Spring Is Here

More rain and flooding.  This shows the river Stour which has gone over its banks and flooding the Sainsbury car park.

We planted these last fall and they are brilliant.  The far right is tulips which are coming.

Trip to Paris to meet Sonya and Frank.

Notre Dame Cathedral  Paris.

Vorelle on one of the many bridges over the Seine River in Paris.

Hilton at the Paris de gaulle airport.

A rare day to see blue skies.  Taken from the Harris' garden, Minister, Kent.

At the Spitfire Museum with Marion and Mike Harris, Manston, Kent.

Hurricane at the Spitfire Museum.

Vorelle with the Harris' dog named Bear.

Chef Mike Harris prepared this meal which was really good.  Pork Roast, roasted and mashed potatoes and lots of gravy.

The British love table tennis.  We play around the world which is a lot fun.

Spring flowers are blooming.  Outside our flat.

Sister Welc and Sister Gundestrup talking to Sister Gundestrup's sister as she opened her mission call to Mexico.

Stake Road Shows.

Zone Leaders Elder Kapishke from Germany and Elder Beesinger from Utah.  Emailing from our flat on P Day.

Mill Street in Canterbury. We walk here often on our way back home from City Center.

Sister Naomi Potter, President of the Ward Relief Society, making a presentation on shopping using the internet.

Our Children sent us these valentines which we opened each day in February. Amberly put them together. 

Celebrating Elder Sill's birthday during FHE.  LtoR, Paul, Don, Elder Davis, Oliver, William, Diva, Elder Choi, Sisters Gundestrup, and Welc.

Missionaries getting their post/supplies at Zone Conference in Canterbury Chapel Hall.

Celebrating Elder Choi's birthday during Institute.

Canterbury Zone.

Elder Sill teaching Institute.

Popular sister missionary shoes.  Which ones are Sister Sill's? 

It rained most of the month of February so we had rain from December 1 to March 1.  Lot's of flooding.  So far March has been good.  We have gone one week without any rain and it is warm.  So different from last year when it was cold.  The flowers and trees are blooming and it is beautiful.  There are daffodils everywhere.  The favorite spring flower in Britain.  Almost done with the black tights which are a life saver in cold weather!

Grandma Beth passed away on Valentines day so it has been difficult not being able to be there.  We are so grateful for Sonya and Frank and their family helping Beth's daughter with all the funeral arrangements.  Also our family in Utah for helping with the graveside services.  We were able to visit with Beth by Face Time before she passed away.  Her passing was unexpected.  Sonya and Frank were in France visiting Frank's parents who are on a mission there when Beth passed away.  We were able to travel to Paris by Eurostar to meet with them to take care of necessary estate matters.  We had a nice one day visit.

Our family surprised us at the beginning of February with an valentine message for each day from one of our grandchildren.  It made the month special to open a new message each day. Thanks Amberly for putting this nice surprise together!

The Stake Road Shows were fun and very well done.  Original music and costumes.  The theme was something funny happened on the way to......  The Deal Ward won the best in show.

Whenever the YSA meet we play table tennis.  They love it.  We play around the world.  Each person rotates clockwise around the table and must return the ball or they are out.  It goes until there are two remaining then they play the best of three and we start over again.  Lots of fun.

We love Institute night.  We start with a meal, table tennis, Institute lesson and then finish with table tennis and pudding (dessert). Sister Sill does a lot of cooking! Our favorite meal this month was American Pancakes on National Pancake Day.  National Pancake Day is the day before Lent.  The tradition is everyone eats British pancakes on that day.  Their pancakes are much different so to have American pancakes was a treat especially the way Elder Sill cooks them with apples and cheese. They ate 48 slices of bacon (from the butcher) and two bowls of fresh fruit!

We were able to spend a day with Marion and Mike Harris at their home in Minister.  It was a treat to walk with them to their local butcher and pick up sausage and a pork roast for our meals that day.  The butcher shops are really cool.  They took us to the Spitfire museum in Manston.  The Spitfire and Hurricane were the fighter planes that saved Britain from the German invasion at the beginning of World War II.  Winston Churchhill said "So much is owed by so many to so few."  Referring to the brave men who fought the air battle over Britain from July 1940 to October 1940. It touches the heart to read their stories. The Hurricane and Spitfires destroyed most of the German fighter planes making it impossible for an invasion.  Mike prepared the best pork roast we have ever had. (See the photo above!)

We are busy with the YSA and Ward assignments.  We love the missionaries.  They are wonderful to work with.  We love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and rejoice in His love and blessings. Our bodies are tired but the spirit is strong.  It is wonderful seeing the change in peoples lives as they accept the gospel and start on their journey back to our Heavenly Father.  Our lives have been changed and our hearts humbled in helping in such a small way with this great work.  We thank all that pray for us and support us.  It is amazing how fast the time has gone.  

One Year Anniversary

We attended the funeral for Brother Gleed's mother at this beautiful Crematorium.

Another picture of the Crematorium.

We were able to teach Phoebe Brown about Baptism.  She is eight years old.

Elder Choi from Hong Kong, Elder Davis from American Fork, Utah, Sister Gorniak from Tasmania Australia and Sister Gundestrup from Riverton, Utah.  We were celebrating Australian Day (January 26).  Also the Chinese New Year (January 31).  Elder Choi and Sister Gorniak provided the food-Chinese and Australian dishes,.

