THIS BLESSED PLOT............THIS ENGLAND

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
~ Shakespeare

We have done quite a bit of traveling over the last month, and have seen some marvellous scenery.  We always have our iPhone cameras with us so we don't miss a thing.  Our monthly Senior Missionary outing was to Bath, in Somerset.  It sprinkled rain just a little, but all in all it was a great day.  The previous few days had been termed a "heat wave" and had temps of as high as 74 degrees.  We were heading for the hottest May on record, but then it turned back to cooler weather.

The ancient Roman Baths

Bath features Georgian architecture from the 1700's.

Bath Abbey

I had an unusual experience several weeks ago as I sat in church. I had taken a purse that I was using for the first time over here. One of the side pockets had a key in it with a familiar-looking fob. I thought and thought, and thought and thought, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was. When we got home, I pulled it out and asked Elder Adams if he knew what it was. He gasped and gave me a look of astonishment. Just at that moment it struck me - "Oh..........it's our front door key at home!". It really seemed like a world away as we are so absorbed in our life and work here. We truly are happy in our work, and we are really learning to love the people here.  The members are so dedicated to the Lord and his church.

A day out in Regents Park with its secret gardens.

Elder Adams has been in charge of the ward pretty much as the Bishop went to Nigeria, then when the Bishop returned he fell down his stairs and spent several days in the hospital.  He is home now and recuperating.  We are sometimes invited to teach with the young Elders, and we always love that experience.  We will attend a baptism tomorrow evening.  We have a car, so we are asked to drive returning missionaries to the mission office as they return home at the end of their missions. We will do that again on Monday, and take him for a nice pub meal before he heads back to Spain.  We love these young missionaries!

A friend from schoolgirl days came to visit with her husband.  We went to Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath.

Kenwood House, a Georgian villa built in the early 1600's.

(My camera had a weird setting.  This stone is really a buttery color.)

The villa contains an amazing array of paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, Constable, Turner, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Gainsborough and more.

Kenwood House rear view.

We are actually working most of the time, and these outings are highlights of our time here. However, we are still loving being here and doing this missionary work.  We need to take more time out to write this blog, and not wait so long in between.  Au revoir until next time.

~ Elder and Sister Adams

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.

SHE'S GOT A TICKET TO RIDE....SHE'S GOT A TICKET TO RI...I...IDE......

We get free transport over here because we are seniors. We had a little time to kill the other day in Central London before Sister Adams' eye appointment, so we just jumped on the first bus we saw, and off we went. We sat right at the front on the upper deck of a double decker bus. What an education that was. We saw all sorts of interesting things as we drove through different suburbs. When we got to the end of the line, we jumped off, crossed the street and boarded the next bus back. The most interesting thing we saw was an enclave of Hasidic Jews. First of all we spotted one man,  then there were two, then more, and more and more. They were all over the place! All dressed identically! We saw a few women and children too, but it was the men who held our attention. We looked it up, and this is the largest enclave of Hasidic Jews in all of Europe - over 30,000 of them.

We would love to learn more about them, and plan to.

This is the eye hospital in central London that Sister Adams visits.  It is always packed.  We didn't know so many people had eye problems.  She is getting excellent care here.  One of her doctors who has been knighted by the Queen is amazing  He is so humble, kind and caring.

This green line runs all the way from the subway to the eye hospital to help people like Sister Adams find their way.

While in Central London, we stopped at Chinatown to pick up some chopsticks.  It felt good to see and smell some of the things we remember from our missions. Next stop was the oldest fish and chip shop in London - Rock and Sole Plaice. It was OK but the price was too high for our taste. Also, we prefer our fish and chips up North.

We were in Chinatown early before things got buzzing.

I don't know what those orange things are, but I'm not having any!

We had a beautiful baptismal service for our Chinese friend Shu Jie.  She gave a wonderful testimony telling how she had come from Atheism to Mormonism over several months. She returns to mainland China next month and that will be a trial for her with no established church there.

