This is for me probably more than anyone but a few have
acted interested in hearing of our mission experiences and someone out there
may actually be reading them.
Considering that, I wondered whether I should write this week or
not. While the week had some nice
experiences, it had a bad downer that will cause considerable venting so you
have been forewarned if you choose to proceed.
Words:
Gammon HamJolly him along- kindly hurry him up
Cheeky They call me cheeky over here and when I keep asking what it means they say saucy. I asked what saucy means and they say cheeky. The closest they explain is that it is a little bit naughty and a bit funny in asking people for things. I am still not quite sure. But they smile when they say it so I assume they are not angry with me.
1. Painful Sleep and
Pot Luck
This morning was just a bit hard to get up for as my body is aching from head to toe but mostly toe. My feet are just killing me. My shoes are a bit too wide and my feet are sliding in them and then that kitchen detail after the baptistery all morning was tough. I took ibuprofen again in the night which helped me get to sleep but then the problem comes in our wonderful new bed. There is a four inch crack in the two mattress (twin beds being pushed together to make one) and that is where I lay. When we got here it was all pushed together and fit except one was higher. When weight goes on them, they separate. In the other place we stuffed them with towels and blankets but these mattresses are higher so I don’t have enough to stuff. This is going to take some adjusting or mattress removal!
Church was good and we drove rather well to and fro. We fixed a small lunch and then I made a casserole for the high and bye. I swear Anderson’s left rice but I couldn’t find it so I substituted. I thought I had a pepper and didn’t and the neighbors didn’t either. Oh my! Then we couldn’t get that oven to start. We have already been over to the neighbors twice to find out how to run things so Brad just took it to the other place to bake.
The ‘hi and bye’ was very interesting. There was tons of food and it was pretty good (not impressed with my own). Then we had 2 byes that were very sweet and well done – Sister Edwards and Sister Pemberton. Our first hi was a new Sister George that said she had no idea how to speak 5-7 minutes and then took about 20. The next hi was the Ibbotson’s from Australia and Barry was sick so she did it alone. She did a good job but it was not short either. Then the Roger’s from England spoke and they had amazing stories as they quit their jobs and started being foster parents for over 70 people. Brother Roger’s has a great wit. He started with “I am not going to tell you about the first 30 years because if the Lord can forget our sins once we repent, there is no sense bringing them up to you.” They were great but now that I know, I wish I would have taken long enough to talk about Brad.
This morning was just a bit hard to get up for as my body is aching from head to toe but mostly toe. My feet are just killing me. My shoes are a bit too wide and my feet are sliding in them and then that kitchen detail after the baptistery all morning was tough. I took ibuprofen again in the night which helped me get to sleep but then the problem comes in our wonderful new bed. There is a four inch crack in the two mattress (twin beds being pushed together to make one) and that is where I lay. When we got here it was all pushed together and fit except one was higher. When weight goes on them, they separate. In the other place we stuffed them with towels and blankets but these mattresses are higher so I don’t have enough to stuff. This is going to take some adjusting or mattress removal!
Church was good and we drove rather well to and fro. We fixed a small lunch and then I made a casserole for the high and bye. I swear Anderson’s left rice but I couldn’t find it so I substituted. I thought I had a pepper and didn’t and the neighbors didn’t either. Oh my! Then we couldn’t get that oven to start. We have already been over to the neighbors twice to find out how to run things so Brad just took it to the other place to bake.
The ‘hi and bye’ was very interesting. There was tons of food and it was pretty good (not impressed with my own). Then we had 2 byes that were very sweet and well done – Sister Edwards and Sister Pemberton. Our first hi was a new Sister George that said she had no idea how to speak 5-7 minutes and then took about 20. The next hi was the Ibbotson’s from Australia and Barry was sick so she did it alone. She did a good job but it was not short either. Then the Roger’s from England spoke and they had amazing stories as they quit their jobs and started being foster parents for over 70 people. Brother Roger’s has a great wit. He started with “I am not going to tell you about the first 30 years because if the Lord can forget our sins once we repent, there is no sense bringing them up to you.” They were great but now that I know, I wish I would have taken long enough to talk about Brad.
Sister Renowden and Sister Pemberton.
You can tell who the clown is.
Sister Edwards, will get better picture this week.