Joey and Jason recent converts from China with Elder Choi.  Joey and Jason are students at Kent U.

Refreshments after CES fireside.  Paul, Don, Sister Gundestrup and William.

We have a meal before Institute each Wednesday.  Paul, Don, Samantha and Oliver.

It has been raining since December.  The most rain in a hundred years.  Flooding
everywhere.  This is outside our flat.

This is the parking lot at our local Sainsbury store.

Zone Training meeting in Canterbury.

Zone Training Meeting Canterbury.

February 2013.  We look like very green missionaries.

Sister Sill February 2013.  Much colder last year.

One year later.  Much warmer but wet and we look like seasoned missionaries.

William Cleary's baptism.  

Emma, Diva and Saeed.

Sister Gorniak's dinner before her transfer.

Phoebe with her parents Stuart and Alice Brown.

Phoebe's baptism.

Sister Welc from Brazil.  She has been out 7 months and took Sister Gorniak's place.

Diva, Paul and William.

Bulletin board for YSA and Missionary Baptisms.

FHE made valentine cards and cookies.  Sign says Happy V Day.

Sister Faggs.  She is such a wonderful person.  All of the members love to visit.  She invited us for a meal of Indian food.  She grew up in India.  Has a great love for the Savior and the Church.

Preparing food for Australia Day and Chinese New Year.

After the CES fireside the youth form our stake gather around the piano to sing hymns with Elder and Sister Lovell.  The YSA love to sing.

Paul and Don.

Elder and Sister Ainsworth from Washington visited us from London.  They were the YSA couple in Hyde Park and finished their mission this month.  We had a meal in Fordwich pub George and Dragon.

FHE activity for Valentine's Day.

Made a valentine card for our Bishopric.

Since December 1st we have had rain and wind.  The ground is saturated.  It is very unusual for this part of England.  All of the natives say they have never seen weather like this.  We are fortunate in Canterbury the flooding has not been as severe as in other parts.  The Coast line has been eroded.  Railways destroyed.  Farm land and villages flooded.  It will take some time for the floods to subside.  The forecast does not look promising, it looks like it will continue for the rest of the month.  This is most rain for the southern part of England since they have been keeping records.  The positive side is it is not cold.  The temperatures are in the 50's.  Last year it was just the opposite, no rain but extremely cold.

We had a four week break in teaching Institute since the students were gone for Christmas break.  Institute started up on January 22nd and it was good to continue with our study of the Book of Mormon.  We are learning so much from this great book of scripture.  The Book of Mormon was written for our time and it clearly teaches the doctrines of Christ and His mission.  We love it.

Elder Sill could not take time off for the Break since he needed to get his British Drivers License to continue to drive.  He spent many hours studying for the Theory Test and Hazard Perception Test.  He is grateful for all those who fasted and prayed for him.  He past the tests and is now practising for the practical driving test.  Only 50% of those taking the tests pass.   We are convinced that they make it hard and expensive since they are trying to keep people from driving.

We met William last September and after a few lessons he decided he did not want to see the missionaries any more.  During the Christmas break William received a book from his mom about the Church.  He read it and started to look at the Church's web site.  He noticed our blog and commented on it that he wanted to continue with the discussions.  The Sisters at the same time were inspired to look at their area book which shows all people that have been taught and decided to call him.  They taught him and he wanted to be baptized.  He is music major at Christ Church and plays the guitar and saxophone.  A very gifted musician.  We are so happy for him.

Sister Faggs has been confined to her bed for a number of years.  She is a convert to the Church and has been the Relief Society President of the Canterbury Ward.  She is so delightful.  The ward members and missionaries love to visit her.  We go away uplifted and inspired.  Her father was a mining engineer and she grew up in India.  She went to a non denominational Christian school and was taught from the Bible every day.  She developed a strong faith in Christ.  After her husband passed away she met the missionaries and felt the same spirit she felt those years while going to school in India.  She joined the Church and has been active and faithful in her service.

We were asked to teach some lessons to Phoebe about baptism.  She is a very bright and happy girl.  She is also very athletic and is a champion in Judo.  She had the biggest smile on her face after her baptism.

Sister Sill has been called to the Relief Society Presidency and is enjoying working with the Sisters.  Elder Sill was also called to be the assistant Ward Mission Leader and enjoys working with the missionaries.

Just before we came out on our mission, Sister Sill pulled a muscle in her shoulder.  It never healed and got worse.  She had an MRI and it showed that it was partial tear in the rotor cuff.  She is going to Physio (English Physical Therapist) and it is starting to get better.

We have a great group of missionaries and YSA and we love being around them.  The YSA group has grown.  After the Christmas break we had Paul a member going to Christ Church join us as well as Hannah a member who is from Canada here on a study abroad.  Joey and Jason recent Chinese converts also joined our group.  We have 10 students in our Institute Class and it is fun to have a meal with them before our class.  As Elder Callister told the YSA at the recent CES fireside the YSA are the future leaders of the Church.  It is such a privilege to be teaching the future Bishops, Stake Presidents and Relief Society Presidents and most likely future General Authorities of the Church.  They have strong testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.