Manchester Mission Church History Tour

On Wednesday, August 21st, our half of the mission went on a church history tour.  The other half went the day before.  We had to meet in Liverpool, so we decided to leave our car at the railway station and take the train.  It was a nice trip into Liverpool.  We did have a visit on the train with two Jewish sisters.  We didn't know they were Jewish and they didn't know we were Mormons until the end of the trip.  They asked about our badges but they didn't realize we were also Mormons.  We tried to share some things about the church with them.  Some things didn't go over very well and I was puzzled, but when they told me that they were Jewish,  I understood.  I think we left on good terms in spite of a few remarks I might have changed had I known their background.
We went to the docks where most of the people of England and Scandinavia left from, before coming to  America.  We know that Craig's great grandfather left from there.  We toured the Maritime museum.  After the Museum, we loaded buses to go to Preston and then to Downham.  Preston was where the Gospel was first preached in England in 1837.  Downham is a tiny village where people were especially receptive of the Gospel.  We visited these two sites earlier with another senior couple, but it was nice to see them again.  It was supposed to rain, but most of the day was lovely.  We had fun watching the re-enactment, by some of the missionaries, of the race to see who could be the first one baptized in England.   The highlight of the day was when we held a meeting in the little chapel in Downham.   The acoustics in the chapel were great and the sound of all those missionaries singing the Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning was very powerful.  I wish you all could have heard it.

In honor of our visit to the Liverpool Docks, they named a ship after me

Elder Whitehead waiting with our young elders at the train station

In front of the Maritime Museum

The River Ribble

The race for the first to be baptized

The Chapel at Downham

In the chapel at Downham.

We are Grateful for Good Health

Craig was sick this week.  After several days of rest a prescription and a blessing,  he is starting to feel better.   It's extra hard to be sick on a mission, because he wanted to be serving.  At the end of the week we got to attend a senior couples dinner.  Everyone brought a salad and a dessert.  We had a lot of good food and it was so nice to visit with everyone.  We got to hear from the senior couple who served as the Missionaries for the pageant.  They were a couple from this area.  They told us of the many special experiences that occurred during the rehearsals and the performances.  We also met a new senior couple.  He has come to do legal work for the church and his wife is a double amputee.  It is a privilege  to meet such dedicated people.

The Senior Couples for the Manchester Mission
Center, is the Mission President and his wife.

We are helping to teach a man who will be baptized soon.  He is a very sweet humble person and very receptive to the Gospel.  He has dyslexia, so it is hard for him to read the scriptures.  He listens to them on CD's faithfully.  I offered to help him with his reading.  We read with him last week.  Writing is hard for him as well.  I suggested that he take some time to write more on a regular basis, because I was taught in my training as a reading teacher there is an important connection between reading and writing, and I always did writing with my students as part of their reading lesson.  I helped him write one sentence.  I could see that it was very stressful for him and I was afraid I had worn him out.  The next day when we went back to see him,  he told us he had something he wanted to show us.  He had written a two and a half page paper about his feelings about the church and the Savior.  It was coherent and meaningful.  He told us that after we left that night of his lesson, he couldn't sleep.  He felt he needed to follow my suggestion, so he stayed up for five hours writing his feelings.  He also said he had never written that much in his life.  We knew that it was a miracle for him.   It was great to see his accomplishment.

A Great Outpouring of Blessings

I was able to get a picture after the performance.

Tuesday night we had the  opportunity of going to the British Pageant.  We felt it a great privilege  to be in this mission in England at this time.  It was such an inspiring and uplifting program.   The bus carrying our ward from Warrington made it just ten minutes before it was to begin.  The marquis was packed.  We didn't think any of our ward would get a seat together and we would certainly sit in the back because it was so full.  Just as we came in,  some seats, three rows from the front which had been reserved,  opened up, so Craig and I and some of our ward members sat together.  It was so snug,  I said to the person next to me that I felt like we were having a group hug.  It didn't matter though, the performance compensated for feeling crowded.  I absolutely loved the music and the doctrine of the restoration was beautifully woven into the story.  I hope you will all download the music
from lds.org.  I think every British Saint came out feeling proud of their heritage and every one with British ancestry did too.  I only wish all of my family could have seen it and I wish the whole country could have seen it.  I do think it will dispel some of the misunderstanding about the church in this land, and I think it will move the missionary work forward.

