AT LONG LAST

Well believe it or not we are finally updating our Blog.  I could make lots of excuses and some of them would be true.  But what's the use.  Let me instead try to cover the important things which have occur ed in the last 3 months. 

The work continues.  July and August were very busy.  We were visiting two to four people every day and were teaching two Adult classes/  In the Day time class we were studying the Doctrine and Covenants.  There were six of us in that class.  It started first and was moving along real well.  About the middle of August we started an evening class.  This one has twelve in it.  We are studying Church History in this one.  The first time we met the group decided what they wanted to study and when to meet.  Everyone agreed on Church History. 

On 30 August, 2011 we took Pauline James to the London Temple.  She has been a member since 1961.  She has been inactive a lot of that time especially over the last 20 years.  She remembers back to when Hereford was first organized as a Branch.  We have been meeting with her almost from the start and helped her get ready to get her Patriarical Blessing and then taught her the Temple Prep lessons.  Going to the Temple was a great experience for her.  Her husband had never joined the church.  She had had him baptised and while there I did his Initiatory Work and then his Endowment.  The next morning I stood in for him while they were sealed.  What a amazing experience. Beryl Eden also went with us for her first return trip.

This is the whole gang on the front steps of the London Temple. 

On 12 and 13 of August we had a missionary couples trip to Wales.  There were five couples who went.  We started with a visit to Seymonds Yat.  This is a point on the mountain along the Wye River.  You can see a long way in two directions and beautiful mountains in the other two. 

On top of Symonds Yat.  One couple had not joined us yet. 

We also visited Caerphilly Castle which is the second largest in England.  It covers 30 acres inside its wall and was originally surrounded by lakes making it very hard to attack.  It is no longer in great repair but some areas of the old buildings are still in fairly good shape.  The day we were there Someone was setting up the Great Hall for a Wedding.

After the Castle we went on to Cardiff to stay the night.  Holiday Inn Express.  Very nice but rather priceey .  The next morning we went to St Fagans Museum and Castle.  We had been to the Museum before but this was a much better visit.  We went in April with Spencer and family but they did not have any guides out or anything special.  This time they were in the midst of a special Event and had people all over the place telling how things were done in the 1600's. 

A couple of the guides who were there to help the visitors

One of several Churches which were on site.  This one was filled with wall paintings of Christ.

This is the reenactment of the Battle of St Fagan's during the Civil War.  This was between the Parliments backers and the Royalists.  The Royalists won this battle and the war but it was not easy.  

Things were going busily but smoothly until the 11th of September.  We were on our way to Aberystwyth (aberiswith).  We were scheduled to do Flat inspections the next day.  We had 7 to do and  200 miles to drive.  So we went over Sunday night and then were going to start the next morning.  It was a 2 hour drive through some beautiful mountains.  All went well untill we were less than 5 miles out and we both went to sleep.  We ended up hitting a wall head on.  The car was totaled but more important Sister Henry was banged up pretty bad.  The doors on Sister Henry's side of the car were banged up so bad they had to cut them off to get her out.  She was having a hard time breathing.  I was able to get out of the car on my own.  I looked around briefly and then sat back down in the car.  I gave Sister Henry a blessing of peace and assurance that she would be allright.  We were both taken to the hospital in ambulances (seperate).  I was checked out and released.  I only had a banged up left hand and left foot.  I also had a contusion on my right thigh from the seat belt. 

They found that Sister Henry's stomach and spleen was shoved up through her Thorax (SP)They were crowding her heart and lungs.  They also knew that she had some cracked ribs.   The surgeon was not comfortable with doing the surgery himself so he called the big hospitol in Cardiff and eventually talked them into taking her.  She really should have gone to the hospital in Swansea but with the Lord's help she was able to go to Cardiff.  They transported her there on Monday afternoon and she went into surgery Tuesday morning.  She was in surgery for 10 hours.  The Surgeons in Cardiff had found that two of the Aorta walls were torn and so they first put a stint in it.  They also found when they were performing surgery that two of her ribs were displaced.  They had a lot to do but once again with the help of the Lord we were where there were Surgeons who were qualified to do the job.  Everything went well but recovery was not quick.  She was in the hospital for another 16 days.  

