We arrived in London after a 3-hour American Airlines flight to Chicago, a 2-hour layover, and then an 8–hour flight on British Airways to London’s Heathrow Airport. Everything went well and we did get a few hours’ sleep, even sitting in airline chairs. Customs was a breeze—no one asked to check our luggage. After collecting all our suitcases and putting everything on two carts, we wheeled them into the customs area and followed the arrows into a large room where customs personal should have been, but no one was there, so we followed the lines out the door to the waiting Mission President and his wife and two elders. I like that type of customs’ check! We loaded into two vehicles and headed for our hotel. Strange that everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road and we have yet to see an accident: Small tight roads filled with medium to small cars, all with horns ready for use, many roundabouts, and red and green traffic lights differently placed and large red, double-decker buses packed into the two narrow traffic lanes amidst the many black taxi cabs. London is a busy place. Some say over 10 million people in the summer months. With many, many nationalities and languages and different dressing styles but mostly western European attire. Not too different from the States. We went to our hotel, the Best Western Cromwell, located on Cromwell Road & specifically chosen for its near proximity to the Hyde Park Chapel [and ELM office], squired by the two nice missionaries, and found they had no record of our reservations, and we could not locate the reservation number. We’d made our reservations 3 weeks previous to our departure. So we spent most of the rest of the day working out of the mission office finding accommodations sufficient until we could locate an apartment (flat). We got a lot of help from Sister Naugle, who is American, living in London with her husband, who is employed by Shell. We were blessed to find accommodations in an apartment-hotel that lets rooms by the week. It’s named Citidines Apart’hotel. Luckily they had room as it is summer holiday time in England, with the schools just letting out for the summer at the first of July, and London is bulging with tourists. [Helping Hands] It is a small room with a kitchenette and we are doing all right for now, tight and cozy, about 300 square feet, but with bathroom, shower-over-tub, small (barely working) refrigerator, microwave, and a small table-top dishwasher (common in Europe), as yet unused. The kitchenette cupboards and drawers have enough dishes, glasses, bowls & silverware for 4 people, with the common-everywhere corkscrew [also unused]. We walk about 4-5 London blocks [there’s another word for “blocks”, as block means something else here], and we carry our groceries back to the room. All pedestrians must look both ways and be very careful in trying to safely cross the streets. We are learning to look the “wrong” way first! The mission office is on the 3rd floor (considered the 2nd floor in England) and very nice: cluttered on the desk/countertops but roomy, with four work stations + computers, supply/copy machine room, and all attached to the Mission President’s private office. There are large windows on the east side letting in lots of light, for which we are grateful. It also has AC. When we arrived Tuesday afternoon, new senior companions were being trained for the 20 new missionaries who were to arrive on Wednesday, July 22nd. So we did not interview with the president and learn our assignment directly. Everyone is treating us very well and like we know what we are doing, and of course we do not, but play right along and try to learn fast. Elder Weibel (young Elder from Germany, speaks excellent English, pronounced Vibel), who is currently financial secretary, let us have his cell phone for use in finding a flat and keeping in touch. Every missionary pair and missionary couple have a cell phone. This allows the President and staff access to everyone and it is a great help in administering the work. We will be given two cell phones, one for each of us. Elder Hall, with whom we have been corresponding via email, is the office elder who will be doing most of the training to bring us up-to-speed. We start our training Monday morning. We have about 5 1⁄2 weeks’ time in which to learn all that he and Elder Weibel know, because at that future point is the next transfers’ date. The elders currently are trying to bring everything up-to-the-present, so we can start with a clean slate. Sister Hawley will be bringing them cookies or some other treat, for sure. After five days, we have paid bus passes, sore feet and legs from all the walking, but have made an offer on a flat some ten blocks from the mission office. [Sister Hawley loved seeing all of the different flats for let.] Brother and Sister Watts, whom we have not met, & who are serving a family history mission, live nearby, and Brother & Sister Little live in the same building. The Little’s are the ones who told us first about the availability of this flat via email before we left; Brother Little went into the flat & took photos & sent them to us. We didn’t want to commit online without seeing the flat first in person, so when we arrived there was already another offer in the estate agent’s hands. However, the people who offered didn’t pass the credit check, so the agent called us back and told us it was again available. We immediately set an appointment to view the flat and made an offer within the hour. We are waiting for our offer to be approved. [More Helping Hands!] David & Denece Little are from Cache Valley and are serving a CES Outreach Mission to the LDS young adults in the area. They also work in the Hyde Park Chapel building. They are nice and we will live on the fifth floor (with a lift—an elevator in the U.S.) and they are on the first or ground floor in the same large apartment complex called Huntsmore House. As expected, things are a bit pricey as this approximately 800 square foot apartment+ monthly expenses will run about $3200 per month [with utilities, internet/cable/telephone & council tax], but the Lord will provide, if we are faithful and do our part. We will have about a 10-minute bus ride and four or five-block walk to get to the office. The bus route home has the buses stopping right in front of our building. The Little’s like this schedule especially well. Their hours during the week start at 3:30 p.m. and last until 10:30 p.m., so they arrive home at about 11:00 p.m. We plan to try a couple of bus rides to gain a bit of experience with the routes and the stops. We met with President Patch on Thursday mid-morning and he shared with us his vision of the work and what he sees us doing in the office. However, we are, seemingly, given carte blanche to set our hours and come and go as needed. Our job will be to get trained so the missionaries can get back out into the field, and, thereafter, we will run the office and get the work done as we see fit. If we need a nap, we are to take it, so says the President! Saturday is our P-Day. President is not worried if we choose not to come to the office until 10 a.m.; the missionaries are studying and preparing until 10 a.m. anyway. Then we will work until about 5 