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)