NEWS of the PAST WEEK

We live in a country that cannot make up its mind . . . at least as far as the weather is concerned.  The weather report now says that here, in mid-August, full summer still at home, summer is now over, temperatures will drop, and be prepared to have umbrellas handy for not the next few days or few weeks, but for the next few months, i.e., until the first of NOVEMBER, when, we are told, there 'might' be a change for the better, with LESS rain....  Well, by then, we'll be into winter, won't we?  Ah, well.  So now we pack the umbrellas, and the weather goes from sunny, to cloudy to sprinkles to full-on rain to cloudy to partly sunny, etc, etc..  The mantra of 'if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, is back in full.  Temperatures are still pleasant enough, but the mornings and nights are cooler, and it's a good idea to wear a sweater or light jacket.  We now see more people wearing overcoats and scarves around necks are back in fashion again.

In our last couple of blog entries we forgot to mention an enjoyable trek we made to see Hampton Court Palace.  We went by bus and then tube/train to Kew, where we boarded one of the tourist boats that sail the Thames River and after a very pleasant ride of about 1 1/2 hours we arrived almost at the entrance to Hampton Court Palace.  Its origins date back to the 1300's, and yet what we know more about is that Hampton Court was acquired by Thomas Wolsey in 1514.  He was at the time the most dominant churchman and politician in England and he gained enormous power and wealth as Henry VIII's administrator and as a cardinal.  He quickly becan to turn what was then just a Manor House into a palace in which to entertain his king and receive foreign dignitaries.  Wolsey added a new entrance courtyard, the first long gallery to overlook the new gardens, and had several hundred fine tapestries hung around the palace.  By 1525 Hampton Court was truly a palace, and Wolsey formally presented it to the king, and still continued to add things to the building.  He also created a chapel with a stunning blue and gold ceiling.  However, when Henry VIII wanted to gain church permission to divorce Queen Katherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wolsey was unable to persuade the Pope to annul the royal marriage, and in 1529 Henry removed him from Hampton Court once and for all.  Henry took more of an interest in the palace design then, preparing special apartments for his new bride, Anne Bolyn, who didn't live long enough to ever use them; Henry's next wife Jane Seymore also died young, in childbirth.  Henry's 4th wife, Anne of Cleves, he divorced, his 5th wife was also beheaded.  Henry married for the 6th time, to Kateryn Parr, and the wedding was held at Hampton Court, but four years later he was dead.

Although Hampton Court is permanently associated with Henry VIII, other royals used the palace through the centuries, including, briefly, his son Edward VI, Queen Mary I, Elizabeth I, King James I [who held a business conference/somehwat staged religious debate at Hampton Court that resulted in the King James translation of the Bible.  Charles I contributed a grand art collection.  Oliver Cromwell, although not a king, used Hampton Court to keep some of its greatest treasures, and lived there like a king.  By the time of George I and George II, Hampton Court was in a state of decline.  George III never liked it.  In 1839 Queen Victoria opened the palace to paying visitors and gradually the palace was restored to something of what we can see today.

We toured the young Henry VIII's apartments, those of William and Mary II, and what we found most impressive was the size of the kitchens that were used to prepare and feed both royal guests and those who served them.  Here are a couple of pictures we took on our day there.

Bob and Sherrie Harbrecht and Portia on the Thames River boat ride + Don and Portia standing in front of the Hampton Court Palace entrance.

Pictures of some of the back gardens and of the inner courtyard where the fountain shown in the center had spiketts all around to give guests drinks of wine, not water.

One portion of the painted walls and ceiling leading to the upper floor apartments.

The "wall art" in one large room is made up totally of sorts and guns/rifles.

Don inside one huge oven and another oven large enough to cook a full carcass of beef.

One sample of the beautiful tapestries hanging in Hampton Court Palace.  Many show, as this one does, biblical events.

