Arrival in England

Hinmans, Ottleys, Bradfords, & Sorensens England-bound

After half a week of Church Education System training on teaching methods and working with young adults and Church leaders, we departed for England Thursday morning with two other couples (Ottleys and Bradfords.  The Sorensens come on Monday).  On the way to breakfast that morning we encountered Caleb West from our home ward, who arrived at the MTC the day before for his mission to Spain Barcelona.  He looked good.

Temple President's Home

Mission President and Sister Shamo greeted us upon arrival at London Heathrow and took us to the Staines stake center, where the president described the mission and our assignments.  They have missionaries from 47 countries.  Pres. Shamo shows great love for people and tears come easily to him.  He is easy to love, and we already feel we will miss him when he is released in a week. 

Our assignment will be in Southampton, on England’s southern coast, the home port of the Titanic, among other things.  Until our apartment becomes available next week, we are staying in the apartments on the beautiful London Temple grounds, once a large English garden, where the mission office is also located.

London Temple

Connie feeding resident AFLAC duck

I took out the GPS (“sat nav” to the English) we brought with us and verified that the English maps we loaded into it do work.  It says we are exactly 3900 miles from our home in West Virginia.  Here it is unnecessary to enter full addresses into sat navs, as the postal codes are precise enough to locate individual buildings.  Incidentally, the temple is only about 11 miles from Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s estate.

We are still recovering from jet lag.

The grounds just go on and on...

Gate House