.

Joe Hawkins our Stake YSA leader.

Special group of workers.  Bishop Warner next to Vorelle. 

Walmer Castle gardens.

Walmer Castle Gardens.

Walmer Castle gardens.

Walmer gardens.

Walmer gardens.

Walmer gardens.

Walmer gardens.

Walmer gardens.

Walmer gardens.

Looking at the English Channel from Walmer Castle.

English Channel from Walmer Castle.

Walmer Castle built by Henry VIII.  Many famous prime ministers have lived here.  Duke of Wellington, William Pitt Jr. and the Queen Mother to Queen Elizabeth II.

Sisters Shalvis and Martineau painting new flat.

St. Dunstan Church.  Canterbury.  It is close to our
 Chapel and its bells ring on Sunday at the same time
 as our Services..  Adds special meaning to our service.

One of the first members we met when we arrived in Canterbury was Aimee Holden.  She is from Arizona.  Aimee and Phil asked us to teach their son Paddy about the Church.  We had wonderful lessons and dinners in their home.  They have treated us as family and it was an honor for us to be able to teach Paddy a fine young man.  He will soon become a Deacon..  August 31 was his special day.  Lots of family and friends were there.

We taught the Missionary Prep Course in Gillingham for 10 weeks.  We grew to love the students.  A special group of Young adults who want to serve the Lord.  The Martins are a special couple who helped us and they have become dear friends of ours.

We did a special service project for a family in Gravesend.  Brother Humphrey is a member of the Bishopric in Gravesend and has terminal brain cancer so it was special to help with their beautiful garden under the circumstances.

Our friend Don McKean in Salt Lake City wanted us to meet the Cassar's who visited Salt Lake City last year.  They were very gracious to treat us to the Chartwell House in Westerham which is in Kent.  Winston Churchill lived here and it was very interesting to see inside his home and all the memorability for this great statesman.  The garden was beautiful.  He had a special house where he painted over 500 paintings.  He was an author and painter along with his outstanding political career.  The Cassar's have a home in London but are originally from Malta and it was great to learn of the history of Malta which is small island off the coast of Sicily.

Our mission is growing we had Zone Conference in London the end of August.  A year ago we had 100 missionaries by the end of the year we will have over 200 missionaries.  Each ward in our mission will have two sets of missionaries.

We look forward to the University starting the first of October.  We already have several new students coming.  We have been called to teach Institute for the University term which will take us through to next June.  The course is the Book of Mormon.  Institute will be different this year since we will have a light meal before Institute and a Social Activity after the class.

We were able to walk around the The Royal St George Golf Club without playing golf.  There is public footpath through the course to the English Channel.  They have had several Open Championships played here.  It is near Sanwich.

Kent has some beautiful castles.  Walmer Castle is on the English Channel.  It is north of Dover and was built by King Henry VIII in 1539.  It became the summer residences of the Prime Ministers and it was fascinating to learn about the Duke of Wellington, the hero of Waterloo and William Pitt Jr who led England during the early Napoleonic wars of 1800.  The Queen Mother would come here every July for one week.  It is in a charming city of Walmer.  We have a Chapel in Walmer.  The southeast area of England is similar to our southern states.  The weather is warmer and the English Channel coastline is beautiful.  Lots of people from London own second homes and retire to these coastal towns.

We got some rains so everything has greened up but the weather is still very comfortable.

We were able to move the Sisters closer to the Church which will help them be more efficient.