Friday, October 19, 2012

It's Autumn Time‏

We've seen big square bales of hay, just like home.  Only these are straw bales.  What was green earlier in the year was wheat and has now been harvested, and the fields plowed and re-planted.


This is typical of the English country side.  It is always beautiful!.  Often when we are in the country, there will be a roadside stand with vegetables, flowers, produce, eggs, etc.  Customers are trusted to take the food, etc., and drop the money owed into a box or bottle sitting near by.


Here are some crazy YSAs at Cythnia's birthday party!


These are some of our favorite missionaries either getting transferred or going home.

 {picture to come}


More missionaries‏




It's Autumn time and everything is still beautiful as the leaves and the land changes color.


Thursday, October 18, 2012

Update

(My parents sent this last week but I have had a virus on our computer that woudln't let me log-in to Blogger)

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On P-Day we decided to visit Castle Howard, one of the dozens of castles in England.  This one is lived in all year round.  It is also known for its beautiful gardens, but we went too late in the year to get in on the gardens.



More castle pics.



What's left of the gardens.


These are the walls around the castle.


This is a typical family home evening.  This one is about service.  We are using the subjects from The Strength of Youth. Sister Wilkinson, Stake Relief Society President taught this particular lesson.


In our travels from village to village we found a small river in the woods. 




Thursday, September 20, 2012

Lots of picutre and work to share.

We are still teaching English lessons at our home. This particular time the missionaries were on hand to help us. One is a Chinese-speaking elder.




Another baptism, which we love. This is Leigh with his parents. He already looks like a missionary!



The Hull Stake sponsored a YSA dance. These are a few pictures of those who attended. Actually there wasn't much dancing, but young people drive a couple hours just to see their LDS friends.




We didn't dance much either. In fact, we didn't dance at all.




The newspaper stand where we buy our paper and have made a few friends was recently remodeled. There were free gifts, candy and face-painting for the open house.
 

 
 
Quite often the missionaries end up at our home for their P-Day. We were given about 50 hamburger patties, left over from the ward barbeque, so we let the elders and sisters have most of them. They cooked them in the park on little portable grills ($3.00), and then they played games.
 

 
 
This is a picture of the small portable barbeque grills and the missionaries when they are properly attired.
 

 
 
Isha came over and helped tie a quilt for Tim and Becky's wedding. We have been buying used jeans at markets or charity shops and putting them together as a gift for YSA's when they get married. This is the third quilt we have given away.
 

 
 
 
 
 
This is Tim and Becky and the quilt. When young people get married here, they are married civily in the church first and then they have a reception where everyone eats and then the wedding party travels to the temple and the couple is sealed on the same day. By law, the Queen has to be allowed to come to the wedding, thus the civil marriage.


 
 
 
We visited the Whitby Abbey ruins.This archaic church was bombed during WWII and then gradually deteriorated after that until only ruins are left. But it is still a breath-taking structure set on a high cliff next to the North Sea.



 
 
Does this look like it could be the train station from one of the Harry Potter films. Well it is! Or the flying car that that was in one of his films. Well it is a replica. We thought we took the steam engine that they used to film a Harry Potter movie, but we went on the wrong day, but happened on these other items of interest by accident.
 
 



 

Monday, September 3, 2012

We love serving with the people here

Elders Deshazer and Hunphries wanted to bring home the Atonement, so they made a plate of brownies and offered them to each investigator in the home that they were teaching. Whether they took a brownie or not, Elder Deshazer did 10 push-ups. They kept passing the plate around until he had done 130 push-ups. I think they got the point - whether we partake of the blessings of the Atonement or not, HE still suffered for our sins.



This is Elder Ball, Shaun, just baptized, Elders Humphries, and Ressler. We love baptisms!





 


Missionarier live from transfer to transer (every six weeks). Sister Melander, Ah Mu, Vickery, Halbleib and others left us. :-( We get attached you know.