Mission Christmas Holiday! - Part 2

Town Hall Interior

So as poor, lost expatriates we are managing to survive the Christmas Holidays away from home.  Lest you think all we do is play, we do put in a full day at the Mission Office each day.  But we do try to savor the culture of the Yorkshire area.  As it got closer to Christmas, we realised that this is the home of most of our cherished Christmas images.

Leeds Town Hall

As Christmas grew closer we went back into the city to the Leeds Town Hall to see a production of Handel's Messiah.  It was, of course, beautiful.  I was whistling those tunes for days. 

Christmas was getting close.  On the Tuesday before Christmas we had the mission Christmas Party.  President and Sister Lindley spent a great deal of effort to bring the entire mission together for a day.  It was held at the RAF base in Harrogate. That base is host to about 2,000 USAF personnel and welcomed our group of about 140 missionaries to their facilities.  The young missionaries love to be together and enjoyed an opportunity relax a little.  In the morning they bowled and played various sports.  In the afternoon was some entertainment and fun.  In the evening we dressed up for a lovely dinner and the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life."  It was great fun.



We gathered a few of our friends around us!



So I guess you can see that we are filling our time.  We do miss our family and friends but we are enjoying the wonderful experiences here.  The greatest of which are the wonderful people we meet.  For our Christmas dinner we enjoyed the company of a missionary fron Scotland, a missionary from Germany and a young man from South Africa who had just joined the church. We fed them Mexican food (my request).  We had a wonderful time and then talked to family on Skype. So we continue to totter on in our retirement having experiences and blessings we could not have imagined.  We love our Savior and rejoice in His gospel! 

Missionaries

Catching up

We love to see the young elders and sisters!   They are so dedicated to the work and inspiring.  They work and study so diligently and love to get together.  Zone Conference was great!

Serving one another

Sweet Sisters

One of the most enjoyable parts of being here in England is our association with the young people who have been called as missionaries here.  They come from many parts of the world and are dedicated and purposeful.  It is amazing to watch these young 19-25 year-old people be so self-sacrificing and noble.  I know they are just regular people, but they push themselves from a deep faith in God to become more than regular.  They overcome discomforts like cold, damp weather and long, hard days trying to get people to listen to their message.  They learn to live with a companion.  We love them!

Our House

Lorraine in the front garden

Is a very very fine house..just like in the old Beatles song. It is tiny and kinda like a doll house. We have a tiny frig and freezer and a washer/dryer combo that both washes and bakes our clothes into a mass of wrinkles. The kitchen is so small that we have to move in and out one at a time.  We have some delightful intimate moments as we clear the table and put the dishes in the sink.

There is also a living room and a dining room on the ground floor.  They are pleasant rooms with nice, rounded corners and substantial window coverings. We enjoy views into our garden both front and rear.  In England we don't have yards, we have gardens.  Since our building is semi-attached (that is we share a wall with the house next door),  our garden is not very large.  It is more garden than we really want to maintain, but we get to maintain it anyway.The plants stay green most of the time.  It is always slightly damp everywhere.  Even the concrete walk stays green (moss).

Crazy washer/dryer

String pull light switch

As you walk in our front door, you can walk to the right and go up the steep stairway to the second floor that has three bedrooms and a bath.  The third bedroom is a 5 by 8 closet that has a single bed in it so it IS a bedroom.  The bathroom is nice but one difference is that there are no light switches or electrical plugs.  You turn on the light with a pull switch that comes down from the ceiling.  Evidently we feel that a wall switch in the bathroom might create an electrical accident...makes sense.

Kitchen to front door

Down stairs to front door

Living room (TV is not connected to anything-just DVD)

Dining area

Our house is on a hill so that we can look down into the valley created by the River Aire and is in an area called Kirkstall. The area is named after Kirkstall Abbey which is a beautiful 12th century abbey built by Cistercian monks.  Of course there are only ruins of the abbey remaining.  We love to walk there in the mornings.

Driving on the RIGHT side

   One of the activities I have been challenged by and enjoyed is driving here in England.  I have always enjoyed driving.  We put lots of miles on our cars at home and as we came here I was looking forward to the challenge of driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

   Looking back a little,  I had an infatuation with British cars as a young man.  We had a Rootes Group Hillman when I was in high school and enjoyed the British attention it attracted, especially after my Dad painted it a bright green (not British Racing Green, a bright ugly, not very shiny green).  I later had a white 59 Austin Healy Sprite (Bug Eye) and I captured my bride with a beautiful, red 57 Austin Healy 100-6.  So I looked forward to driving in England.

   Our car here is a Vauxhall Meriva. It looks like the one below.  It has a diesel engine and except for a dead spot when you accelerate from a stop, it goes pretty well.  The hesitation is a distinct disadvantage when you come to a ROUNDABOUT!

