Christmas Parties

I apologize that everything on this post is in reverse order with the most recent event on top.

 This is the top of the lighthouse at Roath Park.

Roath Park is a place I found on the Internet before we came here and I have wanted to see it ever since. Imagine my surprise when our little Christmas walk took us exactly there. I loved it.

And there sits Nanny McPhee on the bench with her walking stick (a gift from President Parry) and her long black coat. Ben gave me the name but was at least kind enough to say I was prettier than Nanny McPhee who had big warts and awful teeth. But she is magical!

Meg, Lisa, Jocelyn and Peter (on his cell phone) below.  Elder Cable and Ben on the right.  We all walked to Roath Park after dinner and after Brother Parry passed out all the gifts and they were opened and appreciated.  It was a beautiful day and I think the walk was my favorite part of Christmas. 

Peter and Lisa Hammond

Lisa is the Parry's daughter, she has three children. The food was fabulous and the company delightful. President Parry was the main cook:

Turkey, Yorkshire pudding, chestnut dressing, steamed vegetables, roasted potatoes and Christmas pudding with a fabulous sauce, among other things. Nummy!

President & Sister Derek and Sue Parry invited us to their home for Christmas dinner and sharing in family time together.  It was wonderful, relaxing, and most pleasant.

Our missionaries:  Elder Adams (Florida), Elder Alex Bearnson (Providence, UT), Sister Morris (California) and Sister Martinec (Las Vegas) and our new convert, Jack Kirby at the Christmas Eve party at Lisa & Peter Hammond's home.  They make me happy.                                                                 

On Monday the 22nd of December we went to downtown Cardiff to sign a lease renewal for a flat in Roath and saw the above church with a vegetable market right by it.  Sadly, the church is now a discount store inside.

The older gentleman, Jack Kirby was baptized on 13 December 2008

amid much vicious opposition from his pastor and family.

He has a lot of courage and says he is "happy" with what he has done.

The gentleman on the right is our bishop, Jamie Holcombe, 

a policeman and a great person.

These ladies are fun friends: Gillie Grant and Linn.

Pam Fitzpatrick went to Canada for the holidays.

The above photo taken at Derek Parry's 70th Birthday Party

is of Margaret, Ann Dearden, Gil (say  Jill)Davison,

and on the floor Melissa, and Louise Dearden with

their dad, Andrew Dearden, our Stake President who

is a very prominent physician in the U.K.

Sorry, but I like the following video of a spur-of-the moment-dance so much I want to see if I can post it on my Blog.  It was taken at our mission Christmas party and the white guy is Elder Adams with Elder Brobbey joining in. Elder Adams is a convert from Florida and is in our ward here.  He and Elder Bearnson are our Zone Leaders. Elder Brobbey is a life-long member from London. Later in the talent show, Elder Brobbey also did a mean Gladys Knight with lots of spur-of-the-moment missionaries joining in as "Pips". Loved it! But that video is too long for my Blog.  

The last shall be first, especially on my Blog. The top of this post is the most recent of our happenings.  All in all Christmas was nice - but ohhhh how we missed home. 

Merry Christmas

With wond'ring awe the wise men saw

The star in heaven springing,

And with delight, in peaceful night,

They heard the angels singing:

By light of star they traveled far

To seek the lowly manger,

A humble bed wherein was laid

The wondrous little Stranger.

And still is found, the world around,

The old and hallowed story,

And still is sung in ev'ry tongue

The angels' song of glory:

The heav'nly star its rays afar

On ev'ry land is throwing,

And shall not cease till holy peace

In all the earth is growing.

Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!

We wish you all the peace and beauty of a meaningful Christmas season. He is the meaning.

Our Merry Christmas tree made by Kim's Beehive class, I am sure with love. It makes us happy every day. We also have received many cards from home and from members here. That's nice.

Wales Countryside in Winter

We recently had to go to Newport to inspect missionary flats and took some photos along the way.  It was a misty-moisty day, as many of them are.  The little white specks on the countryside are sheep.  There are millions of sheep in Wales and we have had some delicious lamb dinners. Shepherds Pie is the best! 

