This week was average as to the work load. We did have a Zone Conference with the General Authority, Elder Kerr, an Area Seventy, who trained the missionaries. One half of the mission on Friday and one half on Saturday. We were in charge of feeding about 70 for the lunch. Sister Hawley engaged five Senior Missionary Sisters to make salads and we purchased fruit, chips and dessert (Swiss Cake Rolls). Sister Hawley drove the mission car (stick shift, yes, you shift with the left hand) to Subway Sandwich shop and Brother Hawley hauled 9 large trays of sandwiches to load into the back of the car and arrived back at the Hyde Park Church at 12 noon. We engaged several of the young Elders to set up tables and chairs prior to the 10 AM conference start and helped with take-down/clean-up.
Saturday we took a one hour train ride to Northampton, a city about 60 miles northwest of London. We saw the beautiful countryside of farms and hedge rows. It was harvest time for grain and the combines were working harvesting wheat. The country is rolling hills and is all watered by rain. . . no irrigation of any kind. It has been a dry summer and the country was showing effects of dryness and was not as green as normal. Northampton was nice. We caught a taxi to the town centre, about a five minute ride from the train station. We visited the All Saints Anglican Church there.
It was built in the typical Anglican style and dated centuries back. Most interesting is they have a restaurant shop at the front of the Church, part of the church and there we saw people were being served coffee and cakes. We found this strange to mingle retail and religion, but we had a good visit inside.
We went into the city building, know as the Guildhall, or what we'd call a multi-use building for City Hall, also very ornate and old with typical English trappings.
There was an outdoor bazaar a couple of blocks away, with all sorts of wares being sold. We bought fresh corn and nectarines to take with us. We ate in a little family run shop and had their soup of-the-day and bread, which was quite good and topped it off with a slice of apple pie with Cornish Dairy Ice Cream with two forks for sharing. The soup base was mashed peas and chicken broth. The English love peas and mashed peas are often served with meals just like mashed potatoes. [We prefer the peas in their original not-mashed form.]
We took a bus ride out into the suburbs (Duston, Bletchley) just to see the landscape and houses in the residential areas--mostly in the terraced or semi-detached but Victorian-to-1950's modern styles. The missionaries live in Duston, so we took our ride into and back from Duston.
We stopped at a smaller, very old Church of St. Peter, which was built beginning in 1170 on a site that had previously held an Anglo-Saxon Church. A nice lady showed us around and told us about the stone carvings and restoration work. The Spirit is not present in these old churches, but they are interesting.
 |
| Front door of the old Church |
 |
| The ropes are lowered in the central section allowing access to ring the eight bellls |
We walked a few blocks to the train station and caught the train at 3:50 PM back to London Euston Station. Then went by tube (subway) with two changes to Earls Court via Victoria Station, and then caught our friend the C1 Bus, [the bus that brings us home from the office each day], back to our flat. It was a fun and leisurely day. Not much walking required which is now a necessity, due to my arthritis, which seems to be getting worse with the increased humidity. What we do enjoy doing more of is using our time together to talk of gospel subjects, spiritual goals, and personal revelation. We find we grow in strength and faith by these talks and from each other's example and knowledge.
Sister Hawley had the following letter placed on her computer keyboard when she came to work this week. It was written by three of our beloved young missionaries:
Hello, Elder and Sister Hawley. Today going about our daily missionary work we noticed that there are lots of plays coming out in theatre. Not that we are interested in that. But we saw something interesting about the plays. There are two types of actors: the first are those who are behind the curtain to make sure that other actors on stage are successful. The second are those who are seen and receive all the praise and recognition. This thought reminded us of you whose hard work and service are "behind the curtain" and unnoticed to make the Lord's work successful, and we receive all the praise and thanks. We know that it not right, so we thought to write and say thanks for your noticed and unnoticed work behind curtains to ensure our everyday success. Thanks again for all you do."
We have also received thanks and praise from the senior missionaries who say that the office is now run efficiently, that they appreciate our dependability and all our help. One senior sister told us this morning that we have "transformed" the mission office.
This praise is welcomed, of course, but we are feeling very humbled by it also, and very grateful. We have put our hearts into our service for the Lord, and it is gratifying to know that we are being effective and helpful. We are looking ahead at our final three months as senior office-couple missionaries in the England London Mission, and have re-committed ourselves to making these three months our best months yet.
We look forward to beginning another week. Love to all.
No comments:
Post a Comment