Last month we had a wonderful trip to the London Temple with 30 of our young adults, spending some time in the visitors’ center and in the temple and having lunch in the accommodation center.  A thought to ponder from one of the temple presidency:  when we leave the temple we aren’t “returning to the real world” as some like to say; rather, when we leave the temple we are leaving the real world, because only eternal things are real.

Elder Read Goes to Malaga

A major event this week was the send-off of one of our young adults to his 2-year mission in Malaga, Spain.  He, being a talented musician, put on a farewell concert with his friends at the church in Winchester last weekend, before a packed house.  He is one of the best-prepared new missionaries we think we have ever seen.

Feeding 30 people on a budget, one can't be picky about salad greens.

We haven’t seen many sights (no more castles) since the last update, as we are more into our routine, which involves feeding supper to 20-30 young singles once or twice a week plus providing refreshments for them for other activities.  We also provide transportation to and from Institute class and family home evening for some (most don’t have cars and public transportation is relatively expensive).  We do a lot of grocery shopping and cooking.   We had a nice American Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries in our district at our flat.  These eight young missionaries come from eight different countries (US, Scotland, Poland, Philippines, Samoa, India, Australia, and South Africa), so it was the first Thanksgiving dinner most of them have experienced.  The stuffing was quite popular with the first-timers.

From Scotland, Philippines, Australia, US

From Poland, South Africa

From Samoa, India

We have about six months before the law requires us to have UK driver’s licenses or start walking.  The requirements are quite rigorous compared to US standards.  We just acquired a 528-page driving manual to accompany our 144-page book on traffic signs.  One of the more interesting things is that over here you are not supposed to use “hand over hand” on the steering wheel when turning, but rather to “feed the wheel through” your hands.  Paul is trying to practice the recommended method without causing a wreck.  He’s only on page 46, and will surely have more updates in future blog entries.