Steve and Vorelle's Mission Blog

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Every Thing is Beautiful

London Temple

We went to the London Temple on April 26. It was a beautiful day. The Temple is south of London in a small village named New Chapel. It is on 32 acres. Vorelle as a 10 year old was at the temple dedication in 1958. She still remembers quite a bit about the dedication and received a strong testimony about President McKay being a prophet.

Flowers around the London Temple

Western Restaurant. Inside it everyone
was in Western gear. You thought
you were in Wyoming

We spent April 27 visiting the Cathedral and shopping with the Allreds a missionary couple from the Mission Home. It was our first time to the Cathedral. It is rich with History dating back to 1000 AD. Lots of tombs of Archbishops and several kings.

Cathedral from the Roman Burial Ground

Gillian Andrew's Baptism. Elders Heath
and Tan

Gillian is a Kent University Student that sought out the Elders on Mormon.org. She was impressed with her friends that were Mormons and wanted to know more about the Church. She is a special person and will be a great addition to our YSA group. She was baptized on Sunday April 27 after our block time. Lots of the ward stayed for her baptism.

Friends of Gillian at her baptism

Bishop Pemberton Canterbury Ward

Canterbury Cathedral

Elder Yenchik was transferred. He goes home the end of May and we thought he would go home from here. We really love the missionaries.

We miss Elder Yenchik

Trinity Chapel inside Cathedral

A chapel inside the Cathedral in honor
of those who served in the military

Trinity Chapel inside Cathedral

Naïve of Cathedral

Quire Section of Cathedral

Elder Heath is our new District Leader. He is from Birmingham England and goes home the end of May. We will miss him when he goes home. Elder Tan started his mission here and we are glad that he will be here through at least another transfer. Tranfers are every six weeks.

New District Left to Right Elder Wilson,
Jensen, Riedler, Heath, Tan, Lingam
Sister Stewart and Cleveland

Elder Heath and Elder Tan

Our Doctors Office. They are called Surgery
in England

Our street New Dover Road

Beautiful gardens everywhere

Stake YSA Fiesta Party.
We served Tacos and Café Rio Pork burritos

Elder Heath and Wilson were our
Mariachi Band

Senors and Senorita?

The Stake YSA Fiesta Night was a success. We had 40 YSA, 8 missionaries, 2 investigators and 12 adults. Lots of games and great food. They loved the Café Rio pork and ranch dressing. We had the left overs for Monday FHE.

They loved this game. The person in the
circle needs to name something to get
others to move out of their chairs so the
person can take the open chair. Whoever
does not find a chair is it.

Vorelle hosted a Sisters day for our Zone.
Left to right Sister Cleveland, Harun,
Greenfield and Stewart. Sister Cleveland
goes home the end of May. She has a lot
of enthusiasm for missionary work. We
will miss her.

Marley Vorelle Martinson
on her blessing May 4, 2013.
Same dress Vorelle and Amberly
were blessed in. Made by Vorelle's
Grandma in England.

Amberly and Mike had Marley's Blessing at Garrett and Steph's home on May 4, 2013. We were able to Skype at 11:30 pm our time. It was really special for our family.

Blessing was at Garrett and Stephanie's
Home.

Four generations Great Grandma Sill, Amberly,
Marley. Vorelle on Mission

Country Lane to Sister Holden's Home in Wingham.

Going to the Holden's Home to teach a
lesson. Not sure if Sister Sill wanted
to highlight how much gray hair I have
or she is proud of the haircut she gave me.

Canterbury Zone at Zone Conference.

We are teaching Sister Holden's son Paddy who is 12. The Holden family has been very good to us. Sister Holden is in the Relief Society Presidency, her husband Phil and their other son Alfred are great people. Sister Holden and Phil have been in several Harry Potter films.

3 Zones at Zone Conference Hyde Park London May 15, 2013

The theme for conference was understanding the Holy Ghost. President Jordan is a great teacher and it is great to see the Elders and Sisters teach one another. The spirit is really strong in these conferences. We get up early and catch the train to London. It is 1 1/2 hour train ride. We arrive in Victoria Station and get the Tube to South Kensington. Zone meeting start at 10 am and go to 4 pm. This is our second Zone Conference. They are held every three months. We had pizza and salad for lunch. Then back on the train home at 6:45 pm. Go to Institute and we are home at 9:45 pm. A long day but very fulfilling.

Hyde Park Mission Home

Hyde Park Mission Home Golden
Spire. The Spire is the elevator/stair case
the offices are to the right. 4 levels.

Beautiful May Flowers on Temple
grounds.

Purple tulips on Temple grounds.

Thapa Family at Temple
grounds.

