Letter from the Mission President

Along with the customary welcome letter from the mission president, we received the “unofficial and unauthorized information for senior missionary couples serving in London also known as “things we wish we had known earlier.”

Some highlights:

The good:
    Walmart is available as ASDA. There are numerous charity shops (thrift stores)
    Most food that we are used to will be available but with different brands.
    We will be issued a mobile phone for use during our stay.
    Freedom passes for the local buses, the tube and most trains within greater     London are free to those over 60!
    VISA credit cards can be used for most all purchases.

The bad:
    Canned pumpkin and Kool-whip aren’t available. (Thanksgiving won’t be the     same!)
    If we have a television set we will need to pay an annual TV tax.
    Even renters need to pay property taxes.
    There is a 17% VAT tax.
    Don’t be surprised if while you are riding a bus that it is announced that it is     terminating at the next stop or even between stops.

The unexpected:
    They suggest we bring our Costco card!
    Recipes made with UK marshmallows will be vastly different. Hmmm.
    Pancakes made with their mixes are like crepes. That sounds good to me.
    Soda crackers are called cream crackers.
    Graham crackers are called digestive biscuits.
    They don’t refrigerate eggs.
    Some senior missionaries wish they had brought two laptops instead of just one.

From President Shamo:       
    “Know that the Spirit will be with you in abundance and your family will be blessed in your absence. Be assured. What the Lord told Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in 1833 in relation to a church assignment which took them away from their families, He tells to you: ‘Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my friends...your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.’ D&C 100:1”
  

I hope we never see this place!

Fox News

No, not the network, the family of Fox.

After sharing our mission news with my distant cousin in England, Farrell Fox, I got this reply:

Farrell wrote: "that is very good news indeed. Although not as sprightly on my legs these days, I will be pleased to show you the Fox sites in Bath."

and also:

"Bath is very conveniently located and the Fox sites are
all on the main roads and easily accessible. Bath
is a superb place to visit anyway.

It will be very interesting to show you where Mary Fox came from. It
is absolutely amazing that 3 of the four houses she lived in are still
there. Bath is unique in how they preserve the old buildings.
We can even go across onto Dutch Island where the Brassmills were
on the pictures we shared."

I am extremely delighted to hear this response; it's everything I hoped for. I've dreamed of visiting the family sites in England and to have a cousin show us around will be even better. This is a painting of the Brass Mill where our Fox ancestors labored.

79 Days to go--

We are very excited at the prospect of serving our mission in England. We have been assigned to the London South Mission which takes in quite a large area south and west of London. We still have a lengthy checklist of items to complete before we report to the Mission Training Center in Provo, like more immunizations and deciding which clothes to squash into two suitcases.

We will fly out on May 16 leaving behind our home and children, grandchildren, and dear friends. And our dog. Although we will miss all that's familiar at home we will be having an educational and cultural experience like no other. We are grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord in this way.

We will be serving at the mission office which is by the London Temple in Newchapel in Surrey.
Our address will be:
Elder William Roy Parrett
Sister Carol Parrett
England London South Mission
The London Temple
West Park Road
Newchapel, Surrey
England RH7 6NB