Whirlwind December

This month has really flown by. The ward here is really big on activities, so it was a jam-packed month. Relief Society Party, Caroling at the big Grocery store in town one morning, Victorian Christmas Caroling at Gadfield Elm, Zone Conference (for which I made a nice Christmas dinner for all the elders and sisters. Also made stockings for all of them. What fun to see them react. They are so appreciative of everything we do, which makes it so much fun. Mission Christmas Party on Christmas Eve in Birmingham. So great to be with all 136 missionaries at once and see their spirit. President and Sister Ogden went to a lot of work for this event. It was a major feat getting all of the missionaries there all at once--some in cars, some on trains, and scheduling them with cancellations because of bad weather, and then getting them all back home by 9:00 p.m. they had a fabulous dinner of roast pork and turkey and the trimmings. And then we had a talent show that lasted about 3 1/2 hours. Some great talent in our mission --in some cases lack of it and just pure fun!! We then had a carol service which was awesome.

Elder Henry and I also helped with a live nativity that the ward had in the town center. All set with a live donkey and 5 of the cutest goats you ever saw. What a hoot! Mannaquins for Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. It was the coldest, wettest day so far, and Elder Henry ended up with a bad cold and then had to share it with me. It was to raise charity for the Mayor's charity funds and was quite successful. The Mayor is an inactive member of the church also.

We spent Christmas day with the Bishop and his family of 10 kids. They are a wonderful family. Ann Cheshire (the sister who has just started back to church) also went with us for the day. She is a really special lady. She made us a BIG Christmas fruitcake that was delicious.

We did our traditional christmas activity of making plates of goodies and taking them around to friends. I think we made about 25 plates and took them to members in the ward. We also made a Christmas card that we gave to all the members in the ward, with a special Christmas message. It was a lot of work, but a wonderful way to visit with people in the ward.

We are looking forward to a busy new year. We are having members sign up for us to have Family Home Evening with their families and we will also be starting a weekly Study Group. Probably will study Church History. That has been the request by those we have talked to about it. We are looking forward to that very much.

We continue to visit several people every day and hopefully help them have a desire to come back to church. Even if they don't, or won't come to church, they are all so welcoming and want us to keep coming to visit. Maybe something will eventually rub off. We hope and pray that we can say or do something that will touch their hearts in the right way. We know the Lord has sent us here for a purpose and that he prepares those who are ready for the gospel. We love the Lord and are so grateful to be here serving Him. We pray you will all feel His love as we do and that you all have a wonderful NEW YEAR.

What a Marvelous Place

Winter Wonder Land

The Oldest Church in England

Our Christmas Tree and Sister Henry's 12 days of Christmas sent to her by her Book Club.

The Ups and Downs!!!!

Opps, I guess it has been two weeks since Sister Henry wrote. Time is flying.

The first week was very good. We had three visits which we really felt good about. One was with John and Phillippa. We did not formally teach them but we had a good discussion about her Patriaricle Blessing. She is a member and he is not. We then had a good visit with the man who hasn't been active in 40 years. He is looking for some friendship we believe. We think he might listen to the lessons again. We then had a good discussion with the man who would not accept that God was a man at one time. The spirit was there and he seemed to really listen to what we said.



This week was also very positive with a big let down. The sister we have visited most often came to an activity at halloween. She then came to the Relief Society Christmas Party this week. When she told us she was going to the RS Party she said, "Well, if I am going to the activities I guess I had better go on Sunday too." So she went to church today and after church she said that she was committed now. Our first real success.



Then the let down. The man we had taught last week told us that he was comfortable where he was. He is not going to come back to church. He indicated that he felt that he had received an answer to his prayers. What can you do. He did tell us we would be welcome in his home any time so we will continue to stay close to him and hope and pray that he will change.



Sister Henry and I did a comical Christmas Reading at the RS Party. We also sang "It's A Holly Jolly Christmas". It turned out pretty good. We are going to do it at the mission Christmas Party Talent Show. I hope it goes as well.

This week we have Zone Meeting and we are giving all the missionaries the Christmas Stockings Sister Henry made. We will fill them with a bunch of little goodies including Clementine Orange, puzzle, yo yo, Bubble Gum ect. Wednesday the 22nd the stake is holding a Victorian Christmas at Gadfield Elm. Sister Henry is playing the Organ for the Caroling. This Saturday is the Ward Christmas Party and The Elders and us are singing our version of the 12 Days of Christmas. Big Week.

More Mission News

The time is flying by. Can't believe we have been here almost four months already. November flew by. We had Zone Conference, which was great. President and Sister Ogden are great examples and teachers. We are still visiting quite a few people regularly.

Beryl Eden has finally got an appt to get her Patriarchal blessing. She is so excited. She says she is "over the moon" about it. She is 80 years old and can't wait to see what life has in store for her!!! She is a really cool lady and calls us her favorite people, which makes us feel really good. We have really come to love her.

We have another visit with Matthew Gregory tomorrow. He is the only member in his family and quit going to church when he got worried that he might not be with his family in the next life because he doesn't think they will ever join the church. We are trying to help him understand about their opportunity to accept it in the spirit world and that he needs to keep coming to church so he can do all he can to help them.

Betty Walraven is another 80 year old sister who we are visiting. She is very active, but has a lot of worries in her life. She grew up never knowing her mother and none of her family even knew that she existed. With the help of a couple in the ward doing some family research she was able to find some of her family and they have met and have become close. She is going to the temple next week to do the work for her mother. She is so excited. She also has had an insurance guy who has been blackmailing her for the last 16 years into paying him 400lbs per month. Threatening her etc. When her family found out about it they hit the roof and called the police. Come to find out he has been doing the same thing to several other women. He is now in prison (the mental ward) and Betty is having a hard time dealing with it. We have been asked to stay close to her and visit as often as we can to help her deal with it. She will probably be able to recover a lot of the money she paid him. She feel very embarrassed to have been taken in by him.

