We've been cheered by the good weather that England has been enjoying, and even have been encouraged to take a day off now and again to travel around and see the countryside within mission boundaries. We found a "manor house" to go and visit in a place called Amersham, north of London. The "house" is more like a small castle, really -- it's huge! It is called Waddesdon, and was built and lovingly furnished in minute detail by the Rothschild family. The Rothschild's are a European dynasty of German Jewish origin that established European banking and finance houses from the late 18th century. Five brothers of the Austrian family were given hereditary baronies by Emperor Francis II in 1816. The British family was elevated into the nobility by Queen Victoria. It has been claimed that the family possessed by far the largest private fortune in the world, and by far the largest fortune in modern history. The family's rise to prominence began with Mayer Amschel Rothschild; he developed a finance house and spread his empire by installing each of his five sons in European cities to conduct business, and by keeping their financial dealings secret and "in the family." The name "Rothschild" has become synonymous for seemingly endless wealth, neo Gothic styles, Byzantine splendour, grand manners and elegance. Indeed, Waddesdon is a beautifully decorated, albeit VERY large and elegant "summer residence" for the extremely wealthy. Here are some photos we took of the house and grounds. The grounds include a bird aviary, manicured gardens, a patio the length of the main house, and a rose garden.
On the 4th of July we went to the London Temple and stayed in the Accommodations Centre there overnight and went to church with Elder and Sister Ricks, who spent their last few months from their mission working in the temple. We spent the Saturday doing temple work, and met the matron and one of her assistants. We were welcomed by the missionary couples who are temple workers there, just as if we were part of their group. We had a good visit with the Ricks, went out to dinner at a real-American steak and ribs restaurant where the conceirge dressed all in black, jeans, hat and all, and spoke with an English accent! Ha! Good food, good company, and good conversation. We went to church in the Crawley Ward about 15 miles from the temple. This is the finest all-English family ward that we have attended there. Elder and Sister Ricks are from Rexburg Idaho and were proselyting/reactivation missionaries in the England London Mission; they were transferred to finish their mission as temple workers. They were being released on the 13th of July and we went to say goodbye. They
live in Idaho and enjoy going to Yellowstone, like we do, so we plan to keep in touch and to see them when we get home.
On 16 July we borrowed a mission car and with Elder and Sister Little from Wellsville, Utah, spent the weekend in the Dover Area.
We saw the White Clifts of Dover, barelyas one needs to be at sea to really see them, and toured the Dover Castle and military tunnels at Dover. Interesting that Dover is the gateway to England from Europe with a sea port, and has been a strong defensive place even before the Romans came in 200AD. There is a Roman Light house still standing. The castle is huge and interesting.
The first rock castle began construction in 1070 AD, right after William the Conqueror came in 1066. The decisive battle of Hastings was fought about 40 miles to the south when William defeated King Harold and took control of England from Normandy, just thirty miles over the channel.
The military tunnels were first constructed in the 1700s as a place to barracks troops defending the castle. Major secret renovations occurred during World War II, and the operation to retreive the beaten troops from Dunkirk were planned and managed from the Dover Tunnels.
Yes, on clear days one can see France and Calias across the misty water. We had a good time there, and then Elder Hawley drove us to Ashford to inspect the zone leader's flat while we were in the area. Thank heavens for GPS guidence devices to get around these narrow streets. By-the-way, a free-way is called a "double carriage way" in England and yes, I was on the left side of the road (most of the time anyway).
We saw the White Clifts of Dover, barelyas one needs to be at sea to really see them, and toured the Dover Castle and military tunnels at Dover. Interesting that Dover is the gateway to England from Europe with a sea port, and has been a strong defensive place even before the Romans came in 200AD. There is a Roman Light house still standing. The castle is huge and interesting.
The first rock castle began construction in 1070 AD, right after William the Conqueror came in 1066. The decisive battle of Hastings was fought about 40 miles to the south when William defeated King Harold and took control of England from Normandy, just thirty miles over the channel.
The military tunnels were first constructed in the 1700s as a place to barracks troops defending the castle. Major secret renovations occurred during World War II, and the operation to retreive the beaten troops from Dunkirk were planned and managed from the Dover Tunnels.
Yes, on clear days one can see France and Calias across the misty water. We had a good time there, and then Elder Hawley drove us to Ashford to inspect the zone leader's flat while we were in the area. Thank heavens for GPS guidence devices to get around these narrow streets. By-the-way, a free-way is called a "double carriage way" in England and yes, I was on the left side of the road (most of the time anyway).
Sister Hawley drove all day on Saturday as we visited Leeds Castle near Maidstone. Leeds Castle is surrounded by a mote and is so very beautiful and scenic. Much of it was restored privately in the 1920's by a rich Lady Bailie who died in 1974 and bequeathed it to the English Heritage Trust. Such a HOME.