I called Stephen from the Hospital in Aberystwyth.  They would only allow me one call.  He did not answer so I left a message trying not to panic them.  Scott was able to get back to me at about 3 AM Monday Morning.  they decided that someone should come over.  Steve and Shawna came arriving on Thursday.  Brother Wayne Gardner went to London and picked them up and brought them to Cardiff.  Steve stayed untill Monday and Shawna untill the following Saturday.  They were a really big help.  Mom was really thrilled that they came and they were a big support to me.  I had been running on fumes up untill then.  They gave me a chance to relax a little.  We stayed in the Airport Holiday Inn Express while they were there.  It was a bit of a drive each day but a nice place to stay.  Sister Shirley Johnson took Shawna back to the Airport.  Another blessing.  Once they were gone I stayed with the Elders in their flat.  That saved me a lot of money. 

Although it was a slow healing process Sister Henry really did much better than the Dr.s expected.  Early in the week before she came home we were told she would be there another 7 to 10 days and then for a week in the Hereford Hospital.  By Wednesday night they had decided that she was ready to come home to our flat.  So on Thursday I was able to bring her home.

The recovery here at home has been slow.  At first she was not able to do much of anything except get up and go to the bathroom.  She can get around pretty well now if she moves slow.  It does not take long to get tired.  But she did go to all sessions of church last Sunday.  Wednesday we drove to Birmingham.  She did pretty well but all of the turning and bumps made her sore and it is taking a few days to recover. 

     

  After the accident we were given a car that was about wore out.  It rode rough and was very jerky driving.  We expected to use it untill we went home.  But Tuesday we got a call from Elder Skiles (Mission Treasurer) asking if we wanted to come over and pick up our new car.  We were totally supprised. But it is sure nice.  Smooth ride and jerk free acceleration.

Well that is good for now.  We will stay untill our normal time and hope we can accomplish a little more before then.

Ta Ta.

Things we have seen

Looking off Hay Bluff in the Black Mountains just into
Wales.  They say you can see 6 counties from here on a
clear day.








This is a grove (Orchard) of evergreen trees not far from
Hay Bluff.

This is the road we followed across the Black Mountains.
It was one lane all the way.  about 18 miles.  Lots of farms
all along the way and frequently there was traffic.  Someone
had to back up and pull into a small passing area.

Typical sign all through Wales.  In Welsh first and then in English.  The pronunciation is worse than the spelling.  For example LL is a cl sound.  DD is th. 

 

On the longest day of the year it was light from 4 AM until 10 PM .  The Birds would wake us up at 4.  It was light so it was hard to get back to sleep.  This picture was taken at 10 PM.

Benbow Pond where Wilford Woodruff baptised all but 1 of the 800 members of the United Brethren Church.  It was covered with green gunk this time when we visited.  This was a trip for half of the mission.  We ended up at Gadfield Elm for a meeting.  Wonderful Day

Benbow's Hill Top Farm.  This is the Preaching Barn.  Wilford Woodruff preached his first Sermon in England in this Barn.  The Lady in the middle is the present owner of the Hill Top Farm.  She is an expert on the History of the church in this area.  She is not a member of the Church but she has taken a real interest in the history because her farm played such a part in it.

This is called British Camp and it is a National Historical Site.  In the Iron Age people who lived at the bottom of the hill would come up on the top when Romans or others came to raid them.  They could repel the attacks from behind the dirt walls.  Wilford Woodruff like to come here to contemplate.  He would walk 8 miles or more to get here.  Brigham Young and Wilford and one other met here to decide how to organise the church in England.  They also decided to print the Book of Mormon in England so that they would have copies to hand out. 

We then went to Gadfield Elm for lunch and a meeting.  This is Pres. Ogden talking to us.  There were 9 Missionaries there who were going home soon.  They all bore their testimony.  A great meeting in a great place.  See previous Blog for history of Gadfield Elm. 

