The Isle of Anglesey & Bodnant Gardens

For some time we have wanted to go to the Isle of Anglesey. It is a small island that is part of Wales and has now been made famous because it is where the royal couple have taken up residence. It is known for it's castles, gardens and beaches and has a different feeling about it than Wales and England. Not as green, but beautiful water fronts and wonderful old mansions.

Bodnant Gardens is just off the Island --known mostly for it's unusual trees and green plants.

like this strange thing with elephant ear leaves and pine cones that grow at the base.

trees, trees and some flowers

Anglesey is the home of the little village with the longest name in Great Britain. And if you can pronounce it, you win!

LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH

Anyone from Wales who speaks any Welch can say the name! We stayed in a little B&B in this obscure little town. Interestly enough, the elder's apt. is in this town. Do you think they put their return address on their letters home?

The train station in this funny little town.

Beautiful beaches with rolling grass right to the edge.

Penrhyn Castle -- a cozy little family home built on the fortune made from slaves, sugar and slate. Quite exquisite!

This landmark requires a hike and a fee, but worth the view.

Beaumaris Castle --This is supposed to be the most technically perfect medieval castle in Britain started in 1295 but after 30 years the funds ran out and the castle was never completed. A magificent white elephant!

The Plas Newydd was a favorite. It was the family home of the Marquess of Anglesey (whoever that is!!!). The gardens were as beautiful as the home. Where were we when the inheritance was meted out?

Missionaires provide spiritual nourishment!

Yesterday in our Sacrament meeting 6 missionaries shared a message on What Faith Means to Me. We heard some inspiring expressions of faith.....
One of our elders is 24 years old. He will be 26 when he returns. The fact that he is on a mission is a miracle. He was raised in an inactive family -- in fact they were not just inactive, but had become anti Mormon, taking every opportunity to lash out and bash the church. He joined with the other family members as they made fun of church members and particularly missionaires. At some point his sister turned around and went on a mission -- much to the disgust of the other family members. He joined with the others in rebuking her. He was about as far away from the church as one can get.
Sometime later he began to ask himself questions.....questions about his life like "who am I" and "why am I here?" A flicker of humility ignited in him and his heart began to change. Long story short.....he sought out the missionaries and began to change his life. And the changes were BIG. Like, everything changed. He underwent true conversion and has an undeniable testimony that will penitrate those he teaches.

Next.......a sister mission who was baptized 13 months ago. She went 25 years with no faith. And then she met the missionaries. They had her read Alma 32 and the rest is history. She is the guardian of her younger sister and worries constantly about her. Her family is very disfunctional and she prays for them and weeps over them. But she really believes that her mission will bless their lives.

Another........Was to take a very big test in school. He studied and prayed and prayed and studied and when the day came he took the test and did not do well. He was so upset and blamed God. He felt God had deserted him and did not love him. For a week he lashed out at God and then got the results of his test -- only to find he was #1 in his class. He did some serious repenting and then promised God that he would always trust him and serve him. He had made some big mistakes in his life that he thot would prevent him from going on a mission but he determined to go forward and work thru things. Today he is a wonderful young man and has made a commitment to the Lord that he will never disappoint him again.

And......One elder said that 2 days before he had felt very down. He prayed for peace and for understanding. He prayed to know how to handle hard days. He had decided before he left home that he would do all he could to be a good missionary, but the reality was suddenly feeling too hard. And then this thot came to him..."I can change generations by one baptism!". He concluded by saying, "It is not easy to be here, but it is right!"

So cute.....A wonderful, very confident elder stood and said, "When I'm nervous my legs shake really bad. The top part of me looks OK, but don't look at my legs!"

Sacrament Meeting is ALWAYS inspiring.

A Family Home Evening Tip

Yesterday we sat in on a meeting with the missionaries that was taught by our manager of training. He showed some clips from a website called One in a 8 million. As far as I can tell this is a web site put together by a group in New York City. Each week for 52 weeks they featured an individual. There are a variety of people -- some with problems and some just regular joe blows trying their best to live their lives. Obviously this is not a church web site, nor does it feature church members (altho one of the features is about a Mormon Missionary). They are about 2 minute clips, much like Mormon.org. But the interesting part of the session was the discussion that followed after they showed a clip. The missionaries were then asked 3 questions.
1. What did you learn about that individual by watching this?
2. How does God feel about this individual?
3. How could the gospel help them?
Very interesting discussions followed. I thot it might be fun to do with a family.
(the clips they showed were Joseph the Grandfather and The Walking Miracle (a little gory).
I will be interested to know if anyone tries this and how it works.
Happy FHE

Lord and Lady Clitheroe

Lord and Lady Clitheroe live in this country manor in Downham. (It looks like something out of Pride and Predjudice!) Their family (whose actual name is Assheton) owns the entire village of Downham -- all 45 homes. Downham is significant in church history as it is one of the places where Heber C. Kimball had great success. So much success that almost every person living in this small community joined the church. We always take the missionaries there as part of the church history tour. (I believe I have blogged about this previously)

The family of Lord and Lady Clitheroe have owned the entire village for 400 years. The very first time we went to Downham we met Lady Clitheroe in the village and since then have been anxious to get better acquainted. We stumbled onto a contact -- a member of the church who knows their son. He arranged for a meeting between us and so last week, we bought a bouquet of flowers and showed up at their door. (of course they knew we were coming!) We were ushered into their library that looked just like something out of the movies, offered us a glass of elderberry juice and had a most delightful (the English would say "brilliant") visit. They are both in their late 80's. They have been to SLC and told us all the details of their visit. They also have a scrapebook that contains pix of of SLC in about 1886 that were taken by his grandfather who made an around the world tour and for some reason included SLC. They seem to believe that they have no Mormon ancestors, but it would seem reasonable that they did -- thus the trip to SLC.
The back of the house is almost prettier than the front because it is covered with vines.

This is the view out their library window and yes, those are sheep!

...and this is Pendle Hill ..... oh yes.....with the man in black being President Walker. They own the property all the way to the top of this small mountain.

The entire grounds are covered with magnificent trees -- few flowers but beautiful and unusual trees.

4th of July!!!*!?+**!!

Yes, we also celebrated. No parades, no BBQ's, no fireworks, no family, but......We had decorations, US flags, wore red, white and blue (Elder McMurtrey from Texas even thought to bring his stars and stripes tie!) sang patriotic songs and shared holiday traditions.
and food......hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, fries, homemade apple pie and snickerdoodles

But the hit of the day was A&W Root Beer!!!!!

Root Beer is not available here and it is the one thing the missionaries ask for

So...............with a little sleuthing, we found a source

A good member of the church who has an import business, donated Root Beer and Grape soda for our celebration!!!!!!!

What we are not telling them ... yet ... is that we also have some Twinkies! We'll bring those out the night before they leave......a farewell surprise!

Even the instructors who are all English joined in the fun!

We gave all of them an abbreviated American history lesson.

and they caught the irony of "Independence" Day.

A post script: Boys will be boys. Many ate 2 hamburgers, 2 hotdogs, 2 pieces of chicken,potatoe salad, pasta salad, green salad, pie, ice cream, cookies and topped it all off with root beer!!! Disgusting!

Sisters are a little more reasonable!