This Could Be the Last Time...

We said good-bye this past week to our incredible YSA and many others that we have grown to love. We had a few "lasts" and then we took a quick trip South to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the Cotswolds, Oxford, Church History Sites and Bath. We return to Manchester for a quick stop and then fly out on Thursday, the 28th. Here are a few of our last events:

It was Elder Mongie's Birthday and we had a "Last District Lunch" at the Red Chile restaurant on Oxford Road.   Oxford Road has been our life for the past 18 months.

Elder Diederich, Ding, Bohme, Peterson, Maughan and Mongie.

Geez, do we have enough food?   perhaps not - it was all easily eaten.  

Elder Peterson showing off.  

It was really hot

Happy Birthday Elder Mongie, please keep up the great work you are doing.

Selfie, Elder Maughan and Elder Ding in yellow tie uniform.

A Final Dinner with Helen Smith and Rhianne Hoyle, two women we have come to truly love and appreciate.  They have been so nice to us and made us feel at home in Manchester ever since we arrived. 

We had a nice dinner at Bill's in Manchester and the Treacle Tart was divine.

A Lovely Farewell Dinner from the Ashton Stake Presidency

We traveled to a beautiful spot just beyond Oldham called the Cinnamon 

Lounge and had a great Indian Meal.

President Mayall, Elder Pew, President Fletcher, President Preston, Naomi Preston,
Barbara Fletcher, Sister Pew and Bernie Mayall

 A Sunday Roast Dinner at the Mayall's Home on our final Sunday in Manchester.

Pictured is the Mayall family (left) Ross Macmeakin (soon-to-be son-in-law)
Leah Mayall, Hannah, President Leland Mayall, Bernie, Abi in back and Rachel in front.  They are an incredible family that truly love the Lord.

Last Baptism/Rose Taylor

Sitting on the bench where they met and taught Rose are; Elder Peterson, Rose Taylor and Elder Maughan.
We were honored to speak at her baptism. We spoke on Beginning with the End
in Mind and temple covenants. It was a very special baptism.

Elder Peterson, Rose and Elder Maughan before and after the baptism.

 Manchester Town Hall on a Rainy Night

We walked into City Centre to meet the Kerr's for a final dinner.
It was raining buckets and we were pretty wet when we arrived at
Red's True Barbecue at Albert Square across from Town Hall.  We were soaked completely.
This picture was taken about 30 minutes after it quit raining.

Luke and Emma Kerr

Our Last Sunday at the YSA Ward

   It was hard to believe that it was our last Sunday. We were asked to bear our testimonies and President Liptrot, a very dynamic speaker and President of the Manchester Stake, spoke. He spoke on Sister Wixom's talk at Conference on  Returning to Faith. He also mentioned that the booklet that we had given him as a parting gift (see below) was coincidentally written by his former Mission President, many years ago.  John Cox now lives in Farmington and President Liptrot hasn't seen him since his mission.  He sent Elder Pew his address and we will try to track him down on behalf of President Liptrott.

We had photos taken with Ella Goodall and Ryan Cooper. Ryan
lives in Crewe so we said goodbye to him.

Our Final Time to 5 Guys with 7 Guys

Elders Pew, Peterson, Maughan, Faulapua, Boehme, Stetler and Diederich


Elder Boehme carries the two large "bags" of fries.

Pizza Night with the Girls

We had a girl night at our flat with pizza and the game Head's Up

Pictured are (bottom left) Pilar Gonzales, Rose Taylor, Anna Ykhlef, Amy Hickey, Cinthya Abod, Emily Olson
(Top left)  Melody Bardsley, Brogan Morrison, Rhianne Hoyle, Sister Pew, Katarina Maguire, Keya Joseph, Javi Ramierz and Gillian Hoyle, Rhianne's mother.

Pew's Choice Awards..Final Institute Night

We prepared an award for every YSA and planned a fun event to honor all of them.
Some awards were funny, some cute and some true - all enjoyed them.

Our YSA district Elders helped us set up, set the tables and roll out the "Red Carpet"


Each of the 10 tables had a  14 inch "Millie's Chocolate Chip Cookie" on it


Tables were set with Favors, Glasses, Fruit, Cheese, Dip, Crackers and sweets.
We had bottles of Shloer, "Mormon Champaign" on each table.

A "Selfie" with Rhianne Hoyle and Sister Pew
Rhianne and Ryan Hoyle set up the slide show with pictures and events of the YSA; all set to "farewell" themed music.  There were about 175 photo's in the slide show so all the YSA got to see themselves.

Over 100 YSA attended Institute that night.  It was thrilling for us to see so many come.

Elder Pew giving an award

Then, Sister Pew's turn (and so on and so on)

Ruth Sullivan shaking hands with Elder Pew

Ruth pictured with both of us.  Note the tie bar on Elder Pew's tie.  He rarely wears one, but this was a gift from Tan Tran, one of our incredible new convert YSA's.  

Mario Freitas Jr from Brazil was our Institute Council Chairman
He received the award of "Dances with every girl but doesn't take any one home"
He's always in the Friend Zone!  But what a great young man.
We believe he has the church world record for most Institute credits obtained.   

Eliana is the Institute Support Specialist so we have seen her at the YSA Building on a regular
basis.  Here she is with her husband Sam and daughter Julia. 

Sam Norton is one of our great YSA and he works for Adidas. He is also in the
BYU-Idaho Pathway Program.  He presented us with new trainers in the most perfect colors.
We promised him we would never wear Nike again...Always Adidas. 

Ruth Sullivan on the Red Carpet

A portion of the crowd.

Kieran Jorgensen and Susie Hotchkiss

Four great girls, Javi, Pilar, Michelle and Rose.  Javi and Pilar are from Chile, Michelle is from Bolivia and Rose is from England.  We have an international YSA.

Bang, Sunny and Evangaline, all from China.  They are not YSA - past the 31 cut off point,
but still came to say good-bye to us.

   

President Fletcher, who loves us and we love him. He is a very busy man but came to see us
on our final night.

President Robert Preston, our Mission President the first 7 months of our mission,
heard about our event and came as a surprise. He is a loving, great leader
and is now President of the Preston MTC.  He said some very kind words about us, some of it emotional to us.  He capped the terrific evening.  

 The YSA then surprised us with

a slide show of highlights they made that featured us and 

some of the events we headed up.

Other Bits and Bobs 

Our former Bishop in the Kaysville 3rd Ward, Pat Bates, sent us a booklet by John Cox about the Importance of the
English Saints in the Restoration of the Gospel. We had 50 copies printed to give to people as a parting gift.

Elder Peterson's Drawing of the Plan of Salvation...great visual aid.  It was so good, it reminded us of Elder Han Chong's drawings that were done to assist investigator lessons during the early part of our mission.  

Last Diet Coke...Cheers!