Another week has flown by. The weather is cooling but holding nicely in the low to mid 50's in the day and high 40's in the night. We went to Windsor Castle by train on Saturday, October 31st. The day began with light rain and we were out the door by 8 AM to catch the train from Waterloo Station. We rode the train for about an hour to Windsor town at a cost of about 5.50 pounds. The way was pretty, green, with many small towns and many houses, but some areas with open land, farms, meadows and waterways. The castle sits on a hill, elevated about 100 feet above the Thames River as it was a defensive castle/fort in for most of the time. William the Conqueror began the building and it has been added to by the many monarchs over the years. Windsor has been inhabited by kings or queens continuously for over 900 years, the longest in modern history. It stands on about 600 acreas of land and is quite glorious. The "Royal Apartments" were lavish and grand. Much on the order of the Buckingham Palace, with gold ornamentation all about. There is a distinct military leaning with armour, spears, swords, old flint-lock guns, and weapons of the King's guard decoratively hung about on the walls. Queen Mary was given a doll house in the early 1900's that is on display. It is to scale [1 x 12] of an English manor house of the day, complete with beds, running water, electricity and it was really quite something. The house is over 8 feet tall and wide. We went through the gothic chapel , St. George's Chapel, which has the tombs of many of the royalty, including Queen Mary, Henry the VIII, his personal favorite wife, Jane Seymour, and many other notables. Oliver Cromwell used Windsor as a headquarters when he was deposing the Royalty in the 1600's. The pictures might give the large size and scale of this castle. It is still used by the current Queen Elizabeth and her family, and is a favorite place for her on weekends and vacations. Being just 10 or so miles west of Heathrow Airport it is an easy journey for her from Buckingham Palace in the city. We in America have a hard time relating to the notion of a king, queen, or any royalty. We are not used to the class system still somewhat present and in effect here in England.
We also went to Kings Cross Train Station where Harry Potter went by train to Hogwarts. You can see from the pictures above that we found platform 9 3/4 where Harry went through. Kings Cross is a busy station, not one of the very biggest, but it was fun to ride the bus up Oxford street all decorated with lights for Christmas to the end of the line for bus route 10 at Kings Cross.
This week was Zone Conference week. Three days are spent during the six-week time between transfers and are used to train and teach the missionaries. On Tuesday the President and the Assistants to the President trained the Norwich, Ipswich, and Romford Zones. On Wednesday they trained the Hyde Park and Canterbury Zones. And on Thursday they trained the Northampton, Watford, and St. Albans Zones. We were at the Hyde Park Zone Conference. The President worked for the Presiding Bishopric of the Church in Salt Lake for years and was involved with many of the humanitarian projects around the world, including disaster relief in many areas. He had some good notes on the personalities of the Brethren, including President Monson. They are wonderful men, but human, warm and loving, yet they are hard workers and have high expectations for work by those around them. Each one is of course different and unique. I was impressed by the new missionaries who came just three weeks ago. One, Elder Boer, from Italy, went street contacting the first evening of the day he arrived in London and the first person he spoke to was from Brazil. Since Elder Boer also speaks some Portuguese, along with Italian and English, it was a small miracle as this man has now accepted the invitation to be baptized sometime in November. Elder Ambihaipahan, who is from Sri Lanka but was raised from babyhood in Norway, also new, had a similar experience: the third person he contacted during street contacting is from Sri Lanka, and has accepted the invitation to be baptized. Over and over the missionaries are led to people who they are best suited to teach and meet. This is not by coincidence that we are put in places at certain times. The subject of the conferences were to help us learn to be led by the Spirit when doing missionary work. There was much good instruction and the spirit was very strong and enjoyable. We are so very blessed to be here at this time doing what we do. We know the Lord is in this work and watch the lives of people change as they embrace the gospel principles and apply them in their lives. There is no witness until after the trial of your faith. One must apply the principles and then one learns the truth about the principle and the truth in the principle. One cannot learn by just reading, hearing, or thinking about it, although this helps; one must apply the principle and then a witness will come to our awareness, and one will come to know if it is truth and if it is of the Lord or not. We were also taught be bold and follow the promptings fo the Spirit. Open Our Mouths and let people know what we have and why we are here. A sister in Sacrament meeting taught us a scripture from 1st John 4:18: ". . . perfect love casteth out fear". So as we taste of the Love of God and our hearts expand to seek the welfare of our neighbor and all of God's children as we see them as our brothers and sisters, then so too will that love overcome our fears and we will find courage to share the gospel. We have the truth and so we have something the world needs and every person in the world needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and make the decision to accept or not. We love you all and wish for the blessings of the Lord on you.
We also went to Kings Cross Train Station where Harry Potter went by train to Hogwarts. You can see from the pictures above that we found platform 9 3/4 where Harry went through. Kings Cross is a busy station, not one of the very biggest, but it was fun to ride the bus up Oxford street all decorated with lights for Christmas to the end of the line for bus route 10 at Kings Cross.
This week was Zone Conference week. Three days are spent during the six-week time between transfers and are used to train and teach the missionaries. On Tuesday the President and the Assistants to the President trained the Norwich, Ipswich, and Romford Zones. On Wednesday they trained the Hyde Park and Canterbury Zones. And on Thursday they trained the Northampton, Watford, and St. Albans Zones. We were at the Hyde Park Zone Conference. The President worked for the Presiding Bishopric of the Church in Salt Lake for years and was involved with many of the humanitarian projects around the world, including disaster relief in many areas. He had some good notes on the personalities of the Brethren, including President Monson. They are wonderful men, but human, warm and loving, yet they are hard workers and have high expectations for work by those around them. Each one is of course different and unique. I was impressed by the new missionaries who came just three weeks ago. One, Elder Boer, from Italy, went street contacting the first evening of the day he arrived in London and the first person he spoke to was from Brazil. Since Elder Boer also speaks some Portuguese, along with Italian and English, it was a small miracle as this man has now accepted the invitation to be baptized sometime in November. Elder Ambihaipahan, who is from Sri Lanka but was raised from babyhood in Norway, also new, had a similar experience: the third person he contacted during street contacting is from Sri Lanka, and has accepted the invitation to be baptized. Over and over the missionaries are led to people who they are best suited to teach and meet. This is not by coincidence that we are put in places at certain times. The subject of the conferences were to help us learn to be led by the Spirit when doing missionary work. There was much good instruction and the spirit was very strong and enjoyable. We are so very blessed to be here at this time doing what we do. We know the Lord is in this work and watch the lives of people change as they embrace the gospel principles and apply them in their lives. There is no witness until after the trial of your faith. One must apply the principles and then one learns the truth about the principle and the truth in the principle. One cannot learn by just reading, hearing, or thinking about it, although this helps; one must apply the principle and then a witness will come to our awareness, and one will come to know if it is truth and if it is of the Lord or not. We were also taught be bold and follow the promptings fo the Spirit. Open Our Mouths and let people know what we have and why we are here. A sister in Sacrament meeting taught us a scripture from 1st John 4:18: ". . . perfect love casteth out fear". So as we taste of the Love of God and our hearts expand to seek the welfare of our neighbor and all of God's children as we see them as our brothers and sisters, then so too will that love overcome our fears and we will find courage to share the gospel. We have the truth and so we have something the world needs and every person in the world needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and make the decision to accept or not. We love you all and wish for the blessings of the Lord on you.
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