Christmas Day and Boxing Day

(from Carol's journal)

Christmas day was a mixture of emotions. Being at church was comforting and yet I was wistful as I saw families gathered together and noticed the absence of others who had traveled elsewhere to be with their loved ones. Everyone was cordial and more, yet we felt alone because we weren’t with our families.

Many of them had brought small wrapped gifts that they passed to their friends. We did receive two gifts which made us feel not so left out. Candy in one and homemade gingerbread cookies in the other.

Everyone participated in the program which was Christmas songs and scripture reading. By the time the Relief Society Choir, Priesthood Choir and the family with the Primary children sang, that covered everybody.

I had told the elders that they were welcome to eat dinner with us if they didn’t get a better offer. I just figured they’d be happier being with a family and a decorated house rather than with us in our flat with one decoration. We knew that they wanted to come over and use our computer to skype with their families later in the day, beyond that we didn’t know for sure.

As it turned out they rode home with us after church. Christmas Day is the only day that the buses do not run at all so we had driven to church. Elder Parrett entertained the elders for the 3 plus hours that it took the ham to bake. They must have been quite hungry by the time we ate. They had seconds on the salad, the carrot dish disappeared completely and a quantity of lovely ham was down the hatch along with the rolls.



Although they checked their email using our computer, they decided to skype the next day at another location. I was looking forward to hearing Elder Simon from Georgia speak his native language.

They asked if they could get a ride to the home of our former bishop. That was no problem. But after a few hours they called and asked if we could pick them up from there and take them home. That was a problem. Bill detests driving here at best and refuses to drive in downtown Brighton. As it turns out, at 10 pm on Christmas night with no buses around, it was quite civil. The elders live along the seafront so that’s the way we went and nobody got killed.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants This custom is linked to an older English tradition: in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food)from Wikipedia

We had been looking forward to our dinner on Boxing Day with a couple from another ward who have been assigned to the Brighton Ward. They live in Seaford which is almost to Eastbourne. That would be around 20 miles from here and it took us an hour and 20 minutes.

We rode the bus since there was bus service, albeit reduced frequency. We enjoyed visiting while the food cooked and heard all about how they really don’t want Prince Charles to be king or rather they really don’t want Camilla to be Queen. Kate and William would be a much better choice.





The duck with orange sauce was quite nice and the vegetables typical of an English meal. Dessert was a Christmas pudding which was full of dried fruit and spices. And cream on top, of course. I have seen the puddings often in the grocery stores but had never bought one.

After that was a real surprise. I had seen gift-wrapped Christmas crackers in the stores, but thought it sounded boring. We soon found out that they aren’t crackers that you eat. They make a popping noise when opened and inside will be a plastic crown and other small treats. The proper way to open them is to cross your arms and grasp the crackers of your neighbors and pull. That’s a tradition that should be exported to America!





Our hosts, the Lawrances.

Mission Christmas Celebration and Brighton Ward Party

'Tis the season to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

The mission event was an all day affair starting with a temple session full of young elders and sisters.



Sister Kearl and her crew put out a delicious ham dinner. There was talk of some secret family recipe; I'll have to investigate.





After dinner the different districts put on skits either live or by video. What creativity was displayed by these young people! We really laughed at some like the Guernsey and Jersey Island missionaries who were so weirded out by having a face-to-face meeting. They were more comfortable talking on the phone since that's what they normally do. It's a long ferry ride between them.



On a more serious note,tears flowed as President Shamo paid tribute to his sister and brother-in-law. The Morgensens did a marvelous job of running the visitor’s centre and have now returned home.







Elder Morgensen sure got a kick out of snapping the belt to go with "Winter Wonderland" played by Elder and Sister Clark. (or whatever the song is where there is a crack of a whip)


Brighton Ward Christmas Party

In short it was games, food, entertainment and cleanup.




This Primary consists mostly of this family.



Santa couldn't make it but the three wise men arrived in the form of the bishopric. The Primary children gathered around to receive their gifts.



I'm glad the bishop will never see this awful picture. He lead us in the Twelve Days of Christmas.



Time to clean up and get the building ship shape for church in the morning. Notice Elder Parrett with the vacuum.



It's amazing how fast things happen when everybody helps.

Week of 4 December 2011

Getting to stake conference by bus was a new experience. the bus driver is our bishop! The bus parked right in front of the stake centre and seemed out of place.

On the trip home Bishop Mitchell drove down London Road and let us off right by our apartment building. Nice!

Sharlene, one of our YSAs and a recently returned missionary, spoke and gave a rip roaring message. “Do you know who you are?” she asked with feeling. She shared some great experiences from her mission. There was a man who walked 11 miles to attend church even after he broke his ankle.