2. Sunburns and Maps
Monday we took our first van trip to Brighton which is south of here on the ocean front. The ride wasn’t too long and was filled with talk and chatter. We walked out on the pier that is filled with all sorts of carnival rides and shops. Then we walked up the street forever to find were King Peter lived to decide it was too much money so we weren’t going in. We (the Mulholland’s and us) then headed to find something called regency. We got all confused about where we were and I kept pointing to the map to tell them we were here. They wouldn’t believe me until I showed them the name of the shopping center across the street. As we were looking at that here comes a double decker coach with an open top. Right in the front seat is Sister Marsh. Brad gets the biggest kick out of her. She just takes off by herself and does what she wants. Our feet decided that bus looked a lot more fun than what we were doing. Sooo- how do we get on it? We went across the street to a bus office but no one was in it. Someone said you catch the tour bus across the street so we went back. We asked bus driver after bus driver and person after person but could not get any concrete directions. We had this little map that said pick up 5 was ‘here.’ Still up and down the street we go. Brian is saying we need to go back across the street because the map shows it here. I then took the map and turned it around and said but now it says here. He was not impressed that I was right. I then went up the street, found the pole with our 5 on it and waved till they saw me. We finally got on the bus and went around the town a couple of times. As you on the blog will notice that was the best sleep I have had in days!
We just walked around after that and then I found a big screen playing Wimbledon so I walked down a bit and watched it. I enjoyed myself but didn’t please everyone.
Then home and stories of everyone else having lots of fun!
Monday we took our first van trip to Brighton which is south of here on the ocean front. The ride wasn’t too long and was filled with talk and chatter. We walked out on the pier that is filled with all sorts of carnival rides and shops. Then we walked up the street forever to find were King Peter lived to decide it was too much money so we weren’t going in. We (the Mulholland’s and us) then headed to find something called regency. We got all confused about where we were and I kept pointing to the map to tell them we were here. They wouldn’t believe me until I showed them the name of the shopping center across the street. As we were looking at that here comes a double decker coach with an open top. Right in the front seat is Sister Marsh. Brad gets the biggest kick out of her. She just takes off by herself and does what she wants. Our feet decided that bus looked a lot more fun than what we were doing. Sooo- how do we get on it? We went across the street to a bus office but no one was in it. Someone said you catch the tour bus across the street so we went back. We asked bus driver after bus driver and person after person but could not get any concrete directions. We had this little map that said pick up 5 was ‘here.’ Still up and down the street we go. Brian is saying we need to go back across the street because the map shows it here. I then took the map and turned it around and said but now it says here. He was not impressed that I was right. I then went up the street, found the pole with our 5 on it and waved till they saw me. We finally got on the bus and went around the town a couple of times. As you on the blog will notice that was the best sleep I have had in days!
We just walked around after that and then I found a big screen playing Wimbledon so I walked down a bit and watched it. I enjoyed myself but didn’t please everyone.
Then home and stories of everyone else having lots of fun!
Brighton, England
And you are serving a mission?
Finally comfortable sleep!
2. Not just names!
We got up and exercise, had lunch and we off to the afternoon shift. We had 2 groups coming in for baptisms so that kept us a bit busy. Both groups were great but the missionaries brought a young man from Malaysia that had been baptized in April. He was holding his little blue card like it was pure gold. I asked who he was being baptized for and he held up his card and said, “My father.” He was so happy. It was a great day.
We got up and exercise, had lunch and we off to the afternoon shift. We had 2 groups coming in for baptisms so that kept us a bit busy. Both groups were great but the missionaries brought a young man from Malaysia that had been baptized in April. He was holding his little blue card like it was pure gold. I asked who he was being baptized for and he held up his card and said, “My father.” He was so happy. It was a great day.
The kitchen!
Our kitchen sink -- a double sink!
Still a tiny fridge.
3. Calmness.
Brad headed down to exercise but all I wanted to do was the bike so we would have to take turns so I stayed upstairs and worked on the blog. I called Sister Freeman to ask a question and we ended up going out for a walk. Come to find out there is a great walk around the whole temple gardens that is way better than following the sidewalks. She came over and saw our mansion and compared to the even smaller squeeze the single sisters get, it truly is a mansion.
We ate and got ready for the temple. We didn’t have any baptisms scheduled but a sister came and wanted to do 30. She had done 70 that morning and wanted an even 100 for the day. Other than that we had a very calm day.
Brad headed down to exercise but all I wanted to do was the bike so we would have to take turns so I stayed upstairs and worked on the blog. I called Sister Freeman to ask a question and we ended up going out for a walk. Come to find out there is a great walk around the whole temple gardens that is way better than following the sidewalks. She came over and saw our mansion and compared to the even smaller squeeze the single sisters get, it truly is a mansion.
We ate and got ready for the temple. We didn’t have any baptisms scheduled but a sister came and wanted to do 30. She had done 70 that morning and wanted an even 100 for the day. Other than that we had a very calm day.
Reading in the living room.
4. Around the globe.
After another long night of trying to figure out how to sleep on this bed we got up and ready to shop. We hadn’t been to the store forever so we were low on food. We stopped off in the middle of town and headed to Clark’s shoe store. It is still so fun to shop over here. They haven’t got a Walmart in every town (or any for that matter) so there are card shops and shoe shops and flower shops all over the place. I found a great pair of Clark’s (a shoe I have always looked for in America made here in England) and they were on sale for £29. I saw the girl marking some shoes down and asked if these would go any lower. They rang them up at £19 so I was thrilled. We bought our food and headed home.
