I BELIEVE!!!

HO HO HO
I had a most amazing experience!!!! We were on a very crowded train returning with the missionaries from Manchester. I was sitting in a window seat and a man moved down the aisle with a very large suitcase. This case caught my attention because it was trimmed in red and green and looked very festive. Richard helped him lift it up on the overhead rack and then the man sat down -- right across from me. I found myself rivited on his face -- a bushy white beard and twinkly eyes, so much like Santa Clause I thought. Finally curiosity got the best of me and I asked him where he was going.......He responded by saying he was on his way to Edinburgh on business. Naturally I asked what kind of business. He then looked around, leaned forward in his seat and said in a soft voice.


"Actually, I am Santa Claus and I am on my way to Scotland to look in on the children there. From there I will go to Germany and then on to Lapland to check on my reindeer who are bred and live on a reindeer farm."


My heart started to pound......butterflies soared in my tummy and I whispered "I BELIEVE! I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED AND I WILL FOREVER BELIEVE!"


We then began to visit. He told me that he does not wear his suit while traveling because it is so hot and then everyone would want to sit on his lap, but he had it in his cheery suitcase. I emplored him to just put his hat on and let us take a picture, so Richard lifted his suitcase down and he took his hat out and put it on.


By now all those around us were staring.. There was a little girl across the aisle who quickly climbed up on her mother's lap and stole a few peeks.


I told him about the many grandchildren we have and where they live. Of course he knew all the cities. He visits them each year. He said he would await their letters and hoped they were being extra good this year!!!


He told me about some of the things children ask for -- like the little girl who wanted a new pair of beautiful shoes for Christmas, and she had NO legs. The tears trickled off his cheeks as he told it.
I told him all about missionaries and what we believe and showed him a picture of the temple. He said he had seen many temples and was happy to know what they were.

The magic of Christmas filled the train and when we finally had to get off we wished him a Merry Christmas and I giggled all the way home!!!!!

My only disappointment -----I didn't get to sit on his lap!

Thanksgiving -- English style

Thanksgiving Day in England takes a lot of imagination and scrounging. You have to invent the dinner menu in the minds of the cooks, convince them that pumpkin pie really is delicious, and that you can cook a whole turkey without cutting it into pieces. You have to invent the table decorations from the sticks, twigs, and pinecones you find on the grounds. Scrounge up a few baskets from the closet corners, raid the frige for fruits and veggies, bunch them all together and lay them out on the white paper table clothes that have been taped together. Next you stuff the paper napkins in the paper cups, set out glass plates, place 5 kernals of corn on each plate, fill the chairs with hungry missionaries and a few invited guests and.......VOILA!! You have Thanksgiving -- English style. (and of course it helps if you have Christmas lurking in the background.)

Before dinner we shared a brief history of the holiday including the story of the 5 kernals of corn. We asked them each to write (on the paper table cloth) 5 things they were thankful for. During the meal they had a chance to share one of them. They came up with very interesting and different thoughts.

There were some temple missionaries from the USA who joined with us for dinner.

The cooks outdid themselves. The entire meal was outstanding including this scrumptious array of desserts!

And best of all......we just showed up and when the meal was over we left the dishes to them. It will be a rough day when I have to once again be responsible for food!!!! We hope all of you had a wonderful day and that the magic of Christmas is now beginning to float around!!!

Remembrance Day - 11/11/11 - Poppy Day

November 11, 2011

We call it Veterans Day in the States, but in Great Britain it is refered to as Remembrance Day.

It is a national celebration and this year it was bigger than ever because it was 11/11/11. For the two weeks prior everyone wears paper poppies on their lapels and people hang out poppy wreaths. We made sure the missionaries were wearing them when they were out of the MTC. They are worn as a sign of respect in remembrance of their war veterans. The Sunday following Veterans Day all congregations observed 2 minutes of silence. It was a wonderful day for the missionaries as we had been invited to the Preston Ward to participate in their Sacrament Meeting.

As the meeting began an old decorated war Veteran stood at the pulpit and read the following:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning

We will remember them.

He then called for 2 minutes of silence. At the conclusion of the silence he said,

When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.

It was a tender moment and the missionaries felt the spirit of the people they will serve.

This poppy wreath hangs at the entrance of our complex as you can see in the first picture.

The wearing of the poppies dates back many years. It came about because of an incident that occured in May of 1915 when a young WWI Canadian officer was killed in action. He was serving in the same unit as a friend of his who was a military doctor and artillery commander, Major John McCrae.
John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for his friend. He was buried in a grave decorated with only a simple wooden cross. The grave yard was desolate except for the wild poppies that were blooming between the crosses that marked the graves of those who were killed in battle. Unable to help his friend or other fallen soldiers, John McCrae gave them a voice by writing a poem that would be known through the ages, "In Flanders Field."

It is a poignant piece of literature that I think is akin to "Danny Boy". Richard loves it so much he has committed it to memory.

In Flanders Fields by John Mc Crae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The Larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Field

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yourse to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

WE SHALL NOT SLEEP,

THOUGH POPPIES GROW

IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

To add to the festivities, we attended a Remembrance Day Choir Concert that was held in an old

Temperance Hall in a neighboring town. This choir is put together by James Loynes, a church member who is young, handsome and very talented. He sings all the old vintage music and his choir numbers reflected that. They were all from the 40's and included such numbers as "White Cliffs of Dover" and "Apple Blossom Time". It is a choir of older people that he puts together in 8 weeks and it is quite amazing. (Go on his web site jamesloynes.com)
The old hall was decorated with flags and banners and it was such fun to capture the local flavor of the evening.

All in all, this has been a wonderful holiday season. Now, we roll into Christmas. We will have Thanksgiving here but the rest of the country is now headed towards Christmas. And not to be out done, we have put our decorations up and turned on the Christmas music! Why not!!!

Names

This is just a quicky.

We just sent off a wonderful missionary couple who will be serving in Germany. They are the parents of 6 outstanding children - 5 boys and 1 girl. But here's the cute part.....

They named them according to the alphabet.

Achim, Bernd, Claus, Dirk, Edneim and finally.....Fabiola

They thought it was so fabulous to have a girl they named her accordingly!!!

The Cotswolds - a pictoral view

The only way to see the Coswolds is to see them. And we did just that. We had a brief but enchanting jaunt through this exquiste area. It was breathtaking. We motored from village to village, enjoying the splendor of it all.

The limestone hills of this area are dotted with wonderful little villages. This fairy-tale region of England was once the center of the wool industry. Made rich by wool from their sheep, the landowners invested in homes and churches that today still stand and create picture-book villages built from limestone which has a yellow hue and glistens in the sun. .......
Their names are as whimsical as their appearance.
The autumn colors are still apparent..
This is......
BOURTON ON THE WATER

The drive from village to village was as beautiful as the village itself.

The post offices here are also gift shops. Another way to bring in a pound!

BIBURY -- one of the most beautiful.

CHELTENHAM - birthplace of the Walker ancestors. This is one of the larger towns. And this is the latest Walker -- on the Promenade - considered the prettiest Main Street around

The church in Painswick is surrounded by a graveyard where 99 yew trees, cut into bizarre bulbous shapes resembling lollipops, surrounding an amazing collection of tombstones. Folklore has it that the devil prevents the 100th tree from growing! But who needs one more of these?!!

This little shop was irresistable. The owner begins setting out his wares every morning at 5 a.m. And every evening he packs it up and puts it away. It is a work of art -- a picture postcard. The vegetables and fruit are so beautifully displayed that you hate to pick one up and destroy the layout. The inside was as cute as the outside.

It was worth 6 bananas for us.

This is what pyracantha looks like when it is trimmed and trained. The orange berries against the yellow tinted house was beautiful!

A quick look at BROADWAY!

Our little hotel in STOW ON THE WOLD! An absolutely charming little village with a beautiful market square surrounded with little shops, Christmas lights and interesting people.

The river Avon in STATFORD ON AVON - Shakespeare's home.

This was a quicky trip to end all quicky trips. We savored every second of it.

Holidays....and more

Halloween is not a big holiday here. You see a few decorations and a few pumpkins but no school parades, no trick or treating, no parties, with a few exceptions. Those who have spent any time in America know the holiday and love it. Of course we celebrated -- These children belong to our Manager of Training and they dressed them up and brought them over to trick or treat. Of course, we dressed up for dinner and told them a little about the Halloween traditions in America. A little comic relief in a very intense schedule!!! (the couple with us is from Austria and will be serving in Germany.) They are wonderful. We love having couples with us. They add a dimension and depth to the young missionaries. We wish we had more.**********
This is the city of Blackpool. It is a coastal city resort town with beaches and vendors. The "Coney Island" of Northern England. (of course I have never been to Coney Island so how would I know!) Each fall they have what they call "Illumination" which basically consists of a mile long street decorated with lights. These pix are blurry because we were riding on a trolley that was jerking its way along the tracks and had very dirty windows -- but you get the idea. People drive the mile or walk or ride the trolley. It has a touch of cheezy magic about it.

Check out this meal. On our "Best of Britain" night the missionaries eat fish and chips and the chef prepares a fancy meal for us and serves it in our china dishes. He gets so excited and goes all out to come up with something wonderful. He has promised to give us a cooking class before we go home, but I don't have high expectations as he never uses a recipe, just does everything by taste and looks! We would never eat like this in a restuarant because we would never pay the price!

In the meantime, the missionaries love the fish and chips!!!

And finally -- Guy Fox night, better known as Bonfire Night. This is a BIG holiday here. The story goes that in the 1600's a group of Protestants decided to kill the Catholic King. Their plot, under the leadership of Guy Fox, included putting 36 barrels of gun powder in the basement of parliment. When the king came to give his opening address, they would blow him up. But, somebody squeeled and the plan was aborted. Guy Fox was caught and killed. Today they celebrate that event by burning bonfires and lighting fireworks. So.......after we gave the missionaries a little history of the event, we stepped outside and waved our sparklers. As the evening wore on, the air became thick with bonfire smoke and we stood at our window and watched the fireworks display in the distance. (something akin to our 4th of July only not as big.)