Mission Zone Christmas Party

Our President and Sister Moffat made sure we were all well fed, had time for lots of fun, watched the talent of the missionaries, had a rousing competition with "Preach My Gospel" Jeopardy (which our zone won, of course), saw the movie, "Errand of Angels", sang carols, popped English crackers, celebrated Wayne and Elder Bearnson's birthday and were each given gifts from the mission as well as Christmas letters for all the young Elders and Sisters from family.  We can't figure out how they did that because the envelopes were addressed by their families, but there were no stamps on them.  All Sister Moffat would say was Santa Claus brought them.  The party lasted 10 hours and it was great - every minute of it.  I absolutely love these missionaries.  

England Birmingham Mission

This photo was taken when we arrived in Birmingham.  We really like President Moffat and his wife.  It is so good to see them when they come for Zone Conference, etc.  We were surprised and pleased to see them at the convert baptism Saturday night as Birmingham is two and a half hours away from us.  She bore a great testimony and he gave a wonderful, encouraging talk to Brother Kirby after his baptism.  It was a beautiful, spiritual evening because of the efforts and testimonies of so many people.  

Ahhh, We Have the Internet

Photos:  Nancy, James, Luc (pronounced Luke), Ben and his birthday cake, Sean, Luc, James, Alex - some of our Institute students.  Ben is an investigator, Sean and Alex are converts, Luc and James (and David) are returned missionaries.  Love them all.  This is at Family Home Evening - we have about 30 who come to Institute.  They are amazing, brilliant and have beautiful testimonies.

We are so excited to finally be connected with the world again.  We have the Internet and email and now we don't feel so isolated.  Now the only problem will be to discipline ourselves to stay off the Internet as much as we can.  It is so good to hear from family and friends again -- and to be able to pay our bills and see our bank account.  

I have added a few photos to this post so you can see a bit about where we are and what we are doing.  As to what we have been doing and will be doing, Friday we inspected missionary flats, Saturday we went to a convert baptism, Sunday we spoke in Sacrament Meeting and went to dinner at Gill Grant's home (absolutely heavenly delicious) and then went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Church, yesterday we went shopping at Staples, went with the sister missionaries to teach the newly baptized convert about the priesthood, and last night we went to the YSA Family Home Evening in Cardiff.  Today our car is in the garage being serviced and tomorrow we have a Mission Christmas Party that starts at 9:00 a.m. and goes most of the day and it is Wayne's birthday.  Thursday we have CES training by David Beale, Friday we inspect flats and go to the Rhiwbina Ward Christmas Party.  Saturday is President Perry's birthday party at the Church, Sunday is a Stake Carol Service in the evening.  Busy, busy.  On Christmas day we are going to the Parry's for a Christmas dinner and family party.  On the 26th, Boxing Day, we have been invited to Swansea to celebrate with the Rasmussen family.  That should be nice and I am looking forward to finding our way to Swansea and meeting Sister Rasmussen, one of the Seminary teachers.  And so it goes.  

In Cardiff Without Internet

We are here, we are safe, we are busy. But we don't have Internet or email yet and it is making us feel very isolated. We finally walked through Whitchurch Village to the Cardiff Library and are using their computers. Driving is a total trauma. We spend most of our time lost, listening to our GPS tell us it is "recalculating" because we have taken a wrong turn. We can never figure out how to get off at the right place on the round-abouts.

The students are amazing and we already love them. We attend Family Home Evening with them every Monday at Student House by the University. We teach Institute to about 30 students every Tuesday. We will be inspecting missionary flats every Friday. We are speaking in sacrament meeting this coming Sunday. In addition, there are a lot of Christmas celebrations, dinner engagements, training sessions, YSA meetings and activities, a baptism this Saturday, dinner with a member this Sunday (our second dinner engagement), and we will celebrate Christmas with a nice dinner at Brother and Sister Parry's home and stay for their big family celebration. We truly enjoy the people.

I left the class rolls on the table when I left Institute last night and our S&I Coordinator called me "naughty" for doing so. He said, "You came all the way from America to lose the rolls! We could have had someone here do that." I don't think they are lost forever, but he certainly gave me a hard time. He is the greatest!

We love hearing from home. Shawna sent a card, Mom & Dad sent a card and a great gift, and Kim and her Young Women all made cards for us and a big paper Christmas tree with hand made decorations. We love it! It is hanging in our living room. Thanks. I will post photos when we I can use my own computer.