President Shamo spoke and shared an incredible story. The mission got a batch of new missionaries recently. When he interviewed an elder from Fiji he could see stark terror in his eyes. The elder said he had never been on an airplane, had hardly ever worn a suit and said when his peers go on missions they stay in the islands. “Why am I here?” he asked. President Shamo didn’t have an answer other than that the Lord wants him here. The elder was assigned to Salisbury.On the first day at the first door that he knocked on he was amazed to see his uncle! He told him he had come half way around the world to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ and gave the baptismal challenge. The uncle said, “If you’ll do it.” The uncle was baptized ten days ago.

President Frost had three invitations for us.
1. Be at the temple on these dates, June 16th was the only one he mentioned. He said even if it’s only on the temple grounds he wants the stake to be there.
2. Every Sunday try to change our mindset and sit quietly contemplating for 15 minutes before the meeting to be ready for the Sacrament. (this will be a challenge)
3. More regularly extend invitations to to come to Christ.

Monday was the YSA Christmas Party. It was well attended and the elders brought their two 17 year old investigators, Baxter and Leah. They had a ball playing the games and visiting with the youth. One of the games is where a story is read and those who have been assigned a certain word or name have to run around all the chairs when the word is read. It gets pretty wild.





Wednesday was Institute class. The lesson was on Abraham 3 & 4 and lots about the facsimiles. I can’t make heads or tails of those; it's a good thing I'm not teaching. The YSA president left abruptly followed by her mother and a friend. Seems that she passed out in the hallway so they called an ambulance. When we left she was still in the ambulance in the parking lot and they were doing tests. Next day we found out that her blood pressure was very low and heart rate was fast. The doctors don’t know what’s going on with her. One things is for sure; she needs to cut down on stress which seems to bring her spells on.

Friday we went to a geocaching event in Eastbourne. We took the bus over during the daylight; it's a beautiful drive.



We walked around the pier.





These plants make it look so tropical.



Speaking of plants--do we need to watch for azaleas to cross our path?



Moonlight on water is always so romantic!


Time for some shopping: I found a kangaroo tie that I will send to Michael. A sports store was having a big sale and I got some new “trainers” (sneakers) and Bill got a wristwatch.

We had dinner at the same Fish n Chips place we ate at before. We boarded the bus that would take us a couple miles to the pub. Trouble is, we went to the one across the street first. Oops! Finally we got it sorted out and met the other two couples. One of the gals looked at our name tags and said a friend of hers has been looking for more information about the church. She said it was quite a coincidence. (not) I gave her a pass along card and one for her friend.

The trip back on the bus was interesting in that it seemed to be the time to head to Brighton to party. Young people dressed oddly got on at many of the stops. Some of the girls were already drunk and giggly. Thank goodness they went upstairs while we were with the more sedate people below. It was 11 pm when we got home and there was a package waiting for us. A good friend sent goodies from Idaho. One of my favorite things in it was some Costco plastic wrap. Over here the cutters are plastic and do a miserable job. We often resort to using scissors, but now I've got the real deal!

P-day in Lewes and more...

Last Friday we toured Lewes (pronounced Lewis) which isn’t far from Brighton. It has an old world charm and reminds me of the miniature villages people have on their mantels at Christmastime.

Lewes in relation to Brighton. The red dot is where we live and the blue dot is where the church is.

You can see Lewes lying like a box of toys under a great amphitheatre of chalk hills ... on the whole it is set down better than any town I have seen in England.
—William Morris (1834-1896)

"The Saxons built a castle, having first constructed its motte as a defensive point over the river; they gave the town its name.
After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror gave Lewes to William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey. He built Lewes Castle on the Saxon site. In 1148 the town was granted a charter by King Stephen. The town became a port with docks along the Ouse River." (they pronounce it like ooze)

We had to check out the castle. This gate was built a little later, but it's still old.

The castle proper.

The Battles of Lewes in 1264!

Brewery on the river Ouse.

This was one heck of a flea market! Two stories and lots of rooms of all manner of stuff, old and new.

Back in Brighton we watched ice skaters at the Pavillion. Looks like fun!

An American Thanksgiving

The senior missionaries gathered at President and Sister Shamo's lovely home in greater London for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. They live in Cobham which is by Oxshott near Dorking. Sister Shamo had roasted three turkeys and the 20 guests brought their assigned dishes.

President Shamo is recovering from shoulder surgery. He slipped on a muddy path weeks ago and broke his fall with his elbow trying to protect his camera.

These lucky elders joined in also. The office elders get to join the senior missionaries on their fun excursions since they drive the van. The other set of elders are the assistants to President Shamo.

Can it be Thanksgiving without American football? Apparently not. On his iPad President Shamo shared a collage of classic football games. One was BYU-SMU where BYU got 4 touchdowns in the last three minutes.

