Saturday, July 18, 2009

Many Miles

It was incredibly kind of President and Sister Ogden to take us to dinner Monday evening after a long day of interviews in Cardiff and Swansea. They were delightful and seem to be very capable. They have been in the EBM 10 days and they have already made three trips to Wales. They certainly aren't afraid to work hard and all the missionaries we have spoken with are very impressed with them. The misssionaries are still struggling not to mention the name of the Moffats because we love them so much, but they all seem happy and optimistic about the Ogdens. I think being a Mission President & his wife would be two of the very hardest jobs in the Church. Three years is a long time to be away from home and family and the problems and demands on them are constant and varied.


We inspected flats in Heads of the Valleys, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil on Tuesday and in Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Haverford West on Friday. You never know what you are going to find when you go to a missionary flat. But I will say that the huge "Super Heroes" mural in a room of one of the flats was unusual.


We saw some beautiful scenery in West Wales even though it was a very rainy day. We took advantage of the trip and went on another 15 miles to St. David's the smallest city in Wales and perhaps the whole U.K. To be classified as a city you must have a cathedral, and St. David's has a cathedral, built in 1180 A.D. on a site that had been used for worship since 500 A.D. St. David is the patron saint of Wales and this seemed like a must-see place. We were not disappointed.

2 comments:

em said...

Wow! Great posts, Claudine! You will love that you have documented each week of your mission when you are home. I only have a journal with chicken scratch and half Portuguese and half English to look back on. What awesome memories you are making!

I think being a Mission President would be hard, too. We are so blessed to have men and women like your new President and his wife who are willing to sacrifice so much to lead the missions around the world!

Becky said...

That Super hero wall is really funny. I'm glad you took a picture. I bet the cathedrals all over Wales are beautiful. I love to visit churches in Europe (until I hit overload). I'm glad you are enjoying your new mission president. Change is hard, but it can be good!