Baptist Chapel in Ledbury.  Brigham Young preached here and baptised several of the congregation.

It was a great day.  Half of the mission was there with us and the other half went the next day.  All of this is within 10 miles of our area.  We had seen it all but British Camp before.  There is also a church we pass on the way to Gloucester and Cheltenham in a little town called Dymock.  Brigham Young preached in that church and was asked by a lady to heal her.  She had been crippled and unable to walk since birth.  He healed her and she walked away.  Again a number were converted.  A total of 1,800 people were converted in the area in 9 months.  Wilford Woodruff then went up to Preston and began his work there.

We have not had the same level of success as Wilford had but we are seeing some.  Ann Cheshire whom we have been visiting almost from the start has been attending every week for a 8 months or so.  She told us this week she is going to start paying tithing and if anyone asks her she will go get her Patriarchal Blessing.  She said she would not be drug to the Temple YET.  She has commented that something is going on in her life and she does not feel in control and she does not like to not be in control. 

The first Counselor in the Bishopric and the Young Women's President got married yesterday.  They were both divorced long before they started dating.  It was real nice.  The ward all pulled together to put it on.  All the non-members who were there were very impressed. 

Well this is enough for today.  Enjoy!!!!

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCES

We have had some of the most wonderful experiences during the past three weeks. Sorry it has been so long, but the time just slips away! Can't believe we just have 7 more months. WOW!

We finally have been able to have some good gospel related discussions with Ann Cheshire. She always changes the subject when we broach anything "churchy." Well, we finally just asked her about her testimony, her patriarchal blessing, and if she had thought about going to the temple. She originally thought a patriarchal blessing was kind of like a fortune telling experience. Well, we got her straightened out on that and now she is thinking about getting one. The bishop has already talked to her. She was afraid to think about the temple because of not paying tithing. She doesn't pay tithing because she thought she had to tell people how much money she had or didn't have. Well, we got that all worked out pretty much. She has opened up quite a bit about her feelings finally and just needs to pray more and read more. She will make it!

This past Tuesday we had the most wonderful day at the London Temple with Beryl Eden. She is amazing. She really has a great understanding of the temple and all that goes with it. She absolutely loved it and was still in awe on Sunday. We actually stayed over night and went to a second session on Wed. morning. She remembered a lot and had another great experience. She actually told Ann Cheshire at church Sunday that she needed to get herself to the temple. What an amazing lady!

We completed the temple prep classes with Pauline James also and she is going to the temple the end of July. So, we will be able to go again. It looks like we will also be able to go to the Preston Temple in October for the Sealing of a couple who were married in October. She is from here and he was a missionary here. After he went home, she went to the states to visit and they were married. He is waiting for his Visa to come over permanent. But they are being sealed in Oct. when he comes for a visit.

We have prayed and prayed about Matthew Gregory and felt that he just needed time to work through things that were bothering him. It has been about four months since we talked with him when he told us he was comfortable where he was. We tried to call a few times and could never make contact. (I think there was a reason.) Elder Henry had the prompting to call him last Friday. He didn't answer but called back a little later and said that he is ready to come to church and will be there next Sunday.

We are doing activities for the YSA group in Cheltenham every other Tuesday night and then going to their FHE's on Sundays in Gloucester. They are a fun group.

We challenged Gerry Matthews to come to church a couple of weeks ago. He says he is getting close and that we were the first ones to actually invite or challenge him to come to church. We told him that we were afraid we would offend him but he said that there was absolutely nothing that Elder Henry and I could do that would offend him. that made us feel really good. He has such a strong testimony and knowledge of the gospel. He just needs to take that big step back through the church doors.

I am going to Gadfield Elm on Friday to a Stake RS Campout. Just going for the evening with the bishop's wife and Ann Cheshire, but not staying the night. It is a wonderful place to go. I am also still feeding the missionaries just about every week at district or zone meeting. They love the home cooking so much that I always feel bad when I can't do it for some reason. They do love to eat!