Later we were treated to a visit from the tenth leper who shared his story of gratitude for being healed by Jesus. We were quite surprised when he walked into the room dressed as he would have been so long ago. We understand that Elder Cook has done this presentation many, many times.

One Year To Go!

It’s hard to think that ⅓ of our mission is history. We feel that our best days are ahead of us, although we’ve had some very good ones recently.

For example here’s my journal entry for last Tuesday:
It started off with a doctor’s visit for me. The doctor took my blood pressure and assured me that I’m fine. She said the brown spot on my jawline isn’t cancer. I really didn’t think it was.

We met with the elders for their district meeting at the church. It was much more upbeat than last week’s meeting which was unusual in it’s tenor. Nobody was in the dumps today.

After that we took a bus to Churchill Square and bought some Cornish Pasties and a drink and boarded a 700 bus bound for Worthing.

The bus is also called the Coastliner since it goes along the coast for quite a ways. The pasties are a meat/potato/onion mixture inside of a thick crust. They were still quite warm as we ate them on the bus. Bill enjoyed his and mine seemed okay, but I don’t think I’ll buy another one.

After we left the industrial areas by Shoreham-by-the-Sea the scenery got better. Around Lansing the tide was out and there were quite a few boats just sitting on the mud. That includes houseboats too.

We got off the bus at the pier in Worthing. It looks like the one in Eastbourne which looks like the one in Brighton but not as grand. The tide was so far out the pier was mostly out of the water.

We spent a fair amount of time walking around admiring the shops that were along a pedestrian only street. We visited every charity shop we could find, looking for a jacket for Bill and whatever for me. No luck.

We stopped for an ice cream which gave us a good excuse to sit down for a while. Just as we finished we saw a double decker 700 bus stopping so we hustled on. Of course we went upstairs and got seats at the front.

Arriving at Churchill Square once again, we quickly got on a 25 bus which took us to the church. We had an appointment with President McFarlane at 5:45. He had invited Br. and Sister Bishop also so we could talk about our various responsibilities. It was a very productive meeting and we settled a lot of things. He had invited the YSA president to come a little later so that we could let her know what our responsibilities are and also to address some concerns. Tactfully Pres. McFarlane talked about respect in the meetings which has been a real concern of ours. (end of journal)

On Wednesdays we have the centre open in the afternoon for the YSAs to drop by. This last Wednesday the elders came along and were working the street in front of the church. They brought a 40-ish woman into the centre to teach her and since I was already sitting there I was able to join in after a while. She had some questions that I was able to answer and I bore testimony to the truth of what the elders had been teaching her. It was the highlight of my day!

Last Monday we had the assignment for the lesson for the YSA FHE. It went okay, nothing great. They did a good job of paying attention. One young man started looking at his smartphone and I was glad to see his friend nudge him and he put it away. Sometimes peer pressure is good!

Bill made a goof and got lots of laughs when he used the word “pants” which here means underwear. They let him know it’s “trousers” which sounds like something my grandfather would say.

Remembrance Sunday

People throughout Britain gathered to commemorate the servicemen and women who have died in conflict. Our elders were late to church because of a parade through downtown Brighton that disrupted bus service. At 11 am in Sacrament Meeting all stood to observe two minutes of silence. One of the speakers said that in the London Temple on Saturday they observed two minutes of silence also. Red poppies sprouted on lapels everywhere. The Queen led a procession in Whitehall and laid a wreath on the Cenotaph (whatever that is). It’s good to see that it isn’t just royalty and leaders but that everyone participated in some way to show respect.

YSAs
As I sat in church I couldn’t help but reflect on how many of the Young Single Adults hold leadership positions in the Brighton Ward: second counselor in the bishopric, ward mission leader, Elders Quorum president, councilor in the Young Women’s presidency and for today anyway lead the music and played piano. Since we’re sort of grandparents to them we can be justifiably proud.

One of the projects they recently completed was shoe boxes for the Samaritan’s Purse charity. The boxes are filled with grooming items, hard candy, soft toys and colored pencils, etc.

These boxes go to children living in orphanages in Romania and it’s the only Christmas gifts they will receive. It’s sad to think about but it’s good that there are organizations that can help.

Trip to Eastbourne
Last week we took a bus to Eastbourne which is on the coast about 18 miles to the east of Brighton. We were looking for a viewpoint for a photo of us we can use for a Christmas Card. We passed some beautiful scenery along the way:

I placed the camera on a rock and set the timer then ran. Oh, well.

Eastbourne's pier isn't as long or garish as the one at Brighton.

A gold Rolls?

We've never heard of that word, but we get the idea.

Back in Brighton. This is where we change buses when we go to church. On Sundays it's nice to hear the church bells ringing from St. Peter's which is about a block away.

A baptism! Always a happy day.