We have been teaching the Temple lessons to Brother and Sister Thapa from our ward. They plan to be sealed next month in June. Sister Thapa wanted her mother to see the Temple before she returns to India. Brother Thapa is from Nepal and Sister Thapa is Nepalese but is from India. Their daughter is Christine. Sister Thapa was wearing her native dress which was very beautiful. We had a great day.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Spring Has Arrived

Advertising Mormon.org London Buses

Albert Hall London

Advertising London Charing Cross Train Station

London Trafalgar Square

London National Art Gallery

St Augustine Abbey Canterbury

Daffodils City Wall Canterbury

Elders Yenchik and Tan

Trifle Pettman Family Dinner

Our Neighbors at Abbott Hotel

Pettman Family Dinner Ramsgate

The British change their clocks on March 31 to start British Summer (not day light savings). Spring has arrived. Daffodils seem to grow wild here. They are everywhere. Have not seen any tulips.

We watched Saturday's morning General Conference session by satellite in the chapel at 5 pm. Then went home and watched the afternoon session in our apartment 9 pm to 11 pm. On Sunday I went to the chapel and watched the Priesthood session at 10 am, then came back and watched the Sunday morning session at 5 pm in the chapel and then back to the apartment to watch the afternoon session on the internet starting at 9 pm. We had several less actives and investigators at conference. We really enjoyed it.

We had to go into London on Monday April 8 so we were able to see the advertising in the Charing Cross Train Station and buses. The Church is doing advertising throughout London for the month of April to answer questions about the Book of Mormon Musical which opened in London on March 22. The Church has taken out advertising in the playbills for the Musical stating now that you have seen the Musical read the Book. We are excited about explaining the Book of Mormon and are working with the members to distribute copies. We took the bus from the Mission Home to Trafalgar square and went pass the Ritz Hotel where Margaret Thatcher died. We had lunch in the St Martins Church crypt which was really nice and spent time seeing the National Art Gallery. There are 3 museums around the mission home, Natural History, Science and Victoria and Albert. All of the museums in London are free. Albert Hall is two blocks away. It is really classy around the Mission Home. Lots of Embassies and Hyde Park is only a block away. We will be going to the London the end of April for a meeting with our area seventy.

On Sunday April 14 we had dinner with the Pettman family in Ramsgate. Their daughters Naomi and Olivia are in our YSA and they are delightful. The YSA are a lot of fun to be around. As you can see the English love desserts. They don't use the word desserts rather pudding. Caught us off guard when they mentioned pudding we thought "pudding" but they meant dessert. I am driving on the left hand side of the road and eating the British way with my fork in my left hand and knife in my right. Seems very natural. We love the people. The members are very nice to us. The missionaries are awesome. We have a district meeting every week. After one district meeting we went into the City center and sang hymns about Easter. After we sang we paired off and talked to people about the Church and Book of Mormon. It was a great experience. The missionaries are not afraid to talk to strangers and are very enthusiastic. Love our meetings. We are excited about our new apartment which we plan to move into after May 14. We are working on the paper work with the Church and the Landlord.

Brother Thapa member from Nepal
Manager of Chom Chom Restaurant

Tomorrow is transfer day and Elder Yenchik will be transferred. We will really miss him. He has been a great District Leader. I will miss our Saturday Morning runs. He goes home the end of May. Transfers are every six weeks. You hate to see them go.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Our Mission Car 2011 Vauxhall Diesel

We are on the 3rd Floor of the
Knights Apts 44 New Dover Road

Entrance to our Flat

On March 15 we traveled by train to Gravesend to pick up our car from the Brown's. They have completed their mission and returned home to Ogden Utah on March 16. They were very good to us and gave us a lot of supplies and items for our flat most importantly a printer!!!

On March 11th, Vorelle's father, Dale Powell passed away. We did not go home for the funeral. His service was held in Layton. Our children helped Beth and Andrea with the funeral and our ward provided a family dinner. We are so appreciative of all those who helped. Vorelle was able to share her thoughts about her Dad and they were read at the funeral service. We know that he is with loved ones in the spirit world.

We will still use the buses since we have
a free pass. Diesel is $8.50 per gal

City Bus Center

Our assignment is to work with the Young Single Adults in the Canterbury, Ashford and Deal Wards. It covers all of the southeast area of our Mission with the North Sea in the north and English channel to the east. There is good bus service to these areas and because we are seniors we can ride the buses free, however a lot of our meetings are at night and the bus schedules are limited. The car makes us more effective. Also a lot of our ward members live outside of Canterbury. All of our stake meetings are in Gillingham which is 50 miles from here.

We took six of the YSA's to the London Temple to do proxy baptisms. It was the first time for three of them. It was a very special evening.

We have not seen any of the tourist attractions in our area. We are waiting for spring which is long in coming. This spring has been the coldest in 50 years. We have had maybe one day when the sun was shining and it was warm. The people here do not complain about the weather. Everyone walks and we find people to be very friendly and helpful. We also walk whenever we can since it healthy to do so. Vorelle said that when we get back home we will always walk to church.

Melissa and Amy cooking for
the Elders and Sisters in our Flat

Clockwise Elder Tan from Singapore,
Elder Yenchik from Holiday, Utah, Sister
Cleveland from Olympia, Wash, Sister Stewart
from Hong Kong, Melissa Regan and Amy Musser,
students at Kent University