It was a rather slow week in the office for most, although Sister Hawley was able to keep busy, and both Elder and Sister Hawley worked a bit on preparing the training materials ready for use when our replacements come.  At least we hope they will come.  So far we have heard nothing other than it is hard to find couples who are financially able to afford to live in London.

We have two senior couples arriving on 9 January.  One is the "replacement" couple for the Ricks and their assignment is proselyting/reactivation/at the president's discretion.  Sister Hawley was asked by the Travel Department in Salt Lake, as part of her regular duties, to submit for travel for all missionaries 4months in advance if they are going home during the holiday season [to either Canada or the U.S.].  This also includes US.  So Sister Hawley submitted the return travel request for us in the morning and by evening we had our tentative travel itinerary/reservation made and confirmed.  Amazing.  We do hope that a couple can be found who can arrive some time in November, which will allow us time to train them and allow them also a bit of time to work on their own with us as backup.  Again we are so appreciative of those who have prayed and fasted for us in this regard.  During a few free moments Elder Hawley has helped Sister Hawley to update and create new training binders for new missionaries, new trainers, district and zone leaders.  When Sister Hawley has extra time, Elder Hawley is showing her how to make council tax payments, rent payments, and other financial duties he is responsible for.  This is one of the great blessings of our missionary calling here -- we are united both in purpose and in sharing the duties of keeping the office running smoothly and efficiently.  We feel good about saying that we are not only up-to-date but "ahead of the game."  We know the Lord is blessing us to do these things.

Another blessing is how we are studying the gospel together.  We are going to start on Joseph Smith's lectures on faith.  We have just finished reading out loud The Infinite Atonement, by Tad R Callister, and we feel so uplifted and inspired and desirous of more 'light and knowledge' that we are going to go back to the beginning and read it again.  We also have our study periods.  Elder Hawley researches topics like 'faith', and Sister Hawley is reading the Book of Mormon again.  We join up to study and prepare for the Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society lessons, and we like to share other topics and scriptures that prove meaningful to us.  We feel our mission is uniting us as a couple and also uniting us on a higher plane with Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.  We pray together, including morning and evening prayers, we hold hands a lot, we read a talk each night from the Ensign conference issues, and we feel connected and more loving than ever before, with a greater understanding especially of the love for us from our Savior.  How blessed indeed we are.  We love each other better, and love the Savior and Heavenly Father more, and we appreciate the gift of the Holy Ghost and the wisdom and insight and protection and guidance He provides.  We are, again, being changed for the better.  How grateful we are!

News of the Past Week

We have had a good week.  The missionaries are busy with a lot of activity in the office.  Sister Hawley has had many referrals to type up and send out, and a host of baptismal records to enter into the Church System--CDE or Convert Data Entry.  She has also written letters to parents of the incoming missionaries, new district leaders and new zone leaders, new trainer letters, and letters to those who have been baptized in recent weeks.  Even the president commented on the volume of letters going out as he had to sign them all.  Sister Hawley is currently getting ready for the group of new missionaries coming in for September and October, and the corresponding groups of departing missionaries as well.  This past week she has submitted travel info for each of our departing missionaries, and has prepared the materials for those incoming missionaries.  Only one elder is departing mid-August, and there are no new missionaries arriving for the month of August.  Of course there are always "surprises," so we both have adapted a "wait and see" attitude.  