We are trying to visit with more of the active members so we can get them involved in helping with the inactives. It is amazing how little home teaching and visit teaching they do in this ward. They just don't seem to stay in touch with those that don't come all the time. It is something that the Mission Pres. really stressed at zone conference. Get the members involved.

We had a great Thanksgiving Dinner with a family in the ward. The husband is from the States so they always celebrate Thanksgiving. they had around 25 people for dinner. I made pecan pies, banana cream pie, and sweet potatoes w/marshmallows. They don't really eat that here, so some of them wouldn't even try it. the hostest loved it, however, and ate about 6 helpings. They did have turkey, ham and all the other trimmings. They set tables up outside in their big shed and it was freezing, but we managed to stay out long enough to eat way too much!

The weather has turned pretty cold. We wear sweaters "all the time" and are still cold. And the real cold weather hasn't even come yet. We actually had a little snow this week.

The Mission got 2 brand new cars a couple of weeks ago and the Mission Pres. gave one of them to us. Wow, we are so blessed. It runs so much better than the one we had. It is diesel and has the suicide doors. All the elders were quite envious at dist. mtg last week. They all had to take turns sitting in it and drooling.

We will be going to Birmingham next week for a Farewell Party for two of the senior couple that are going home. And Dec. 24 we are having a Christmas Party for the whole mission. Pres. Ogden says this is the first time they have ever done this, so everyone is very excited. They are working really hard to coordinate getting all the missionaries to Birmingham at one time. Should be really fun.

We had our first YSA Family Home Evening last night. Not a good turnout, but it was a start. We are also starting a weekly scripture study class the 1st of January. We are excited about that and have several people who want to come.

We love and miss you all. Love, Sister Henry

P.S. Heard the funniest thing in SS Class yesterday. The teacher said she was coming home from Wales Saturday and realized that the water in her "wishy washer" was frozen. It took us a minute to realize that she was talking about her "windshield wipers". They talk real funny over here!!!

It has been a busy yet uneventful week. That is if you don't consider our Christmas present from the Mission President. Monday we finnished up the Flat Inspections for the transfer period and since we were half way to Birmingham we decided to go on in and go to Costco and to the Mission Office to pick up some supplies. On our way to Birmingham we get a call from Elder Long who is in charge of the cars. He told us that they had just got two new cars and President Ogden told him to give us one. The problem was that they would not get there until Tuesday. We went on and took care of our business and then drove home. We then made another trip in on Wednesday to pick up our car. It is very nice. It is the same Vauxhall Mervina that we had before but it is an up graded model. It is a diesel, a really good stereo system, a much better transmission and suicide doors. We drove it to Zone meeting on thursday and all the other missionaries drooled all over it.

We are starting a scripture study group. It will be a mixture of newly activated and long time members. So far all of the ones interested are sisters. We will use a Institute manual for a study guide. We are also working with the YSA Rep. from the ward and will start holding FHE for them starting next Sunday. There are 6 or 8 YSA who are active. The other thing we are doing is going to the active member's home and challenging them to set up visits with inactives. They are to make the first contact. We will then go visit them and begin the process of fellowshipping them back to activity. We are still meeting with 4 who we have hopes of getting to come to church. Time will tell.

I had a busy day today. I gave the lesson in Priesthood meeting, gave prayers in two other meetings and then was the main speaker in Sacrament meeting. I used Jacob 5 as the basis of my talk. I re-interpreted it to refer to the activation process. I think it came out pretty good.
We then drove 25 miles to a members house for dinner.

More mission travels and experiences

Gateway to Duke of Beaufort Estate. Stone wall Tree tunnel going into

surrounding the estate and covered with moss. Alice's rabbit hole. These r

beautiful and everywhere

Bigfoot at Ward Bonfire celebrating

Guy Faux Day.

This has been one of the most frustrating blog posts ever. I started out with more pictures but ended up deleting them because I couldn't figure out how to get the descriptions in the right places. I will post more pictures next time when I get it figured out better!!!

We have seen more beautiful countryside in our travels. There are old churches and graveyards everywhere. Every little village has at least one.

We are working with some good people. Ann Cheshire, who hasnt' been to church in 4 years, came to the Ward bonfire with us this week. It is kind of like our July 4th. They celebrate Guy Faux Day. He is the guy who tried to burn down Parliament 100's of years ago and they celebrate his failure to do so. Anyway, we were thrilled that she went with us. We continue to visit with her but she expressed that she does not want to be pressured. So we are being patient.

We also are visit Marian Jones, who hasn't been to church in several years. She gets very emotional when she talks about the Book of Mormon and her testimony of it and the church. But she has anxiety attacks and says it keeps her from going to church. We have really grown to love her and continue to visit regularly.

We are meeting with Matthew Gregory tomorrow to discuss some of his questions. He was baptised a couple of years ago and was very active for some time. Then he started wondering about the Celestial Kingdom and being there without his wife and sons. They are not members. It scared him to think that they wouldn't be with him, so he quit coming. He wants to discuss this and other concerns with us. Hopefully we can help him work these things out. Keep him in your prayers for us.

We visited Raymond Brewer when we first got here. He had just lost his wife and asked us to come back after a while. When we went back last week he was so friendly and we had a great visit. He was baptised when he was 18 and is now 63. He was active for only a couple of years and then married and his wife was against the church so he quit coming. He wants us to come back any time. He writes the most beautiful poetry also and shared some of his poem with us. We have high hopes that the timing is right for him to want to return to church.