Today (P-Day) we took a long ride across the Black Mountains. It was a beautiful drive and at the top you look out and see the beautiful countryside for miles. The hills were full of sheep, the road was very curvy and narrow. It is only one-car width in most places so they have turnout places along the way to pull over and let on-coming cars pass. A little nerve racking to say the least because you don't see the car coming until it is right there! Fun day though.

We are also getting ready to start a second scripture study class in the evening. There have been quite a few people requesting it. Not sure what we will study yet. Looking forward to it though.

Well, we certainly are seeing how the Lord has His hand in this work. So many wonderful people having so many wonderful experiences. How can you not know that God lives and loves us! We are so blessed and pray the Lord's blessing on each of our family and friends. We love you and miss you.

Elder and Sister Henry

Getting Ready for the Temple

This is Beryl Eden with whom we will go to the Temple.

Bishop Bakewell playing football. The Ward plays every Thursday.

Moms Mothers Day Flowers.

Grace and I at Benbow's Farm Pond.

Grace with an Owl in Old Town, Hereford on Market Day.

Sister Pope(with bug on forehead) and Sister Stucki.

We are very excited. Sister Eden is ready to go to the Temple and we have tenitive approval to go with her. We have called the Temple and made arrangements to go on June 21st. We will do a 3:00 PM session. Then we will stay overnight and do a morning session and then come home that afternoon. She is very excited. She is also somewhat worried because she does not know what to expect. Of course we told her a lot of stories while we were giving her the lessons so she would be expecting something crazy......NOT!!!

We also just taught Sister James the Temple Prep classes. She is getting ready to get her recommend. She should go within a month or so. So we will probably go again. There is another Sister who may go before we come home. However her husband is finally showing a little spark so she may wait for him.

The whole European Area has been challenged to fast This Sunday and then invite a Less Active or non-member to church every week in June. The members seem fairly enthused with it. We will see how it goes. Sister James is going with us to challenge Brother Brewer to come. He is the guy we have been working with who hasn't come to church in 45 years except once a few weeks ago he came with us.

The Ward Council has also prayerfully picked 5 names of Less Active to focus the Ward's efforts on. They are to approach them and invite them to meet with the Elders or ourselves so that we can work together to bring them back. This plan has been in place for some time but we are just now getting it being done right.

Sister Henry continues to cook lunch for the District almost every week. She loves doing it and they love to eat it. She does a variety of things but they really love her sloppy joes. This week she did sandwiches and potato salad and her special Brownies. Everything was gone. We had the District, The Zone Leaders and the AP's there. 16 all together.

The Thursday night YSA is not meeting any more so we are not going to Cheltenham on Thursday nights. They have asked us to go on Sundays and Tuesdays when we can. We will see.

Enough for today.
Bye to all.
Elder and Sister Henry

The Work Goes On

We continue to have good things happen each week. We also have some disappointments. We are teaching Pauline James the Temple Prep lessons now. We have given her three so far. She is really working hard to be able to go to the temple and do the work for her husband, who passed away several years and was not a member of the church. He believed the gospel, but couldn't give up his smoking and would not be baptized until he did. Pauline has a good friend named Sheila who is not a member but comes to church every Sunday. They have both always worn pants to church, but when we started giving Pauline the Temple lessons, Sheila said she was going to wear a dress to church. Pauline said she would also then. They both wore dresses today and looked lovely. They are both special ladies.

We had a little setback with Raymond Brewer this week. He is still grieving for his wife and says he is just not ready to come to Church all the time yet. He keeps asking good questions, though. Which says he is thinking about things. He asked us if he came back to church would he have to be baptized again. He also asked how he could know if it was true. How would he know? He really wants to know that it is, but can't seem to recognize the answer. We continue to visit and he will have an answer soon, we know.

Ann Cheshire's cat died last week and she has really struggled. They had been together for 18 years, which is a very long time for a cat. We still feel that she doesn't have a real solid testimony and we are working with her to help strengthen it. We have some hope of getting her to the temple before we leave.



