1st Week in the England Birmingham Mission Office

Elder & Sister Willmore on Cornerstone of EBM Mission

President and Sister Leppard with EBM office missionaries

Walking in the rain to our fist day at the office

We are staying at the Ramada Hotel which is about a block away from our mission office.  We checked in on Saturday (17 Sept) and will be here until next Tuesday (27 Sept) when we will move in the flat where the current office couple is living.  They are flying home to California on Tuesday morning.  We have been training with them all week and we have a lot to learn.  Our young office Elders are amazing help so we are glad that we have them to help us after the Burt's have gone home. In the picture above are the office missionaries (left to right) AP's - Elder Wagner, and Elder Hellyer, Elder and Sister Burt (leaving), Elder and Sister Willmore, President and Sister Leppard, Elder and Sister Page (housing and vehicle missionaries who are leaving next month) and the office missionaries, Elder Turner and Cohen.  We know that we have much to learn but we know that Heavenly Father will bless us to comprehend and remember what we need to.  Elder Willmore will be doing the finances which is huge job and I will be doing the mission secretary duties which include taking care of arrangements for arrivals and departures of missionaries, handling their passports, keeping records of the missionaries updated and anything else President Leppard needs help with.

Elder Willmore's first day driving

On Wednesday night we were able to get a vehicle from the office to use until we get our permanent vehicle from the Burts.  Conley tried his first day of driving on the opposite side of the road and I have to admit it made us a bit nervous  The streets are very narrow two lane roads and it is a little unnerving.  I am trying not to be a back seat driver but I do jump when we get so close to cars.  Wednesday went to the Burt's to do a load of laundry and went out to eat at a little outdoor shop that sold fish and chips and kabobs.  We sat at the park, ate our dinner, and watched the people walk by.  It felt good to go out and see our surroundings.  On Thursday, we went to a eat at a restaurant nearby and watched a game of bowling (not what American's call bowling) out the window while we ate.  It was a lovely view out our window - I loved the garden and houses surrounding the green.   We are grateful to the Burt's who had us over to their flat most of the time to eat our dinner - it was nice not to have to eat out every night and it was wonderful to visit with them as they oriented us to the office and area.

Bowling green

Out for an evening

Senior Missionary Conference  - Friday - 23 September, 2016

On Friday, President Leppard held a Senior Missionary Conference, so we traveled to Cheltenham which is about an hour and a half towards the south where we were able to meet the other senior missionaries from all over the England Birmingham Mission and also listen to President Leppard talk to us.  He expressed the importance of involving our children and grandchild in our mission experiences so they can be blessed.  That gives me more determination to keep writing this blog so they can see and experience our mission with us.  The other missionaries that serve are public relations, family history, mission and leadership support, and young adult missionaries.  By March all the other senior missionaries will be going back home and we will be the one's that have served the longest - Scary!  After our conference meeting  we walked down the streets of Cheltenham and President Leppard took us all to dinner at Zizzi's -  an old cathedral that was turned into an Italian Restaurant and we had a very nice dinner together.

Walking down the streets of C

Old Cathedral restaurant

Lunch with all the Senior Missionaries

Gloucester Cathedral

After dinner, we drove about 20 minutes farther south to go on a tour of the Gloucester Cathedral.  It was massive and was first built in the 600's.  It was built to be this massive over the years and has remains of some Kings layed to rest there.  The architecture and stained glass windows are amazing.  A hall in the Harry Potter movie's was filmed in this cathedral.  Eric sent us pictures of this cathedral about eleven years ago, but it was amazing to see it in person.  We felt blessed to have this opportunity to go for a drive and see the countryside and meet the other senior missionaries so early in our mission.  The drive was beautiful - everything is so green and lush and the pastures are surrounded by hedges.

Sunday we attend our ward in Tamworth for the second Sunday - it is a very small ward of about 60 people (6 primary children and a couple youth).  Very kind and humble people.  There numbers have dropped almost in half since a few years ago.  We learned that the missionary work is very slow in England.   Our son, Eric, attended this ward when he served in this mission - we met a member of the ward that we met through Eric - Brother Dowling and his wife, Carol.  He stayed at our home about eight years ago when he visited America.  The Mission President assigns us a ward according to the needs of the mission - this is the same ward that the Burt's have been attending, they teach primary, teach a lesson in Relief Society once a month, and taught institute.  They have been kept very busy.  We will miss our traditional way of watching conference - We will watch Women's Conference Saturday afternoon and Saturday session of conference on Sunday since we are seven hours ahead of Salt Lake City.  We will watch Sunday session on the internet later.

What I have learned this week:
I have been touched by the young Elders and Sister Missionaries that come into the office.  Each one has had a smile, their light radiates and they are happy.  What wonderful missionaries we have serving throughout the world.  My goal is to be like them.

The good new and bad news:
We were thrilled to hear that Kaeli got a job in Logan while she is attending school and that Jairon sold THE VAN.
We were very saddened to hear about our brother-in-law, Ron and his heart attack and triple bypass surgery.  He will be in our prayers.  We were happy to talk to Nyla today and find out the surgery went well and he has started his recovery process, which will be a long one.  We love you Ron!
We are also praying for our dear friend, Jake Bryant, and his family.  You are continually in our thoughts and prayers.