We had a great day in the temple with 2 baptisms groups. The first was a family that had brought in 163 names of ancestors their 14 year old son had found. They were so happy. We let them do 90 that night and they said they would be back tomorrow for the rest. Then a beautiful young lady came in from Zimbabwe holding 2 names so tight I thought her hand would go into cramps. “These are my grandparents.” She was so thrilled to do their work (baptism and confirmation of the Holy Ghost [she was baptized and confirmed for the grandmother and a young man did the grandfather for her]). Then a young sister and her father came from Norway. A young man (12ish) came from France that couldn’t speak a word of English but his mother was with him. When I went to greet the last part of the group they were 4 tall young men. One was a recent convert and he had his uncle’s name to do. It was a really fun night.
After another long night of trying to figure out how to sleep on this bed we got up and ready to shop. We hadn’t been to the store forever so we were low on food. We stopped off in the middle of town and headed to Clark’s shoe store. It is still so fun to shop over here. They haven’t got a Walmart in every town (or any for that matter) so there are card shops and shoe shops and flower shops all over the place. I found a great pair of Clark’s (a shoe I have always looked for in America made here in England) and they were on sale for £29. I saw the girl marking some shoes down and asked if these would go any lower. They rang them up at £19 so I was thrilled. We bought our food and headed home.
We had a great day in the temple with 2 baptisms groups. The first was a family that had brought in 163 names of ancestors their 14 year old son had found. They were so happy. We let them do 90 that night and they said they would be back tomorrow for the rest. Then a beautiful young lady came in from Zimbabwe holding 2 names so tight I thought her hand would go into cramps. “These are my grandparents.” She was so thrilled to do their work (baptism and confirmation of the Holy Ghost [she was baptized and confirmed for the grandmother and a young man did the grandfather for her]). Then a young sister and her father came from Norway. A young man (12ish) came from France that couldn’t speak a word of English but his mother was with him. When I went to greet the last part of the group they were 4 tall young men. One was a recent convert and he had his uncle’s name to do. It was a really fun night.
I am arranging the ranch dressing mix for the final picture of
episode one. That is for Karen Lynn Davidson!
We actually have a storage room. I was going to get
it organized before the pix, but energy ran out.
Wahoo! a laundry room with a freezer twice as big as the fridge.
There is a coat closet but this is a heat closet. Remember
how I told you the water is so hot. This is the hot water heater
and they store towels, etc., here and then they are warm
when you want them. It is very hot in there.
6. 4th of
July Bombs!
Our son has been trying to find a job for ever so long and applied last week for a dream job at BYUI where I worked and his grandfather worked. We have been calling every day to find out if he got the job. At just 15 minutes past midnight we got the text that he didn’t get the job. Our hearts just feel. We called him and there were a few minutes of venting and disappointment being stated and then we tried to go to sleep. Bad idea. I got up and had some hot chocolate but that didn’t help much. At 4 a.m. I got up and worked on the computer cleaning up emails and all. I went back to bed about 6 and slept for about an hour. Getting up was almost impossible as I had already determined it was a very bad, awful, terrible bad day! I won’t say all my venting but this one hurt badly because of a lot of circumstances involved. We are very proud of our son and the life he has lived. Why this is happening to him is beyond us. We hope his self esteem hangs in there and have to believe something good will happen for him soon!
Our shift finally started and we had a very busy day indeed. At prayer meeting they announced that it was Independence Day in America so we American’s could all be proud. The temple president then said it was ‘good riddance’ day in England. (In my mood I was ready to play good riddance and fly away.) Sometime during the day my trainer came down and said that the lead mare had checked on how we were doing at stocking the towel cabinet and we had piled the towels so high that when she opened the door they all fell on her (the big issue here is that this is none of her stewardship – she just thinks she has to make sure everyone is doing it up to her standards). That was the last straw on my very bad day. I told Brad and he said it was his fault as he had too many towels in his hands and didn’t know what to do with the others so he just stacked them up to his 6’ 2” height on the top shelf. I asked if they could have fallen on her and he said no that she probably tried to make them neater and when she did they fell on her. Then we got laughing about our booby trap for her. That helped a little.
We finished 2 really nice groups of baptisms and did the laundry. I wanted to leave notes all over for the lead mare but I didn’t have time. We got home and had a very bleak 4th of July night as the Brits were not letting off any fireworks at all for their ‘good riddance’ day.
