Heavy Clouds...No Rain

     One of the highlights of our mission is to see YSA's move along the covenant path. We were asked by the YSA Ward to teach temple prep to 4 YSA's here in Manchester. After we completed the lessons, we were honored to be the escorts for two of them at the Preston Temple on May 13.  What a wonderful night!  Evangaline from China and Pierre from the Congo are young and faithful converts who have wanted temple blessings.   Evangaline has only been a member for a year. Pierre joined the church a few years ago. Evangaline's friend, Louise, came up from London to join us and we drove through rush traffic to be there on time. Several ward members were also in the session.  After the session, the temple president, President Murray showed us a sealing room and also the beautiful Temple Nursery where the children being sealed to their parents, wait.  It was a special experience and blessing to be with them, to hear instruction and to feel the spirit.  

Pierre, Louise and Evangaline

Evangaline, from China, who is a University Graduate and works in sales at a seafood company. 

Pierre is getting his masters in Economics and would love to come to the USA. We enjoy him very much.

The beautiful flowers at the Preston temple grounds . 

   We have started a new summer outreach plan where rather than spending so many hours guarding the building, we are contacting less active YSA's in the greater Manchester area.  We estimate there are 200-300 less actives compared to about 50 active YSA's, so there is plenty of work to do. We made phone calls to as many as we could get a phone number for.  In two weeks, we have visited and/or taken to lunch or dinner 7 YSA's.  If Elder Pew's wallet hangs in, we will continue and increase our appointments throughout the summer.   A few active YSA's heard of what we were doing and volunteer'd to become less active to get a free meal!  We always talk to them about their challenges, how they felt when they were baptized, and then introduce the Institute program and the YSA Ward to them.
Now that the "Pizza with the Pew's" Bednar trilogy class is over for the semester, we will begin a new class which we are busy creating curriculum. It is called the Gospel Path and it is for New and returning members.  We have discovered that new members, even after 4-6 months in the Church know very little doctrine, and they are not learning via Institute or Sunday School because the material is too deep.   We remember that we had the advantage of Primary and Young Women/Men to learn doctrine.  So we are building a more simple doctrinal class. We have been working on the curriculum, primarily using Primary manuals, activities and pictures and have come up with a solid first week.  We will teach the Articles of Faith and principles that go with them for the first 10 weeks and then for the last 4 weeks teach about prophets of the Church, the importance of the family and the "story" of the Book of Mormon so that when they read it, they are not as confused.

Our planning session (4 hours) for our new class included a healthy dose of Haagen- Dazs . 

Another baptism at the YSA building. Elders Peterson and Johnson weren't sure this was going to happen so they asked Elder Pew to drive them 25 miles away to see why Wonjani hadn't returned their calls. He said that he didn't have phone service and that he was planning on being there at 5:00 pm for his baptism. He was there and the baptism came off just fine.

Elder Johnson, Wonjani and Elder Peterson at the baptism

Elders Quorum President, Joe Walsh who spoke at the baptism.  He works at the Preston MTC where he teaches. We first met Joe in January at an Ashton Stake Meeting where he gave his mission report following his service in the Milan Italy Mission. We have grown to love him and are so glad he is part of the YSA ward.

    We get attached to these young missionaries as they come and go. We were sad to see Elder Peterson leave in February but we were happy to see him return. He will be going home in July but we will enjoy him while we can.

A "selfie" from Elder Peterson who is from Montana and formerly from Heber City. He will be going to BYU in the fall (true blue).

We enjoy the missionary meetings and activities and we attended a Missionary Barbecue this past week.  The senior couples cooked for the missionaries...hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and Oreos. We had appointments with less actives scheduled during the afternoon so we had to leave and missed the talent show, races and games.



  

   It seems like both the English "Mothering Day" and the US Mother's day have been super busy Sundays for us.  On May 11th, we were invited to speak in Sacrament Meeting in the Swinton Ward.  Luke Kerr, who is the institute director, is also the Bishop in the Swinton Ward and asked us to talk. We also know Elder and Sister Hill from Bountiful who are serving in the Swinton Ward.   Elder Hill serves in the Bishopric. They are MLS Missionaries (Member Leadership and Support) There are also 2 other senior couples who have this calling in the EMM.  After Sacrament Meeting we left for the Whitefield Ward to meet with a Young Single Adult there that had been newly baptized.  He will be attending the YSA ward very soon.  We then left and went to Rochdale where we met with some missionaries and picked up paperwork on less-active YSA's.  (Whitefield and Rochdale are northern suburbs of Manchester)  Then, back to Manchester where there was a re-broadcast of the CES fireside where Elder Ballard spoke. We put a lot of miles on our Vauxhall that day.

Elder Hill received a heavy bag of change from a member for tithing. He will be counting for awhile. 

After church at the Whitefield Ward we got this picture of Gayathri Manage and her mother CK (She says to just remember ...Calvin Klein) who are from Sri Lanka.  Gayathri is getting ready to serve a mission.  She is a bright, sweet girl with a tremendous testimony.

We have noticed that when the sun comes out, you should take advantage of the day. When the clouds part and weather clears,  you can't put it off but must go outside and enjoy the weather.

A nearby park is usually pretty empty but with clear skies it fills with people.

A local fruit and veg stand that is just across from the YSA building.

