The time is far spent; there is little remaining…..

“All good things must come to an end.” "Parting is such sweet sorrow.” So they say… It is that time for us. This is a time of mixed feelings and a jumble of emotions. We are so excited to return home to our wonderful family who are waiting with open arms, at the same time tearing ourselves away from Bristol and the joy we have found here is very difficult.

Last Saturday we took Fran on an excursion of a life time! We had promised her for a birthday present we would take her to Costco. She had never been there before and finally last week we were able to schedule it. Alas we forgot to catch and preserve it on camera. Fortunately she took many pictures of all the things she had never seen before, especially products in such huge quantities. Pretty awesome when something so simple can make some one so excited!

It has been a week of good byes. Do not like good byes but then I do not know many people who do. Sunday was a lovely day. We were able to attend the Downend Ward. Our sweet friend Medea Zhang, she is the recent convert from China I have mentioned before, was giving her first Sacrament meeting talk. I really wish I could have recorded it. She did a magnificent job. It is a profound experience to witness the ‘mighty change’ in people as they embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ!

We have many YSA friends in that ward so it was nice to worship with them. We attended the YSA Sunday School class and enjoyed it. It is wonderful that the course of study this year is the New Testament.

Sunday evening we attended the re-broadcast of the World Wide Young Adult Devotional presented by Randall Ridd of the General Young Men Presidency. It was held at the Wells Rd building with a light supper after. The talk was phenomenal and the evening warm and enjoyable. It was our first round of last farewells however and the tug on my heart strings began. Several of our sweet friends were going on holiday this week so we had to say our parting words there and then. Then it was group picture time, the last group picture time. Thank goodness for pictures and texting!

Sister Sowter enters the MTC Provo on March 10th

We celebrated a last good bye again Monday evening with a meal and FHE for the YSA in our own Southmead Ward. I think we will make the most out of this good bye stuff and party as much as we can. It was just a great evening! Most of the young single adults from our ward attended. We ate, mingled and shared a spiritual message. It was with a lump in my throat that I shared my testimony and the admonition to never let go of the iron rod. Amazing how it feels like they all belong to me!

Tuesday sorting and sifting and organizing! Closing down the flat means a lot of foot work.

Wednesday the next round of parting moments…our last missionary District meeting. Elder Terry asked if we would take some time and share what we have learned from this mission and any words of wisdom we could impart. So there we were talking to ‘our kids’ again. I try really hard to put into words these experiences and feelings but I know that I fall short. I will always see in my mind’s eye those 8 humble dedicated young faces looking to us for council and advice!

gift to us from the Bristol District

The Wells Rd elders made us beans on toast for lunch! Believe it or not it was my request. They make us laugh with their comradery. Someone got a basketball out while the food was cooking and Sister Dantzscher was by far the best shot among them. More good bye hugs and teary eyes.

Elder Preece shared the 'parable of the pickles' from Elder Bednar

Wednesday evening was the monthly YSA meal. It is now held at Adrian and Brenda’s home. There were at least 13 there and the food and company was top notch. Bill and I have teased them since we first came that we could take the lot of them and match them up one to one with a marriage partner. We do actually have a list, which of course we will not share with them. You should have heard them try to pry the information out of us. It is mostly all in good fun, but with a little bit of seriousness to it. Sometimes the best things in life are right under your nose. No final farewells that night. We did however accidentally leave our camera and this is what we found when it was returned.

Thursday the regular Institute instructor Scott Balloch had asked if we would combine classes and teach the lesson. The subject was from several sections of the Doctrine & Covenants dealing with the Law of Consecration and the United Order. I am not sure why it seemed so daunting to us but the whole day we both felt the responsibility of the assignment keenly.

The lesson went well, the spirit was strong, the valiant thoughts and testimonies of these fine young people filled the room. Then we had to give our final farewell speech. We have spent hundreds of hours with them in all kinds of circumstances. There have been many FB conversations and hours of one on one counseling and priesthood blessings. We have laughed and cried during games and activities. We have danced and worked and prayed with them and now we have to say good bye. Our lives are changed! We are not the same people we were. As we were singing the closing song “I Stand all Amazed” I was engulfed by a spirit of love and joy. I knew that it had been our job to represent the Savior for the last 18 months and the reward for that service means we are privileged to feel His powerful love for them. What a privilege!

Thank you for the wonderful remembrances! 

