Raindrops Keep Fallin on my Head....

This past week was an interesting week.   Wednesday, February 12 was a huge storm.  It rained a lot, but mostly the wind blew – probably about 50 mph or so.  Amazingly the young missionaries did not come in but went out street tracting in it.   The Pew’s stayed indoors; we are wusses. Below is pictured the clouds and the storm coming in. If you look closely, you can see the Chill Factor, an indoor ski venue. We'll have to check this out.

 On Thursday, February 13, 2014, Elder Pew was honored to baptize Allie (not her real Chinese name) Zhu.  She is a Chinese student that has been taking the missionary lessons for about 4 months and has really changed her heart and life during this time.  Allie comes from a Chinese family of some wealth and has been extremely dependent on her parents for money.  She likes to shop, A LOT!  She dresses very well and cute.   But she now realizes there are more important things in life.  She asked for Elder Pew to baptize her because she said she wanted someone with experience. (Her phone was also baptized since she put it in her pocket)

Elder Greenland and Chong with Ally

Sister Jordan and Sister Merrill with Allie

Later that evening, after Institute classes, of which we both taught one of the Book of Mormon classes, on 3 Nephi 11, the activity was speed dating.   Both of us were amazed at the participation and fun the YSA’s had.   Everyone had a great time.  

Joanna Borges

Illank De

Leah Smith

Helen and Rhianne 

Tatiana 

Joe Walsh

Nothing Says I Love You Like EYE SURGERY!

Friday was Valentine’s Day.  It started out with Elder Pew going to another eye doctor appointment.   He expected it to be only an hour and to be told all was OK, but got a surprise.   He had a slightly torn retina and they wanted to fix it immediately – well, immediately in British Health Services time.  So after a 4 hour wait, he went into the O.R., yes the O.R., for a 5 minute procedure where they froze his retina back to whatever it is attached to.   When he came out, he could not see well and his eye was red, very red. You may not want to look at the picture below...just scan by...

We went home but determined to continue with our plans for the evening since it was Valentine’s.   We had planned to go out to dinner alone but then heard that one of the zone leaders was probably going to be transferred this next Wednesday.  So we took the zone leaders and the Chinese speaking sister missionaries (from America) out to dinner with us at a very good Chinese restaurant called Tai Pan.   We had sweet and sour chicken, kung pao chicken and duck, hot and sour soup, chicken with oyster sauce and beef and mushrooms... Oh, and a lot of rice and noodles too.   It was yummy leaving no room for desert.  Sister Pew had to read the menu to Elder Pew.

Elder Bytheway, Elder Barth, Sister Merrill, Sister Jordan, the Pew's

Sisters Merrill and Jordan eating Shark Tail Soup !  

Valentine Tulips...Thanks Reed

By Saturday, after a night’s sleep and some eye drops, Elder Pew’s eyesight returned, as good as new.   But the redness remained and it was a sight for (pun intended) sore eyes.    In the afternoon, Elder Pew was able to help Jacenta Lee prepare for a Skype interview with a law firm in Singapore.   At least help in the Reed Pew style – don’t allow them to interview you; you interview them.  Make them feel like you are trying to determine which firm to join.  Know your strengths and use examples from your life to exhibit each strength without naming the strength.   Be assertive and confident but not arrogant.

Despite the eye issue, on Saturday evening, we invited 4 young ladies over for dinner.  These girls had all taken one missionary discussion however this was just about friend-shipping.  They all accepted our invitation to come to dinner within just a few hours!  Two were from Singapore, one from China (Guangzhou) and one from Ulan Bator, Mongolia.  Two are studying law at the University of Manchester, one had graduated and is working for RBS bank and one is doing an internship at Kellogg’s here in Manchester.   All spoke enough English for us to communicate.   Sister Pew, with help from Jacinta, one of the ladies from Singapore, cooked fresh salmon, roasted veggies, a wonderful lettuce and fruit salad (grapes and mango), rice and chocolate cake. They all stayed for about 3 hours and everyone had a wonderful time. In a way, it was strange, a couple of old missionaries hosting 4 young non-member girls but it worked and they all wanted to do it again.  

( Left to Right) Nymka a law student from Mongolia, Lynn a Banker from
China, Charlotte a student interning at Kellogg's from Singapore and
Jacinta a law student from Singapore

On Sunday, we continued our "Sacrament Meeting speaking tour" in the Ashton Stake.  We spoke in the Middleton Ward, a small ward in northern Manchester.  Elder Pew also attended an early morning high council meeting with the Manchester Stake.   Interestingly, while for the past 2 months, all the talk has been about our new Institute building opening, now everyone is extremely quiet. There are discussions about a couple issues between the architect and Church leadership in Germany, with local leadership not included.  We still hope it opens soon.    


Monday, we took a rainy day walk into the city and checked out the Museum of Science and Industry. It displayed an industrial Manchester very involved in the textile industry. We saw factory equipment that still worked, trains, planes and automobiles. It was a school holiday and we saw loads of children. It made us miss ours...

The Museum of Science and Industry

 Cotton thread ready to be woven

Assembly line of cotton production

My grandmother typed on one of these...

My dad had one of these... the adding machine....precursor to the calculator

Rainy Walk through Spinning Fields, a nicer area of the city.

Trafford Center Food Court...Made to look like a cruise ship.

Sister Pew drove out to Trafford Center with the Sister Missionaries to meet Heather Pratt, one of our cute YSA's. She took us to "Linner" at Pesto, an Italian Restaurant where we ordered "tapas". It was very good.  

 Family Home Evening at our flat was a fun night where a lesson was given, movie and popcorn and a fun game called Werewolves of Miller Hollow. Also hot fudge brownie sundaes!

Solange and Franklin (translating)

Mauro and his friend Manuela

Jodie and Ryan and Rhianne Hoyle


Tuesday, we drove downtown to run some errands and had lunch in the North Quarter of Manchester at a little restaurant we found called the Blue Pig.
I had one of the few salads I have been able to find here in Manchester.
It was good to eat a salad.

Blue Pig Cafe

  

Picadilly Gardens

We spent the evening going to Stockport to visit one of our YSA's.  It was great to meet her and visit. She had over 900 books..quite the library. We try to chip away at the list of ward members that we don't see at church or institute. They sometimes come and go so fast that it's hard to keep up with the task. We are continually amazed by the people we meet and the experiences we have that we could only have serving a mission.  We are grateful to be here.