2014
was certainly a very memorable and enriching year for us! We have lasting
memories that will cheer us for years to come. I hope you all had many good
moments to remember!
Post-Christmas week is always an interesting
time. Every day seems like Saturday or Sunday. This past week was no exception
for us. We did enjoy some very good moments.
Last Sunday we visited the Bath Ward and were
able to hear the farewell talk from a YSA young woman who went into the MTC
yesterday. Loved every minute of it. There are so many great people we have met
here. Alice is one of a kind and I am so glad to know her!
Tuesday we were able to share dinner with
Adrian and Brenda Evans and Wil and Tina Farrell, two couples that have helped
to make this experience here in Bristol priceless. We fed them Taco Soup! We
have to get some American licks in sometime! We laughed and visited and just
enjoyed one another’s company. Thank you to forever friends!
New Year’s Eve was the same as it always is
for us, we think we will go and do something fun but then it just seems more comfortable
to stay home and bring in the New Year watching the celebration on TV. The
firework display in London near Big Ben and the London Eye was phenomenal!
Bill was so pleased, he found the Fiesta Bowl from Phoenix on TV. Those of you who watched it know that it turned out to be quite and
exciting game. I caved and went to bed soon after the arrival of the New Year
but he stayed up to the end of the game. Still we were both tired the next day.
Thursday, New Year’s Day was a great
missionary day! Because of food left over from Tuesday’s entertainment we
invited the Southmead Elders over for lunch. It is ALWAYS a pleasure to feed
the missionaries. They then came back that afternoon for a teach with a great
young man who found us through FB and has been taking the lessons. Nothing
better than sitting in on a missionary lesson!
Georgia is in town for the weekend and came
over just in time to add her testimony to the lesson and stay for a New Year dinner of salmon and pasta. She got a really big kick out of our concern for a Christmas
pudding we had purchased without noticing that it was ‘laced with Brandy’.
After heating it up and taking a bite we decided we had better discard the
whole thing. Good thing I had Costco ice cream and homemade pumpkin chocolate
chip cookies on hand.
Got the tree down today and we are starting
our sorting process. It will take most of the next month to get through. We
just got the word that we will not be replaced by another missionary couple. We
have been expecting this but it does make us sad.
Now to go forward into 2015! I know that the
Lord’s time is one Eternal Round but I am glad that in this mortal probation we
have beginnings and endings, staring and finishing. So now we get a new start, a 'start over' if you will. I love that. Sometimes I really need it. This year it
is not a matter of need but a matter of reality that we are looking forward to
change and transition. My prayer is that we will never forget the lessons,
testimony, people and joy that we have felt here as we have had the privilege
of wearing the name badge and representing the Savior! Words cannot describe!
The midnights of life are the times when heaven
comes to offer its joy for man’s weariness. But when the cry sounds, there is
no time for preparation. The lamps then make patterns of joy on the hillside,
and the procession moves on toward the house of banqueting, and those without
lamps or oil are left in darkness. When they have belatedly sought to fulfill
the requirements and finally reach the hall, the door is shut. In the daytime,
wise and unwise seemed alike; midnight is the time of test and judgment—and of
offered gladness. …Pres. Spencer W Kimball
I posted this
in my FB status the other day but would like to share it again. The blessings
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are priceless, my cup runneth over!
 |
| my sweet friend Rosemary and Pip memories forever |
No comments:
Post a Comment