A Day of Our Missionary Life

November 22, 2016

Today we had a day of visiting.  We have been so busy with other things, we haven’t been able to visit as much this week.  We started the day with a visit for the purpose of doing an insurance form for a couple whose car we put a little scratch on edging through a tight street.  They were a very nice couple, a little older than us.  We met their adult grandsons as well.  We told them some things about the church.  The lady offered us some tea or coffee and we were able to share our beliefs about the Word of Wisdom.   They didn’t know much about our church.  The lady was Catholic.  Her grandson said it was so refreshing to find people who are honest in the world.  Even though they weren’t interested in learning more, I feel that we left a very positive impression of our church and perhaps some day one of them will receive our young missionaries into their home because of their experience with us.

We had two appointments cancel on us, but were able to have a good visit with Mae, a lovely 97 year old member of the ward in a care center.  We brought our computer so she could hear a conference talk.  She was very worried about her nephew who was in the hospital.  We had a prayer with her and I think it lightened her burden.   We visited another older couple that gave us a warm welcome into their home.  After we visited for a few minutes we realized that they had mistaken us for someone else.  The woman whose name was on the records of the church,  had no memory of being baptized.  They said they attended another church, so we apologized for the mix-up and we were on our way.  We had left-overs for dinner from the Thanksgiving dinner we made for the sisters yesterday.  Left-overs are such a life saver on such busy days.  We had nice visits with two other ward members in the evening.  We are grateful at the close of the day for these good visits. 

We had a successful Harry Potter Activity recently at YSA

We watched these men do a dangerous job across the street from our flat.
Trees flourish here with all the rain, so they have to be trimmed back.

Craig and I visited Manchester on Monday.  It was cold but sunny.

This tall building is the new Institute of Religion building here in
Manchester.

We spent a little time a the Christmas Markets.  We will go back
again before Christmas.

This beautiful sunset took place at 3:30 in the afternoon.
The days are getting very short here.

 

Remembrance Sunday

On a sunny Sabbath morning under a bright blue sky we observed Remembrance Day in England.  We were all blessed with a reprieve from the rain.  The Bishop asked us to represent our church in the Remembrance Day parade.  We walked in the parade with one other ward member.  Two others who were not able to walk,  were waiting at the Monument with a wreath of poppies.  We were happy to represent the church, but also torn because we would have to miss Sacrament meeting and we always want to be there.  The service at the end of the parade is put on by the Warrington Council of Faiths.  This council accepts a representative from all the local churches except ours, under the claim that we are not Christians.  We hope our walk in the parade raised awareness of our church.  Afterward we went up to the local church leaders and shook their hands and told them we enjoyed their part in the services.  We hope it did some good.  The parts I enjoyed most were the bagpipe music and singing Jerusalem with this large group of people.  It is good that people come together once a year to remember those who died for them in wars.  There is a much more important Remembrance Day to be observed.  We have that opportunity each week to attend Sacrament Meeting and remember our Saviour who gave his life for us so we could repent and return home to live in the presence of our Father in Heaven.  If that day were observed each week throughout the world, it is unlikely that we would lose soldiers in war, and we would enjoy that peace, which we all long for.

Elder Whitehead in front of Warrington's golden gates.
The marchers are lining up in back of the gates off to the right

We walked at the end so this is our view.

The two of us at the Senitaph  after the program.

Party Time

November 6, 2013

Bobbing for Apples at YSA

Pumpkin Carving at YSA

I wish I could have captured this better.

The YSA in front of the Temple

YSA games

Some chose watermelons to carve because they wanted to eat the insides.

We just finished several days of celebrations.  First, we spent Halloween with the YSA.  We taught Book of Mormon and then the YSA enjoyed Halloween activities and a Shrek Halloween movie.  We had some cute refreshments and I think everyone had a good time.  Friday was special because went with the YSA to the Preston Temple so they could do baptisms for the dead.  It was a good experience to assist with this.  Afterward, we went to McDonald's for milkshakes.  Saturday morning we went with a  group of people in our ward to the temple and in the evening we attended the ward Halloween party.  Craig and I did the pumpkin walk, a favorite game we do on Halloween with our grandchildren when we are home.  The kids loved the game and the party went well.  We celebrated Bonfire night at a members home.  We had a good dinner and watched fire works with the family.  We had a pleasant evening. We also ate dinner with a nice family

Zone Conference pumpkin carving

Our local sisters carving pumpkins

on Sunday night.  We certainly have had an entertaining and also an uplifting week.  Craig's Book of Mormon class went especially well on Tuesday night.  We also had a pumpkin carving contest at our zone meeting.  Craig and I were asked to judge the pumpkin carving contest at YSA and zone conference.  We were also the judges at the ward Halloween party.  It has rained a lot recently, but it hasn't stopped the fun.

Halloween Games at YSA

Bonfire night.

The YSA Sent up Fire Lanterns on Halloween.