Special day in July

July 20, 2013

Today another sister was baptized.  Her husband is a member and is just coming back into activity, and her children will be baptized soon.  We had the opportunity to help teach her.  It was a great day.  She had the support of her family, many of the missionaries that taught her, our mission president,  and her cousin who is a member of the seventy here in England.  There was a great spirit.  This family will be a great blessing to our ward.  I had hoped to include a picture, but I haven't received it yet.  I will include it later.

Elaine with the Missionaries who taught her.
Our mission president is on the far left.

July 28, 2013

This week we finally had an appointment with a couple that had been avoiding us.  Elder Whitehead thought there was no use trying to see them, but I kept feeling that we should not give up.  We saw the wife and her daughter Wednesday night.  The wife told us about why they had not been to church in so many years.  Her daughter was not a member but was interested in learning the Gospel.  We invited her to YSA and she came and she enjoyed herself.   They expressed an interest in attending the pageant.  We thought we were not going to be able to get pageant tickets for them, but the girl’s mother called and said if we could even get one ticket, she and her husband would drive their daughter to Chorley for the pageant.  Shortly before her call, I had received word that there was one ticket turned back.  A few days later we learned that two more tickets had become available so her parents could see it as well.  We see the Lord’s had working in their lives and I am sure there are many more stories like this one throughout Great Britain as the pageant approaches.

Last week we helped a new senior couple get settled.  This week we took them to see Old Rufford Hall, a nice old Tudor style home built in the 1500's.

The new senior couple

Us in the Old Rufford Hall

We thought these cat and mouse shrubs were very clever.

Outside Old Rufford Hall

The entrance to the garden

This was such a pretty sky on Monday.
I thought I had better get a picture, because it can't last.

Put on the whole armor of God

It was a great day to visit this old home.

It is Hot in England

July 7, 2013

It has been an extra busy time.  Wednesday evening, we spent a pleasant evening with a couple in the ward.  The husband is a member and his wife is not.  They fixed a very nice dinner and their home was so pretty.  The dining room table looked out on a very well kept garden.  Between the table setting the view, it was like something out of Better Homes and Gardens.  We attended YSA in Liverpool on Thursday.  Friday we got to  attend a ward dinner.  The youth had a restaurant for a fundraiser.  It was beautifully done and the cook was a man from Italy who used to be a chef.  Saturday, we attended a primary activity at the stake center in Liverpool.  It was a carnival and races and it was great fun for the children.  We both had some good visits while we were there with other ward members, one whose wife is not active. He usually leaves right after church on Sunday, so we usually wouldn’t have time to get acquainted.  It was good to visit with him.  His daughter is in our primary class.  Today’s fast and testimony was great.  We both bore our testimonies.  We attended a new member fireside Sunday night at the mission home.  It was a good experience to hear how people found the Gospel and decided to be baptized.  The mission home is always full of people during these meetings and many people have to sit outside.  There is a great spirit there.  It has been warm here the last few days.  We miss our air conditioning. 

It’s not scorching like it is in Utah,  but  it is a little uncomfortable. 

July 14, 2013

It has been an intensely busy week.   We haven’t been able to do as many visits because, of preparations for lessons for YSA.  It has also been quite warm, making everyone feel a bit worn out.   We had the elders for dinner two different nights because the two sets could not coordinate their schedules.  We got up Friday morning and prepared to come to the Isle of Man.  It was a hectic morning.  We got off ten minutes late and about 5 minutes into town, I remembered I had forgotten the tickets.  We had a bit of a difficult time finding the zone leaders flat in Liverpool who were going to take us to the dock to catch the ferry for the Isle of Man.  We had the most hair-raising ride to the docks.  What should have been a trip of twenty minutes turned into a drive of over an hour trying frantically to get through traffic and all the roadblocks because of the a triatholon that was being held.

The ferry waited for us but they told us if we didn’t get there in 1 minute they were leaving.   We frantically got on the ferry just before it pulled out.  Our prayers were answered.

We loved the Isle of Man.  It is very pretty and it was cooler than it has been in Warrington.  We stayed at a pretty bed and breakfast.  We met with the YSA Saturday afternoon and evening.  We played games and had pizza and then we played laser tag.  I got shot to pieces.   We attended church the next day.  We like the Isle of Man ward.  I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting.  We had dinner at a members house that afternoon and then we did a fireside for the YSA in the evening.  I think the activities went well and we strengthened the  YSA on the Isle of Man.  Monday morning Craig and I took a train ride to see more of the island and we took a long walk on the promenade that bordered the ocean.  We had two  had

Craig and I and Elder Falke in front of the mission home after the fireside.