We have FHE with two part-member families this week. The wives are actually sisters and were both inactive for a while and have come back. Their husbands are both non-members but want to have FHE. One was raised in the church but fell away and the other doesn't really believe in God. He was in the army and says he saw too many horrible things to make him think there is a God. He is a wonderful, good person. We have great hopes for him.

Well, on a lighter note! We are thinking of asking for an extension for a while because we have noticed that Elder Henry has hair growing in his bald spot since we have been here. We might see if we can stay til it is all filled back in!!! Don't know what it is--something in the water, or the rain, or the WORK! Whatever it is, it is really a sight to see!!!

We had our quarterly Zone Conference two weeks ago and had a General Authority there. Elder Kearon of the Seventy. He and his wife gave us some wonderful instruction on the importance of missionary work. He said "Obedience brings blessings, but Exact obedience brings miracles." The importance of serving with honor and diligence. He said "WE are the refuge from the storm." The Gospel Message". Safe and warm and lovely! Very inspiring conference.

I came upon this scripture this week in my reading and it really struck me again. Alma 37:37. "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let they heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

This scripture brings great peace and joy when we remember that God is always there.

Well, we can't believe it, but we are exactly half way through our mission. It is going so fast. We continue to love the work and the people and are so glad to be able to serve. We pray for each of our family and friends and hope you are all safe and happy. Remember who loves you!!

Love and tata, Elder and Sister Henry

Spring has Sprung, The Birdies Sing!

Bro. and Sis. Mouncher doing the Hole in My Bucket skit at their daughters wedding. They did it at the Stake Roadshows and then again here at the wedding. They were Brilliant. His timing was perfect and the finishing touch was when she would reach into her dress and pull out the props.
A Potato field waiting for planting. It may have already been planted, I am not sure.
A ride on a quite country lane.

This is a crop called Rapeseed. The flowers are bright yellow. If you make the picture bigger you can see the other fields in the background. They use the seeds to make oils for cooking. Much like safflower I think.

Time is flying by. One more week and we are at the half way mark. Time flies when you stay busy.

Raymond Brewer went to church with us today. He hasn't been to our church in 45 years. He joined as a teenager in 1961 and attended a few years and then went inactive and has not attended since. He is now 64. There was one other sister there whom he knew from before. She joined about the same time he did. We have taught him the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation Discussions. He is reading the Book of Mormon and is praying. He has prayed both times we taught him. He really enjoyed church. Everyone was very friendly to him and the lessons were good. Even Fast and Testimony Meeting went real well with no wild testimonies. He commented at the end that he wanted to get up and thank everyone for being friendly to him but he did not know what else to say so he didn't.

We have finished teaching Beryl the Temple Preparation Lessons. She is all ready to go get her recommend and then go to the Temple. She has a Lung problem which she has to get stabilized first. She will never get over it but hopefully she will get it under control and not progressing very fast. We will be able to go to the Temple with her when she goes. We are starting giving the lessons to Pauline James this week. She was the one that was baptised the same time as Raymond Brewer. She has not always been active. In fact she just started coming to church about the time we got here. She must be about 70. So we should be able to go to the Temple with her also. We are really looking forward to it.

We watched the Royal Wedding. Almost on the front row. I would of had some great pictures but I forgot to charge the battery. Well the front row of the church. The ward had a social and set up the projector and showed it on the big screen. Then they had a lunch and played related games. It was all fun.

We spent 2 hours at the Vets earlier this week. Ann Cheshire's cat is 18 and apparently dying. We took her over to have the cat checked. The Vet believes the cat's kidneys are shutting down. She won't eat and is just about down to nothing. We feel bad but there is really nothing that can be done.

It is almost 10 and time to get ready for bed. God Bless you all.

Love, Elder and Sister Henry

This and That

We had a great time with Spencer and Alyson and Grace last week. Even though it was a little cold and rainy, it didn't keep us from doing stuff. Grace had a blast at the castles. We had to pry her away out of the nook and crannies and spiral staircases. We stayed at a really cool B&B out in the woods one night. Would like to go back in the summer when everything is green. It was a beautiful setting.

