Summertime

July 21, 2014
A week ago Sunday we had a social for the senior couples and the new mission president and his wife. We had a good visit and enjoyed a delicious potluck meal together.  There is a great spirit of love and camaraderie between people who are all anxiously engaged in the same good cause.

Senior couples social

Last week we visited Liverpool with another senior couple.  We toured the Beatles museum and walked around the docks together.  We saw the monument to all the people who left for America from the Liverpool docks.  This monument was placed there by the church.  We had lunch together and had a relaxing day.

Entrance to the Beatles Museum

The old ships are interesting.

The Monument to families who left their homeland for the Gospel.

The Liverpool harbor where so many ancestors left for America.

This mosaic was made of Jelly beans.

Today we visited the Norton Priory with the sister missionaries in our ward.  It is the oldest remains in Europe of an Abbey.  It was built in 1134 and it was one of the first abbeys destroyed by Henry the IIIV in the 1500's.  We walk through the walled garden, saw a very old statue of St. Christopher and toured the remains of the abbey.  It was a pleasant day out for us.  We also fixed dinner for the sisters when we came home.

The Tree of Life gate to the walled garden

A pretty butterfly

These are hydrangeas just beginning to bloom.
I made the mistake of calling the Azeala's in my last blog.

Our sister missionaries

Looking over the ruins.

Inside the last remaining part of the Abbey.

A very old statue of St. Christoffer.  He is carrying Jesus on his
shoulder.

Walking Companions

We took a long walk on Monday on a walking trail on a hill above Warrington.  It was  a lovely day for a walk.  We enjoyed being outside in the English countryside.  There are nice walking paths throughout England and we plan to visit more of them.  English people do a lot of walking on these paths. We had some Gospel conversations with people as we went.  It is a good time to do it, because people aren't in a hurry.  It was nice to have a picnic and spend a quiet day together.  We got a little wet as the day went on, but it wasn't bad.
Sunday we had a good fast and testimony meeting.  The sister we found on the bus has started coming to church the last three weeks.  She bore her testimony and said how grateful she was that we met on the bus, because she had been trying to find the church without any success.  She is from South Africa and she is a very faithful woman.  She is our blessing for being on the bus.  We know that we were placed in her path so she could return to church.  God is mindful of all of us.
We have been without the car for over two months now and it appears likely that it will be this way until the end of our mission.  It has been very challenging in many ways.  Getting a driver's license in this country can be very difficult.  After many efforts and fasting and prayers, it would appear that God wants us out among people more.  Since we have accepted God's will and quit praying to have the car, we have felt more peace.  We never would have chosen what we have been through, but we trust that good will come of it.  Today as we got off the bus, we happened on to a young woman we have been trying to find for over two months.  We have been to her home over and over and prayed that we could see her somewhere.  We wouldn't have happened on to her if we hadn't been on foot.  She agreed to see us next week.  We see many of the people we have been working with making progress and we see the hand of the Lord working in their lives.  We are looking forward to getting acquainted from the new mission president and learning from him.

Our Last Zone Conference with President Preston

Saying Goodbye to an Elder we worked with at the beginning of our mission,

Our last ward temple trip.

I love azaleas.  The camera can't capture how intensely
blue these flowers are.

A view of Warrington from the cementary on the hill.

Starting along the path

A lovely day for a walk.

These ferns were almost as tall as me.

One of the queens swans. ( She owns all of them in England.)

Wildflowers on the path.

More flowers.

And more flowers.

This is the cutest shrub we have ever seen.

These were in a garden we walked past.

A well tended home and garden.

England's Begonia's are the best I have ever seen.