Last Update of our London Mission

Two weeks ago, a man from Hungary came into the Centre for help with his CV. He spoke very little English and his CV was in Hungarian, so we got the help of a missionary from Hungary who just happened to be at the mission office that day. They worked together, translated the CV, and we formatted it. The next time the man came in, he was not so much interested in the CV; he wanted to work on family history. With our little knowledge of Hungarian and his information, we were able to enter his parents, grandparents, and one set of great-grandparents into FamilySearch and reserve their temple ordinances. It was sweet! As Lynn was typing in the names of his grandparents, he called them “Papa” and “Mommy.” His gratitude was overwhelming. You never know what you are going to be doing on a mission! The Lord had us prepared for that task and helped us do it.

One of the Chinese members we helped at the Employment/Self-Reliance Centre referred two of her friends to us. We helped them with their CVs (résumés) and job search tips.  One of them returned last week to practice interview skills. She came in on Thursday just to tell us goodbye. She was very sweet and stayed to chat. Two missionaries happened by, one of them from Singapore, and started a conversation with her. Since we weren’t busy at the moment, we invited them to sit down and join our chat. The conversation led to the fact that this girl had read from the Bible that belonged to a friend. She had a question about the cousin of Jesus. This led to a great discussion of baptism and the missionaries borrowed our laptop to show her a video about John baptizing Jesus. It was brilliant that Elder Tan could explain some things in her own language. It was a wonderful spiritual experience and we hope it will lead to others for this young woman. She said she will come back to visit us this next week.

Our big recent event was fulfilling a life-long dream of Kaye’s by going to Scotland to see where her Frew ancestors came from. 

 

Ready to leave for Scotland

Scene from the train as we rode through the Lake District. Note the stone fences.

 We rode the train to Glasgow and then to Saltcoats, where we stopped to walk around and get a feeling for the town. 

Our first glimpse of Saltcoats by the Irish Sea

A street leading from the train station

We found many old buildings, including the Ardrossan Parish church, dating from the 1770’s.

We got on the train and went to Kilwinning. We started down the main part of town, and suddenly found Frews Barber Shop on the main street! We were sorry it was closed.

 

Frews Barber Shop in Kilwinning

Some old-looking buildings in Kilwinning

Another old building

Oldest of all are the abbey ruins, dating from the 1200’s.

 

Part of the abbey ruins in Kilwinning

We decided to find our bed and breakfast accommodations but could not find the street. We asked a couple we met on a corner and they told us where the street was, but the woman told us it was a “wee bit of a walk” to the B&B. We asked if they knew how we could call a taxi, and he got out his phone but then said, “Oh, we’ll take you there!” He got his car and they drove us about 2 miles until we reached our destination. We offered to pay them for the petrol but they said no, and it seemed they would have been insulted if we had insisted. Such kindness! The proprietress, Margaret, at the B&B was just as kind and greeted us with hugs.

 

Nethermains Farmhouse and Lodge in Kilwinning

The part of the house we slept in was built in 1620 and had walls 27 inches thick—very quiet, especially as we thought of the busy, noisy street where we live in London!

As Margaret drove us to the train station the next morning, we told her why we were visiting and that the ancestor name was Frew. She said that she was a teacher and had taught three generations of Frews and that they were very prominent in Kilwinning, and had been from the beginning, the 1200’s. They currently own several businesses in addition to the barber shop.

We rode the train back to Glasgow and on to Edinburgh. One of Kaye’s Fraser ancestors came from a suburb of Edinburgh, and we were told to make sure we visited Edinburgh if we ever got to Scotland. At every turn in Edinburgh, there is a beautiful old building, many with turrets and towers. Kaye is sure that every street in Edinburgh runs uphill!

 

An old building on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh

We took a tour of the Palace at Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarchy in Scotland, a beautiful building dating from the 1400's. It is very close to Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano and the highest point in Edinburgh. Parley P. Pratt spoke there and missionaries visit the spot often.

 

The Palace at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh

St. Giles’ Cathedral, Church of Scotland, with its distinctive crown spire, sits on the Royal Mile, the High Street running between Edinburgh Castle and Holyroodhouse Palace. It is absolutely beautiful inside! The day we visited someone was playing the magnificent organ.