We now have a lot of adopted Preece's Pieces 

Friday was deliver furniture day. The great missionaries in the Southmead ward were the movers. Bill rented a van and they all headed to Bath to take our ‘excess’ to the sister missionaries there. They have a pretty sparsely furnished flat and were really excited about new furnishings.

fairy princess making a count down chart  till Grandma and Grandpa come home

Now for the excitement!! We can’t wait to see our children and grandchildren! We are excited to go home to sunny AZ! So many friends to greet and embrace! Our little 4 year old grandson Markus said he dreamed that “grandma Preece made him a cake”. I can’t wait! 5 year old Miles said not to worry grandma, you don’t have to say good bye just say “see you later”! 7 year old Olivia made an advent calendar to count the days tell grandma and grandpa come home.  9 year old Jakey wanted me to know he saw a red cardinal today! And on and on!

I can’t help but think about the day when we all leave this mortal life it will be heart wrenching and sad to say good bye to loved ones here but just think the glorious reunion with those on the other side of the veil!

Four more days in Bristol, then we drive the Bristol Flyer up to the mission office and turn in our keys. We will attend the temple one last time, have dinner with Elder and Sister Cannon one of the office couples and then stay at a hotel near the airport for a 10:30 am departure from Heathrow Thursday morning. Whoa that made my stomach do flip flops! 

So I will just end by saying “See you all later!”


Things you will not see in AZ:

a view of Cardiff Wales

learner cars with learner plates "L"

a silver Meriva missionary car

(We will be giving our Sacrament talks on Sunday Feb 15 at 1:00 in the Desert Hills Ward, Gold Dust building.)

Bright as the sun, this heavenly ray light ev’ry land today

Good week! Sunday, Monday Tuesday and Thursday are good days to report on. The other days have just been filled with organizing and check lists and trying to adjust to the fact that we are leaving.

Sunday was a wonderful day at church. We decided to attend our home ward, Southmead, I had an assignment for Young Women and Jessica needed a ride after church. I cannot tell you how happy it made us to sit with a whole row of YSA. There were 11 young single adults at church on Sunday! Just in our little ward!!! Not supposed to be proud, but I felt proud anyway. Bishop Geldenhuys asked if we were taking any of these “sons and daughters” home with us. Bill told him we have certainly been tempted.

Monday P-day we went to Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter. This tour was one of my Christmas presents. Wow! It is the actual film studio where all of the Harry Potter movies were filmed with actual sets and costumes. I am a great Harry Potter fan and loved every minute of it! If you want to see more of the tour I did post in the blog just for the grand kids. You can access that.

Tuesday we had Zone leadership training. The Zone leaders called a few days before to ask us to order the Pizza and get the drinks. Then they called 2 or 3 times on Monday to ask if they could use our computer etc. Tuesday morning they called and asked us to pick up some missionaries from the train station. It is wonderful to feel needed! The meeting was very good. I can’t decide if it was better than usual if my attitude is different as I am nearing the close of the mission. President and Sister Millar were there also which always adds such a great spirit.

The Elders and Sisters teach each other and their council is always right on. Two of the sisters had been assigned the topic of ‘dedicated & unified companionship’. They had everyone go into the rec hall and each companionship was told that one partner needed to put the rocks provided in their shoes and one was to blindfold themselves with the scarf that had been laid out beforehand. Then the ‘rocky’ missionary had to hurry across the room, read a scripture placed on a chair there and then hurry back. When they returned they had to lead their blindfolded companion to do the same, including reading to them the scripture. It was so funny to watch. Sister Torvinen actually picked up Sister Polidario and carried her across the floor. In the end they all decided that when they were helping their companions the rocks in the shoes were not nearly as noticeable. So clever!

(check blog post Companion relay)

I guess I am going to preach a little here. I am not sure that I totally understood the power that these sons and daughters of ‘Helaman’s Army’ carry with them until I had this assignment. In Alma 37: 6 it says: Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

I know that I have championed this fact many times in lesson discussions but I am not sure that I really believed it. It is easy as members to be leery of 19 and 20 olds and not really trust our friends, acquaintances and family members to their care. I repent! They truly are commissioned by God! They wear the Savior’s name on their clothes. We need to trust that power and commission. PMG states: “As an authorized representative of Jesus Christ, you can teach people with power and authority…” Alma 43: 2 says…and they preached after the holy order of God by which they were called.

My admonition to all of us is to remember this and do not shy away from using this great resource available to us! The whole day Tuesday was teaching obedience, I think obedience should be our guide too as we embark in member missionary work. Using the full time missionaries to teach is what we have been asked to do.

OK off of the soap box... It is just so clear to me here how much the Lord loves his missionaries and blesses them with the power of the word!

