AMAZING PEOPLE - AMAZING STORIES..............

What a privilege it has been to meet and take part in the lives of the people here. Most of them have an amazing life story to tell. We ask them why they come to London in the first place. They think about it for a while, and say they were drawn here. Fortunately, some of them come from countries close enough that they can pay a visit home from time to time.

We visited with a member couple who had come out of an Eastern bloc former Communist country.  They are limited as to what employment they may seek here, but work hard and struggle to make it. They told of both losing their fathers at an early age, one to cancer from the Chernobyl accident, and the other, a photographer, suddenly went missing and was killed by the Communists. They were both exposed to the church after the Communists lost power, joined, then met and married. We admire these lovely faithful people so much.

We mentioned in an earlier blog our Chinese professor friend who also comes from a Communist country and Atheism. She was searching and studied hard, and joined the church here in London. She has now returned to China where it is very hard to find other members with whom she can meet.  It is also illegal to proselyte, only with family. She is a rock. We love her so much. We stay in touch by email.

Just a week ago we had a baptism for a wonderful young man who came out of troubled Egypt. He has been a devout Muslim all of his life. He met the LDS missionaries some time back on the streets of London, and discussed both religions. It got a little heated. However, he received some materials about the church and went online to study more. Through his own study, and after visiting several different Christian churches, he decided this was the church he wanted to join. He showed up at the chapel one day and asked to be taught. Wow, how about that?! He knew much already, and was a real pleasure to teach. Sometimes we felt like he was teaching us!

We had another great day out with some of the other Senior Missionary couples to Greenwich (of Greenwich Mean Time, GMT). We saw the Cutty Sark, the Maritime Museum and other interesting spots. We all ate together at a restaurant and had a great time visiting, then went off to tour the town.

In front of the Cutty Sark, one of the last and fastest British clipper ships that shipped tea from Shanghai for the East India Company, before steam powered ships took over.  The Cutty Sark is named for a fictional witch in the poem Tam o' Shanter by Robert Burns.

This barge was built for Prince Frederick, the son of King George II in 1732, for when he wanted to go for a little float.  However, it took 21 men to power it!

These are actual preserved figureheads from sailing ships.  Figureheads were often religious symbols used to protect the ship, or animals or other characters to show power or frighten other sailors.

A local artist painting a beautiful street scene of Greenwich.

These britches and socks were worn by Lord Horatio Nelson as he fought and died in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.  The British beat the French and Spanish in that battle, and thus the Great British Empire became the ruler of the seas.

Meet Sir Elder Knight Adams. His headpiece is so heavy he can hardly move, let alone see or conquer anything!

We took a drive to see Hastings (of Battle of Hastings fame of 1066) on the south coast. Then we went inland a little ways to the town called Battle, where the actual battle took place.  William the Conqueror was made to build this Abbey as penance for killing so many English people.  (Of course, we are sure his enslaved English subjects did all the work!)

Last Sunday we celebrated our 40th (Ruby) Wedding Anniversary quietly at home.  It has been quite an exciting ride.  Where did all that time go?!

Our ward members gave us a lovely signed card.

A beautiful day at the London Temple.  We assisted the YSA group that went to do baptisms.

All in all, we love doing the Lord's work and are enjoying every minute of it.  We feel needed here, and hope we can be a positive influence in the lives of the British saints.

Tata for now,

Elder and Sister Adams

THE SAHARA DESERT IN LONDON?

We awakened a few days ago to find our previously clean car covered in a mucky coating. We saw the same dirty cars wherever we went. It was revealed on the news that it was sand from a sandstorm in the Sahara Desert. How about that? That was some storm!

You've heard of Mountain Dew - this is Sahara Mist.

We had a lovely Stake Relief Society Birthday celebration last Saturday.  We played games like Beetle (Beatle?) Drive, and did different crafts and had a jolly old time.  We finished it off with all kinds of delicious cakes.  I brought a cake that was topped with strawberries that I dipped in chocolate.  A wonderful time was had by all.

Elder Adams wowed the ladies by serving them very generous portions of cake. Those were gigantic California strawberries we bought at Costco.

Sucking M & M's up with a straw.  Sister Adams won that game, but she always was a sucker for chocolate.

We travel all over, and see all kinds of interesting things. We walk a lot, or ride the buses, or trains or subways. Sister Adams has a doctor appointment to have her plantar fasciitis treated. Hopefully she can get some relief so she can keep up the walking and running all over London.

We see this ad for the musical all over the place, on buses and in the subways. Gives us a kind of warm feeling.

Sometimes we pass places where we think we are in one place, but we are really not.  Thankfully, the City of London can straighten us out. 

Every day we ride a bus that goes to Sloane Square.  We have never been to Sloane Square because we always get off at Tooting Bec station, or the church, or Clapham Junction to switch buses or trains before we get there.  Yesterday, we decided to ride all the way to Sloane Square and get a little dinner in town.  Well, we quickly realized we were in a tony part of town and couldn't really (or didn't want to) afford to eat here.  We took in the sights and boarded our bus back to Clapham Junction and ate at KFC!

This is Sloane Square.

These are some of the shops at Sloane Square (Tiffany & Co and Cartier).

We had a Zone Meeting this week and the Senior Missionaries served Sloppy Joes, potato salad, strawberries and Jaffa Cakes to the missionaries  They were very appreciative.  We have a hard working group of missionaries from a variety of countries.

Part of our zone.  Some had to leave early to catch trains.

We continue to work on the ward list to identify members who have moved out, or less active members.  Our main calling is to support the members and leaders here in any way we can. 

If you watch the first part of this youtube video, it is a London member who is teaching a photography class in our chapel (Stake Center).  It gives one an idea of where we are and what it's like here.  Copy and paste it.  Enjoy!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfc_5pb6Wc

We would love it if someone would make a comment now and again! 

PS  Tonight we watched the Saturday morning session of Conference at the Stake Center.  We had an investigator there.  It was great - but it did make us a little homesick.