p.m. Once we receive keys to the office, and are fully trained, we want to come in earlier and see if we can tidy things up a bit, and have the office well organized. For now we are assigned the Hyde Park Ward, a family ward that meets at 9 a.m. We’ll attend there for the first time on Sunday, July 26th. There are two other wards in the building as well as the ward/stake offices. Also in the building is the Family History Center, the LDS Employment Center, and the Center for Young Adults [CES Outreach program]. There is a porter in this building who commutes from southern England. The President and his wife both have tried to look out for us and want to make sure we are okay and not being swamped in the newness of everything, jet-lag, and this transition. The mission couples meet at each other’s flats every other Monday night for FHE, and do some outings together. In August we will have a picnic in the park before seeing an outdoor production of “Hello, Dolly!” [This week after leaving the office we took sandwiches – Elder Hawley is happy ‘cause there is a SUBWAY close by! – and we ate them in the green-space east of the Natural History Museum, a beautifully designed and constructed building that looks to have been a large residence with possibility of a mote around the property. On another p-day we plan to go through this and other nearby museums, all free to the public. We were lucky to arrive just as a couple was vacating a bench in the shade. Then two women came up to us and introduced themselves as members of the Church from the London South area. On the same day we had a woman from Scotland also introduce herself to us on the street—she works in the FHC. Wonderful! So open and friendly!] [Photo] We searched for flats using three or four different agents. We have walked and walked, fit into tiny little cars, and have climbed up and down many, many stairs. After seeing about ten or twelve properties and making offers on three, we finally settled on the property on Pembroke Road. We should know by Tuesday if we clear the references and financial check. It is good the Church will be the guarantor, so all should work out similarly to the Little’s who “passed muster” just three weeks ago (they are recent additions to the mission also). We have met the Scott’s & the Innskeep’s, who both work in the FHC. Sharon Hintze [Hinsee] supervises this and other FH centers around the world. Carol Ann Naugle manages the Employment staff/office. Each helps “their” own missionaries find flats, and both have generously offered advice well-earned from experience; Sister Hintze has lived here for about 25 years & she travels a lot for her job; and sister Naugle has lived here 4 1⁄2 years, since her husband’s work transfer. Her husband is the bishop of the Hyde Park Ward that we will attend. Other missionaries, most recently returned home, have also helped us along the way! [Many HH’s!] It’s made our move and transition much easier. The humidity is about 75%. The temperatures are in the low 70’s each day and it does rain: little rains, some cloudbursts, followed by sun and more clouds and rain again for ten to twenty minutes, but it is acceptable if you have an umbrella--umbrellas are an essential piece of equipment any time you are out. Umbrellas are in store windows and can be purchased everywhere. The nights get into the high 50’s and 60’s, which is very pleasant, and comfortable for sleeping. There is much evidence of French influence here in London. Signs and directions are printed in English and in French. French restaurants are popular, as are Italian, Thai, and Indian restaurants. The breads are varied and delicious, also the fruits & vegetables, especially when purchased at small corner markets or bakeries on the streets. We have easily found places to get our clothes cleaned, our hair cut, and our money changed – for example: $250 nets you 140+ #s; the poor economy affects everyone everywhere. Purchases we make cost 1 1⁄2-2 times as much as in U.S. dollars. Each dollar is worth about .60 pounds. We are slowly getting used to the difference in money; credit cards make purchases easier in this regard. We plan to finish the flat-letting process, sign the contract and move into the flat on Friday, July 31st, which is less than a week away. Once we get our flat, we are told we will receive a utility bill, which is important because it shows proof of residency & will enable us to get a bank account here, plus get us registered for council tax, the free [because we’re over 60] bus/tube passes, and the National Health Care services [all free]. Elder Hall will train Sister Hawley on referrals, general mission correspondence, transfers, new missionaries, travel arrangements, newsletter, general record keeping & filing, etc. Elder Hawley will train on housing, vehicles & supplies with Elder Hall, and later on finance with Elder Weibel. Transfers occur every 6 weeks, so we anticipate having a training time with the two elders for another 5+ weeks as we need it, and then they will probably be reassigned. Elders Hall & Weibel will help us move. We have 3 boxes shipped to the office, plus our luggage and personal bags and computers. They are young and strong and energetic and helpful, kind, polite, smart—great missionaries and we are so happy and [relieved!] to have their help!!! [HHs X 2+] Flat buildings here, if large enough with enough tenants, have “porters” who provide security and services, such as collecting the mail [packages, too], receiving messages, being there to receive cleaning, providing spare keys, etc.. Mail is delivered right to the tenants’ door and pushed through the slots in each door. Inside most flats is a security phone with a video screen for checking visitors that hangs on the wall in the entry/hallway of each flat. Huntsmore House has an interior garden space that is a very pleasant. Our flat has a long balcony outside the bedroom/kitchen/reception [living room] on the west side of the flat. We have asked the landlord/owner if another couch could be added to the furniture so that we can seat more people, and this evidently is not a problem, so we’ll have more seating. We want to move in soonest so we can feel more settled here and so we can live with a few of our own things around us and make our own new schedule and routine. We have been lead by the Lord many times and know what we are doing is important to the Lord’s work. We see multitudes of people and wonder about their welfare, especially their spiritual welfare. Most are friendly and kind, but look strangely at our nametags and wonder what we are doing. We would feel out of place without those wonderful nametags—we draw strength from them as they are a symbol that we have been called by the Lord into His service full time. We are feeling out of our comfort zone, but we are happy nevertheless! We both got naps Saturday, which helped; we have been so excited about this ADVENTURE that we haven’t realized that we were more tired than usual. We are most grateful for all the ways we see [and those we don’t yet] the Hands of the Lord in this calling and in helping us prepare, travel, and begin. More DPH Mission News next week! Love, E/S Hawley, from the ELM.
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