Dunham Massey,  another nice manor home we visited recently.

We ate lunch in a converted stable.  This was our view from the window.

Deer at Dunham Massey.

Walking into the gardens at Dunham Massey.

Craig at Dunham Massey

These lilies grow at least six feet tall.  They grow for seven years and only bloom once at the end of seven years.

A view on the Mannanan as were were leaving Liverpool.

The endless ripple of waves behind the boat made us think of how our choices ripple into eternity.

Our first glimpse of the Isle of Man

Entering the port of the Isle of Man.

A beautiful view from the boat.

The entrance to our Bed and Breakfast.

Sister Whitehead in front of the Bed and Breakfast

Elder Whitehead at our Bed and Breakfast

YSA at the Isle of Man

We visited this farm and thought the old stone barn was interesting

We also liked the farmhouse

We enjoyed a walk on the promenade in the evening

Elder Whitehead in front of the Laxey Wheel, the worlds largest
water wheel, used for mining.

Farewell to the Isle of Man.  We hope can come again someday.

the experience.  As we stood on the rear deck watching waves produced by the ferry, we thought how it reminded us that our actions ripple out across eternity.

Onward, Ever Onward

June 28, 2013

Yesterday we had to teach an institute lesson in YSA.  We were having a very hard time pulling it together.   We prayed and kept trying.  It finally came together and I think Craig did a good job.  I think he felt good about it too.  We had to take a young man home after the activity.  He lived in Liverpool.  After we dropped him off, we tried to leave Liverpool but the motorway entrance was closed.  We had no idea what we were going to do and it was not a good feeling.  I prayed for help and Craig decided to set the Sat Nav for the stake center where we had come from.  We were able to find our way out of the city and on to the motorway to our great relief.  We didn’t get home until 12:30.   Earlier in the day we taught a couple who had a kitten.  It insisted on sitting on my lap while I was teaching.  It wasn’t so bad when it dozed off, but soon it woke up and started batting at my hands and my scriptures.  It had long sharp claws.  It was a distraction to say the least.

Today we attended a funeral for a lady in our ward we never met.  Her husband is a very nice man and we were sad for him.  It was interesting to attend a funeral here in England.   It is actually the second funeral we have attended since we came.   The mortician who was in charge was a woman and she wore a black tuxedo with tails and an ascot, but she also wore a skirt. She wore a black, silk top hat.   We have never seen a woman mortician or  been to a funeral where someone has been cremated.  It seemed strange.  We attended a luncheon afterward and had a nice visit with ward members and some of the family.   It think I have never been hugged and kissed so much as I have been in England.  The people here are very good at expressing affection.  I never expected that.

June 30, 2013

Last night we went to a baptism for a sister we helped teach.  It was a nice service.  She was very courageous, because she had a great fear of water and wound up swallowing some and she had to do a lot of coughing to get it out.  I organized a luncheon for her after the service and it turned out nice.  It is

great to have a new member of our ward.   This sister struggled with the faith to pay tithing.  We were glad she could overcome it and be baptized.  Our primary class went very well today.  Each week they get better and we are learning to love them.   We teach so many lessons that Dad is beginning to enjoy teaching more than he used to.  We had a tea appointment with a nice family this evening.  We visit with a lot of people and it’s hard to tell sometimes if we are making progress with them, but we are being obedient and trying to listen to the spirit, and trust that the Lord will work through us. 

July 1, 2013

Today I had to face the fact that the fridge needed defrosting.  It was a big job.

I miss my frost free fridge.  After the cleaning was done,  we went to Wilmslow, a community about 30 minutes from us.  We got a little lost because of some road construction.  We wanted to see a place called the Quarry Bank Mill, a very big cotton mill that has been preserved so people can see what it was like to produce cotton years ago.  It was such a big place.  We only had time to see part of the mill and the apprentice house and garden.  It was set in a kind of small valley surrounded by very tall trees.  It was a pretty place.  We will go back another time and finish touring the area.

We had a tea appointment this evening with a lovely older sister in our ward.  She invited a friend of hers to join us.  Her friend was 96, but she didn’t seem that old.  We had a nice visit with them.   Later we visited and another nice older couple.  We keep hoping they will come to church.

Looking down over the mill

Dad, at the cotton mill

Here I am with the scarecrows in the Apprentice house garden

The flower garden by the apprentice house