We are going to Cardiff tomorrow for Zone Conference and really looking forward to seeing all the missionaries and being taught by President and Sister Ogden. We hope to be able to go to COSTCO after the conference and pick up some AMERICAN food items! Richard was able to get some marshmallow cream (fluff) this week so he can make his annual fudge. The bishop's daughter found it in a store where she goes to university.

There is a family in the ward who's dad is from Sandy, Utah and the mother is from here. They always have a big Thanksgiving Dinner and invite all the missionaries and several other families (around 30 people). She brings Libby's pumpkin pie mix from the USA when they go so she can make pumpkin pies. I will make pecan and cherry pies and yams.

Better go. I hear bedtime calling. We love all of you and hope you are all healthy and happy. Take care until next time.

Love, Elder and Sister Henry (Jo Anne)

P.S. Figuring out the captions for these pictures is a test!!!! Hopefully I will get better at figuring out how to do this so that you can tell what is what!!!

Sister Jo

New, Old and Beautiful!!

District

Something happened to the writing when we posted this so here we go again. These are a few pictures we have taken as we have traveled around. We came across the tree as we drove through a farming area. The Castle walls are on the top of the hill in Abergavenny. The story is that it was built by the Welch to protect themselfs as the English tried to take over. The cars are the ones provided for us by the Mission. Sure they are, Ha Ha!!! The group picture is our district with President Ogden just before transfers. We lost four of our Elders. Sorry about the two pictures which are the same. My expertise showing. The group in green is the district after the football (Soccer) game at Mission Football Day.

Just in case you think that all we do is sight see let me tell you about a few of the people we are visiting.

Ann Cheshire: An older single woman. She has been a member for a long time. She was very active for many years but somehow has drifted away. We have visited her several times and she loves to have us come. We really believe we can do some good with her. She loves to serve us tea (non-caffiene) and crumpets when come.

Mathew Gregory: Only member of his family. He joined almost 2 years ago and was doing real well. Then he ran into something he has trouble accepting and stopped attending. We have visited with him and he wants to discuss the things with us. A very sharp guy.

Hope Early: A single mother with two children. The Elders were teaching her but decided they needed to back off so we took over. We have visited several times and she has had all of the first discussion. She has no background in religion so we will have to go slow. She did say the prayer on the food when she had us over for dinner. Very simple but nice prayer. It was very hard for her, but we were proud of her for doing it.

We have visited several others as well and have hopes to make head way with some of them.

Input from Sister Henry: I am making Christmas stockings for all the elders that we do flat inspections for. We usually take them a treat when we inspect their flats. I had a hard time finding Christmas fabric--especially anything very cute or novelty to it. Finally found some at a little shop that has teddy bears and snowmen on it. I am having fun making them. The mission home gave me a sewing machine to use when we got here (a nice one that works well) and it has been put to good use several times mending the elders pants, etc.

We had an interview with the Stake President Sunday and he is calling us to work with the Young Single Adults in the Stake. They have just opened a YSA Center in Cheltenham, which is about an hour from Hereford. We will go there one day a week and help them in any way we can. Just mentoring, advising, doing some cooking, and some music stuff, and teaching an occasional Institute class. We are excited and looking forward to this calling. Should be fun.

Sister Henry is of course playing the piano. She accompanied the women at Ward Conference Sunday. She will play for the Primary Program this Sunday and fills in for the ward Organist frequently. I have gone with the Elders to several appointments so we are staying busy.

Well that is enough for today. Tune in latter for the next exciting edition from Across the Pond.

Elder and Sister Henry

This was a combination of a good week and a wasted week. Thursday was District Meeting and we went to Worcester (pronounced Wor-ster). A good meeting and then Sister Henry fed them slopy Joes and Potato Salad. They loved it. I think they all ate 3 Joes and some ate 4. We returned home and I kept my foot up the rest of the day except that the Elders called and asked if I could go with them to teach a young single mother. That was a very choice experience. She is very ready if she will recognize it. The thing that got her interested was a comment about eternal life with our families. We did not teach a real organized lesson but kind of hopped around. But she has admitted that she felt something as we talked she just does not know how to recognize it.

Friday morning I decided I had better go to the Dr.. She immediately said I had an infection under the skin and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic. My leg immediately began to improve. Great.

Saturday we went to Cheltenham to look at a flat to move the Elders into. It did not work out so we will have to go back and look at others. I hope it does not take long. We took the Elders out to eat before we came back. We went to a Chinese Buffet and it was quite good. However I guess Sister Henry will have to give up Chinese. She has suffered with her Colon ever since. That evening we were invited to Hope's House(the Single Mother) for dinner. Another good visit. She committed to come to church on Sunday. So we picked her and her two children up and took them to church. Then Sunday evening we had her family and another single mother from the ward come over that evening and we had a discussion about her questions and showed her the film the restoration. She did very well but was pretty overwhelmed by all that was thrown at her that day. As long as she doesn't get scared and the Elders give her some organized discussions I think she will come.

Monday we had to do 4 flat inspections. We started at 8 AM in Worcester and then 9:30 in Evesham. They are in the North part of our Zone. We then went to the Southern part to Yates at 11:30 and finished up in Cinderford (Forest of Dean) at 1 PM. Since we were that far south we decided to go on to Lydney. This was an area I worked when I was out. With no address or or anything We did not see anything I recognized. We then went on to Cardiff to Costco, picked up a few things and then ate Dinner at TGI Friday. Almost felt like we were back home. We then drove home arriving at 8:30 PM. Full day. We saw a large Castle in Coleford. We did not get close on this trip but will go there soon.

