I love this video and its simple message. We were delighted to meet Bishop Cook at the Zone conference last Wednesday. He is currently a bishop in the Wandsworth Stake (greater London) and the video has gotten lots of hits since it came out.
More about zone conference:
The missionary purpose: Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
Much was said about inviting and teaching with power and then getting out of the way, so the spirit can testify. We need to make sure we aren't drawing undue attention to ourselves; it's not about us. The spirit is the teacher.
Every so often President Shamo gathers his senior missionaries for an outing of some sort. This time it was the Cabinet War Rooms in London. Since it was Bill's birthday the missionaries sang happy birthday to him in the middle of the museum. He was only slightly embarrassed.
"The museum comprises the Cabinet War Rooms, a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the Second World War, and the Churchill Museum, a biographical museum exploring the life of British statesman Winston Churchill."
Construction of the Cabinet War Rooms, located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster, began in 1938. They became operational in August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war in Europe. They remained in operation throughout the Second World War, before being abandoned in August 1945 after the surrender of Japan."
It's amazing that this location was kept secret until after the war.
It was great fun to visit with the other senior couples and compare notes on our Centres and the YSAs. Every location has their own particular challenges, it seems.
The Clarks from Oxford wanted to see some of London before they returned, so we walked with them down Parliament Street.
REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR A LARGER VIEW.
Downing Street is well guarded with a serious fence and stone-faced policemen with machine guns. I elected to not take their picture.
The Horse Guards were doing some sort of inspection.
Looking back from Trafalgar Square toward Westminster and "Big Ben" which is actually the bell in the tower.
We warned the Clarks that Trafalgar Square is often the site of demonstrations, etc. and we could see a crowd gathered and a very large screen. It turned out to be quite benign. Just a promotion for travel to Austria. Notice the London Eye in the background.
We had to show them the living wall of plants. It's quite fascinating and yes, they are growing in dirt.
They went into the nearby National Portrait Gallery while we hopped on a train back to Brighton. An excellent day!
Our mission president said it was okay for us to dress up, just no masks. Using Bill’s Boise State sweatshirt and t-shirt we came as Bronco fans. Using watercolors that one of the group had brought, I did my best with Bill’s face. And he has a lot of face!
Rapunzel and ??? (I haven't seen "Tangled" yet) This young man is just days away from leaving on his mission to the Philippines.
What happened to the no mask rule?
The one with spiders has just returned from her mission.
Believe it or not, this YSA is the ward mission leader.
In the middle is Emma, the president of the YSA council. She's dedicated and hard working. I hope she doesn't burn out!
I voted for her in the best costume contest, but she didn't win.
Time to make mummies!
After that they played Mafia, which takes a long time. Finally they set up for volleyball and we understand they played until 2 AM. They really know how to party!
We've been living in Brighton for 10 days now and have settled in for the most part. We still have a few things to buy, like chairs. It's sort of like playing house: nothing is real. The flat has new carpet and paint, so we're doing our best to keep it clean. Shoes come off at the door.
The red circle is where our balcony is hiding behind the leaves. You can put our postcode in google maps and get a similar view with street view. BN18QQ
My favorite part is the view of the park across the street. This morning we explored it again and found some ponds. Fun!
The kitchen is small but has a lot of storage. Some of it is beyond my reach, so a step stool is on our list of things to buy.
I had the kitchen mostly put together when I found another drawer! The one under the dranboard is functional. All the sinks I've seen over here come with the drainboard attached.
It's been a long, long time since I've cooked with gas. Now it strikes me as barbaric to have an open flame in the house. But it sure is faster than electric.
People here are amazed when we tell them how large refrigerators are in the U.S.
Now for that strange thing on the stove. It's a grill and I haven't had the courage to try it yet. Incidentally they call a stovetop a hob and the oven is a cooker.
This is the hot water heater. It's gas-fired and also heats the water for the radiators. How can anything so small do that? The ad for the flat said it had gas central heating. That phrase means something quite different here from what we were thinking.
Bill said I could have the whole closet in the larger bedroom and he'd use the one in the small bedroom. Wow, it has these built-ins so I don't need a dresser at all.
I even have a place for cosmetics, etc. and an outlet for my curing iron.
We bought some furniture at a charity shop. Bill had to remove a door to get it into the lounge (livingroom) but it made it. He said when it leaves it'll be by being thrown over the balcony.
We're still using those green plastic chairs at the table while we look for something better.
Last night was the official launch of the Centre for Young Adults in Brighton attended by the Mayoress of Brighton herself.
The centre is what used to be the Relief Society room and it looks like I didn’t actually take any photos of it. It has Ikea sofas, pillows, coffee tables and floor lamps. Plus two computers. It looks nice and the young people like lounging around there.
After some short talks the mayor cut the ribbon officially opening the centre.
I still have a hard time dealing with a chapel that doubles as a gym when the curtain is pulled or the podium is removed. It makes sense here where land is so expensive but it still bothers me.
The mayor stayed around and visited for quite some time. She likes that we make quite a bit of effort to reach out to the community.
The YSA committe did a great job of making displays of their activities. This shows a service project of newborn kits and other things.
Dancing with the Wii looked like fun.
Their budget allowed for catered food. I'm for that!
Foosball is very popular with them. I doubt that they call it that though.
Since he didn't get hurt it was okay to laugh at President Frost's pratfall. Hope the iPad is okay!
Even the elders got into the action.
Bishop Spiers takes on his son at ping pong.
The evening was a great success and everyone pitched in to clean up afterward. We look forward to the next year + here in Brighton with these youth.
