The Back Row Pew: Here Comes the Sun...

Telling Tatiana goodbye was hard but we did a double date with Best Friends Tatiana and Pierre at Nando's. After graduating from Manchester Met in Marketing, she is leaving to go back to her home in Nottingham to regroup and look for a job. We hope she will return so we can see her often.

Girl Night at our Flat

On June 24th we had a fun girl night at our flat. We honored Tatiana by bringing gifts that reminded us of her... It was a fun night !

YSA Ward girls !!

My cupcakes didn't work out ...Frosting solved the problem.

We are looking forward to Joulia's baptism on July 20. Sister Pew has been involved in her discussions and they have become good friends. She is pictured above with Rhianne. Joulia is a 19 year old muslim from Lebanon.

Over the past two weeks, We have continued to teach - both institute classes and investigators. Our Gospel Path Class is now in it's 6th week and while the numbers attending (it's on a night other than the regular institute night) are not great, those that come are getting a good beginning education in Gospel principles, how the Church functions and other basic doctrine. The curriculum is typically a powerpoint presentation with doctrine on slides and 3-4 video's embedded within. We continue to use the Articles of Faith as the basis for our teachings. Elder Pew has been teaching institute as a substitute for Luke Kerr, the institute director who is out on paternity leave. We are studying Presidents of the Church over the summer and he has enjoyed getting to now more about each one. He taught about Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow the past two weeks and then Joseph F. Smith next week. Elder Pew has been helping to teach Jess, a 21 year old English girl who will probably be baptized in early August. In the last lesson on commandments, she had no issues with anything we taught, including coffee and tea. I told her she is 90% Mormon already and just needs to get baptized. She has not yet participated in YSA activitie and we are confident when she does she will fit in with th eother YSA's. Elder Pew has been out street tracting with the Elders and is helping to teach a Brazilian girl, named Adrianne. She has been taught two lessons and has been given a Portuguese Book of Mormon which she was happy to receive. Our next goal is to invite her to attend church and to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

We said good-bye to President and Sister Preston on June 26 at Zone Conference. It was sad to see them leave but they had worked incredibly hard for 3 years and all the missionaries loved them. We are confident that our new President and wife, the Ulrich's will be great as well and as the missionaries get to know them, they will be equally loved. New changes for Senior Missionaries... President Ulrich has told us that we cannot leave the Mission Boundaries. President Preston allowed us to leave the mission to see other places in Great Britain. We are very glad we took a trip to Scotland, London and York, although we hoped to get to St Andrew's and the Cotswolds. Did someone say something about forgiveness rather than permission ? LOL

A surprise luncheon for Sister Preston by the Senior Couples

Manchester Zone at Zone Conference...we all wore red in honor of Pres Preston's love for Man United.

President Preston teaches with a large Beach Ball...He uses object lessons in his teaching.

Sister Clawson won the scripture chase. She prepared for her mission by reading the Book of Mormon over 30 times. (She is related to the Graham's of Farmington)

At the end of the conference, the Preston grandchildren are escorted in as a surprise for the Preston's .....a very touching part of the program

I am glad I slipped down to see the Pearce's in London a couple of weeks ago.

I wasn't sure where I was going when I arrived at the train station but these two Missionaries happened to be at Euston Station and were headed to my tube stop so they escorted me. Thank You Elder Wu and Elder Murdock. Things just work out. One of the things I like about being a Missionary

My Nellie loves her Diet Coke

Tea Party with all the kids

even little Margie

We had a great time at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

On June 26, We had a wonderful BBQ at the YSA building to welcome the new Seminary Graduates. We cooked 60 Burgers and 20 Hot dogs. Our resident Chef, Ryan Hoyle cooked the burgers and dogs out on the balcony. It is the first time we have been out there.

enjoying the barbecue

Love these Sister Missionaries, Sisters Thompson and Sun from Salt Lake and Sister Fetulli from Tonga.

A Day at Parrs Wood School

We were given an assignment by President Preston to attend and present at a Religion Awareness Conference for 17 yr olds at the Parrs Wood School on June 30, 2014. Elders Walker and Diperi and Sisters Steinagel and Jones went with us and it was a great day. Along with us were representatives from 7 other religions, though interestingly no one from the Catholic Church, The Church of England or the Islam Faith participated (but were invited) Religions represented included Baptists, Humanists, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology and two others. This was specifically not to be an evangelizing conference, but you know missionaries! It's what we do. The conference schedule was for three 50 minute sessions followed by a lunch period and a Q and A with everyone together. Students had to choose 3 religions they wanted to hear about. It was clear that we had the largest group at our sessions because there were about 150 students and 75-80 of them came to one of our sessions.

Sister Pew and I prepared a power point presentation which included basic facts about the Church, the Plan of Salvation, the Restoration, commandments and basic differences between us and the rest of Christianity. It ended with the video, "Because of Him". We did the first session because we were the most familiar with it and allowed the other missionaries to observe. The Elders did the second session and the Sisters did the third.

We asked the students what religion they were and about 40% indicated atheist, about 33% were Muslim, 15% Christian and the rest agnostic. Unfortunately it is becoming clear that England is no longer a Christian nation.