So now it is Tuesday Morning with another full day planned. Cheerio Lads and Lasses. May God Bless

We have had a good week. We had a good FHE with a non-member, a less active and a recent convert and an active member. It was very good and they all enjoyed it and want to continue. We plan to have FHE at least once a week and try to get some of the less actives involved.

We had a Senior Couple's get-together Monday in Birmingham. We toured the Jaguar Factory. It was very interesting, but they wouldn't agree to give any free samples. We then went to dinner and then to the Mission Home where Pres. Ogden spoke to us about our responsibilities as senior missionaries. When he was called as a Mission Pres. he was told the three most important reponsibilities were first, his family; second, the missionaries; and third the inactives. Our responsibility is the same. He stressed that we need to really nurture and take care of the young elders so that they can go home and be good men in the church and good husbands and fathers. we have grown to love these elders. Some of them are struggling and homesick and we try to help them through it. They work hard. It is so hard for them to be out their trudging through the pouring rain.

We have 10 missionary flats that we inspect every six weeks and we usually take them some homemade treats. They are so hungry for American food. So I am taking sloppy joes and potato salad for their lunch to District Mtg. tomorrow. It is fun to see them devour the food.

We have five inactives that we are visiting regularly and have hopes of getting them out to church. Some we feel really good about. We had a lady tell us the other day that they used to come all the time, but someone said something that offended her and she will absolutely not go back. If only they could understand that they are only hurting themselves and denying themselves the blessings of the gospel. We will go back in a little while and try to talk to them again. We are loving the work and the people and will just keep trying to reach them.

Elder Henry has been sick for a couple of days with a fever and chills. He has a fever in his leg--it is bright red and hot. He has to keep it elevated most of the time to get the swelling down. So we have been hanging out in our tiny flat. It makes for a long day. He is quite a bit better this morning. The Bishop and the elders came and gave him a blessing, so I am sure he will mend quickly. We love the Lord and the work and wish the Lord's blessings upon all of you, our family and friends. Thanks for all of your love and support. Ya'll take care.

Love, Elder and Sister Henry

It has been a busy week. Monday we went to Cardiff, Wales for mission football. Twice a year the mission gets together in two groups and plays football (soccer). 3 zones in Cardiff and 4 in the other area. It was a good day. We met many neat Elders and Sisters. We also had time to talk to Pres and Sister Ogden. Wednesday we went to Gloucester to zone training by Pres. Ogden. They are training all the missionaries everywhere the new way of presenting the lessons. We had it in the MTC but none of the Elders or Sisters have had it yet. We spent 5 hours in training and then hurried back because Sister Henry was going visiting Teachidng with a member of the ward. Thursday night we went Home Teaching with the High Priest Group leader. He is a very intreresting man. Long time member and very strong. He drives fast and we had a 30 minute trip on very narrow roads in the rain. But we made it and had a great visit. We arrived about 8:30 and they had dinner waiting for us. did not expect that but eat up we did. We did not get home untill 10 PM. Friday we delivered fliers about conference to people we have met with. Today Sister Henry will go to the RS session from last week at 3:00. At 5 we will attend the Saturday morning session and it will be live. Sunday we will go to the Stake Center (1 hr Drive) for Saturday night Priesthood Meeting. Back to Hereford just in time for a 1:00 rebroadcast of Saturday afternoon session and then 5:00 live broadcast of Sunday Morning session. So we get all but one of the sessions. I guess we could listen to it on the internet at 9:00 PM. we'll see.

Monday we head for Glouster to do a flat inspection then to Cheltenham for another. Cheltenham were just notified that they will have to move and we have been asked to find them another flat. So we will just get them started preparing the flat to move out of it. Then we head for Birmingham for a couples get together. We are going to tour a Jaguar factory. Then we will eat together and then go to the mission home for a presentation by Pres. Ogden. Either before the get together or after we will go to Costco. We will pick up several things we can't get anywhere else. Skippy Peanut butter for sure. Hopefully we can get some marshallos and Pumpkin mix. Anyway it will be a full day. Cheers and all that.

I forgot to mention that as we came back from Cardiff on Monday we passed right by the course where they were playing the Ryder Cup. We could see the tents all over the course and lots of people. Cheers again

We went to Swindon to do flat inspections and make some repairs. Beautiful countryside on the way. The Ruby Tuesday is in a little town called Ross on Wye. It reminded us some of Eureka Springs in Arkansaw, on the way to Branson.

Saturday we called on a Lady who became our first door slammer. Actually she was in her car leaving. But she made it very plain she was no longer a member and did not want to talk to anyone in the church. But the next person we called on was very friendly and invited us in. We met most of his family and was invited to come back.

The Bishop's Son, Nathan Bakewell spoke Sunday to report on his mission. He was in Australia. He spent most of his time in the outback. He drove a four wheel drive pickup and spent days at a time camping as they visited remote areas.

Enough for now. Cherrio and Ta Ta

Yesterday I spent most of the day sewing drapes for the elders flat. They have a huge floor-to-ceiling window in their living room that was bare. The mission office asked if we could take care of it. So we found some irregular drapes at a really good price and I sewed two panels together for each of four windows that were all 124 inches long. Fortunately, the mission gave me a sewing machine that was just sitting there not being used when we first arrived. The elders have already asked me to hem their pants etc. It all comes under the service part!!!! they are cool guys. We also had a very good visit with an inactive sister named Marian Jones. She is 80 and knows she needs to be in church, but just can't seem to make enough effort. She goes dancing 2-3 times a week with other seniors and is very active. Just not to church. We will work on her.