A roundabout is the British concept of an intersection.  During my first forays the roundabout was a major point of trepidation.  Here I was, driving on the wrong side of the street and steering from the wrong side of the car and I approached what seemed to me to be the Carosel of Death!  As you approach a busy roundabout you look to the right to see if there are cars coming (cars from the right have right-of-way).  When there is a break you accelerate into the roundabout in 2 or three lanes.  If you want to turn left you must align yourself with the first exit.  If you want to go straight you must find (usually) the second exit.  If you want to turn right (an American left turn, except to the right because, remember you are steering from the right side of the vehicle) you align yourself with the third exit which is three quarters of the way around the roundabout.  I know you should use your turn indicators in some way but I haven't mastered that quite yet. 



After a couple of weeks I got the rhythm of it and now I am a proponent of the roundabout.

Anyway, driving here is fun.  I can never relax and drive, I always have to be focused.  Lorraine is having fun being the navigator.  She has not yet driven here, she is content to be the control force from the side seat.  We make a pretty good driving team.... 

Kirkstall Abbey

We love to go walking at the Abbey. It's not far from our little house and is amazing. The ruins of the abbey date from 1220 a.d. and it is huge. It's located on the banks of the River Aire and we often take walks along the river or on the footpath around the abbey.

Here's What We Do....

We work in the office of the England Leeds Mission. The Mission Office is called the Lister House. That's its address. No number, just Lister House. Conveniently it sits on Lister Hill...and so that is the second part of our address. Here is a picture...lovely building isnt it? Not what you expected, wot? This was taken on a sunny morning just as we arrived. That's our Vauxhall on the left.

So, it does sit on a hill.

This picture shows the valley looking toward the River Aire.  

 The street coming up the hill is called Low Lane. I don't like to drive on it because there are lots of cars parked along it and so a busy street becomes a virtual one lane road.  Kind of like all the other streets around here.  But I will save the driving experience for another post.



So here are some pictures of our office and us doing the things we do

Opening up the office

Sister Barron at her work station.  She is the Executive Secretary to the Mission President.

Elder Barron at the door to his office holding the keys (they are the old keyhole type keys).

Here is Sister Barron working.  Out the window is the Vauxhall van.  It holds 11 passengers.

Meet Elder and Sister Jensen.  They are from Logan, Utah.
 Elder Jensen is in charge of  vehicles and apartments.  Sister Jensen runs the
bookstore and knows about everything.

Meet President Lindley.  He and Sister Barron are making sure 130 missionaries
are well cared for.  

The Assistants to the President.. Elder Wadsworth and Elder Turvey are
seen here plotting the take-over of Scotland (2 hours north).
So that's what we do--any questions?

Ya Alright?

We delight in the differences in the language. We were walking along the street today listening to the lady behind us talking Yorkshire loudly on her MOBILE.  I wish I could write the way she spoke--roughly:
"I wa' te taw te yeow."  (I want to talk to you.) 
When we hear someone speak we try to mimic the way it sounds but our mouths don't form the words properly.  They hold their face and bodies different -- it looks rather formal.  I wonder if we look too casual when we talk.
There is a delightful little waitress at the local carvery that I would like to record.  She has a sweet little voice that makes the Yorkshire accent such that we can just barely make out the thought.  We walked in the other night and she snuck up behind and sang, "Ya alrigh'?" That is the phrase that is equivalent to "How are you?" or "How ya doin'?" at home.  I like the way the maintenence guy at our building says it.  He says: "Ya alright!" without the question mark.  I feel like I am alright.
So sometimes when I am talkin' wi' sumun on the tele we both have to slow--down---real--slow to communicate.   T'is brilliant tryin' to learn the lingo!!! ;

Making the change

     There are so many things that are the same here and so many things that are different.  We love watching all that goes on around us. 
     We have moved into a small home in the Kirkstall area of Leeds.  We live near a 12th century abbey called Kirkstall Abbey.  There are marvelous ruins that are surrounded by a lovely park along the River Aire.  Our house is on a hill that has a view of the river valley.  Our upstairs bedroom window faces east and on clear days we get a spectacular sunrise.  Our house is attached to another house,  (we would call it a duplex), which is very common here.  The interior is small and neat.  We do have to dance around each other a little in the small areas like the kitchen and ...well, everywhere else.
     One thing that has been challenging is driving.  Largely because the driver is on the right side of the car instead of the left and we all drive on the opposite side of the road.  We have a Vauxhall Meriva.  It is a small deisel vehicle that seems sip fuel in an acceptable manner for around 8 bucks a gallon.  We, however, buy it in liters which confuses us enough to help us forget how much we are paying.  At any rate, we still enjoy driving around seeing this beautiful country. 
     We work pretty hard every day from 9 to 5.  Lorraine is the secretary to the mission president and the spark plug for the mission.  I am the financial secretary and see that the missionaries get there living allowances and that rent and utilities get paid.  It has been exciting working with the utility companies to keep things going for 54 flats.  It is fun to try to talk things through with our different accents.  I am trying to learn to use phrases and terms that make it easier for them to understand me.

