Big Week Coming for Jairon and Kenzie

Jairon and McKenzie's wedding announcement

Congratulations to Jairon and Kenzie - We are so excited for them as they begin this week before their big day on December 2nd.  Friday, Kenzie went to the Rexburg Temple to receive her endowments and then they will be married this Friday in the Rexburg Temple.  We are so happy for them and we will be thinking about them all day on their wedding day - We love them both.  If you could see us, you will probably see Grandma and Grandpa shed a tear or two that day - it will be so hard not to be there for their special day.  WE SEND OUR BLESSING AND LOVE.

Well, Thanksgiving is officially over  - we cooked a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday and invited Elder and Sister Veater and two elders - Elder Griffin from Ogden and Elder Clayton from Salt Lake, over for dinner.  After dinner they gave us a message and that was our favorite part.   We also had our Senior Thanksgiving Dinner on the 12th so we have definitely celebrated Thanksgiving in England.

Light the World - mormon.org

Our Christmas Tree

With Thanksgiving over- we pulled out the flat's Christmas Decorations that had been left from missionaries before us and had our flat decorated in a half hour.  So simple and I think I quite enjoyed the simplicity of it.  We received a special package in the mail on Thanksgiving day at the office from our children.  They sent us stockings to hang in our flat with something inside for Christmas Day - they were very disobedient children to send a package but I must admit it was wonderful to receive a package from them.  After we put up the decorations and opened our package I sat and listened to Christmas music and got quite emotional thinking about family and the holidays.  Although we will definitely miss family and friends this Christmas Season, we are thrilled to concentrate more on the real meaning of Christmas and Celebrate Christ.
 We watched the video Light the World at the beginning of November with our Mission President and are so excited to start our 25 days of service beginning December 1st.  We invite everyone to join by watching Light the World at mormon.org and then doing 25 days of service.  Each day there is a video clip to watch.  We enjoy the opportunity to watch these young Elders and Sisters give service everyday and they are a wonderful examples to us.  We are getting our office filled with packages coming in for the missionaries.

Our Christmas Package from our family

Our Christmas Stockings

Comings and Goings

The office is staying busy and we are loving every minute of it - even the times when it gets a little (or a lot)  hectic.  We are blessed to serve in the mission office and love the other Senior Couples and President and Sister Leppard. The days and weeks fly by and we can hardly believe it when we look at the clock and it is time to go home.  We even had a little trauma this week and had to visit the local emergency care doctor but everything is good.

Sister Leppard, Sister Richards, Elder Richards, Pres. Leppard

We had a new couple arrive from Rexburg, Idaho on Tuesday - Elder and Sister Richards.  They will be serving in Wales and will be about four hours from the mission office. It is a small world - they are friends with my dad's good friend from Rexburg, Golden Linford.  We had a good time talking to them about some things in common.

Elder and Sister Crump

Last week we had Elder and Sister Crump leave who returned home to West Jordan, Utah just down the street from where Elder Willmore used to work.  They did record preservation for the Family History Department.  Many of the senior couples are returning to Utah so hopefully we will be able to see them again.

Christmas German Market in Birmingham

A week ago on our Pday we went to downtown Birmingham where they were having their German Christmas Market.  We tried a few German foods and it felt very festive.  We tried Bratworst and chocolate covered marshmallows in all kinds of different flavors.

German Christmas Market

Downtown Birmingham Mall Bull

We received this same picture of the Bull at the Bull Ring at the Birmingham Mall when Eric was on his mission.  We remember the picture and it was fun to see what he saw.

Government Building Downtown Birmingham

So many old, beautiful buildings in downtown Birmingham.  Birmingham is where Conley's great great great Grandfather lived.  His old home (or at least where it used to be) is on our list of things to visit on our pdays.

Special Delivery For the Young Elder Willmore

Elder Willmore received a letter at home and Eric and Brandee opened it for him.  It was addressed to Elder Conley Willmore and was from a lady he taught when he was serving his mission in Ohio in 1970-72.  She expressed gratitude for being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and told how it has blessed her life.  He is anxious to contact her.  We were touched to hear her testimony and love of the gospel.  What a blessing it is to share this wonderful gospel and it's truths to the world.