Beryl Eden has been wanting a Quad set of scriptures, so we asked Spencer to pick one up for her and have her name put on it. Spencer, Alyson and Grace went with us to give it to her and she was so excited to get it. When she opened up the box and saw her name on it, she was soooo excited she couldn't believe it. She loves that book.

We also took them to visit Ann Cheshire. Ann had fallen on the sidewalk after church the previous Sunday and had a BIG BLACK eye. She was quite embarrassed, but served us tea and goodies and really enjoyed meeting some of our family. There were so many places we wanted to take Spencer and family to, but there just wasn't enough time. We had a list and only got through about half of it. Hopefully they will get to come back some time.

We have been back hard at work this week. The days are flying by. Raymond Brewer is going to let us start giving him the lessons next week. We haved high hopes for him. And Ann is beginning to understand things a little better from coming to the institute study group each week. We had a great FHE and visit with Gerry Matthews again this week and another appt. in a couple of weeks. He will come back eventually. He is just working through some personal "people" issues. That seems to be the problem with a lot of members here. We were able to watch a couple of sessions of conference at the church Sunday and then watched another one on the internet last night. Good talks!

Ya'll take care and we love and miss you!
Sister Henry

There are so many things wrong with this sign. Shun Fat at a place where they deep fry everything.

This sign is on several bridges in the area. Really gives you confidence when you use the bridge.

We were heading in to GQ a few of the Knights at Goodrich Castle.

Grace slipped back a few years to do one of her infamous jumps!

I picked up a pet at the butterfly zoo.

This one landed on the first open spot he could find.

We had just conquered the maze at the Butterfly Zoo. Caerphilly Castle not far from Cardiff. Second largest in England covering 30 Acres.

Benbow Farm Pond where some 300 early saints from one congregation were baptised.

We have just waved good bye to Spencer and family. We shared 5 really good days. We saw a lot of fun stuff. The main things were two castles, Goodrich and Caerphilly. The butterfly museum was a lot of fun and included a maze. We visited St Fagan's National Natural Museum which included lots of examples of life in Wales all the way back to the iron age. We finished up on Saturday with a trip to Gadfield Elm Chapel and Benbow's Pond. If you are not familiar with them look up the history of Willford Woodruff. We stayed in the Angel Hotel in Cardiff one night and a great little Bed and Breakfast in the middle of the forest another night. All in all we really had a good time.

Now it is back to work. We shared dinner (Tea) and a FHE with a family this evening. Tomorrow we teach another Temple Preparation lesson to an 83 year old Sister and then lead the Scripture Study Group. In the evening we will be in Cheltenham for YSA Center training with the area director. Wednesday we have a FHE with a couple. He is inactive but really a great guy. She is active. Thursday we go to Worcester for District Meeting and then in the evening we are back to Cheltenham to be at the YSA Center. Friday we have two appointments. Between these things we hope to visit several other people. We will see what the time allows.

We seem to keep busy most of the time. Here we are almost half way through. I guess it is time to step it up a notch.

Love to everyone and Cheers for your support.

HELLO FROM HEREFORD

Wow, I can't believe it has been almost a month since our last post. The time is really flying by. We have been here seven months already. Spring is trying to come, but having a hard time. The sun will be shining bright in the morning and we will think "yeah, spring". But by noon it is cold and rainy again! It has to come eventually!

Since our last post we have given all the discussions to Trudy as she has started to come back to church. She is so excited to come to church and her husband, who has always fought her on going back to church, has given her his full support and has even suggested that they start having Family Home Evening. She is having a real positive affect on her whole family.

We have also been giving the Temple Prep lessons to Beryl (83). She is amazing. She can't wait to get to the temple. She was very sick last week and couldn't even get out of bed, so we suggested we wait until she was better for the next lesson. Well, she would not hear of it and insisted that she get out of bed and have us come for the lesson. It was the most wonderful lesson and she is so into the spirit of it. We just love her so much. We are so excited to get to go to the temple with her.

