Sunday, April 16, 2017

The time is really flying by us, it seems. We are staying busy and I guess that helps. We love what we are doing and we feel like we are really serving the Lord so we find our jobs very satisfying. We are very comfortable in our living arrangements and life style in London. Everywhere we go it is tube, bus, walk or take a cab or a combination. We avoid taxi's as much as possible they are expensive and no faster than public transportation. Joyce is getting around on her own very well now, like when she goes to have her hair done, we are true converts to big city living. We love working with our London Mission missionaries, Joyce and several senior sister missionaries made Easter Baskets for the missionaries this week and we attended one of their Zone Conferences. They are truly wonderful young people, committed to the work, clean, wholesome and willing to give of themselves. We always look at them and think of our two grandsons who are also serving now. We are getting ready for a lunch we are hosting next week for seven Ambassadors from Latin American Countries. We are excited to tell them about all of the wonderful things The Church is doing for the people in their country. In, what they call the Latin American Group,21 Ambassadors from Central and South America, we will report that LDS Charities has provided collectively to their countries $3.3 Billion. Keep paying your Fast Offerings. Saturday we had another adventure we went to Hampton Court Palace, which became the home of Henry VIII, after he talked Cardinal Woolsey out of it. It has been added on to several times by subsequent Kings and Queens and the grounds are magnificent. Sir Christoper Wren was the designer of most of it and he is famous for designing St. Pauls Cathedral. It took us two bus transfers to get there but we enjoy sightseeing on the top deck of double-decker buses. We took a train and the tube home public transportation is wonderful and Joyce is very relaxed because she doesn't have to look for parking places for me. We are enjoying the mission, we miss our family and friends, like getting together today for Easter, but we are blessed for our service. We enjoy wearing our Mission Name Badges we have been stopped several times on the street but never a negative. We love you and pray for you. Love, Joyce and Stan

Sunday, April 2, 2017

I have been a little negligent on keeping up on our blog but I will repent. Two weeks ago Jennifer, Brett, Jordan and Eliot visited us for four days and we had a marvelous time. We were on the go non-stop, the weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed being together in this wonderful city. We had one work interruption, on Tues. Joyce and I had an appointment with the Ambassador from Kenya who turned out to be delightful and we made a good friend. As we met with her we learned she has visited Salt Lake, attended a Humanitarian Aid seminar there and was very impressed by The Church. We met Jennifer, Jordan and Eliot right after and went to Trafalgar Square, walked down Whitehall past 10 Downing Street and visited the Churchill War Museum or the Bunker. After that we walked around the corner to Westminster, took pictures of Big Ben and walked around the"Estate". Twenty two hours later the deranged Muslim killed people on Westminster Bridge and ran his car into the fence close to where we had been walking. Timing is everything. We were sorry to see the kids leave because we love having visitors. We also met that week with the Deputy Ambassador from India, we had a nice visit and it was fun to see the Embassy. The building is full of Teak Wood and the Security to get in is as tight as The Whitehouse. On Friday we caught the train to Chorley for a meeting of the United Kingdom Public Affairs Council. Chorley is a suburb of Preston and is where the Preston Temple is and the MTC also a big Stake Center. It is a beautiful campus and a great location. The other Public Affairs Missionaries in the UK, Ron and Marie Partridge met us at the train station and drove us around in their car. The Preston Area is very rich in church history and the Ribble Valley where Chorley is. We visited a little village called Downham which was featured in the Church News about a month ago and it is beautiful and quaint. There are no antenna's, overhead wires or any trappings of modern conveniences, it appears as it must have two hundred years ago, a lot of movies are filmed there because of that. Our meetings were good, we had people from Scotland, Wales and England there and it was conducted by an Area Authority 70, Cliff Herbertson. We can tell the difference between an English and Scottish brogue. Sunday, March 26 is Mothering Day or Mums Day in England but we decided we will celebrate on the US Mothers Day. We have also met with the Ambassador from Swaziland, who is a Christian, and very interested in Religions. We have spent a lot of time with Baroness Nicholson, a member of The House of Lord's, planning a summit she conducts in the fall. She is getting an Honorary Doctorate Degree from BYU at the end of April, she is not a member of The Church but very helpful in many ways. We have become very good friends with her. The work is going well, so far we feel we are making a difference and we are enjoying our mission immensely. We miss you all and the association we have enjoyed with each of you, but their is great joy in serving the Lord. Love to all, Joyce and Stan The Hyde Park Chapel and our office