 

St. Giles from the outside

The nave of St. Giles

The amazing ceiling in one of the side aisles in St. Giles

Edinburgh Castle sits high on a steep volcanic mountain. It dominates the city!

 

Edinburgh Castle

Sunday we visited the Edinburgh Ward were interested to hear the Bishop announce that during the testimony time, there would be nothing political said. There were chuckles. You may be aware that Scotland votes this week on whether to remain in the UK or to become a separate nation! This is huge!

After the meetings, a missionary couple that we had met in training meetings took us to their flat for a lovely dinner.  Then they surprised us by driving to see the heather on the hill, disappointingly brown this time of year. They drove us clear to the Scottish Borders and then to see Arthur’s Seat and a view of the Firth of Forth. It was a memorable afternoon.

You can see that the heather on the hill has turned brown!

A pasture with sheep in the Scottish Borders; we saw many sheep and cattle in beautiful green fields on this trip, some with hedgerows and some with rock walls.

Next-to-last Post!

We must have become true Brits, because we made bubble and squeak the other night. Really, it is just left-over vegetables, with or without meat, fried together in a pan. The name comes from the sound it makes while cooking.

In Fast Meeting a few weeks ago, a young woman bore her testimony who had joined the Church in May. She explained that she had been raised Muslim and when she found the gospel, she had to choose between the Church and her family. Because she knew the gospel was true, she joined the church. The first time she came into the church house, she felt such joy. She said she didn’t know how to pray, but the missionaries taught her, and she cried as she prayed for the first time. She had a radiant, happy look about her. She has amazing faith and testimony.

Recently, our mission president asked us to do some research on the Pathway program from BYU Idaho and on the Perpetual Education Fund for two sister missionaries who are about to return home. One is from Albania and the other is our “own” Sister Stewart from Hong Kong (whom our granddaughter Sarah taught on her mission). Brad was able to help us do some research through BYUI and we corresponded with a sister missionary in Albania. Lynn was able to administer the English language test for the Albanian sister so she can enter the Pathway program upon arrival at home. We were very happy to be able to help.

This same dear Sister Stewart completed her mission and returned home to Hong Kong last week. We became her ‘London grandparents’ and will miss her but are happy to see her complete a great mission and return home.

London is commemorating the centennial of World War I by placing a ceramic poppy at the Tower of London for every British and Colonial soldier who died in the Great War, a total of 888,246 poppies. They are being placed in the dry moat, but in a couple of places they cascade down from a tower on a wire frame. It is quite striking.

Kaye’s niece, Mindy, arrived in London a week and a half ago and is staying with us until she can get into a flat and get settled. She is spending her two-month work sabbatical in London. Fun!

The ward we have been attending gave us an impromptu farewell party, took a ward picture all together, had a munch and mingle, and said nice things. Bishop Onaolapo, sitting next to Lynn, said we had been "mother and father" to the ward. It was very sweet and we will miss them very much. Another couple was told farewell also—a young American couple with two children. He has been attending school here.

Events in London

We have extended our mission in order to “mind the gap” between our original completion date and the arrival of our replacement couple. We now will arrive home on Sep 19. As anxious as we are to see everyone, we felt that extending was the right thing to do in order to keep the Employment Centre open for that time.

We have heard some exciting news from Levente Medveczky, the BYU student from Hungary we are sponsoring. He is playing the organ for the BYU Devotional this Tuesday, August 5. He is playing the special number as well as the prelude and postlude. We invite any who can to tune in to byutv (live or online) at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday. We don’t know if the musical number appears in rebroadcasts.

There have been a series of protests in London by people supporting Palestine in its present conflict with Israel. Some of the protests have been on Kensington High Street, near our flat. We are including a picture of protesters as they leave the area, walking down our street.

We set a record this month with the most people coming into the Employment Resource Centre that we have experienced so far. Last Saturday we taught a Career Workshop in a nearby stake with six people attending from six different countries. People from 42 countries have been served by the Centre since we started keeping track. Here are the countries we have listed so far at the Centre:

Angola, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Columbia, Cyprus, Eritrea, England, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Germany, Guinea, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Moldova, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, Viet Nam, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe

 Here are the workshop participants. It was a fun workshop with lots of participation.