Thursday evening we attended our next to last Institute. As always the association that we have with those choice sons and daughters of God lifts our hearts and spirits. We have a special little class that we teach and we are really going to miss them when we leave. Bill gave a great lesson on section 76 “The Vision”. There is so much in that section, so many great gospel truths, truths that we possess that no other sect or religion teaches. If you want some instruction and inspiration I suggest that you read that section this week.

Our flat is getting emptier and emptier. We must get rid of all the ‘stuff’ that does not belong to the landlord. After 3 or 4 years of missionaries living here that is a lot. We are sifting bit by bit but some of it we need in order to function from day to day. Next week will be challenging and the next even more as we distribute, donate and discard all of it.

Sunday I was sitting next to the Young Women President in our ward as it was announced that there will be a “munch and mingle” right after church in our honor our last week here. She nudged me and said something about being a celebrity. I agreed that yes for a moment at this end and a moment when we return we will be celebrities but then we will just go back to being ordinary members of the church. That is so true… however there is probably not anything ordinary about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ! Always we have an obligation to be more than we are. This assignment has taught me this more than any other experience before.

Love you all! Words can’t express how grateful we are for your constant support and prayers. To our wonderful grandchildren, we love you so much! Thank you for praying for us every day. Soon we will kiss your cheeks and give you big hugs!

To our wonderful new Bristol friends, thank you for your light and testimonies. Thank you for accepting us and helping us to fill our assignment. Forever you are in our hearts!!

Things you will not see in AZ.

My Harry Potter experience

This post is written especially to my grandchildren! I know that a lot of them have read these marvelous books and most of them have seen at least some of the movies. We got to go to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of the sound stage and actual sets used in the movies.

All I can say is Wow! Of course we did not ride a Nimbus 2000 or see moving portraits but we did get to see how it was all made. The details were astounding. I will share with you of our pictures.

Me standing by the chess pieces, The flying muggle car. Harry's closet

Hogwarts front door and the Great Hall

The Gryffindor dorm. Entrance to Dumbeldore's office

The Mirror of Erised. 

Many wands.
Dumbledore in his office. Invisibility cloak. Gryffindor commons room. Leaky Cauldron. 

Potions class room with Horrace Slughorn and Severus Snape. The Burrow. Gringott's vault cart. Moody's trunk...

Ministry of Magic. Malfoy's house and the Death Eaters council

Animatronics, unbelievable my favorite part

Sculptures were original...Castle model

I have many more pictures and a wonderful Official guide book. When I come home anyone who wants to see them I will be glad to show them to you.

This is my Harry Potter's wand

Now I have to watch all the movies again. Who wants to watch them with me? I think I will read the books too... 

Love you all so much!

 Grandma

Truth is our helmet, buckler, and shield…

Come join the ranks, come join the ranks! We have had a very good missionary week! The work goes on! Isn’t that so true? No matter what project or challenge is going on personally, life marches forward. Even though every day we are busy sorting and organizing for our return home the work still goes on around us in full force! I guess it only remains for us to be sure to join in!

Sunday we had a very very nice day! We drove down to the Taunton Ward for a YSA visit. Taunton is one of the farthest wards away from us geographically. We have a sweet feeling about the ward and its members because of an assignment we had there last year which gave us many opportunities to visit. The experience of working with the members during the Somerset floods last year added to that feeling.

Willow man, we see him on our drive to Taunton 

The meetings were all very enjoyable. It was great to rub shoulders with the faithful YSA men and women who were in attendance. The whole day was especially sweet because the Eastwood family were the speakers. They are such good people. Last Saturday, after waiting over 17 years, they were able to be sealed together as a family for time and eternity. Their son and daughter had to wait until they were 21 because their birth father would not give them permission. We feel a special connection to Reiss, the son, because he served in Sierra Leon with Scott and Robin Kanzler. Brother Eastwood was the stake speaker and Sister Eastwood also spoke. The Bishop asked Reiss to also share his testimony. A very powerful meeting!

Brother Eastwood based his talk around a quote that Will Harris had quoted in Priesthood. (Sorry Will, I just could not resist) “We are a church with our sleeves rolled up!” I loved his talk and its message about doing and serving!

Sunday Evening Bill and I taught the YSAHE lesson from Gospel Principals #30 about Charity. Bill showed the YouTube video about the ‘Other Prodigal’. The message made the subject more personal.

Monday the letting agent was going to show our flat in the evening so we scrubbed and cleaned and polished. It was a rather therapeutic exercise. They never did show up but I enjoyed the fresh clean surroundings!

