End of the Old, Start of the New Year

Christmas Service Project YSAs

December’s Young Single activities included sorting and packing donated toys for needy families and performing a Christmas music program for the stake.  

Christmas was celebrated here much as it is in the US, albeit with more mince pies and some mentions of a character named Father Christmas.  We learned by experience that “cider” and “eggnog” are not generally available in non-alcoholic form here—some eyebrows were raised when we announced cider would be served after a YSA activity.  The mission held a London Temple session and dinner for missionaries the week before Christmas (actually three such events a day apart, to fit everyone into the limited space).  We enjoyed a great Christmas-day dinner at a fellow missionary couple’s place with 12 young missionaries from 10 different countries.  The London South Mission is like a small United Nations, but without the attitude.   

Missionaries from US, Romania, Pakistan, India, Australia, & South Africa

As we discussed the missionaries’ families with them after Christmas dinner, we learned of some of the sacrifices they make to join the Church and to serve missions.  One dedicated young missionary’s family, not Church members, thinks he is wasting his time here and wants him to come home.  His Christmas phone call home wasn’t very inspiring, he said.  Another missionary’s family was prevented from joining the Church by their father, until a teenage son took things into his own hands and forged his father’s signature on a letter granting permission to be baptized.  Now the entire family is in the Church, including the father.  Yet another missionary comes from a country where innocent people are beaten or killed on suspicion of discussing politics.  It makes us even more grateful to live and serve where we do.

How England is changing:  the 2011 UK census reports that 59% of the population of this country claimed Christianity as their religion, down from 72% in 2001; 5% claimed Islam; and 25% claimed no religion.  It is predicted the UK will no longer be majority Christian within a decade or two.  Paul just finished reading the journal of George Fox, founder of the Quakers, and concluded it’s safer to be a missionary in half-Christian England now than in all-Christian England in the 1600s when Parliament made it illegal for more than 5 people to meet if they weren’t members of the Established Church, and denying the Established Church’s basic tenets was punishable by death.  Now the biggest risk to life and limb is not one’s beliefs, but driving on English roads.

Snowbound in Southampton

It snowed last night and today, with about 4 inches of wet snow accumulating.  It is not that common here, so many schools closed for the day and the "gritting lorries" were very busy working the streets.

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.

This week has been quite busy.  Tuesday we spent an hour with the chaplain of the University of Winchester, in which we briefly described our Young Single Adult program, then exchanged questions and answers about everything from what it’s like to be a university chaplain, to baptism for the dead, to Mitt Romney.  We were graciously received, and enjoyed the experience.  We hope to have more such discussions in the future.

The Moving Van and Movers

Wednesday, we rented a van and drove to Plymouth, where the missionaries loaded it with furniture and other items from a flat from which a missionary couple had recently gone home and were not being replaced.  We returned to Southampton that evening and distributed some of the furniture (dressers, sofa, kitchen table and chairs, computer desk) to three local sets of missionaries.  We had some misgivings about driving on unfamiliar English roads with a 7-foot wide, 18-foot long vehicle, when we have felt squeezed on these roads with our little Vauxhall Astra wagon.  In fact, Paul was hoping to be disqualified from renting a truck with only a US license.  However, things all worked out beautifully, especially with the timing.  For example, we were to drop off some kitchen items in Weymouth for the missionaries there, but they had left their phone in their flat and we could not contact them.  Had they been there, we would have lost a couple of hours unloading and reloading to reach their stuff and would have arrived back in Southampton too late to get help unloading the big things here.  To psyche himself for the trip, Paul had been reciting a favorite phrase of Gordon B. Hinckley, “Things will work out,” and they really did.  We covered 380 miles that day, unloaded furniture at three locations, and returned the van to the lot around 11 pm.  Since then, driving a car here has seemed like a piece of cake.  Incidentally, one of the pleasures of traveling in England is savoring the quaint place names we encounter.  For example, one highway sign we passed pointed the way to towns named Piddlehinton and Puddletown.  Affpuddle and Tolpuddle are also nearby.  We are told the names come from the River Piddle, but since “piddle” in a place name has a tendency to provoke smirks if not outright derisive guffaws, some of the towns changed piddle to puddle.  

On Friday we incorporated a sightseeing trip into our return to Weymouth to deliver the items we couldn’t leave on Wednesday.  We visited the ruins of Corfe Castle, which must have been magnificent in its day.  It covers the top a fair-sized hill.  Built originally by William the Conqueror, it was expanded in subsequent centuries.  The castle was partially demolished in the 1600s after its owners found themselves on the wrong side of the English Civil War.  Evidently the foundations were not set on bedrock, because some of the walls tilt severly.  On the other hand, some of the crooked walls may be the result of the demolition.   And on the other, other hand, the hill on which it stands is made of chalk, which may not be the best support for a stone castle.  After Corfe, we stopped briefly at Kingston Lacy, an elegant country estate built by the same people who lost the castle in the civil war but regained their status after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and decided not to return to the old neighborhood.  We didn't have time to go inside, but we hope to return when it reopens in the spring.