Wednesday morning we took two hours and went with a group downtown [the Little's, 2 friends of theirs, our guide, another YSA friend of the Little's, and the Price's]  to go through the British Parliament buildings at Westminster and Westminster Hall. The word "parliament" comes from the French  word "parler",  which means to speak or to talk.  Our tour guide took us to the House of Lords (more like our Senate) which is a body of over 800 appointed for life.  They can make laws and send it to the House of Commons (like our House of Representatives) which is a body of 649 elected for five years by the people.  These two groups make the laws in Great Britain, which is made up of Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister acts like our president and has a great amount of power. The Prime Minister is not elected but 'invited' by the Queen to be Prime Minister, and who is 'determined' by the leader of the party which got the most votes in the last election. The original room for Parliament was in the converted chapel, where there were benches on opposite sides of the length of the chapel with opposing parties facing each other.  This came about as the first Parliament building was an old cathedral which had the choir seats facing each other on the sides of the hall just before the altar. The members of Parliament sat in the choir seats with each party taking a side of the hall and it has been that way ever since.  The space between the two sides was just far enough apart that the members could stand and debate and swing and thrust their swords, but could not touch or reach the opponents of the other party debating on the other side.  There is a  line painted on the floor of  each side which they can not cross.  They are to "toe the line"! which is where that phrase comes from.   Currently there are separate chambers for each house, but the seats [benches] still remain on opposite sides with members of each party facing each other.  There is a throne as each room's top end, and spectator room around the walls on the 'balcony' floor.  We heard 'Big Ben' chiming on the hour and 1/2 hour.  We went in at 9:00 a.m. and came out right at 11 a.m., so we got first 9 and then11 large 'bongs' from this very famous clock tower.  The Westminster Chimes are played.

[Side note:  just before we left Utah we purchased a beautiful grandfather clock for our entry hallway that plays -- wait for it -- the Westminster Chimes!]

The halls and rooms are so very ornate and filled with large paintings and so much pagentry.  There is little of the modern day in the decor.  There are however, TV cameras and up to date communication systems about. And they have plenty of security and even have their own post office which must stay open until the House of Commons closes for the day or night, which- ever comes first.  Britain is about history and tradition  The queen opens Parliament each year in the House of Lords and walks over to the House of Commons where the ballif strikes the door three times announcing the Queen.  The door is opened and is symbolically closed in her face and then she is let in.  Power to the People!   The House of Lords still is a place of powdered wigs and the like.

We were back at the office by 11:30 and took on the activities of the office and all of the good that happens there.  Zone Leader training is every first Friday of the month and we arrange for the food for lunch, but that is for only about 26 people.  The Church has changed our Zone Conferences from one every 6 weeks to one every quarter.  The mission president now only interviews the missionaries every quarter, instead of every six weeks as before.  This will cut down of some of the work and some of the travel, especially for the Mission President.  Our mission had 30 baptisms last months which is good for the London Area.  So the work progresses.  We feel blessed to be here. 

We continue to help with the Addition Recovery Program on Wednesday nights.  Sister Allred has left to go to California for 6 weeks to help care for her sister who is not expected to live much longer due to cancer.  We are helping Brother Allred for the next while.

London has been so very dry.  The lawns are burning up for lack of water.  This is most unusual as London gets about 2 inches of rain per month for each month of the year as regular as clockwork.  We have not had to use umbrellas for the last three or four months, most unusual.  The weather is about 70 to 75 in the day and 59 to 60 degrees at night.  The humidity has not been too bad this summer.  We are blessed again.  Love to all.  We are still waiting to see if a couple is assigned to replace us and hope and pray that it can be arranged.  Last Fast Sunday we dedicated our fast to several things, among them our prayers included our hope for a replacement couple who are qualified to do the office work and who can also afford to live in London close to the office, AND, who can arrive some time in November so that we can have enough time to train them before we depart ourselves on 7 December.  Sister Hawley has been asked by the Travel departments in both Solihull, England and Salt Lake City, to submit travel info 4 months in advance because of the upcoming November-December holiday season.  And on Monday, tomorrow, she will submit for return travel for ----
ourselves!  We cannot believe how fast the time passes.  This mission has and continues to change us for the better, and we feel extremely blessed in so many different ways.  We were touched, and are so very grateful, for those who fasted with us, and prayed in our behalf.  Thank you so very much, Everyone!

Yesterday we got on the 328 bus and rode it to the end of the line and then returned to our flat.  We saw a part of London to the north that we have never seen.  We also stopped at a farmers market and picked up some fresh corn on the cob, tomatoes and watermelon.  We have not had watermelon for over a year--what a nice treat.  I think I feel fall in the air!  Fresh-picked corn and tomatoes and cold night air!!  More blessings!