Thursday was another never to be forgotten day.  Our whole mission gathered for a conference.   Normally we meet with only half of the mission at once.  Over 220 missionaries were packed into the chapel.  We were all in our seats early.  The senior couples were all seated on the front row, a privilege I did not anticipate.  At two thirty we were instructed to sit down and wait without talking,  for the apostles and seventies and their wives to arrive.  We waited for almost fifty minutes because they were delayed.  When they entered, we all rose.  We had the privilege of hearing from Elder Kieron, and Elder  Evans of the seventy and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Russell M. Nelson and their wives.   It is rare for one apostle to visit the mission, let alone two.  We were all so blessed to be there.  Elder Holland spoke of his great love for his mission in England and how it has affected his life ever since.  Elder Kieron talked about his conversion to the church and how he resisted accepting it for a long time.   He encouraged the missionaries not to give up on people.   Elder Evans said, "this is the beginning of the hastening.  There are now 74,000 missionaries serving.  He counseled us to use the Book of Mormon as much as possible in our teaching.    Elder  Russell M. Nelson pronounced his Apostalic blessing on all the missionaries and their families at about 5:30, our time.  I hope you feel the effects of his blessing in your lives.  Elder Nelson also said, "the Lord is moving people to this little Isle.  We are their link to light and hope."  

 The Daley's sent me a giant birthday card.  Olivia warned me not to be startled when I opened it.

Our ward on the double decker bus before we left for the pageant

It was fun riding up with our ward members.

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One of our newest church members.

As a final conclusion to an extraordinary week,  Elder Whitehead and I attended a baptism in Liverpool for two young chinese students.  We were there because one of our investigators and his friend wanted to see a baptism.  These men were around our age, perhaps a little younger.  They were both such humble and Christ-like men.  One of them told us about how he had just spent the last three years, round the clock,  caring for his mother before she died.  We were so impressed with the goodness of this man.  Our investigator decided he wanted to be baptized after seeing the baptism.   It was inspiring to hear the talks of some of the recent chinese converts.  One of the sisters asked to have her picture taken with me after the service.  She said,  she was so disappointed when she couldn't serve a full time mission after she was baptized,  because she was married.  Her dream now was to serve a full-time mission with her husband some day.  I'm sure she will have that privilege.  She told us there are branches of the church in China now,  though the church is not recognized there.  A large portion of baptisms in the last few years in our mission have been Chinese converts.  It was truly another highlight in the week.

At Home in England

We are beginning to feel more at home in England.  My cooking is improving though not perfect.  Generally we are just getting more settled here.  We are grateful for that.  I celebrated my birthday today by going to Marks and Spencers.   It is a popular store in England.  They sell nice clothes and food.  We kept hearing about how good their food was so we wanted to check it out.  We found  raspberries that were bigger that any we have seen.  We picked out some other nice foods, including a quiche lorraine and a swiss chocolate bar.  I finally got all my family pictures displayed this week.  It makes our flat feel more like home.
We spent the evening visiting with a less active sister.  It was a good visit and it was one of those times when I felt I had been inspired in the message we chose.  I really like that feeling.

A recent cooking success, blueberry muffins.

All of our children
My begonia is thriving.  It is a gift from my neighbor to thank me
for the Book of Mormon.

The biggest raspberries we have ever seen.  They tasted great ,too.

Pressing Forward

August 2, 2013

Sometimes missionary work gets slow and then it is trying.  This week has been a little slow because most of the people we have been teaching have either been on holiday or too sick to see us.  Sometimes opposition is there.  We have been having an unusual amount of traffic jams in Warrington.  Sometimes you go out and no one is home or they don't want to see you.  It was that kind of day today.  Fortunately the day got better as it went on.  My dinner for the elders and sisters turned out very well.  I discovered a British gravy mix that tastes good and cooks up like magic.  We had a visit with family after dinner that started out on a very strange note.  We had an appointment with this woman and her family.  When we got there and the door opened and before we could open our mouths to speak, a strange woman greeted us with, " No! We don't want any," and shut the door in our face.  We walked away baffled because we were sure it was the right house.  A few minutes later the woman who actually lives there, came out after us and brought us back in.  Her neighbor had answered the door for her and didn't know she was expecting anyone.  Both she and her neighbor apologized.  We were able to have a really nice lesson with them, in spite of their very affectionate dogs.  One dog took a liking to me and I had to hold on to it while Dad said the prayer.  The dog made every effort to lick Dad's face while he was praying.  The woman is a member who has been away from the church for years.  Her husband is not a member.  They were both very nice to teach and we will see them again next week.  We are glad we can teach them.  I think the woman is open to coming to church again.

We took a picture of a pretty sunset as we walked to the car.  Shortly after we came home, someone rang our buzzer and Dad went out to see who it was.  A young man in our flat had met the elders and had wanted to meet us as well.  He seemed like he had a very good spirit about him.  We hope we will be able to meet him again and visit some more  and share the Gospel with him.   You can never judge a day until it is over.