Where do I start? This of course has been another very good
week! Let’s see I left off last post with the Temple trip.
We now had YSA
festivities to get ready for and enjoy. Instead of Wednesday’s usual dinner
those who came helped to decorate and set up for the YSA Christmas meal that
was to be held on Thursday. Hanna came to help too and we had a good time.
Elder Preece, Lorna and I had the errand of getting the pizza for all the
workers. That was fun, she is a good person! Everything looked really good,
waiting for all the work of the next day!
Speaking of all the work that went on the next day, all I
can say is WOW! There lives in this Stake a legend of sorts named Bernice West.
She is amazing and can pull off unbelievable functions and productions. She has
recently been diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer but that will not
keep her down. We had to be in Taunton all afternoon so did not get back to
help until after 5:30 pm. There was a lot of cooking and simmering going on.
Potatoes pealed, vegetables cooking, turkey crowns (breasts) cooked and
waiting, warming pans lined up! After hand mashing the mash potatoes and
placing the roast potatoes in the oven all was ready.
They all started arriving cheerfully and chattering. It was
a huge success. Kudos to those who worked so hard, not the least of which were
the Stake YSA presidency. Each ward was represented, the food was delicious and
the company was the best! They played ‘pass the parcel’ and demolished two piñatas!
The just recently released Stake Presidency were the servers and worked very
hard. I think the whole evening was quite a success. Elder Preece was the photographer
capturing the moment for posterity!
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| The star waiters! |
Sunday was our next very busy day. We were scheduled to be
the Sacrament speakers in the Taunton Ward. We stopped by Weston 'S Mare to pick
up The YSA stake pres. Ed Webb. We enjoyed his company. Lisa Taylor also a
member of the YSA presidency joined us there. Afterwards the YSA rep in the
ward served chili for a social of the Young Singles in the ward. They were few
in number but it was a very good experience; because this ward is so far away sometimes they feel disconnected from the stake and it was such a good thing to
let them know that they are important! Our new Stake President Quinton Byrom
was also visiting, he also spoke in Sacrament meeting. It was a long day by the
time we returned Ed to his home but well worth it! That evening for FHE we
watched the first Presidency’s Christmas Devotional which I thought was
wonderful this year!
Monday and Tuesday we took a Christmas trip into London. We
caught the train at Bristol Temple Meads station at 11 am, arriving in London
at 12:45. After accidentally taking little side trip, going the wrong way on
the tube, we got off at South Kensington Tube stop. WHAT A FUN DAY!
The first order of business was to call Sister Marilyn
Victor and her sister Jackie Smith who are serving in the London Mission. We
then met them at the Hyde Park Chapel. The Visitor Center there is awesome,
they have done a lot to it since we visited London last. It was so good to see
Marilyn and meet her Sister.
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| Hyde Park Chapel |
Guess where we went to eat? That is right Carluccio’s! It
was so fun to be in ‘our’ neighborhood again. We have spent so many wonderful hours
in that neck of the woods! What a very nice visit we had! It was so good to
share missionary experiences and see how very happy they are! Love it!
That evening we had tickets to a play in London’s West End.
We had to catch the Underground just at rush hour. Whoa that is and experience
I am not too sure I want again! It seemed like there were about 50 of us jammed
into the door way of one of the cars. Talk about no personal space! We were crushed
up against a really friendly girl from Australia. She was so cute and wanted to
know all about where we were from and why we were in England. I would love to
have given her a pass along card but I could not even reach my purse to get one
out.
Piccadilly Circus was hustling a bustling with Christmas
cheer. The energy was contagious. There was as big bright carnival in Leicester
Square. We had about a half hour or so to find our theater. Easier said than
done. We walked many many steps in lots of directions before we finally found
it with only a few minutes to spare. The telephone Sat Nav would not work
because of all the buildings. The play we went to see was “The Mouse Trap” by
Agatha Christie. It is the longest running play in London; 62 years and
counting. Loved it, even though the seats were so closed together we had dents
in our knees when we left.
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| Leicester Square |
Tuesday we had a leisurely morning. We had breakfast in our hotel and then left our bags there as we headed out for the day. Monday it
rained all day but was quite warm. Tuesday not much rain but it was a little
colder. Our first stop was the Churchill War Rooms which was fascinating! The
rest of the day we wandered around London enjoying the atmosphere, Trafalgar
Square, back to Piccadilly and on to Regent and Oxford streets. All the stores
were beautifully decked out in Holiday Cheer. Selfridges was so pretty.
We had something to eat at Pret-a Mange and then took a bus
back to pick up our suitcase and take a taxi back to Paddington Station to
catch our train. All in all it was a very good Christmas outing. We felt so
refreshed and ready to jump back into missionary work!
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| Trafalgar Square |
Indeed we did come back to missionary work! We had District
meeting at 9:30 am in our flat, including the zone leaders. We bought matching
red ties for the Elders in our district and red scarves for the Sisters as
Christmas gifts.
At noon the Elders met Georgia at our place. We had a nice
meeting. She had so many questions. Later she came back because she still had a
lot that she wanted clarified. We visited all afternoon from about 4 to 8 pm.
She is a sweetheart. The choice she has before her is huge and she knows it. We
are thankful that she is now a part of our lives forever!
I was kind of startled when I realized this morning that
Christmas is less than a week away. Time flies when you are having fun. I am
glad for that, I have not been homesick at all, just miss our babies! It is
sometimes hard when life is difficult for people we love back home but the best
thing we can do is pray and have faith for them and serve the Lord!
I want to leave you all with my warmest Christmas wishes and
one of my very favorite quotes.
“The Lord Omnipotent who reigneth”, left a throne to inherit
a manger. He exchanged the dominion of a god for the dependence of a babe. He
gave up wealth, power, dominion, and the fullness of his glory—for what?—for taunting,
mocking, humiliation, and subjection. IT was a trade of unparalleled dimension,
a condescension of incredible proportions, a descent of incalculable depth. And
so, the great Jehovah, creator of worlds without number, infinite in virtue and
power, made his entry into the world in swaddling clothes and a manger.” Tad R Callister of the Presidency of the
Seventy