The Bell's Come to Manchester

    Macy and Ryan came to town!  We were so excited to see them. They didn't even seem jet lagged but were ready to see the sights and travel a bit. The bad news is, their luggage didn't arrive with them.  The good news is...it arrived the next morning. We spent Friday night giving them a quick drive-by tour of Manchester which included the YSA building, Albert Square and Etihad Stadium...Home of Manchester City. We ate dinner at Nandos and they stayed in our flat with us. I told them I wanted them to stay right there with us. So sorry for the very uncomfortable guest bed.  The next morning, we drove by Manchester United Stadium, Trafford Center, and we then headed to Scotland.   

At the YSA Building with Macy and Ryan

Macy and Ryan discovered that their good friends, the Hogards, were Elder Chong's Seminary Teacher and Young Men's President in Malaysia.  Small World...

Ryan with Elder Caliera.  Ryan served a mission in Portugal a few years ago. They caught up on a little Portuguese. 

The drive to Scotland was so pretty and VERY green.

I think there's more sheep than people in England.

After a lot of online searching, Reed found this hotel and it was a good one.  The Rutland has only 12 rooms and overlooks the castle.  It was once the home to an Edinburgh Physician. 

Macy sitting in the lobby in the Royal Chair.

The Edinburgh Castle

View of the Edinburgh Royal Mile, which is actually High Street because it is up on a hill. 

This is the Scotland/Ireland Mission Home that is next door to the only meetinghouse in Edinburgh. We attended the Edinburgh Ward on Sunday.  It was  amazing to see how many American students  attend University of Edinburgh and attend the ward. 

What E'er Thou Art...Act Well Thy Part...This famous quote, attributed to Shakespeare, was noticed by President David O McKay above a doorway when he was a missionary in Scotland.  It became inspiration for President McKay's life and he determined that whatever he was called to do, he would do his best.  This stone is on the grounds of the Mission Home in Edinburgh and a replica is at the MTC in Provo. 

Johnston is a BIG name in Edinburgh.  You see it everywhere you go. Johnston Woolens are very Scottish.  My grandfather's family came from Scotland and I need to do a little research to see if they were in the Woolen business. 

The Royal Mile, leading to the castle. It was one of the most quaint, charming European streets we had ever seen.

Elder Pew, Macy and Ryan walking down a little street of shops. Elder Pew is walking fast to get out of the shopping district.

The Elephant House is the Cafe where JK Rowling began her Harry Potter Stories.  Supposedly, she started scratching her ideas onto a napkin.

The Edinburgh National Museum. We toured several museums and cathedrals.  We always lost Ryan, since he reads all the displays and is so interested in everything.  We always did find him, but he really got engrossed in the museums. 

Ryan and Reed say No to Kilts...even if they are on sale. 

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant called The Wedgewood.  I had some delicious Scottish Beef, Macy and Reed had salmon.

Ryan tried the Haggis..

Entry to the Castle

Changing of the Guard at the castle. 

Views of the City from the Castle Walls.

It was an incredibly beautiful day. 

Such a sweet little Dog Cemetery at the Castle.

Reed and Macy


Reed, Macy and Julie...

The stained glass at the small church, St Margaret's Chapel, part of the Castle area.

Elder and Sister Pew and Macy and Ryan at the castle.  Ryan was the only one who took the Audio Tour. 

Castle Clock Tower.

We really wanted to tour Holyrood Palace and grounds, where the Queen stays when she is in Scotland.  But Prince Edward was visiting and if there are visitors there, no tours are offered. There are no royal garages for royal cars.

Here are Elder Pew and I in front of a stature of Adam Smith, Elder Pew's favorite Economist.

   At the end of a wonderful few days we headed to the airport, so Macy and Ryan could catch a plane to London, where Ryan had a meeting the next day. At the last minute, I thought it might be a good idea to spend a day with Macy and ride the train back to Manchester the next night, so Reed dropped the three of us at the Edinburgh Airport and drove the 4 hour car ride back to Manchester and I hopped on a plane to spend a day with Macy in London. We stayed at Ryan's brother, Davis and Melissa's flat and I saw London for the first time.

Late night run to the Shake Shack in Covent Garden.

Seeing the Eye of London with the Tower and Big Ben in the background from our cab.

Shopping and Lunch at Liberty (of London)

Beautiful Flowers at Liberty

Such a famous old store with wood trim and elegant detail. Loved it !

Why did this go out of business in Salt Lake?

Carnaby Street shops.

Regent Street where many Flagship Stores are located.



It was just as difficult to tell Macy and Ryan goodbye the second time as it was the first.  I took the train back to Manchester and Reed met me and we began the next day with a busy schedule of visiting YSA's, prep and planning for lessons and getting ready for the Munch and Mingle on Sunday.

"Staging" the ingredients for the Homemade Lasagna.

6 pans of Meat and vegetable Homemade Lasagna ready for Sunday's Munch and Mingle after church.

Love Cooking for these YSA's and missionaries! 

Do we have this at home?  Milk on the shelf...good for Emergency and for food storage.

On Saturday, May 24, it was fun to meet up with these missionaries, Elder Dan and Joyce Jones.  They are serving as Public Affairs Missionaries for England and they had a meeting in our building.  Joyce and I have been friends since we were very young and growing up in Bountiful.  We went all through school together, were on the drill team at Bountiful High and went off to BYU on the same day.  Joyce was a teacher and Principal for Davis School District when I was working for the district and now here we are in England serving missions with our husbands. 

Elder and Sister Jones with us at the YSA building.

Another Month Down...We have been here almost 6 Months. The time is going fast.  We have 18 months to serve our mission and the rest of our lives to think about it.  We will keep working hard.