NEWS of the WEEK

Perhaps the highlight of the week for me came when I was entering the name of a man who had just been baptised this past month into the Church's Convert Date Entry or CDE. As I read through the submitted baptism form I saw that this man's wife and two children were already members of the Church. Which means that in one year's time he and his wife and children will be able to go to a temple of the Lord to be sealed for Time and for All Eternity. Many of the entries I make are for single or divorced individuals, with or without children. So when an individual, by his or her choice to be baptised, also unites his or her family, it brings such a feeling of happiness into my heart. This is the desire of our Lord and Savior: to unite families and to give all the fullness of the temple blessings.

Last week we heard of our ward/stake temple day coming up on November 21st. Knowing the new policy for missionaries, we at first didn't think we could go. However, as suggested by our mission president, we sent him an email petitioning our request to be allowed to attend with our ward members in order to unite with them and support them, especially the newly endowed ward members. The president forwarded our email to the area representative, who emailed back that indeed we do have permission to attend the London Temple this coming Saturday. We are thrilled. It is so close to our U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving that we will go with gratitude and thanksgiving in our minds and hearts. We plan to take the train from Victoria Station to Lingfield, and from there, a taxi to the temple. We want to travel this way so as to maximize the time we will be able to spend there at the temple. We think we can do more than one session this way.

Both Elder and Sister Hawley have enjoyed some quieter, somewhat slower days in the office this past week. It has enabled us to "catch a breather" and to get some more assignments done on our own time as compared with having to do them in a rush or when a lot of activities [and noise] are going on around us. We've even been able NOT to stay in the office 12 hours a day, but to leave on the early side. Sister Hawley has been helping Elder Hawley with the flat searches and has offered to help lighten his load. Elder Hawley in turn has given Sister Hawley the task of Missionary Reimbursements, which Sister Hawley is enjoying; she also finds that this job is one that can be done in the slower moments of her day, and she likes learning to do new things.

The APs did another workover near the U.S. air base [and commissary], and were so nice to bring us another case of A & W Root Beer. E/S Hawley will have to reciprocate by fixing them root beer floats! Sister Hawley has also made her almond sour cream bundt pound cake to slice and share with all of the missionaries who are "regulars" in the office: the APs, the office elders, the Britannia elders and sisters, the Spanish elders and sisters, and she'll even have a few extra slices on hand for those who just "drop by."

This coming week brings "finish MOVES" for the president, which means that he has a deadline every six weeks to finish his spiritual decisions on transfers within the mission. This time he has something else that has increased the difficulty factor: Area leaders have told us that 10 cars will be withdrawn from the mission total of 30 -- we are told that England has more vehicles than any other UK or European country -- and that they will not be replaced. So he has been pondering and praying over these two aspects of transfers for the last 10 days to 2 weeks, alone and with the advice of the APs and of course with prayer and the Spirit to guide him. He also has shared one or two other considerations with us. Once he has made his final decisions, the APs will go to his flat and take two photos of the "President's Board" there, and these photos will be given to Sister Hawley, whose turn it becomes to make those changes official through iMOS [Internet Missionary Operating System]. Once these changes are made and are uploaded, she then prints out two new copies of phone numbers and organizational rosters. These changes also tell her what other responsibilities will become active for Transfers week next week. Included in these "in-house" changes is one former AP's departure as his mission has come to its natural conclusion, and we will indeed miss him as he is one of the best. Also on the calendar is the arrival of one elder and one sister missionary coming by train from the Preston Missionary Training Centre. This is quite a small group. In one month we will say goodbye to another missionary, and welcome two more. And then we will see no changes for at least 2 more transfer periods, and maybe three. In April of 2010 we should see an increase of activity, which we will welcome. The final project for Sister Hawley will be to create the Truth Will Prevail newsletter, as it is published every other transfer period and is to be printed the week before zone conferences so as to make it easy to give every missionary a copy. From the missionaries who are or have gone home we will have printed their "departing words." And photos of them and of the new missionaries who have arrived since the last issue will also be included, as well as a new President's message. It's fun to do and the missionaries look forward to reading it.

When there are changes in the mission these changes automatically involve Elder Hawley. If we were to divide our responsibilities into halves, Elder Hawley is responsible for anything financial, and Sister Hawley is responsible for office duties and anything involving people. Elder Hawley will be finding some new flats for some companionships based on possible changes for missionaries who will lose their vehicles by the above change. It isn't easy just to say, well, this car is old and has the most miles, so it's on the list to go. It matters where the missionaries are located, and how wide their proselyting area is. If there is good public transportation, then not having a car may precipitate them moving from outside the city or town closer into the city center so as to access that public transportation to get to the various parts of their assigned area and also to be closer to the chapel where meetings and some teaching appointments are held. Elder Hawley is a good source for the missionaries and he gets many phone calls each day, which he trouble-shoots one by one. He also acts as "middleman" between the missionaries as tenants and the landlords or owners of the flats they [or rather the Church] rents in their behalf.

What is fun is to have no day like the one previous or the one yet to come. We are being trained to become more flexible as well as more patient and more knowledgeable. It brings such blessings into our lives, and we rejoice in this opportunity to serve the Lord's children and to help in our small ways to bring to pass His work.

One final comment: on the way to church this morning we passed a new addition to the neighborhood: across the street from our Hyde Park Chapel building is the Natural History Museum. It is such a beautifully and architecturally constructed building, and really quite large. The 'front gardens' are long and spacious. At holiday time an ice rink is set up with both a portable restaurant and an outside snack shack, and beside these attractions are a large lighted Christmas tree and medium-sized merry-go-round. I'm not sure we want to risk a fall-down on the ice, but perhaps we will take a ride and drink some hot cocoa on a cold evening before we catch the C1 home. [See attached photos.]