Holiday fun.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Westminster Abby

War Cabinet Room

Map Room

Churchill's Bedroom

We had a little miracle while we were shopping. I wanted to purchase some kind of a little Christtmas gift for Georgia. Elder Preece has shared with her the ‘Just Keep Swimming’ salmon story so I wanted to see if we could find a fish Christmas tree ornament or something like that. A little ambitious? As we were walking I noticed people carrying Disney Store shopping bags. Maybe we could find some sort of Dorie toy from the Disney movie Nemo… We had no idea where it was but just kept looking and walking. Low and behold the Disney Store was right next to Selfridges Department Store, our destination. The store was huge and full of fun memorabilia. We looked and looked but to no avail. Finally after asking if there were any Nemo displays that would have the fish Dorie in it we were directed to a plush animal display and hiding on a lower shelf towards the back was an adorable little plush Dorie fish!! Bingo!

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!

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