Tues we had a one day late FHE/new member teach with the Southmead Elders, Fran and Georgia. Of course I made brownies. A good time was had by all. Bill showed three of Elder Christofferson’s Mormon Message videos on "Daily Bread". Wow!

We were all in a  jolly mood

Snowed during the night, first snow we have seen since we came.

Wednesday District meeting, as usual was a great one. Elder Terry taught about member missionary work and how important it is. To assist with the topic he had asked Georgia to share her experience on the subject. She made some very good observations that I had not thought of before. She compared the lessons taught by the missionaries to theory. A way to witness how this theory is put into practice comes from watching and associating with members. “By their fruits ye shall know them” Matt 7:10. I think that this is a very powerful reason to bring investigators to church and quite a responsibility for us as members to interact and mingle with them.

Our district lunch was Manifique! Elder Didier from France and Elder Morelli from Italy prepared it. They even printed menus. Indeed they went to great lengths to bring a French and Italian flare to our day! We have a truly international District at the moment: German, Slovakian, French, Italian, English, US and an Elder from Kiribati in the Pacific. Our meeting are just wonderful, I love it! I have learned so much!

Elder Didier and Elder Morelli

That evening our new friend Jessica came over. She was a good friend of the senior couple we replaced. She has recently reached out to us desiring to reconnect with the church. She is a sweetheart. She is from Wales and works here in Bristol. The evening was very windy and blustery and she braved a walk across the Downs from the bus stop to be with us. Of course we took her home. On our way back to our flat we saw the Southmead missionaries forging through the storm towards the bus stop and we were able to pick them up and give them a ride home so they could meet their curfew.

Thursday we were tired after our full busy Wednesday so spent the day resting and preparing the Institute lesson. I should say Bill prepared I supported. The lesson went well even though Milo attend. Milo is Lorna and Nathan’s dog!

Friday we went into London again. I know we thought we had made our last trip into London but low and behold there was a senior outing we forgot. We all met at the British Museum, another last! I know we will start having many ‘lasts’ from now on.

Because we are leaving we were asked to address the group and say our good-byes. Thinking about what to say four things came to mind. 1) I have learned to let go. Let go to come and now I need to let go to leave. 2) I have learned that I am not in charge. 3) I have learned that the Lord really really loves his missionaries. 4) And I have learned that everyone has their own journey! I must not judge…

We enjoyed the museum again!  Next we went out into the cold to find something else to do and ended up going to the cinema in Leicester Square. We saw “The Theory of Everything”, quite a remarkable story!

Often when we are in London we discover something new. Friday was no exception. We were walking a long and found a restaurant called Cantina Laredo. There is an establishment by that name that we go to quite often in Arizona.  We went there for dinner and guess what, it is exactly the same. There is only one franchise in Europe, the one in London! Lindsey said it was to help us get ready to come home! It was delicious.

We returned to Bristol late in the evening. For the first time our departure was from Bristol Parkway station. When we went to get into the Bristol flyer it was covered with frost. For the very first time in 17 ½ months Bill had to use our ice scraper! This morning there was ice and frost all over the pavement when I walked across the Downs. I was slipping and sliding everywhere. The climate here has been much milder than I anticipated and I must say I have been pleased. Only one day cold enough to watch out for ice isn't too bad in a year and a half! I see this fact as a tender mercy for a girl from Arizona!

very slippery walk Sat. morning

I was listening to Alma 31 one day this week and a verse really struck me. Alma was speaking about the apostate Zoramites:

   10 Neither would they observe the performances of the church, to continue in prayer and supplication to God daily, that they might not enter into temptation.

The simple things that we need to do every day can make or break our testimony and dedication. Brother Randall Ridd, Second Counselor in the General Young Men Presidency spoke this month in a devotional for all young adults ages 18 – 30. He spoke about this very thing. He said:

Prophets past and present have pleaded with us to do small and simple things like praying and studying the scriptures. So, why doesn’t everyone do them? Perhaps one reason is that we don’t necessarily see dramatic negative consequences if we miss a day or two—just as your teeth don’t all decay and fall out the first time you forget to brush. Most of the consequences, positive and negative, will come later, over time. But they will come.

I am convinced it is very important to be mindful of the little things every day which build our character and testimony and bring us closer to the Savior. If we are not doing them then we are tied up in habits that have the opposite effect!

I love you all! To my wonderful family! We will see you soon! To the great people here in Bristol England I am so glad we have not left yet! You are so precious to my heart!

Things we will not see when we get home to AZ:

Right by Bristol Parkway

need I say more?