We have been working with Ann Cheshire to help strengthen her testimony. We have found that is not as strong as we thought. She has a few things that bother her still. Like women not having the Priesthood. We are not sure she has a real testimony of the B of M and Joseph Smith. She referred to him as our "American" Prophet. We have work to do with her, but she will make it! She comes to our Scripture Study Group very faithfully.

We are still visiting Raymond Brewer and he is getting closer to coming to church. He let us bring the Bishop with us to visit this week. Very good visit and he has a lot of good questions that tell us that he is doing a lot of thinking and remembering about the Gospel.

We love associating with the YSA. They are so fun, We played UNO with them for two hours at the YSA Center last week and had a blast.

Oh yea, Jess and Mark. Wedding April 16, Mark baptized April 23 and Baby due May. They are great. They asked me to play the Wedding March at their wedding! SCARY! Arthritis is more bothersome in my fingers in this DAMP climate.

There are others that we visit regularly and have hopes for. It is slow and hard but little by little things are happening. We love the work and the people we have met. The Lord continues to bless us every day and we are so grateful to be here and to be serving Him. We would recommend this experience to everyone.

I have spoiled these missionaries. They expect something homemade at every meeting now. But I love cooking for them. They are so awesome. We miss them when they get transferred, but we are excited for new ones to come.



We keep bumping into each other in the kitchen and bumping our heads on cupboard doors and shuffling around the bed and vying for space on the small, HARD couch. But we love it and have laughed so much. 24/7 together is great when you can laugh about things!

We love all of you and pray you are all doing well and laughing a lot also.

Love, Elder and Sister Henry

THIS, THAT AND THEM

Not a lot of new things happened since the last blog so this one might not be too long. We are still holding FHEs. We have given half of the 5th discussion to the 79 year old sister. The other half to come next Friday. We are starting to teach the discussions to another sister. She comes from a family that has several very active members in it. She has been inactive for a few years. She has decided to get active again and has asked us to give her the discussions. We start that next Wednesday. Beryl (83 year old sister) will begun the Temple Prep class next week. We will probably teach them also. We have been leading the discussion group. We are studying the D & C and Church History. We have 8 people coming with 6 usually there.

We went to Cardiff to Zone Conference last Tuesday. Great conference with lots of inspiration. They have a guy come to these conferences and service the cars while we are meeting. When we finished up the man was finished but no one could find the keys to the cars. We spent over an hour looking. They were finally found hanging on a coat rack under a coat. Nothing like a little drama to end the day.

We are going to go to Cheltenham this evening to a baptism. The sisters from Evesham are having a baptism. We told them we would come and support them. They are really cool sisters. Very hard working but really fun. They have really taken a shine to Sister Henry. We inspected there flat last Monday (Valentines Day). They fixed us lunch while we were there. Very good Pasta and garlic bread with cooked tomatoes on it. Yummy. Sister Henry has exchanged e-mails with both of their mothers. One of the Sisters (Sister Clark) is a concert Harpist. The other is a trained interpretive dancer. They did an interpretive dance at the Christmas Party. It was hilarious.

Sister Henry is getting her hair permed this morning. At noon we are going by Sister Pauline James' birthday party at the Chinese Buffet. We don't plan to eat because we will eat over in Cheltenham. Early afternoon we will head for Cheltenham.

I guess that is all for now. We hope all of you are enjoying as many blessings as we are.

Elder and Sister Henry

STILL BUSY BUSY BUSY

The pictures are from top, Left to right. Sister Henry, Jean Davies, Beryl Eden, and Elder Henry. Jean Davies and Beryl Eden. Sisters Clark and Pope and us.

The cast of the Ward Murder Mystery Night. Samantha Penman and Collette Wilkins. Debbie Chidlow, Dez, Christine Woods and Julie Gardner. The Stars of our Show.