Shu Jie with the missionaries. 

One of our sweet Elders was transferred yesterday. We will miss him very much. Such a great and humble servant and only 18 years old. We become so attached!

We had a Senior Missionary outing to Hampton Court Palace last Friday. What a great day that was, to be with the other seniors and enjoy such a beautiful historic palace. Henry VIII was the first royal to live there around 1514. We missed the amazing Maze, but we will be going back - especially for the Flower Show in July.

Beautiful day - beautiful palace.

One of the many gardens at the palace.

I hope I didn't disgrace the 3 Graces.

Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. How fortunate to run into these guys in the gardens.  They were very friendly, and we had a nice chat about some interesting things!

A shameless selfie as we headed out the door to start our day.

Another heartbreak.  My favourite boots are wearing out. I haven't worn out any shoes since my first mission!

Flipping pancakes for the young missionaries at Zone Conference.  Notice the trays are empty and waiting for refills.

We are still so happy and having a wonderful, enjoyable time.  The work is moving forward and we are glad to do our little bit!

BOBBIES ON BICYCLES?

A friend from the US asked us if we had seen any bobbies on bicycles yet. The answer is no.  We live on a fairly busy street, which we are set back from quite a bit, but we very often hear screaming sirens as police cars and ambulances race by at breakneck speeds. You had better get out of the way if you hear a siren!  Elder Adams almost got hit in a zebra crossing the other day, as he didn't hear the sirens til the last minute.  Of course, the police may have thought they were encountering the Unajogger.

We had a great day at the London Temple Visitors' Centre with Shu Jye our Chinese friend.  She is a visiting professor here from Mainland China.  She has been studying the lessons from the missionaries for a few months, and while at the Visitors Centre decided she wanted to be baptised. What a lovely person she is (and she cooks amazing Chinese food!).  It has been good to polish up our rusty Mandarin a little too.

Shu Jye, the Elders and Sister Adams

We took a stroll around the south bank of the River Thames the other day with another senior couple, and ate at a waterfront cafe.  There is always plenty of walking to do and always something to see.

The London Eye.  It is 443 ft tall. It is currently Europe's tallest Ferris wheel, the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK with over 3.5 million visitors annually.  Did we ride it?  At almost $50 a ticket; no.

We attended this chapel for a baptism.  Quite a few of the chapels here seem to be 2 storey.  Our chapel is the Stake Centre and it is also 2 storey.  Real estate is so expensive here with an average flat in our neighbourhood costing about $680,000 and a detatched house costing over $2,606,000.  These are averages - nothing too fancy.

We had cleaning duty at the chapel this morning.  Oh how we love to clean - no seriously!

We buy these at the grocery store for £1. It is so fun to watch them open - almost like time lapse.  We sure hope they were ethically sourced!

We continue to visit less active or lost members - its funny how they all seem to live up a hill! We also go teaching with the Elders.  On Monday we are taking one of the Elders' golden investigators to the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors' Centre.  It is on the other side of the River Thames in the London Mission, and the Elders are not allowed to leave our mission.  Duane Cardall is the Director of the VC.  Some of us may remember him.

Headed down into the Underground (subway).

Dr Who?

Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday was last Tuesday.  It's kind of a fun day to celebrate in England.  It is the day before Lent starts and a traditional meal is pancakes, as people usually give up butter or eggs for Lent.  The YM/YW met together and played pancake games and races, and consumed numerous pancakes.  Lots of fun for all.

This is the traditional way to eat pancakes in England.  They are more like crepes and they are rolled up with lemon juice and sugar.  Pretty delicious.

We are still loving it here, and thoroughly enjoying the work.  We have been asked by our Mission President to study the missionary lessons in Mandarin.  It is really hard, just like it was the first time!  We are not sure how or where we will be using this Mandarin, but time will tell.