Questions from the students included concerns over where they would end up after judgement day if they are not baptized, why we don't drink coffee or tea, (there was a huge gasp when the slide went up that we don't drink those 2 drinks). They also questioned why we must go through adversity in life and what is the Holy Spirit and how it works.

In the final session where they all met together, any student could ask a question and then each religion was given an opportunity to answer it. It became quickly obvious that most wanted to be politically correct and sometimes gave personal opinion answers that they said differed form their church teachings.

Questions included one about women equality, which Sister Pew answered that in our Church there is not gender-bias, that the Relief Society organization is the largest women's organization in the world and was organized over 170 years ago. She stated that women teach, serve missions, speak in meetings, expound doctrine, serve in temples and held positions of leadership in auxiliary organizations. Elder Diperi then added that men and women are different and have different roles in life but are equal in the eyes of God.

Another question was why bad things happen to good people. Elder Pew summarized the Plan of Salvation and that we came to this earth of our own desire knowing that we were to be tried and proven in mortal bodies. Adversity is to be expected and it is how we handle and respond to difficulties that matters and how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help us get through any struggle.

Sister Steinagel answered a question regarding acceptance of gays and lesbians. We quickly found a talk by President Hinckley regarding the subject where he said that we love all people and invite all people to join us but that we expect everyone to adhere to the same commandments regarding chastity; which she used as the basis for her response. She also said that we believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. She was bold but loving!

Several students picked up pamphlets and asked questions after the presentation. It was really a fun and interesting experience- A great day!!

The Sisters with our hosts

The Sisters Giving the presentation

Sister Steinagle waiting to respond to her question. There were 15 people on the panel discussion

Elder Walker and Elder Deperi are Assistants to the President and did a fantastic job with the young students. After our presentation they had a crowd of kids around them wanting to meet them....they had them eating out of their hand. Both of these Elders were atheists 3 years ago but they were converted to the gospel and wanted to serve missions. Elder Walker runs the 800 meter on the BYU track team and he is from Georgia. Elder Deperi is from Mesa, Arizona.

At Family Home Evening, we played the Find Your Family Game and Werewolves

We had to say goodbye to Hope who moved to Scotland...sad!

The World Cup Games are winding down and with England and the US out of the running, things are quiet at the YSA building.

It is strange to celebrate the 4th of July in a different country. We went with the Hill's and found some Ribs and Coleslaw and then we toured one of England's historic homes.

The Hill's from Bountiful at Gawthorpe Hall

known as Downton Abbey of the North...Gawthorpe Hall

On Sunday, June 6, we hosted a "Break-the-Fast" pancake breakfast at our flat. American Pancakes are a bit of a novelty here with maple syrup and they loved them. Ryan Hoyle and Elder Pew cooked up about 100 pancakes for the group of almost 30 YSA

Sister Thompson and Elder Sargent

Garth and Elder Sidhu

Missionaries and YSA

Ryan and Elder Pew have a Sunday Nap after everyone leaves.

We headed to the Asian Buffet, TOP's as a goodbye for Elder Sargent. TOPS focuses on Quantity and not especially quality...missionaries love this place. Elder Sargent left on July10 and we will miss him. We grew to love him like we do so many of these missionaries.

We were able to take Elder Sargent for his final trip to the temple before heading home to Morgan, Utah.

The skylight window in the entry of the Preston Temple

Elders Peterson, Sargent, Sidhu at the Preston Temple

I finally talked Elder Pew into going to 5 GUYS which has recently opened at Trafford Center. It's a pricey burger here in UK but it tasted great and the drink machine...with ice! Fantastic

I've almost forgotten that you get a drink like this.

Sam Zeng, one of our YSA from China invited us to be his surrogate parents at his graduation from University of Manchester. On July 10, we attended the ceremony which was quite different and surprisingly short. We were happy to take pictures of Sam for his parents and take him out for a celebratory lunch . He graduated with honors in Textile Science and Technology. We first met Sam when he came to our home for Christmas Dinner. Sam left for home in China about 4 hours after the ceremony but will be coming back to Manchester to begin a masters program in September.

Historic Whitworth Hall - University of Manchester

Sam, receiving his diploma

graduation Selfie

Sam and his friends from China

Elder Pew is studying for the Driver's Exam. It is quite difficult and passing rate isn't very high. Most people take it several times to pass it but it is about 400 pounds each time. There is a theory test, a simulation test and a live driving test. Our US license is good for one year, then we have to have a UK driver's license. He will have an instructor for about 6 lessons then take the test. We will keep our fingers crossed.

July 11 was our first Zone Conference with President Ulrich. He gave a 2 hour presentation with questions regarding the Articles of Faith, which will be used more in the Missionary Discussions. President Ulrich also told us of the 5 Initiatives that will be the focus of the mission going forward-

1. Member Retention 2. Reactivation 3. Conversion 4. Family History

5. Teaching the Doctrine of Christ

He called the Senior Couples to the front of the Chapel and let the missionaries know how much we cared about them and that we are like parents to them. He then expressed love to his wife and asked all the Senior Couples to kiss in front of the Young Missionaries. Elder Pew took advantage of the moment and took me by surprise with a huge kiss which made the missionaries cheer.