Today we went to Worcester for dist. mtg. It was a great meeting. These young missionaries are so dedicated and inspiring. They are just full of the spirit and really help each other. Elder Henry and I both gave short presentations on how faith, obedience and diligence helped us prepare for a mission and how it is still helping us. It is always a little intimidating because I am the only sister missionary in the district. But they all go out of their way to treat me like they would their moms. It is great! Today I baked a big batch of chocolate chip/peanut butter cookies to take to the mtg. They were a big hit. Some of them ate at least 10 cookies. They are all so hungry for good old American food. So next time I am planning on making sloppy-joes and potato salad for their lunch. There are just 10 elders in the district.

We had "Tea" with another inactive sister today. What a great visit. She is so interesting to talk to. We visited for two hours and the time just flew by. She loves anything western, like John Wayne and Robert Redford etc. and a lot of the western authors like Zane Grey. She also talks a lot about the church and knows it is true, but just can't seem to get herself to church. I think she will in time. We are still knocking on a lot of doors and finding no one home. Today a lady open the door and as soon as she saw who we were immediately said she was sick and couldn't talk. And she was one that the Bishop said would be good to visit. We will go back in a few days and try again. We have done a lot of going back and back and back. We are finding the people so interesting. It is amazing how many have traveled extensively in Europe. Just like it was nothing to go to Poland, or Russia or Germany or Greece or Cyprus etc. We love it here and we love the people and we love the work. We wish you all well and pray that you will feel God's love in your lives. Love, Elder and Sister Henry

Saturday and Sunday were pretty normal. We tried to visit some people on Saturday who we had not been able to find home during the week. But no one was home again Sat. Sunday was a good meeting. Sister Henry talked about what we were doing and what the Ward needs to do to help. She did reall well. She was followed by a really neat 80 year old Sister. Sister Mary Hurd has been a member for a long time. Maybe 30 or more years. She has a great testimony and a good knowledge of the gospel. She is very hard or hearing and doesn't see real well. In Sunday School class she only hears half of what is said. So she is always asking what was said or answering something unrelated to what was being discussed. It is really funny sometimes. Anyway she talked about Testimonies on Sunday. She made some real good points including understanding having a burning in your bosom. She pointed out that very few people have a real burning. That is saved for something special. It is only mentioned twice in the Scriptures. Once when Oliver Cowdry was taught how to translate and the other time was when some deciples saw the resurrected Christ. Both rather special and unusual. When her time was up she kind of turned from the pulpit and said well I am going to pack it in now in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. This was almost mid sentence. The finale speaker was the 2nd Councilor in the Bishopric. on Hello, how are you doing. Except his point was that we should be asking ourselves that question. He did real well also. He finnished by saying the Bishop asked him to talk about giving a testimony. He read from a talk by Pres. Hinkley and another by a Seventy. The point was how should we bear our testimony. Again Well done.

Today we traveled to Swindon. I received a call from Sister Long in the Mission Home. She is in charge of the missionary flats. One of the sets of elders in Swindon had their bikes stolen and they needed a bike rack installed so they could lock up there bikes. So we combined that repair with flat inspections. We did the four Elders in Swindon and the two Sisters in Stroud. We left at 7 AM and got home about 6:30 PM. So my skills (?) developed messing around in the garage paid off. I just wish I had my tools available. I had bought an inexpensive electric Drill and a set of screw drivers. There were some misc. wrenches and a small hammer that we inherited with a desk the Mission Office gave to us. So with these and a little Yankee ingenuity I was able to do the job. Each of the other missionaries had small repairs they needed which I was able to fix.
Sister Henry made some chocolate chip cookies to take to them. All of the flats were really clean. They must have spent a couple of hours cleaning up before we got there. Any way it was fun. On our way over we went through Cirencester which was my first area on my first mission. We did not have time to stop and look at all. We will do it on a later trip. On the way home we took an indirect route to see a different area. We went through a neat little town called Ross on Wye. It had a great downtown area which we drove through. We took some pictures today. If any turn out we will post some. Well I am going to pack it in. See ya latter.

We had a great day yesterday. We went to Worcester (Woorster) to district mtg. Took the two elders with us. It is always a treat to visit with them. They can be so excited and so discouraged at the same time. The mtg was conducted this time by the zone leaders. Very inspiring. Did lots of role playing on how to approach people and how to talk to them in different situations. All the elders in the district are so cool and excited about what they are doing. It amazes me how much they know about the gospel and how gungho they are. One set are in a small town (only one street) where it has been tracted about 40 times already. And they just keep going back--and getting doors slammed at them--again and again. So discouraging but they just keep at it. We will start doing flat inspections in a couple of weeks. We have 9 flats on our list. It will take us around the country a good bit, so we are excited to do that. We have had some good visits this week with inactive members. Several have invited us to come back to visit again. We are going tonight with a member to visit a man who has been inactive for many years. (Pause) Well he just called and said that he hasn't been able to get in touch with him. Will keep trying.

I pulled a couple of muscles somehow that was giving me a lot of trouble. So we asked a member (the exec sec) to come over and help give me a blessing. He was so appreciative that we had called him. Then the next day he called to see how I was doing and asked me to talk in Sac. Mtg this Sunday. I guess it is all good!!!

We are knocking on doors again today to see who we can find to visit, or who has moved, or who has maybe passed away. It seems to be a common thing for people to have moved and nobody knows where they are.

The RS is trying to get a choir together for Ward Conference next month and they asked me to play for them. I am also going to play for the Primary Program in a couple of weeks. They have been practicing without a piano so far. I am glad for this opportunity to help with the music. Also another sister has asked me to help get a choir together to sing for people she works with at Christmas. She does therapy for people with MS. It is all good. There are so many things they need help with.