Sheep Graze Below Corfe Castle, View from Bottom of Hill

Castle Gate

Long Walk from Gate to Castle

Settling Problems, If Not Addressed, Produce Big Cracks

Ruins

 

More Ruins

This Wall Was Once Vertical

Another View of Corfe Castle Ruins

Much of Corfe Was Built with Stones from the Demolished Castle

Kingston Lacy, Built by the Family that Lost the Castle

Paul has sometimes been drafted to sit in on English lessons the young missionaries teach to local residents from other countries.  He is the token native speaker when our Filipino and Polish elders are the teachers.  

 And now the language lesson:  What we call a “buggy” in West Virginia and what most of the rest of America calls a “shopping cart”, Brits call a “trolley.”  Orange juice comes with or without “bits” rather than pulp.  Both countries have post offices, but the Royal Mail delivers the post over here, while the Postal Service delivers the mail over there.  And last week an announcement was made pertaining to church cleaning assignments for the members, that they “posted a new rota for cleaning the loos.”  

Our young single adults had another service project, this one at a “farm” in the city, actually a petting zoo, that employs handicapped youth.  The young adults assisted with car-park direction and setting up exhibits for last Saturday’s public day that was sort of like a combined flea market and mini county fair.  This one wasn’t quite as satisfying as the previous month’s project, as for some reason, despite good communications about our participation, they didn’t really expect us to show up and consequently didn’t have enough to keep everyone actively engaged.

Farm Project Crew

We haven’t done much sight-seeing in the past month, but there are interesting things to see all around.  One P-day we visited Southampton’s Titanic Museum.  Southampton was the Titanic’s home port for its one and only voyage, and hundreds of locals serving as crew members perished when it sank.  Notwithstanding having practically no actual Titanic relics, the exhibit was interesting.  One evening the YSA missionaries had a planning meeting with the stake relief society president in her home.  It was built in 1780, about the time the United States came into existence, in a little town called Alresford, where all the shops are painted in pastel colors (see picture).  The English prefer not to tear old buildings down, but rather to keep them as long as possible.

Alresford's Pastel Shops

Today for P-day we went to Portchester Castle, about 10 miles from here.  It started as a Roman fort around 290 AD, then the Saxons had it for a while, and after them the Normans, each occupant adding on to it.  Its last use was as a prison for French prisoners of war in the early 1800s.  There is a nice view from the top of the keep, but it was very windy.  In fact, it was very windy at ground level:  one of our missionaries lost his brand-new frisbee, mailed all the way from the US, on the fifth throw when a gust carried it over the castle wall and into the English Channel.

Portchester Castle - the Keep

Portchester Castle - View of Augustinian Priory Built 1120s, now St. Mary's Church, from Atop the Keep

Portchester Castle - Specks on Lawn Are Missionaries Playing Ball

Portchester Castle -Another View

Portchester Castle - Our Missionaries

Portchester Castle -Sea Side with Chalk Cliffs in Distance

Portchester Castle - View from Inside the Sea Gate

Language and cultural differences continue to intrigue us.  If they don’t interest you, skip this paragraph.   When someone asks about an auto’s “registration” they mean the license plate number, which is all they need to determine the year, make, and model, as the plate stays with the car all its life.  No need to look up the vehicle identification number for parts or service.  A metal can is a tin (e.g., “tinned meats” sign over a grocery aisle).  Prunes without pits are “stoned prunes.”  Corporations, teams, and such like are considered plural entities, as in a sign at a petrol station undergoing renovation, “Shell apologize for the inconvenience,” and a headline, “Northampton Battle Back to Beat Glasgow.”  The British equivalent of our exclamation meaning “great!” or “wonderful!” is “brilliant!” while “lovely” means “that’s fine.”   The short name for mathematics is maths.  A hospitalized person is said to be “in hospital” rather than “in the hospital” as we say it.  And finally an obsolete occupation from the list for 1871 UK census indexing:  a purefinder was typically an old woman or a young girl who picked up dog manure off the streets for use in tanning hides.  Seems like a euphemistic name, and probably a hard job to fill in today’s world.  One more thing, the town name Alresford mentioned in the preceding paragraph is pronounced with the "re" silent.  And if that seems strange, read up on Alnwick's pronunciation at this link: http://www.alnwick.org.uk/faq.htm (They throw in a good bit of British humour for good measure).