Our son has been trying to find a job for ever so long and applied last week for a dream job at BYUI where I worked and his grandfather worked. We have been calling every day to find out if he got the job. At just 15 minutes past midnight we got the text that he didn’t get the job. Our hearts just feel. We called him and there were a few minutes of venting and disappointment being stated and then we tried to go to sleep. Bad idea. I got up and had some hot chocolate but that didn’t help much. At 4 a.m. I got up and worked on the computer cleaning up emails and all. I went back to bed about 6 and slept for about an hour. Getting up was almost impossible as I had already determined it was a very bad, awful, terrible bad day! I won’t say all my venting but this one hurt badly because of a lot of circumstances involved. We are very proud of our son and the life he has lived. Why this is happening to him is beyond us. We hope his self esteem hangs in there and have to believe something good will happen for him soon!
Our shift finally started and we had a very busy day indeed. At prayer meeting they announced that it was Independence Day in America so we American’s could all be proud. The temple president then said it was ‘good riddance’ day in England. (In my mood I was ready to play good riddance and fly away.) Sometime during the day my trainer came down and said that the lead mare had checked on how we were doing at stocking the towel cabinet and we had piled the towels so high that when she opened the door they all fell on her (the big issue here is that this is none of her stewardship – she just thinks she has to make sure everyone is doing it up to her standards). That was the last straw on my very bad day. I told Brad and he said it was his fault as he had too many towels in his hands and didn’t know what to do with the others so he just stacked them up to his 6’ 2” height on the top shelf. I asked if they could have fallen on her and he said no that she probably tried to make them neater and when she did they fell on her. Then we got laughing about our booby trap for her. That helped a little.
We finished 2 really nice groups of baptisms and did the laundry. I wanted to leave notes all over for the lead mare but I didn’t have time. We got home and had a very bleak 4th of July night as the Brits were not letting off any fireworks at all for their ‘good riddance’ day.
The Bed from ****
Our bedroom furniture. There were 2 chairs in here also,
but with them we couldn't open the closet.
New bathroom with a high rise tub.
7. Real Saturday’s
and broken lifts.
Saturday started rather early for us. We got up and headed to the temple. The entire parking lot was full of coaches and more were on the way. The lifts had broken and all the wheel chair people had been to be taken up in some sort of a mechanical chair that went up the stairs with the people almost laying on their backs. That was exciting to get them up and then down and keep the device charged. I went to help in baptistery and the sister on the early shift had youth and family name cards everywhere. We got them all white clothing and organized best we could. The day really went very well but of course everyone wanted to be first so they could catch their coach. Finally the last youth was finished and all that was left was laundry. I was bound and determined to have the closets better than the lead mare could ever do them. She thinks she is OCD – well I can beat her at that game. I saw her and she asked if I needed help restacking the closets. I told her I had done it as well as I could but after she checked them she would have to tell me whether it was good enough. She kind of looked shocked and said she wouldn’t check if I said they were done. I gave her the look and she sweetly went away.
I came home and watched the Byron twins loose but I was thrilled for Jack Sock winning doubles. We were going out to eat but Mulholland’s had us over for yummy chicken. We took some of Brad’s amazing brownies.
The rest of the night was spent in trying to find the sharing time material I was to teach the next day. I finally gave up, went to bed and tried to think of something else. I was still pouting as I felt this had not been a very fun week.
Saturday started rather early for us. We got up and headed to the temple. The entire parking lot was full of coaches and more were on the way. The lifts had broken and all the wheel chair people had been to be taken up in some sort of a mechanical chair that went up the stairs with the people almost laying on their backs. That was exciting to get them up and then down and keep the device charged. I went to help in baptistery and the sister on the early shift had youth and family name cards everywhere. We got them all white clothing and organized best we could. The day really went very well but of course everyone wanted to be first so they could catch their coach. Finally the last youth was finished and all that was left was laundry. I was bound and determined to have the closets better than the lead mare could ever do them. She thinks she is OCD – well I can beat her at that game. I saw her and she asked if I needed help restacking the closets. I told her I had done it as well as I could but after she checked them she would have to tell me whether it was good enough. She kind of looked shocked and said she wouldn’t check if I said they were done. I gave her the look and she sweetly went away.
I came home and watched the Byron twins loose but I was thrilled for Jack Sock winning doubles. We were going out to eat but Mulholland’s had us over for yummy chicken. We took some of Brad’s amazing brownies.
The rest of the night was spent in trying to find the sharing time material I was to teach the next day. I finally gave up, went to bed and tried to think of something else. I was still pouting as I felt this had not been a very fun week.
Gatwick taken from our bedroom window.
Great alarm clock!
Week 8 – great and not-so-great. A mother’s heart is very tender and she will
always hurt for her children. Still, it
is a very good idea to count the many blessings given to her and her
family. My family and friends are
absolutely wonderful and there are so many blessings it would take me several
notebooks to list them. Soon, I will be
in the mood to do just that!
Your ancestors are more than just names on a page!
Exercise and enjoy the summer!
Our love is with you!
The Parkinson’s
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