QUOTES

[1]  "Commandments are no more restrictive to the spiritual man than street signs are to the motorist.  Neither prohibits our progress; to the contrary, they enhance it by serving as guideposts or directional signs to help us find and reach our destination."  [Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p. 258.

[2]  "We are too inclined to think of law as something merely restrictive . . . something hemming us in.  We sometimes think of law as the opposite of liberty.  But that is a false conception....  God does not contradict himself.  He did not create man and then, as an afterthought, impose upon him a set of arbitrary, irritating, restrictive rules.  He made man free--and then gave him the commandments to keep him free.  We cannot break the Ten Commandments.  We can only break ourselves against them -- or else, by keeping them, rise through them to the fulness of freedom under God."  [Movie producer Cecil B. De Mille, famous for The Ten Commandments movie.]

[3]  Obedience is not an enemy of freedom; to the contrary, it is freedom's best friend."  [Ibid, 1]

[4]  "I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom.  The answer is no.  The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely satisfying the law of justice.  For that reason, paying for our sins will not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins.  Justice is a law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his.  But if we decline the SAvior's invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance.  Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life....  The doctrines of mercy and repentance are rehabilitative, not retributive, in nature.  The savior asks for our repentance not merely to compensate him for paying our debt to justice, but also as a way of inducing us to undergo the process of development that will make our nature divine, giving us the capacity to live the celestial law.  [Elder Bruce Hafen]

[5]  The definition of grace as set forth in the LDS Bible Dictionary: ". . . is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts."

[6]  Bruce Hafen:  "As King Benjamin suggests, the Atonement does more than pay for our sins.  It is also the agent through which we develop a saintly nature....  The Savior's victory can compensate not only for our sins but also for our inadequacies; not only for our deliberate mistakes but also for our sins committed in ignorance, our errors of judgment, and our unavoidable imperfections.  Our ultimate aspiration is more than being forgiven of sin -- we seek to become holy, endowed affirmatively with Christlike attributes, at one with him, like him.  Divine grace is the only source that can finally fulfill that aspiration, after all we can do."

[7]  Spiritual Gifts or Gifts of the Spirit [source=The Infinite Atonement; Callister, ibid]:  [a]  Since the gift of the Holy Ghost is gien only to members of the Church, it follows that the fruits and gifts of this Spirit are given in their fulness only to Church members.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught:  "Men must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost before that member of the Godhead will take up his abode with them and begin the supernal process of distributing his gifts to them....  Thus the gifts of the Spirit are for believing, faithful, righteous people; they are reserved for the saints of God." [pg. 270]  [b]  Whether or not the Atonement itself is the source of these spiritual gifts seems not yet to have been revealed in the scriptures, but certainly the availability of these gifts is conditioned on our faith in and demonstrated acceptance of that divine act.  Our reception of the Atonement is key to unlock these gifts and all their enabling powers, for it is the Atonement that purifies us and prepares us to be eligible recipients [pp 270-271].  [c]  As we acquire the gifts of the Spirit, that gap between man and God is narrowed, for with each gift acquired we advance along the path toward godhood.  Is it any wonder that the Lord wants us to pursue these gifts with unrelenting determination?  [pp 271-272]  [d]  President George Q. Cannon:  "No man ought to say, 'Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.'  He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them....  He wants His Saints to be perfected in the truth.  For this purpose He gives these gifts, and bestows them upon those who seek after them, in order that they may be a perfect people upon the face of the earth, notwithstanding their many weaknesses, because God has promised to give the gifts that are necessary for their perfection....  If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect.  Have I imperfections?  I am full of them.  What is my duty?  To pray to God to give me the gifts that will correct these imperfections....  So with all the gifts of the Gospe.  They are intended for this purpose."  [pp 272-273]  [e]  How?  "Covet earnestly the best gifts...."  "... with all [their] hearts."  [Apostle Paul]  Seek ALL the best gifts.  Be orderly, and persistent, and diligent.  [f]  In some respects these gifts are like a spiritual gold mine at our disposal that remains untapped if we fail to pursue the mining process.  These gifts refine us, ennoble us, and ultimately can perfect us.  Obedience is necessary but isn't enough -- WE MUST ASK.  "We must want the gifts so fervently that this pursuit is a constant unending struggle."  There must be "... a burning desire, a reaching out, a seeking, . . . an exhaustive exercise of our combined spiritual, intellectual and emotional energies, all focused on obtaining these divine gifts."  [pg. 274]  [g]  Moroni 10:  "I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift [meaning the gifts of the Spirit and the other blessings of the Atonement]....  Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yoursleves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ....  And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."  Moroni 10 "defines the relationship among grace, gifts, and godhood.  The grace that flows from the Savior's atoning sacrifice opens the gate to the divine road, the gifts are the vehicle, and godhood is the destination.  By the grace of God the gifts come, and with the acquisition of the gifts, godhood emerges."  [ibid., 277]

