Hinmans' London Mission: Mission Progress and Travels

The mission is growing. Last month saw 14 missionaries complete their missions and return home, with 30 arriving to replace them. A similar increase is planned for the next transfer. We have missionaries from 51 countries speaking 45 languages. Our district is adding a pair of Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking missionaries because of the large number of Chinese students attending universities here.

We continue to support the Young Single Adults program with cooking, transportation, and teaching Sunday school in one of the three wards we attend. Paul was recently asked to be the concluding speaker in church, just five minutes before the meeting began. Fortunately, he had begun carrying a talk with him to meetings. Now he carries two of them so as not to give the same one twice.

Since the last update, we’ve been to London for training (with more London driving experience), and visited Salisbury Cathedral, Bath, Stonehenge, and ...(drum roll) a brand-new Costco. So far this year, the weather has been dryer than last year, so we’re trying to see a few things before the rains return.

Vocabulary: Paul asked his driving examiner why there was a poster announcing the date of the director’s surgery, and she said it was an invitation for driving instructors to come meet with the director. Later we saw a news article about a local police chief’s surgery. The online Oxford dictionary describes this meaning as “an occasion on which an MP, lawyer, or other professional person gives advice.” The other odd meaning is a doctor’s office: after arriving here we signed up for National Health Service coverage at a doctor’s office called West End Surgery, but we don’t think they cut on people there. As for other strange words, the word here for dessert is pudding: “What’s for pudding tonight? Oh brilliant, biscuits!” Oatmeal is porridge. And as a bonus for reading this far, the word the Welsh use for microwave oven is poppity-ping.

Pictures are shown below. Our apologies if you were hoping to see pictures of the new Costco.