We love the Lord and know that he is blessing us and our family as we serve. May we always remember that He loves us and will take care of us. Love, Elder and Sister Henry

Don't have much time but here goes. Saturday we went to Gadfield Elm Chapel. Who ever can tell me what is the history of this chapel gets dinner for two at Whitecross Fish and Chip Shop. Thats without reading the rest of this blogg. -------------

For the rest of you it is the chapel built by the United Brothern congregation who were all converted by Willford Woodruff. 800 of them joined. Not all attended in this little chapel. Some met in houses, barns or outside. After they were converted the chapel was donated to the church. Two years latter when all the members from the area had imigrated (1800) the chapel was sold to help pay for the travel of those who could not afford to. In the next 160 years it was a house twice and a barn in between. Then it was abandoned. About 10 years ago members from this area begin to raise money to purchase it. When they bought it the roof was gone and some of the walls. There was a tree growing in the middle. They raised 80,000 Pounds ($120,000) to purchase the property and restore the chapel. After it was restored it was donated to the church. Pres. Hinckley came over to dedicate it and a member of our ward was the one to hand over the keys to him. The church now runs it as a visitors site and the National Antiquities Agency just added it to their list of historical sites.

The chapel is just outside of our area. Benbow's farm is also in our area. Lots of church history happened close to here.

Let me know if you knew the answer and we will plan when to go to dinner.

England swings like a pendelum do; bobbies on bicycles two by two; Westminster Abbey and the bells of Big Ben: The rosy red cheeks of the little children.

Not sure this fits any more. No Bobbies on bicycles and they don't wear the hat like they used to. I guess Westminster Abbey and Big Ben is still there but that is out of our mission. Everything is very interesting however. The country is modernized in many ways and yet it isn't. Like nothing furnished in a house. The refrigerators are very small. Many people just have an under counter one. Most people still buy just a day or two worth of food at a time. Many do most of their shopping at little neighborhood shops. Very similer to a convience store. Our Gas and Electric are on pre-pay meters. The gas meter has a credit card which you take to a local store and have money put on it. You then plug it into the meter and the meter reads what you have paid and then you take out the card. The Electric is the same except it is an electronic key. The heating and the hot water come from the same boiler. It is a small (3' x 18") box mounted on the wall beside the sink in the kitchen. When you turn on the hot water it comes on and heats the water. When you put the setting on heat then I guess it will run a lot more. There are radiators in each room. No thermostat. No settings except on all day, on in morning and evening or run it manually. It should be interesting seeing how it works.

The streets are the most interesting but I will leave that untill next time.
"Cherrio", Elder and Sister Henry

We have been without internet for over a week waiting to get hooked up at our new flat. Finally got it done today, so will try to catch up on what we have been doing. Finally feel kind of settled in our flat. If you can call it that. Flat for sure. there is nothing on any of the walls including towel racks, closets, electric plug in the bathroom, etc. We are hanging towels on the radiators for now. Will have to figure something out before we have to turn them on to keep warm. Everything feel damp, even the TP and paper plates etc. Takes everything several days to dry. We might have to buy a clothes dryer.

We have been busy just going through the ward list knocking on doors trying to find people. Lots are not home, or moved--months or even years ago. Some are friendly and some are evasive. Some even pretend to be someone else when we ask if they are who we are looking for. The ward is great, though. They have a really good mission leader. He organizes lots of service projects and gets lots of people out for those, including inactives.

We took the elders to Birmingham Wed. for transfers. We got a "greenie" here from Idaha Falls. Both the elders here are pretty cool. We took them out to dinner Wed. night. I am still getting used to the food, the meat especially. It tastes different (stronger) because they don't use any seasonings on it. Everything is pretty bland and funny tasting to me. I am sure a lot of it is just in my mind, but I guess I will get used to it. The Fish & Chips are good except they serve frozen peas with everything and a lot of the time they mash them. They are called "mashy peas." YUK

We had a couple of good visits yesterday with inactive sisters. And I went to RS last night. It was a "Knit In". They are knitting little hats to put on Smoothie bottles that the company is selling to raise money for the elderly. Had a pretty turnout--12 sisters. Gotta go for now. Time to read scriptures. Love, Sister Henry (Mom, Jo Anne)

Had a very busy day today. We left early to go over to Birmingham to the mission office and the distributation center to pick up some furniture and odds and ends. Were able to get two nice wardrobes, a couple of dressers, a desk, a hutch, sewing machine, toaster and some nice end tables. Two elders drove the mission transport van over for us and helped unload. When we got back, the bishop's wife called and said that she had just gone and found us a frig, sofa, and bedstead to put the mattress on. The mission office also bought us a new vacuum. We can't believe how wonderful everyone is and all the help we have had. We had a dinner appt with a very nice family tonight. The dad is from Ireland and has a really thick Irish brogue. you have to listen really hard to understand him. After dinner, the bishop called and asked us to drop because they had something for us. When we got there, his wife gave us a bag of all kinds of cleaning products, some peanut butter and honey and several other this and thats. That, after having spent the afternoon finding us the other furniture. Really great people! Finalizing papers for the flat was like closing on buying a house. There were probably close to 30 pages of stuff that we had to sign. It was quite a process. It has been a long day and we are tired. Tomorrow we will go to the flat and get everything organized. Another dinner appt at the bishop's tomorrow night, a get together with another senior couple Friday to give us some pointers, and another dinner appt Sunday. There is also a baptism Sat. The days are full, but that is the way we hoped it would be. There is also District Mtg. Thursday.

