'Jerusalem'
William Blake
For the past 6 weeks, we've had to opportunity of traveling around England and Wales a bit while doing missionary flat checks. We love the missionaries! In Wales, we ran into Sister Gudgell who served a good portion of the lockdown in Yuba City. She now has been transferred into our zone in Birmingham. It has been fun swapping stories about YC. She has promised to come back for the temple dedication.
We are constantly amazed by the commitment and faith of the young men and women who have given up their normal Young Adult life to serve the Lord at such a transitional time in their lives. One of the flats had a quote on the wall - This day will not come again, so have fun. It reminded me of advise Andrea, our eldest and very wise daughter, gave me before we left. She said, "Mom, just have fun!" Fun for a missionary has a different meaning. Translation: pray, study, find, teach, serve, and - most important - love. Through loving others, we find joy and happiness.
While is Wales, we were able to visit the farm where John's ancestors raised sheep for many, many generations. The farm house was acquired by Landmark Trust in Wales as an unusually good example of Tudor architecture. Trevor and Lindon Powell, John's distant cousins, still have sheep on the working part of the farm. Why did John's great grandfather decide to up and leave a prosperous farm at 21 for the desert of Goshen, Utah? He was not a member of the church, though many of his descendants have since joined. We're still trying to figure that out.
Wales is so beautiful! Rolling hills. Rocky farms. Green that almost makes your eyes hurt. Cottages that are beyond quaint. Medieval churches in every small community. I learned a new Welsh word which I plan to somehow embroider on a pillow (or something). Cwtch https://www.southwales.ac.uk/story/926/. Yes, no vowels! We stayed at a wonderful B & B run by a retired nurse who generously was also housing nurses working with Covid cases. Her dog only spoke Welsh. Pretty cool!
Also during the break, the missionaries and young adults have been meeting for activities. I've brought snacks, but other than that, we haven't really had to do anything. It's all been done by the YA. Last night, we had a game night in Birmingham.
Next week our institute and Pathway groups start up again, so more later. I promised you an post about Pathway, which I plan to do. I just need time to focus and do it justice.
For now, I'm just going to throw some photos in... some from Wales, some from England...
