AUTUMNAL EQUINOX ARRIVING SOON......
Yes, summer is fading fast and our wonderful trees here are starting to change colors. We so enjoy all the massive ancient trees that adorn this beautiful land. We arrived in the dead of winter, then enjoyed a rather cool spring with trees coated with brightly colored blossoms. Then came a hot steamy summer, (a wonderful summer nonetheless), but a wonderful shade tree was always close by. Now we feel autumn coming on. Our leaves are starting to turn, and even fall a little. We have almost completed the cycle of life since we arrived here! In a few days we will have been on our mission for 8 months.
Winter at the London Temple.
Spring on the streets of London.
Summer in the Cotswolds.
We still remain very busy with our ward duties and slogging around London looking for lost sheep. We have fallen in love with the members here, and are apprehensive about ever having to leave. London is a huge city of over 8 million people, and they all seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere, fast!
We have some beautiful areas in our ward such as Wimbledon, Richmond Park, Barnes Bridge, Putney etc. We so enjoy traveling around these areas. We also enjoy going across the Thames to northern London and jumping on a bus on our Pdays. We have found some very interesting sights and eating places on our travels.
Sister Adams really enjoyed the Womens' Live broadcast from Offenbach, Germany on September 9th, with 3 General Authorities addressing us. Elder Bednar and Elder Ballard both spoke about pioneering women, and likened us all in this Europe area to the early pioneer women and said these sisters are pioneers who are moving forward the Kingdom of the Lord. It was for sisters 8 and over. We had a really good attendance and it was very inspiring. We were also both able to attend the UK and Ireland YSA Conference held in Brighton August 22nd to 25th. What a great group of young adults! We assisted in various ways chaperoning, modeling for their art workshops, accompanying them on their service projects and helping decorate for their dance. We particularly enjoyed their devotionals and testimony meetings.
Our Senior Outing for August was to the beautiful Windsor Castle, just outside London, where the Queen likes to spend most of her weekends. The castle was originally built a thousand years ago. The resplendent interior is in the late Georgian style. What a lovely break from the city. Windsor is a quaint town nestled on the upstream River Thames. We enjoyed a lovely lunch with the other Senior Missionaries, toured the spectacular Castle and grounds, and took a relaxing river boat ride. (Believe it or not, over 500 people live and work in the castle.)
Enjoying a lovely rainy day with another senior couple at Royal Tunbridge Wells.
We have some beautiful areas in our ward such as Wimbledon, Richmond Park, Barnes Bridge, Putney etc. We so enjoy traveling around these areas. We also enjoy going across the Thames to northern London and jumping on a bus on our Pdays. We have found some very interesting sights and eating places on our travels.
This sign symbolises many of our treks to find our beloved members.
Sister Adams really enjoyed the Womens' Live broadcast from Offenbach, Germany on September 9th, with 3 General Authorities addressing us. Elder Bednar and Elder Ballard both spoke about pioneering women, and likened us all in this Europe area to the early pioneer women and said these sisters are pioneers who are moving forward the Kingdom of the Lord. It was for sisters 8 and over. We had a really good attendance and it was very inspiring. We were also both able to attend the UK and Ireland YSA Conference held in Brighton August 22nd to 25th. What a great group of young adults! We assisted in various ways chaperoning, modeling for their art workshops, accompanying them on their service projects and helping decorate for their dance. We particularly enjoyed their devotionals and testimony meetings.
Our Senior Outing for August was to the beautiful Windsor Castle, just outside London, where the Queen likes to spend most of her weekends. The castle was originally built a thousand years ago. The resplendent interior is in the late Georgian style. What a lovely break from the city. Windsor is a quaint town nestled on the upstream River Thames. We enjoyed a lovely lunch with the other Senior Missionaries, toured the spectacular Castle and grounds, and took a relaxing river boat ride. (Believe it or not, over 500 people live and work in the castle.)
If you look closely you may recognise a senior couple!
A view from the former moat, which is now a beautiful garden.
Lunch with some of the other Seniors at the Duchess of Cambridge Pub.
The interior of the castle is absolutely breathtaking.
Just a few examples of the interior.
Once again, what used to be the moat but now is the moat garden.
Taking a self-guided tour of the castle.
We had the opportunity to travel up to the Preston Temple to attend the wedding and sealing of a young couple from our ward here, and stay there for a few days. It was so nice to be up north and see old friends and feel "at home". It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful trip all around. We were able to drive through the Cotswolds on the way up, and drive through the Peak District of Derbyshire on the way back down. Such beautiful and amazing scenery!
So thrilling for Sister Adams to be approaching Liverpool and Wigan, two of her hometowns.
Sister Adams has had some unexpected dental problems lately. After much extreme pain for many days, and many visits to the dentist we are finally getting things sorted. Things get serious at our age when trying to retain teeth that will enable us to eat! Anyway, after some extremely expensive procedures, we figure the pain in the jaw will be nothing compared to the pain in the pocket!
We got a lovely surprise at the Womens' broadcast. Sister Adams saw the lady who was rebaptised a few weeks ago, (the one who asked her to talk at her baptism), and she said her non-member husband is meeting with the missionaries and is going to be baptised next month. She is not in our ward so we don't see her too often. What great news!
We also got some other great news from home - David and Sarah, and Ruth and Theo are expecting a new member to join their family in late March. Yes!!!
We had a great ward BBQ on Saturday. Elder Adams did all the cooking of hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages and chicken, and the members brought salads and desserts. A good time was had by all.
Beautiful weather for a fun day BBQ'ing.
Great sisters who really get things done.
How come these young missionaries always look so happy?! L to R from USA, England, Albania, New Zealand.
We got a lovely surprise at the Womens' broadcast. Sister Adams saw the lady who was rebaptised a few weeks ago, (the one who asked her to talk at her baptism), and she said her non-member husband is meeting with the missionaries and is going to be baptised next month. She is not in our ward so we don't see her too often. What great news!
We also got some other great news from home - David and Sarah, and Ruth and Theo are expecting a new member to join their family in late March. Yes!!!
Ruth, Theo and baby number 3.
We had a great ward BBQ on Saturday. Elder Adams did all the cooking of hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages and chicken, and the members brought salads and desserts. A good time was had by all.
Some of our very faithful youth. We are losing two of these girls who are off to University - one to law school and the other to med school.
The work goes on and we couldn't be more thrilled to be doing our Member Leader Support Mission here. We know the leaders and members appreciate all we do to help No task is too big or too small. The Gospel is true and we are here to move the work of the restoration forward. As is stated in our Preach My Gospel handbook,
"Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end".
It's that simple. This should be the credo for all members of His church. We pray it is.
Lots of love to all 'til next time (and we hope it wont be as long!),
Elder and Sister Adams