England is a bit jollier!

We have arrived in England. We flew in on September 10,2011 to Manchester, England. We were greeted at the airport by President and Sister Lindley. They took us on a scenic route back to Leeds. We stopped by a lovely stream where Orson Hyde had baptised many in 1837 and dedicated ourselves to our mission.

We have been in Leeds a little over a week now and are busy learning our duties. There seems to be plenty of work to do.

Trip to the Seashore Sept 17,2011

Saturday was a lovely day. We went touring around with the Jensens, Westons, and Youngs in the mission van. We went to the eastern coast and the weather was Beautiful. The scenery was fantastic and we really enjoyed getting to know each other. I think we have some great pictures.

Here is a photo of Whitby Abbey from our trip to the eastern seashore. England is so beautiful!

MTC Friends

We have also really enjoyed the other couples in our group of 27 missionaries. Our favorites are Elder and Sister Howes, Elder & Sister Hall and Elder and Sister Jensen. People from our group are going all over the US and the world. Two couples are going to Africa.

Lorraine -The MTC

September 4, 2011

We have completed a week here at the Missionary Training Center and it has been wonderful. It is really great to see all the young elders and sisters with their bright and earnest faces. They are so good! They usually will race ahead to open doors for us and sometimes clear away our trays after dinner, just to be nice. Gary says that we feel like rocks in a stream and he is right. The young folks all move so fast!

We had classes Monday –Friday with wonderful young returned missionary teachers. We really grew to love them. We taught lessons to “investigators” and listened to some great guest speakers. Some of the speakers are quite old and have served missions all over the world.

Counting Down

We are now counting down the days until we depart. We do not, however, know when that will be. Our call letter said that we would report to the MTC 0n September 5th. President Lindley, our mission president called and reassigned us to work in the mission office. He also asked that we come 2 weeks earlier, if possible. So our target date is August 22nd. We are not sure the visa issues can be resolved in the time available, so we will see. We have been in contact with the couple we will be replacing and are getting alot more information.

Shifting Paradigms

We have been quite comfortable with our retired life. Lorraine retired in December of '08 and I in June of '09. We have been able to travel a little and spend time with our family. We were called to a church service mission to work in the LDS Employment Resource Services office and began working there in October of '09. We worked there three days a week; on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30am until noon and on Tuesdays from 4pm to 7pm. Then on Thursday we worked in the temple. We left home at 2:30pm and got home about 11:30pm. The time commitments were not like full-time work but gave us a place to be each day and a worthwhile purpose. We have enjoyed this time greatly.
We report the the Mission Training Center in Provo UT on September 5th, 2011. We will begin our mission and begin a new phase of our lives. We have a hard time picturing what life will be like for us in Leeds, England. We generally know the program in which we will be working but cannot picture the setting in which we will live and organize our lives. It is exhilarating to put these details in the hands of the Lord and step forward with faith. We trust that this is where we should be and what we should do.

The Call!

Our mission call came on Thursday, June 16, 2011. We spend Thursdays quietly getting ready to serve at the temple. We had gone out to lunch and on the way home Lorraine said, "I hope it comes early so we can have it before we go to the temple." We both knew that was ridiculous because we had had that hope every day for the past two months and because the mail hardly ever comes until 5pm. But, lo and behold, I walked to the mailbox and there it was!

I walked in with the prize in my hand. We momentarily thought about calling the kids and opening it with them and then ripped it open.... We will be serving in England Leeds Mission assigned to the Center for Young Adults! We are honored and anxious to serve!

Waiting for the call

We had our interview with the stake president on May 1, 2011. We began to anticipate our call coming about 2 weeks later. We had heard from several places that was about how long it might take. Young missionaries get their call in about that time span. We sat on the curb waiting for the mail. Same week 3 and week 4. Here we are in week 6. Our bishop was able to go online and see that our letter has been sent and we should get it this week. The anticipation is fun and we get more attention at church and isn't that what this is all about?

We felt the call...

In October 2010 General Conference, in his opening remarks on Saturday morning, President Monson spoke to the members of the church regarding missionary service. I was feeling quite comfortable that he was speaking to others until he said the following:

"And now to you mature brothers and sisters: we need many, many more senior couples. To the faithful couples now serving or who have served in the past, we thank you for your faith and devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. You serve willingly and well and accomplish great good.

To those of you who are not yet to the season of life when you might serve a couples mission, I urge you to prepare now for the day when you and your spouse might do so. As your circumstances allow, as you are eligible for retirement, and as your health permits, make yourselves available to leave home and give full-time missionary service. There are few times in your lives when you will enjoy the sweet spirit and satisfaction that come from giving full-time service together in the work of the Master."

Those words hit me with a forceful impact and I felt the desire to respond to his call. Lorraine had been away during the remarks and so when she returned I replayed them to her and she felt the same way. We made an appointment to see the bishop the following Wednesday and started the process to leave our home and give full-time missionary service.