Unusual Week of Great Experiences

There were so many things happening this week that I can hardly keep track. Having President and Sister Heidi Swinton come to the Bristol Conference to speak to us this Sunday was a special treat. Many of our Institute students have served as missionaries under President Swinton and loved seeing him and hearing him speak again. Sister Swinton was masterful in her talk to the Relief Society and our very own President Dearden taught us especially well. The activities, dances, talks and testimonies were memorable and an unusual experience for which I am grateful.  

Beth Hippard's vocal recital was well attended and a joy to experience. She has a beautiful voice and sang with great expression. I could truly understand why her email address is "songbirdbeth".  Many other of our YSA participated on her program and the whole evening was lovely.

Besides all the good, there was deep sadness. My father is not doing well at all and has been in the hospital for several days and it appears he will be unable to live at home again. In addition, Truman G. Madsen died and I keenly feel his loss. He was an impelling force in my life from the time I was 17 even until this day. He gave me much.  

We love the missionaries, especially Elder Bearnson as he was the first missionary we met when we arrived in Wales. He and Elder Adams came to visit us the first day we were here. It was so comforting and he has been incredibly nice to us ever since. 

Milestones and Opportunities

The school year is winding down and we will soon lose many of our students and friends to the summer vacation.  Most of the Uni students are going home to work for the summer. For those who live in Swansea and other places fairly close by we will hold summer Institute having the students themselves teach from the most recent Conference talks.  They have already signed up for every lesson.  We will hold them in various places in the Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil Stakes, i.e., part of the time around Cardiff and part of the time in Swansea on the beach.  Our first evening will be at Castle Coch. The setting there is so beautiful and it fires the imagination with thoughts of knights and Robin Hood and damsels in distress.  

What an amazing opportunity we had of attending the Institute graduation in Bristol which went very well.  Elder Cable's Institute Choir sang, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me", and Luc did a fine job of conducting the ceremonies for the Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Bristol and Cheltenham Institutes, all under the direction of David Beale and the Stake Presidents. 

The YSA Convention was held at the same time and there were about 300 YSA attending from all over England and Wales and Scotland.  It was well organized and service projects and the activities for the four-day event were really good. It surprised us that more YSA came to the Relief Society, Priesthood  and Sacrament meetings than the dance, especially as the dance was well attended and great, with a live band and several specialty numbers. We are glad they chose the spiritual. 

We feel very fortunate that our assignment at the YSA convention was to accompany a group of them to Bath, England to do street contacting under the direction of the full-time missionaries there. They gave us some materials, told is briefly what to do, and let us go. We had a street display, they sang hymns, and so many of them were very good at stopping and talking to people. We placed a few Books of Mormon and a lot of Pass Along Cards. In addition to those from England, we met people from Notre Dame, Montana, Las Vegas, and St. George. Small world. The best though were the long conversations they had with people. One young man wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon in French and was very interested in getting the Restoration and other pamphlets in French. The sweet girls I talked to from Notre Dame were happy to remain Catholic.  

While they went paint balling, had salsa dance lessons, etc. we stayed in Bath a couple of hours and looked at the wonders there. I have always wanted to see Bath and it was amazing. 

Mid-May Memories & Missisonaries

ENGLAND BIRMINGHAM MISSION MISSIONARIES

Full of Faith, Diligently Working, Obedient

Elder Bearnson, AP

Elders Wark and Walker in Swindon

I loved it when we inspected this missionary flat in Bridgend.

They have prayer mats beside their beds

so they can pray as long as they want to.

Elders Patterson & Bodily in Bridgend

Sisters Stillman, McGarvey and Mitte GQing at the bus stop

in front of the Church in Rwibina

Elders Wark, Larsen, Weeks and Moffet in Swindon

Elder Wright in Yate

Elders Wright and Israelsen in Yate

Elders Gerber and Wood in Cardiff

President Moffat - Last Companionship Standing

(Or how well do you know PMG?)

Elder Bearnson, Jack Kirby, Elders White and Brower

Elders Heller and Hickman in Blackwood Gwent

Elder Mackay in Newport

(and finally a spotless flat there)

It is hard to believe that we have already served one-third of our mission. We have had such incredible experiences and met so many amazing people who have enriched our lives. We only have one more Institute class to teach, then we start our summer program which will be much more relaxed (hopefully some will be at the beach) and they will be taught by the students themselves from April's Conference talks. I am so looking forward to it. Starting in September we will be studying the Book of Mormon and we are so excited. 

Keerqin Ji has returned to China, but she sent me an email in response to my promise, "Stay close to your Heavenly Father and you will be happy." She said, "I will always remember the promise I have made with Heavenly Father."  No finer words could have been said. We will miss her. 

Keerqin Ji and Sean (Chen Chen)

Zone Conference was an especially spiritual, motivating experience. The missionaries are so good and the feeling in the room was extra special. President Moffat, when speaking to them, said something I had not thought about before, "Right now, as you serve a mission, you are probably living the law of consecration as closely as you ever will in this life. You are out here for two years doing what the Lord would do if He were here." "Make it a celestial mission. There is no greater privilege than bearing testimony of Jesus Christ." He then went on to say, with great emotion, "There used to be things I wanted in life, but all I want now is for you missionaries to find people."   

May Flowers & More Information

Bluebells are at their peak so it was a 

 real treat to go for a walk in the woods. 

The bluebells stretch on and on, blanketing the ground.

We have been studying intensely for our up-coming Institute lessons on the book of Revelation. Kaylee Hillier reminded me of the scripture discussions on BYU Radio on the Internet that are so valuable in gaining increased understanding of the scriptures. We have listened to those on Revelation over and over again and they have been especially helpful, which was intimidating to me, but now I find rather interesting. Instead of concentrating on the symbols and descriptions as literal manifestations, I can now look at them as poetry, manifesting truths and testifying of Christ, His kingdom and the plan of salvation.  As Andrew Skinner stated, "It [Revelation] is principally a book about Jesus Christ from beginning to end." And, "If the book of Revelation is anything it is a testimony of Jesus Christ." Victor Ludlow added that it teaches us that "Christ will be the victor over all things."  I think Bruce R. McConkie sums it up for me, "Each pronouncement in the holy scriptures . . . is so written as to reveal little or much, depending on the spiritual capacity of the student."  I have much to learn.  

David Beale added additional insights to the book of Revelation, and he is a master teacher so we learn as much on how to teach as we do on what to teach. Now if we could only implement what he teaches us.  

It was so nice to be able to meet Elder Sessions, now Aaron Sessions, and his parents. After Elder Sessions went home and was released from his mission he and his parents came back and toured London, Paris and now are in Wales to see some of the people Elder Sessions taught the gospel.  His parents are fun and interesting and he is so very nice.  

Good-bye April Hello May

It is a very different experience to sit in sacrament meeting beside a new member as I did Sunday.  Harriet was baptized the night before.  Sunday morning we sang, "Praise to the Man" as the opening hymn. As we sang the words of this favorite hymn I realized this was probably the first time she ever heard that our beloved prophet Joseph Smith had "died as a martyr" and that "his blood" was "shed by assassins." It was a poignant thought to me.  It is amazing to see the gospel through new eyes.