Love to all of you. Remember who loves you. Elder and Sister Henry

Eldfer Henry wrote some about our trek today in the parade. It was a long trek and I wasn't prepared shoewise. By the time we finished (about two miles) I think, I was really hurting. It was cool though. the streets are so narrow anyway and people were lined up all through the town. There was barely room to get our handcarts through the crowd at some points. There was some up hills and down hills some also. We then went to one of the members farms and browsed looking at some interesting animals. There was the cutest baby dwarf goat. The grandkids would have loved it. We then picknicked and then came home and collapsed. The elders rode over with us. They are a couple of really nice guys. We asked them if they wanted us to get them anything at Costco and they immediately yelled "peanut butter." After dinner of the most delicious dumplings and stew, we took a car load of "stuff" over to our flat (the landlord let us in and said we could go ahead and put it in). I am so ready to not do these 29 stairs several times a day. Our flat is all on the ground floor. Yeah! Well, it is bedtime here, so will sign off. We love you. Elder and Sister Henry

Well, this morning we nipped over to Ledbury to the Parade. The Ward had a entry in the Parade. It was Handcarts and members dressed in Pioneer clothes. This area is in the center of much of early church history. When the apostles came to England in 1840 they came to this area. The united brothren group was from a short way from Hereford and Benbow Pond where most of them were babtized is also close. Brigham Young preached in the Market House which still stands in Ledbury. Brigham Young, Wilford Wodruff and Willard Richards met a few miles from Ledbury and decided to print The Book of Mormon in England. 1800 members were babtized in the 9 months following the Apostles arrival. Within two years most of them had immagrated to the US and became the backbone of the Church membership. Sister Henry and I dressed up and walked in the Parade. Our group was very well received. We head for Birmingham tomorrow to pick up a few items of furniture and go to Costco to do some shopping. Sister Davies has been really good to us. She is providing most of what we need for kitchen supplies. Also she is giving us bedding and a mattress and towels. Another member has a washing machine and a small refrigerator. We need a bigger one but this will do for now. The Bishop has four kitchen chairs and the Mission Home has a table. The main thing we still need is a bed and front room chairs. I am sure it will come. Well cherrio for now.

We taught the first discussion last night. It was just to our land lady who is a member. It was to practice. It went pretty well. We need to involve them more by asking questions and reading more scriptures. It is coming. Today we will teach it to her son-in-law. He is not a member. He apears to be intrested but is not moving at the moment. We asked if we could practice with him and his wife.

If you have been on but couldn't comment click on the follow button on the right hand side of the page. Then just follow the instructions. After that you can sign in and comment away. We will love to hear from you.

We will move into our flat on Wednesday. We get the keys on Tuesday. We are going to Birmingham Tuesday morning and picking up some furniture and go to Costco. Pick up a few food items to make life nicer.

Well it looks like it might quit raining today. That would be good. It has rained almost all day the last two days and some everyday since we arrived in Hereford. Oh well that keeps it green and pretty.

Sister Henry is off Visiting Teaching again this morning so I am on my own. I have been typing up the outline for the first Discussion. This helps get it firm in my mind. ( Some would say I do not have one).

We will move into our flat next week. So now we are gathering up furniture to fill it. Members of the Ward have told us that most of it can be furnished by the Ward. Our Landlady here where we are staying has a number of items. Sheets pans and a mattress. So we have a start. Hopefully we will get the rest without too much trouble. We need a refrigerator and a washing machine. Fortunatly it has a brand new oven and hob (stove top). A lot of flats have nothing. We are looking for wardrobes to hang our clothes in as well as a bed and dresser. The mission home has a kitchen table that we will be able to use so that will help.

Any way we are on our way. Pray that we will be guided to those that will be responsive.

Lots of love,
Elder Henry

Had a good day today. I went VT with Sister Davies (whose B&B we are staying at) to three sisters. Had some really good visits and they are really nice ladies. Visiting one more in the morning. Tonight we had dinner with a family by the name of Hansen. She is from here and he is from Draper, UT. They met on the internet and married and he moved here about 8 years ago. Very nice people. They invited us for Thanksgiving dinner. Said they are the only ones in the ward who do thanksgiving dinner and they have all the missionaries and some other families over. Actually get Libby's pumpkin pie mix from the states so they can have real pie. Elder Henry went visiting with the elders to a couple of families also.

We found out that we will get the keys to our flat next Tues. so we can move Wed. morning. Can't wait. Several people in the ward are working at rounding up furnishings for us. It will be interesting to see what we end up with. We will be grateful for most anything at this point.

More later. We love all of you. Keep the faith. Love, Elder and Sister Henry

I typed this message about four times Sunday, but somehow it went to the old BOM site. So here it is again.

We went to church in Hereford Sunday. Everyone was very nice and friendly. I gave the opening prayer in RS, the bishop called on both of us to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies in Sac. Mtg., and i played the organ in Sac. Mtg. We left after church with four dinner invites, a FHE invite and a service project to help with. It was a good day. I know we are going to love it here. There were also several people who said they had friends who they would like us to visit and possibly teach.

We are still looking for a flat. This "room" is okay but very small. It is about 10 by 12 and has a bed, a sink, a dresser, a big "wardrobe" and all of our suitcases. Needless to say, we are pretty cramped. And the bathroom and shower are "down the hall."

We pray for all of you and know that there are blessings in store if we have faith and endure. Please know that the Lord loves us all. Love, Elder and Sister Henry

testing

Another day in the rain. We have been staying in the Mission Office. They have a couple of flats in it. But that is two hours away from Hereford. However we are moving over to Hereford tomorrow. We will be staying in a "room" in a guest house while we look for an apt. Bed and Breakfast sort of place. Our problem has been that if you have not lived in England for 3 years they want you to have someone to guarentee your payment. We found today that the church office here(not the mission office) will do that. We have the paperwork and will turn it in to the agent tomorrow or Monday. Hopefully they will accept it. If not we are back to square one. We went to Costco this morning and back to ASDA this afternoon. This is what Wal-Mart is here. We have began to gather a few things we will need. Plates, pillows, ect.. Prices on most things are not bad. We are having a little trouble finding a printer. ASDA only had one. It was £47 ($75). We thought we would look around a little more.

