We met again with Luke Kerr who is the Director of Seminaries and Institute in Northern England and we were able to start to figure out what our schedule will look like when we move to the new building. We love listening to his Scottish accent. We are very excited that we will be teaching several classes both evening and during the day. We will teach English and Marriage Prep and Reed will teach Pearl of Great Price and Teachings of the Prophets. We will have an office at the new building and will act as hosts also. Students will be able to drop in between classes and study or hang out or bring friends and investigators. All of our activities will be there. Institute, Family Home Evening, Munch and Mingle, Dances as well as missionary discussions and meetings. There is a beautiful but small chapel on the 3rd floor where we attend church. The young missionaries have their hands full with interested people around the campuses of the three Major Universities and the building is in the middle of these campuses. There is a lot of interest throughout Manchester in "That Building on Oxford Road."
One day this past week, I went with the Sister Missionaries to visit a member who was sick and Elder Pew went with a YSA member to visit another member. I drove about 22 miles (I am getting around much better) When the Sisters and I returned to the car, the steering wheel was locked and the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. We were not in the best part of town so we were concerned that we couldn't get the car to go. I did the usual trick of cranking the steering wheel but to no avail. We read the manual, called Elder Pew, called the car company and said a prayer. We finally called the mission office and they told us to have the sisters to get out and push the car away from the curb while I again cranked the steering wheel. We did and the car started up. Finally after an hour delay, we were on our way. Prayer Changes Things!
Institute nights are Thursday nights and it is great to gather with these faithful YSA's as they are instructed by such great teachers. We love sitting in on their classes. We provide a meal/snack on this night and we did wraps, chips and candy on Thursday. They were gone pretty quickly so I guess the YSA's liked them. We told Betsy Snider goodbye this week and we will really miss her, since she is the only YSA from America and Salt Lake, no less. Institute night is a late one as the YSA's get to stay, visit, play games and hang out. Some of their parents drive them an hour or more to come and return to get them. Others ride the buses and make several stops to be at Institute. They sacrifice so much to participate. I am embarrassed to tell them that we drive our car 3 blocks to church and we usually take two cars.
We were able to attend the temple on Friday and it is like heaven to be there. The drive through the countryside is beautiful and it feels good to escape from the city for awhile. The Preston Temple (which is really in Chorley) has the most perfect grass. Never seen anything like it…
We are continually hosting people here and it has been fun to meet people from all over the world. Whether it's investigators, Young Single Adults or missionaries we ask the to put a small sticker on the world map to designate where they are from and then sign a guest book with their names. It is amazing to see how many we have in and out of here. Our map has 145 stickers and I'm sure there are some who have slipped out without signing in.
This last weekend was a big one as we first attended Latino Day at the Ward. Brother Raphael from a neighboring ward put this event on and many of our Young Single Adults attended. There was food, dancing and music. Brother Raphael has been so supportive of us that we attended and participated in this fun event. He has a wonderful family and has literally brought many people into the church by his great example.
Our big event, Singapore Night was held on Saturday night. We shopped with Elder Chong and Elder Greenland at the Chinese Market. We prepared food and welcomed guests from Singapore and Malaysia. These were mostly investigators and we hosted over 20 people here. Elder Chong's childhood friend, Jacinta came and assisted Elder Chong and Greenland. She is a law student here and a lot of fun to be around. Everyone played games and socialized. Elder Chong and Elder Greenland work so hard and their efforts pay off daily…lots of people looking for answers and truth.
Sunday was the Munch and Mingle and we hauled Shredded Barbecued Chicken with Rolls down 5 flights and into the car on a wet and rainy morning. As is always the case, the calls and texts start to come in from people who need rides, but since our car only carries 3 additional passengers we have to tell people no. We start scrambling to find other ways to get them to church. We really do need a van. We drive all over the place and pick people up and then try to get to church on time. We were happy that Jacinta went to church with us…she once again helped in the kitchen. She was shocked to hear that there would be three hours of church, a Munch and Mingle, and then a Family Search class following. I'm certain she was grateful to get home. It was a record number of people at the YSA ward and the munch and mingle this past week. At the end of the day, I said to Reed , "I'm so glad we get to go home and relax!" Unfortunately, that would be impossible since there were more discussions Sunday night and we agreed to teach English to two Chinese girls. We also got a little study time in. We spend a lot of time at the kitchen table.
On Monday, the Whiteheads, a senior couple from Provo, serving in Warrington took the train into the city and met us for lunch. We tried TOPS buffet, since the Elders are always raving about it. It is the Asian Chuck-A-Rama. They had everything from Sushi to Lemon Chicken to Indian food.
Ally is a Chinese business student who will be baptized in a few weeks. She is very excited about her baptism and wanted me to go shopping with her to pick out a new dress that is modest. She said "It is a special day and I want something special to wear." The cute Sister Missionaries went with me and we watched Ally pick out 2 coats, a dress with a jacket, two skirts and two sweaters. She is absolutely darling and she shopped until her credit card declined.
We had a successful Family Home Evening on Family History and we had a fun crowd at our flat. One of our YSA's, Heather, is a singer and has made a CD about her conversion. It is fabulous! She is originally from Fiji and will spend the summer there. We showed her pictures of the Peterson's, who we met at the MTC and are serving in Fiji and she recognized many of the faces. It was meant to be that she is with us and will be with the Peterson's too.
Today, we attended a Special Zone Training at the Stake Center. It was a fun but long day with training by our Zone Leaders, Elder Bytheway and Elder Barth, other missionaries and President and Sister Preston. Our District won the Scripture Chase Challenge… We really do have some brilliant missionaries in the YSA Ward.
Elder Greenland is one of the smartest young men we have ever met…
Elder Pew fixed our lunch today…Peanut Butter and Jelly, Apples, Carrots, chips and candy...
Elder Manco is a very sharp Elder from North Carolina
Sister Gish from Salt Lake City had a birthday today !
And of course, we always love to see Sister Lyman and Sister Maiurnakova, our old neighbors.
Here is a picture of our Building (114 Boundary Lane)
We are getting out more and more and this MAP left by the McArthur's has been invaluable. Along with the SAT NAV, we have been able to somewhat find out way.
After we get our schedule settled, we plan to see a few sights around the area. We honestly haven't had the time to get too far but we have found interesting spots close by that we see or plan to see. We did join the National Trust which will get us into all the sights, parks, castles etc throughout England at no charge. I hope this will spur us on to plan some outings. We are enjoying our time here although it is still an adjustment…We learn new words and phrases everyday.. A few of them are:
Brilliant- Great
Well Done
Mind the Step- Watch the step
Motorway- Freeway
Jab- Shot
Car Park-Parking Lot
Knackered- Tired
Tea- Evening Meal
Give Way- Yield
Cheers- Thanks
Tomorrow, we are going to Preston to tour the church sites and have lunch with the Gore's a very sweet couple from Swinton. Bro Gore serves in the Bishopric of the YSA ward. Coming up…next Saturday…Chinese New Year Party ! Cheerio! (I actually have never heard anyone say that)
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