Happy New Year 2017

 Happy New Year  &
Happy Birthday to 
Elder Willmore!
Also President Leppard's Birthday




Bought my new calendar 

yesterday-"Mums" ready for the New Year 2017


Catching up for the last two weeks:
Week before Christmas - Busy week at the office as usual.

• Friday - Dec. 23rd Closed the office at 3:30 for a Senior Christmas Social at Lichfield Cathedral - "The Cathedral Illuminated - The Angels are Coming".  We meet before and had dinner.  Fun and Festive night to share in the Christmas atmosphere.  We all meet at President and Sister Leppard's for hot chocolate and biscuits after to warm up - it was pouring rain, but cleared up for the illumination. 

Lichfield Cathedral Illumination

Lichefiled Cathedral Illumination

Cathedral Illumination

Christmas Social in the Mission Home

Willmores, Blumells, Spors, Walks, Leppards, Jones, Richards
at the Mission Home

Inside Lichfield Cathedral

Sister Willmore and Sister Jones eating at the Walkabout

• Saturday - Dec. 24th We sent out all the Christmas packages to the missionaries with the Zone Leaders - We ended up not having to shop for the missionaries who did not get packages - Wonderful people brought gifts to the office to brighten our missionaries Christmas.  Such a blessing!
• Took Elder Cohen and Elder Ashwell out for a Christmas Eve dinner - they were both sick but keep on going.  It seems the office has had a lot of sickness going around - We are taking lots of vitamin C and it is working so far.
• Sunday - Dec. 25th - Christmas Day - Picked up Elder Ey and Williams and went to our sacrament meeting at 10:00.  After our meeting we had Christmas Dinner with Elder and Sister Veater and Elder and Sister Blumell at our flat.  We had a quite Christmas and opened our precious letters from our family - the best gifts ever!  We will always cherish these special letters from children and grandchildren.

Best Christmas Gifts Ever

Poem with letters

Later in the evening we had a visit from Elder Griffin and Clayton.  We love these Elders. 

Christmas late afternoon (Christmas morning for them) we face timed with our Children and Grandchildren - what a wonderful way to spend Christmas.  We sure missed spending Christmas with them, we will have to live on the memories for a few Christmas.  We even talked to Jamie and Jeff who are spending Christmas in Jamaica.

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful letters and emails - we miss and love you all.

Week at the office - busier week than last week  (12-14 hr days)

• December 26th - Boxing Day - The office was closed but we spent the day preparing for a Elder Johnson and his wife visiting the mission for a mission tour.  We shopped for a luncheon on Tuesday - Taco Bar and then went to the office to clean so it was in tip top shape for our visitors.

December 26 was the day centuries ago when lords of the manor and aristocrats typically distributed “Christmas boxes” often filled with small gifts, money and leftovers from Christmas dinner to their household servants and employees, who were required to work on December 25, in recognition of good service throughout the year. These boxes were, in essence, holiday bonuses. Another popular theory is that the Boxing Day moniker arose from the alms boxes that were placed in churches during the Advent season for the collection of monetary donations from parishioners. Clergy members distributed the contents of the boxes to the poor on December 26, which is also the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr and a figure known for acts of charity. (Ireland celebrates December 26 as St. Stephen’s Day.)

New Holiday for us!

• December 27th - We went to a member of ward's home for dinner.  They are very humble and kind people.  They made us such a lovely dinner and we enjoyed our visit in their home.  Sometimes we take for granted all the blessings and conveniences we have in life.  We are blessed with such a nice home in America - our home is not large but we have come to realize that other parts of the world get by with much less than we have.  

• December 27th-29th -(MissionTour with Elder & Sister Johnson)   A week full of meetings.  We were also getting ready for all the end of month deadlines for finances and getting ready for transfers and new arrivals next week.  We had to get utility meter readings from all the missionaries because we are changing utility companies and will need them to get their readings from their flats each month.  Busy Busy Busy - but wonderful.

• December 30-31 - Celebrated Conley birthday by going out to lunch and celebrated the New Year quietly at our flat - listened to fireworks going off at midnight.  Felt wonderful after a very busy week.  

• January 1, 2017 - Happy New Year to All - May it be wonderful!