So we will repack our bags in the morning and drive over to Hereford. Then we shall see what we shall see.

To answer your question, Scott, we have been staying at the mission office in Birmingham. Sleeping on bunkbeds and without a fridge. We keep a little carton of milk in the fridge downstairs in the main part of the office. It has been very interesting but not too bad. Tomorrow we are going over to Hereford and will be staying in a "room" at a guesthouse of a member. She will serve breakfast only and there are no cooking facilities in the room, so \i guess we will be eating out or eating bagels and peanut butter. We have some leads on some apts but haven't actually been able to look at any yet. All the letting agencies want you to either have 3 years residency in England or a "guarantor". We were able to get the Church to sign a paper today to act as a guarantor, so we are hoping that they will accept that. Everything takes a lot longer than you want it to and we are getting impatient to get settled and get busy.

We just got back from dinner with Elder and Sister Long. We went to a small Fish and Chips place and then sat on a park bench to eat. It was very good, but we certainly could not eat it every day. The countryside is beautiful. It has been raining most of the day today and a little cool. I love it. We have been to Walmart twice already and Costco once. They are similar to those at home, but carry a lot of different things. The foods especially. Well, tata for now.
Love, Elder and Sister Henry

No Curbs

Well today we went to Hereford. No problems today. I got our GPS going so we had good directions. It just needed time to find the satelites. We went over to try to find an apartment. No luck. They only agent who had any would not let us rent without a guarantor or 3 years residence in England. I am not sure what we will do about that. We did have dinner with the Bishop and his family. They have 10 children. Two are married and one is on a mission. But the other seven were there. They are really nice. We then made it home in the rain. Tomorrow we will follow up on a few possible leads.

Well, we arrived in one piece. It was a long day. We had to go through security three times and then customs. I did end up having to take a couple of pounds out of each suitcase and put in my carryon in SLC. What an ordeal. We were met by Pres. Ogden and his wife and Elder and Sister Long at the airport. We unloaded our suitcases at the mission home and then went to lunch. We spent the afternoon getting acquainted a little with the mission and then rested for a couple of hours and then went to dinner. We went to bed fairly early (9:00) and had a very good night's sleep. We spent today going to the bank and getting that all set up. \it only took us 2 hours to make the 30-minute trip! Driving on the wrong side of the road is really a scary hoot. Elder \henry kept running into the curb on my side and almost side-swiped a few cars bacause they all just park on the side of the road right in the middle of the lane. We then ate lunch at a little deli and had a cornish pasty. \it was very good. We then headed for Walmart to get some groceries and other stuff--curling iron, hair dryer, etc. \it only took us another loooooong hour to make the 20 minute drive. They don't mark the street names well and we kept missing our turns and having to go back. I AM SURE IT WILL ALL GET BETTER AS WE LEARN OUR WAY AROUND!!! We are having a great time and can't wait to get to Hereford and get settled in. We are anxious to get started meeting the people and getting involved in the "missionary work." We love you all. Love, Sister Henry P.S, The weather is wonderful. Cool, cool, cool.

We had a wonderful time at the MTC. I wasn't sure what to really expect. But the learning, practice teaching, and interaction with the other senior missionaries was absolutely great. I learned so much and feel more at ease now. The Spirit was definitely with us and we are ready to get on that airplane for England. We had a great experience in the last class of the last day. We walked into the room to find Pres. Bingham, our former bishop and stake president from Tulsa, Okla. was our instructor. We have known him and his family for 40 years. What a joy to see him and visit him.

Ok, here we are at day two. The first day was just orentation. Today was for real. They started by teaching us how and then we practiced teaching the first discussion(Restoration) and then we had a volunteer come to our room and we taught them. Very interesting. We are actually piloting an improvement to the method of teaching. Still teaching the same lesson but the aproach is different. We are not missing any meals. But we are doing pretty good.

I don't know who is happier. Us to be going or everybody else to see us go. ( They all expect blessings from our service.)

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE!!!! Tomorrow at 10 AM we check into the MTC.

The Lord continues to bless us. We sold our car this morning. A lady called last night, came to look at it this morning with her son who took it for a short drive. They liked it and she went straight to the bank for the cashier's check. YEAH. What a big relief. I think we are ready. If I really take time to really think about it, I get so excited I can hardly stand it. I have been too busy with preparations that I haven't really taken time to think about the reality of the mission. We are so anxious to get on that plane and go "across the pond." 40 hours and counting!!!

A picture of our Mission. It goes from coast to coast. We will be assigned to Hereford which is a little left of center.

Here are two happy campers. This was a week ago. It is now two and a half days until we enter the MTC. Our bags are mostly packed, the house is ready and the car is NOT sold. We do have someone coming to see it tomorrow. That is cutting it thin. I hope they take it. We are still messing with our prescriptions but they are coming.

And counting

Now it is two weeks. We heard from the MTC today with instructions for when we get there and what we are to bring. We are leaving 6 AM Thursday morning to go to Yuba City for my Step-mothers 90th Birthday. There is a big party for her Saturday at the church. We will be back the following Monday. We will take Chloe and Savanah(Granddaughters) with us. Once we get back it will be less than a week untill we go into the MTC. We will be there 5 days and then have Sat. and Sunday at home before we leave for Birmingham, England. We have a direct flight to New York, 3 hrs there and then to Paris, another 2 hr lay over and then to Birmingham. The excitement builds.

Getting Close

Three weeks from tomorrow. We only have a thousand things left to do. Actually we have most things done. Let the time pass.