[8]   "The tumult and the shouting dies --
       The Captains and the Kings depart --
       Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
       An humble and a contrite heart.
       Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
       Lest we forget--lest we forget!"
                      -- Rudyard Kipling --

NEWS of the WEEK

This week has just flown by.  It has been MOVES week, Transfers week.  Left:  one our our favorites, AP Elder Paul Jentzsch from Germany.  

Six of our best missionaries were given honorable releases and have flown home.  

And we have another new Assistant to the President. Below:  New AP Kirk Katseanes with AP Mason Zemp

Four new missionaries, two elders and two sisters, arrived yesterday.  There has been much activity in the office.  We've had fun and been BUSY!  

And yet our minds have been drawn more and more to spiritual spheres....  We have increased our efforts to be more faithful, prayerful, obedient ....  It is wonderful.  It is more humbling than we have words to express.  

Also, we are preparing ourselves to fast for several purposes this Sunday:  for our children, individually; for those we know who are struggling with difficulties; and for a replacement office couple to be found who can come to England and be able to afford to live here, and arrive here ahead of our release with, we hope, about a month's time for us to train them.  

Because of these things, taking the Sacrament on Sunday is becoming more meaningful in recent weeks, and so what we are including in the blog this week will be something different:  a quote from Elder David B. Haight that we hope will touch you as it has touched and instructed us.  We love you all and appreciate your support.

"Living God's commandments obligates a person to a life of goodness—goodness to society and a genuine helpfulness to humanity, and excluding from one's life hatred, enmity, immorality, selfishness, drunkenness, jealousy, and dishonesty. "May we experience the joy of regular attendance at sacrament meeting and feel the blessings of eternal progression in our personal lives through wholehearted compliance, in spirit and actions, with the sacred words of the sacrament. "The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: 'Reading the experience of others, . . . can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject.' (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938, p. 324.) "The sacrament is one ordinance that allows us to experience a personal relationship to God and enlarges our knowledge and understanding of Him and His Only Begotten Son. "Our personal reward for compliance with the covenants and obligations in the ordinance of the sacrament becomes the companionship of God's Holy Spirit. This is the light that leads to eternal life. The divine virtues associated with the partaking of the Lord's Supper are to keep His divine life ever in mind; to love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength; and to labor to bring to pass His ultimate purpose—the eternal life of man."  [Elder David B. Haight, Ensign, The Sacrament, May 1983, p. 14]

We pray for blessings upon your heads, even a multiplicity of blessings.  We pray for your own progression in relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, and with the Holy Ghost, whose companionship we cherish.  We sent you our love.  We bear you our testimony of the truthfulness of the Word of God in the scriptures and in the Gospel we practice and preach.  We know these things to be true, and to be great blessings in our lives.  And we pray for you and hope for you a 'heart/soul/spirit-touching' experience this week, that you may know the love of God for you individually.  Elder and Sister Hawley

NEWS of the PAST MONTH

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).  

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.

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: