A week in the life of......

This is just a review of a week in our life in England....no pix, just chat.

It is fun to be in Great Britain during the Olympics altho I must say that were it not for the TV coverage we would not know it was happening.  There is nothing in the shops or on the streets that would give a hint of such an event. Even in Manchester, where some of the events are being held, you see nothing.  I am told that in London that is not the case.  Olympic paraphenalia is all over the place.  I finally found an Olympic Pin in Tesco (the equivalent of KMart) which I wear on my lapel, but no one seems to notice or care.  It feels quite strange after experiencing the Salt Lake Olympics first hand and being totally absorbed in those 2 weeks of excitement and events.

The other noticeable difference is that the coverage is centered on British athletes (and well it should be).  They did give Michael Phelps some play last night but the news casters had to stand in line after NBC to get a brief interview.

There is much "to do" over the many empty seats that are in the arenas.  Someone may be de-knighted for allowing such a thing!

We loved the Opening Ceremony -- very British!

And all of this is renewing British admiration for the Queen.  The older she gets the more they like her.  I am taking comfort in that and hoping it might be a universal characteristic which will carry over to us.

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Took another walk this week without a camera so no pix.  Knott End by-the-Sea.  So how is that for a name? It is a little tiny coastal village but so cute!  It was cool but the sun was out so no complaints.

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We have an interesting group of missionaries this time.  There are little undercurrents that keep surfacing -- about pranks, sleep walking, and blatant disobedience.   It has kept Richard busy, just ferreting out the problems and trying to resolve them.  Some of them have to be done with elders who speak little English so he uses a dictionary that cross references their language and writes down all the words that he will need to use  so that he can converse with them.  It is tedious and slow but very effective.  They cannot pretend like they don't understand when he shows them the words in their language.  Words like coffee and chocolate are not the same and when they realize he can't be fooled they finally buckle.

For the first time we have no sisters in this group and are beginning to wonder if the lack of their influence is making it easier for the elders to act out.  Don't know, just a thought.

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Last week we took a drive, plugged the route into our Tom Tom (GPS) and went our way.  Everything was great until we came to a narrow road and were instructed to turn Right.  We did just that and found ourselves on a one lane road with 6 foot rock walls on both sides.  Now our car is bigger than the standard British car but we still had inches on each side of it and crept along doing just as our computerized navigator instructed.  We came to a bend in the road and by holding our breath we made it but soon discovered that the rock walls were getting closer.  We pulled in the side mirrors and relaxed a little as that gave us the extra inches we needed.  But after only a few yards the street again narrowed and now we were touching on each side, gently scraping the sides of the car.  We could see the end of the street ahead but there was no way to go forward and no way to go back.  We were trapped between 2 rock walls that had no give in them.  I began to assess the situation and figured we had enough water in the car to last until rescured but rescue was impossible as there was no sun roof and therefore no way out of the car.  And so I did what any supportive wife would do.  I put a pillow over my head and gasped!  I could feel the scraping and could hear the bells and whistles on the car screeming signaling that we were too close to something (DUH!)

Richard forged on -- one scrape after another.  Finally a man who looked down the road and saw our distress came to direct us but all he could do was wince and gasp and we pushed forward.

........the long and short of it......we made it with several scrapes on the car but after a quick trip to the body shop, the incident will be forgotten! (by some!)

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And finally,

You may recall that about 6 months ago we met a young man working in a Sandwich shop in the Manchester train station.  He recognized our badges and asked if we could stay and he would take his dinner break.  He wanted to talk with us.  We found he was an inactive member of the Church from France, now living in Manchester.  Very recently he had been thinking of going back to church and getting his life in order but he didn't know what to do or how to do it.  We took him through the steps....talking with his bishop, etc.  We bore our testimonies and wished him well. 

Sunday night we spoke at a YSA fireside in Manchester and while there had a wonderful experience.

When we walked into the building a young man came up and asked that proverbial question, "Do you remember me?"  And amazingly, Richard did remember that night in the train station eating a sandwich and listening to Andre's story.

Seems that the very following Sunday he went to his bishop and has been going ever since! 

In addition there were 3 investigators there who felt the spirit and were moved in the right direction.

 

These little moments make up for all the many times you talk and teach and hope and pray and think you have someone on the live wire only to find they have lost the spirit and moved in a different direction.

I have so much admiration and respect for these young people who doggedly keep going in the face of disappointment and adversity.