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