We continue to stay busy, which is a good thing. We continue to search out inactives who are "lost". As soon as they open the door and see who we are, they immediately tell us they are not interested and don't want anything to do with the church any more. We are visiting with one man who obviously has some good memories stirring around in his mind. We took him a Christmas message with a quote from Pres. McKay about "losing one's self in serving and finding yourself in the process. He said that when he read that he had actually been thinking about it and it touched him in some way. He joined the church when he was 18 and is now 63. Hasn't been to church for over 40 years, but is asking a lot of questions and has expressed an interest in coming to church to see if there is any one he still would know. We have hopes for him. He remembered a small silver tray with white cups being passed around and asked if they still did that!

We continue to work with Beryl to get her to the temple. She is having some health issues (she just turned 81 last week). In her patriarchal blessing last month she was told that she would be going to the temple soon and would be having some wonderful experiences there concerning family who had passed on. She thinks she has to be perfect to be able to go and we are trying to assure her that no one is perfect. She is a very special lady and we have really grown to love her.

We are having FHE with the Mouncher family every week now. They are a special family. They have a daughter who is expecting a baby in April. Her and her boyfriend are not married, but the Elders challenged him to quit smoking a couple of months ago and gave him the "stop smoking" program. He has done wonderful. Has not smoked since then. He is also taking the missionary lessons and is talking about being baptized. They have decided to get married (April 9) and hopefully he will set a baptismal date soon. She is dragging her feet a little also, because she has been inactive for some time. But we think they will make it.

We are having FHE several nights a week with less actives, part member families and active families (the bishop ). We are teaching lessons on the first four principles of the gospel. Some we are just teaching the lessons, some we are showing how to have a FHE and getting them in the practice of having them each week. The idea is to help strengthen the ward by strengthing the families. We have had really good response so far.

The Youth had a Stake Music Program last Sunday in Cheltenham and I played the music for them to sing. It was a fairly difficult piece of music to play and sing, but the youth did really well and I didn't mess them up too much. I am grateful for these opportunities. The couple that are getting married in April have asked me to play the music at their wedding. That will be a big challenge to play the Wedding March, which is what they want. Hopefully, I can find the music for it and have some time to practice.

We certainly feel the Lord's hand in our lives every day. Some days are a real challenge to know who to visit and what to say to them. But we feel His love and seem to be able to go where He needs us to go.

We love all of our family and friends and are grateful for all of your love and support.

Love, Elder and Sister Henry

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Time just seems to fly by. We are staying very busy. We have started doing Family Home Evenings with active members. We have the next month and a half of monday nights booked as well as several other evenings. We started a scripture discussion group last week. We will meet every tuesday afternoon for that with 7 planning on attending. We will be studying the D & C and Church History. We also have a FHE with the Young Adults in the Ward. It is very well attended and everybody loves it. Starting in a couple of weeks we will be going to Cheltenham every thursday to open the Young single Adults Center. We will open at 4 PM and be there untill 10 PM. Another full day.

There is an 80 year old sister that we have been meeting with weekly. She has been a member for 10 years or so but was very off and on. Just before we got here she made a big corner and is really committed now. We have been answering questions for her as she prepared to get her Patriarchal Blessing. She was really excited to find out what she would be doing in her life. We were afraid she would put too much on the blessing but when she came out she was over the moon. She was completly over come by all that she had heard. We had taken her over to Cheltenham for the blessing so we were able to feel her excitement. Now we will continue to work with her to prepare her to go to the Temple.

There is another 81 year old Sister who has been a member for 47 years. She is very active. She has been on more than one mission. She is a very interesting Lady. We have been visiting her and she has asked us to give her the discussions. So we gave her the first yesterday. We were afraid she would mess it up by talking all the time. But it went very well.

Around these things we are meeting with other Less Actives with varying amounts of success. The one sister who has started coming to church does not have a car so she needs a ride all of the time. The ones who come from this direction all have full cars. We have been giving her a ride so far but we really need to find someone she can depend on. She hopes to buy a car in a few months but untill then????

Today I am going with the High Priests Group Leader to work on someones house. A service project. Sister Henry will have a day to relax. Cheers Everyone.