The Lake was filled with swans and ducks and wildlife. Some of the swans were special black swans brought from Australia. There were many rooms on several floors, but the rooms were smaller than some castles, and so it has a homey feeling to it, or as the Brit's say, a homely atmosphere. We were glad we did not need to clean and dust this large place, but the setting was spectacular.
The Lake was filled with swans and ducks and wildlife. Some of the swans were special black swans brought from Australia. There were many rooms on several floors, but the rooms were smaller than some castles, and so it has a homey feeling to it, or as the Brit's say, a homely atmosphere. We were glad we did not need to clean and dust this large place, but the setting was spectacular.
We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Folkstone on the coast for two nights and went to the Deal Ward in Deal, Kent, UK for church. There were 4 missionary baptisms after church and we stayed to witness that nice event. Then we traveled off across the countryside through Canterbury and back to London before the traffic got too bad and reached home by 6 PM Sunday evening.
The past three months have been busy ones for us in the office, especially for Sister Hawley -- there is always paperwork, changes in the calendar, phone calls, referrals, and plenty of letters to write and emails to answer and records to keep. Elder Hawley is the missionaries' best friend -- they know HE knows where the money is, or where it went, as the case may be.
We are grateful to be busy, to be of service, and to enjoy what we do. This month in particular we have been especially blessed by daily, almost hourly, blessings from Heavenly Father. We are humbled by this personal, immediately attention from Him. We are also reading a wonderful book by Tad R. Callister entitled The Infinite Atonement. We are reading this book together. It has been described as the finest book on the Atonement ever written. We highly recommend it to you. Your minds will be expanded, your understanding increased, your heart touched; tears may flow, and you will be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
For the past few weeks we have begun to realize that our time here in London is getting shorter and shorter.... We hadn't thought about it much. We have been so busy, and time just flies. We looked at the calendar, and also realized that we have not yet heard any news about a replacement office couple. We discussed this with President Patch, and he suggested Sister Hawley send an email to the missionary department, which she did. They promised to send a couple, saying they are aware of the shortening time and our desire to have time enough to train the new couple before we are released. However, we were also told again how expensive a mission location London is, and that because of economic considerations it was quite hard to place a couple here who can do office work AND afford to live here. So we decided to fast and pray about this, and to turn it over to the Lord, and we fasted a full 24 hours and felt that our prayers were received and understood. Then the other day an impression came to ask others to join with us in fasting and prayer for this goal. And the blessings of support and gratitude for being asked to help were truly inspiring and humbling. We are so grateful for this sweet blessing. Our hearts were truly touched.
It also seems as if we have "turned the corner" somehow on our calling. We feel so good about working with the president, and feel also that our efforts are really helpful to him and to the missionaries. 22 July 2010 was our anniversary of being in London for 1 full year. Hard to imagine! The time has gone by so fast, and we are energized and renewed to continue to do better for the last few months before we are released. Again we are happy that we have made this decision to be couple missionaries. The blessings and the knowledge of Heavenly love and support and help and answers is overwhelming. We praise and revere our Heavenly Father and our Savior and Redeemer. How grateful we are for righteous parents and righteous choices
P.S. Added 5 Sep 2010: Our current APs, Elders Katseanes [left, from Idaho] and Zemp [right, from Canada] had a chance to spend their P-Day climbing the White Cliffs of Dover, and they shared this photo of them at the top:
For the past few weeks we have begun to realize that our time here in London is getting shorter and shorter.... We hadn't thought about it much. We have been so busy, and time just flies. We looked at the calendar, and also realized that we have not yet heard any news about a replacement office couple. We discussed this with President Patch, and he suggested Sister Hawley send an email to the missionary department, which she did. They promised to send a couple, saying they are aware of the shortening time and our desire to have time enough to train the new couple before we are released. However, we were also told again how expensive a mission location London is, and that because of economic considerations it was quite hard to place a couple here who can do office work AND afford to live here. So we decided to fast and pray about this, and to turn it over to the Lord, and we fasted a full 24 hours and felt that our prayers were received and understood. Then the other day an impression came to ask others to join with us in fasting and prayer for this goal. And the blessings of support and gratitude for being asked to help were truly inspiring and humbling. We are so grateful for this sweet blessing. Our hearts were truly touched.
It also seems as if we have "turned the corner" somehow on our calling. We feel so good about working with the president, and feel also that our efforts are really helpful to him and to the missionaries. 22 July 2010 was our anniversary of being in London for 1 full year. Hard to imagine! The time has gone by so fast, and we are energized and renewed to continue to do better for the last few months before we are released. Again we are happy that we have made this decision to be couple missionaries. The blessings and the knowledge of Heavenly love and support and help and answers is overwhelming. We praise and revere our Heavenly Father and our Savior and Redeemer. How grateful we are for righteous parents and righteous choices
P.S. Added 5 Sep 2010: Our current APs, Elders Katseanes [left, from Idaho] and Zemp [right, from Canada] had a chance to spend their P-Day climbing the White Cliffs of Dover, and they shared this photo of them at the top:
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