There is a change coming to the welfare program in the Church, including employment resources. It is called the Self-Reliance Initiative. It’s being introduced around the world, area by area, with emphasis on direction by local Priesthood leaders. Stakes and wards will be organizing self-reliance committees in an effort to more fully help the members meet their needs. The U.S. will be the last country to receive it. The Initiative also involves brilliant changes to the Perpetual Education Fund in countries where that is active. (PEF is not active in the US or most of Europe.) The changes will largely take effect after we leave but we are excited about the implications.

Yesterday we took one of the “London Walks through History” that the BYU Centre students take and, as we came through Grosvenor Square to see the US Embassy, we first saw the American flag waving high above the trees. We felt quite emotional about seeing it. We share these pictures with you; the second one shows the eagle at the top of the building.

We are so grateful to be serving a mission here. We serve because of our testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and our love for our Savior and Heavenly Father. This morning as we rode the bus on the way to church, we passed a church of another denomination and saw a sign on the side of the building that said, “Jesus is your friend. He will always be there for you. He will never fail you.” Beneath it was a gold cross with the crucified Savior on it. As Kaye looked at that figure, the image of the Christus statue at the Hyde Park Visitors’ Centre entered her mind. The contrast between the dead Jesus and the living Savior is so striking! Jesus is not dead—He lives and He certainly is our friend—daily, moment by moment. With our emphasis on the living Christ, we can much more easily imagine Him to be with us! And, because He lives, we will live also. How glorious is the prospect for us and our families to live with Him and His Father.

An Unforgettable Experience

For our blog entry this time, we want to try to give you a flavor for the talk our Bishop gave in Ward Conference, even though there’s no way to really convey his delivery and the impact of his words. Bishop Onaolapo is from Nigeria and is a giant of a man—physically and spiritually. His talk was all about how much our Heavenly Father and the Savior love us. Bishop O. speaks with a serious, direct, authoritative manner, looking directly at the audience, using no notes. He stepped to the side of the pulpit occasionally, speaking directly to us. His love comes through his voice, his eyes and his facial expression. He speaks slowly, pausing often and he is to be listened to.

L to R: Yomi, the YM Pres; E. Garner; Bishop Onaolapo

Bishop O. began with Matthew 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Thanks to Kaye’s shorthand, here are some of the Bishop’s words:  “Our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us. He has given us His Son, His only begotten Son, His Beloved Son, out of love for us. Jesus Christ has given His life out of love. God gave His Son…and He did not stop there! He gave a gift to us of the Holy Ghost to guide and help us because He loves us. He did not stop there! Our Heavenly Father gave us a living prophet because He loves us. And He doesn’t stop there! He gave us the scriptures because He loves us. Did you see that? Did you see how much He loves us? He knew there are chances that we will make mistakes. He gave us the process of repentance. If you repent with a sincere heart, He will forgive you and the slate will be wiped clean. We are His children. He wants us to return to live with Him. He has provided everything… Look at our ward. We are from all over the world.” He quoted from Matthew 25…  “I was hungered, and ye gave me meat…” He continued, “He is telling us to be our brothers’ keepers. We should love [each other] and be a shoulder for members to cry on…uplift each other…we need to be patient with each other. We are from all walks of life. We are going to step on each other’s foot once in awhile. It is always good to talk…to forgive. Our part is to learn to forgive.” He quoted from John, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. … If we are honestly grateful for His sacrifice, we will do the things He would have us do.” He said people come to him with something to give, asking him to pass it to a person they name who needs help. “But,” they say, “don’t let them know it is from us.” He ended by saying, “There is a lot of work for us to do. As we continue to put our heads together, we can do it. Our Heavenly Father will continue to bless us….I want you to know that there is a God and He loves us so much.”

Because we are assigned to Bishop Onaolapo’s ward, we travel there each Sunday. If we make all the connections just right (bus, then underground train, then overground train), it takes us 75-85 minutes to get there and the same amount of time to come back. All the travel has been worth it just to hear the Bishop’s talk!

After a baptism in the Ilford Ward. Starting with the missionary on the right in the second row, the five to his right are the members of one family who were baptized. Great ward support.