Transfers and Departures

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALLISON TODAY - October 21, 2017 - 4 years old
She brings sunshine into our lives
She shares her birthday with her Great Grandpa Willmore - "Bompi"

Her daddy, Scott, also celebrated his birthday this week on the 18th.



We love you both!!!







Also, Happy Anniversary to Jamie and Jeff as they celebrated their 2nd Anniversary on October 16th.

Coming up this week on October 26th - Payton turns "6" - Happy Birthday
She started Kindergarten this year - 
We love this beautiful, smart, sweet grandaughter!

TRANSFERS and DEPARTURES - 
October 17th and 18th
This week we started out with our transfers and departures - it is always so hard to see our missionaries leave but also so exciting for them to be reunited with their families and start their next adventure in their lives.  We said good-bye to Elder Stephenson among the departures who was one of AP's in the office.



Pday we went for a ride on a double decker bus (now we can check that off our bucket list)
and went to lunch in Birmingham with Elder and Sister Veater and Elder and Sister Vernon.  There were Morris Dancers at the city square which were very fun to watch.  The dancers in the black costumes are Morris Border Dancers from Worcester.

We had a new family move into our ward in August so we wanted to add her picture to our blog. Her family moved here from Australia to be near their grandmother for a year or more.
Allegra Taylor is a very sweet young lady that we enjoy in our class.





We had two sister missionaries assigned to the Tamworth Ward with this transfer.  We have not had Sister's in our ward for many years.  We pick the missionaries up each Sunday from their flat and given them a ride to and from church.  Our new missionaries are Sister Smyrnova from Ukraine and Sister Besendorfer from Idaho.  List of companionships that have served in our Tamworth ward since our arrival:
Elders Langi (Tonga) and Ey (New York)
Elders Ey and Williams (Montana)
Elders Williams and Godfrey (Utah)
Elders Godfrey and Allen (Canada)
Elders Hoffman (South Africa) and Johnson (Utah)
Elders Johnson and Scanlan (Australia) and now
Sisters Smyrnova (Ukraine) and Besendorfer (Idaho)

BE STILL and Know that I am God - Europe Area Broadcast With Elder Ballard

PREPARING FOR TRANSFERS AND DEPARTURES - READY OR NOT, HERE IT COMES
We have spent the week preparing for Transfers and Departures which will take place this coming Tuesday and Wednesday - a very busy week.  Tonight at the Broadcast the missionaries were busy telling each other where they are transferring to.  They received their transfer information this afternoon after church.  We will have two new Sisters serving in our Tamworth Ward - we have not had Sisters in our ward since we came to England.  New Adventures!

BAPTISM ON SATURDAY - October 14th -   On Saturday we went to Tamworth and walked along the river before going to a baptism for Daniel.  He is an investigator that has been taught by Elder Scanlan and Johnson and his baptism was very nice to attend.  Elder Radudan played the guitar and it was so peaceful to listen to.   This is the first convert baptism in our ward since we have been here.




BE STILL

Tonight - October 15th - we went to a Broadcast with Elder Ballard and the Europe General Seventy which was such a wonderful meeting.  Elder Ballard reminded us of the need to BE STILL and connect with the spirit.
Take the time to sit under a tree or wherever (I prefer my cozy bed wrapped in my blanket) with our scriptures and receive revelation for our lives.

ELDER WILLIS IS TRANSFERRING ON TUESDAY

We had Elder Willis, Elder Ashwell and the Veaters over to say Goodbye to Elder Willis who will be transferred on Tuesday - He will be going to Wales.  He has been a wonderful help in the office and we will truly miss him.  He could honestly take over my office job if he had to.  He has been an assistant in the office since the first of July and has been a wonderful companion to Elder Ashwell.

We had to fit a lot of dinners in this week - we took the AP's, Elder Stephenson and Elder Turnbow to dinner on Monday evening, Elder Ashwell and Willis came for dinner on Sunday and we will have Elder Liang and Elder Terry for dinner on Monday (tomorrow).

Jamie and her family just spent this week in Disneyland together building magical memories

LEAVES - Turning Leaves, Falling Leaves and Nyla and Ron Leaving

Monday October 2nd we had Family Home Evening with many of the Senior Missionaries.  We were able to see the British Pageant recording by special permission since many of the Senior Missionaries were not able to see it because it was outside of our mission boundaries.  We had dinner together at the Solihull office and then watched the pageant.  It was amazing and reminded us of the churches beginning in the British Isles.  Many people were prepared to receive the gospel and the missionaries when they arrived in the British Isles.


TURNING LEAVES

Beautiful colors everywhere - it reminds us of when we arrived in England  a little over a year ago.































FALLING LEAVES - All the leaves are falling down, red and yellow, orange and brown




MLC was on Friday October 6th at the Wylde Green Chapel next door to the mission office this week.  The office was filled with our wonderful missionaires.

Nyla and Ron leaving us - Nyla and Ron spent the week in Scotland.  They left last Sunday morning and returned on Friday night.  They came and spend some time at the mission office and it was so fun to have them see the missionaries that were in the office for MLC.  They enjoyed talking to them.  We drove them to the Birmingham airport Saturday morning - what a wonderful visit we enjoyed and we built some lovely memories together.  These are some pictures from September 22nd through the 30th when they were here.

Jolayne and Nyla at Bourton-on-the Water

Nyla and Jolayne at Wroxton

Nyla and Ron at Lower Slaughter

Jolayne and Nyla at The Leigh Pond (laughing)

Arrivals, Arrivals and More Arrivals (post for two weeks)

 

Arrivals - September 19th

Arrivals 
September 19th 
Eleven new missionaries
and one former missionary returned

Elder Willmore checking in Sister Kepu

   

Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds

 Fall has arrived in England---
and so did Nyla and Ron
 Friday - September 22 - Nyla and Ron arrived in Birmingham.  They have been in London and Ireland for the past 2 weeks and will spend the next week with us.  

At Gadfield Elm

Visiting Gadfield Elm and Worcestershire together on Saturday - we spent the night at attended church in Worcester on Sunday.

Nyla, Ron and Sister Willmore hiking Malvern Hills

 
And more arrivals - September 26th we received two Senior Sisters and one Elder

Sister Stewart

Elder Richardson

Sister Blackburn

General Conference - We loved watching conference and were blessed to see our family watching conference together.  This will be our last conference in England.

Week at the Mission Home

Week at the Mission Home - We spent this week at the Mission Home taking care of Amber while President and Sister Leppard were in Portugal for a Mission President Seminar.  We went there on Tuesday morning and returned to our flat on Saturday evening.  The part I enjoyed the most was a nice relaxing tub, which we do not have in our flat.  We enjoyed our walks through a different park and stopped to pick horse chestnuts that were falling off the trees.  Our primary children told us they are called conquer nuts and they taught us a game with them.

This week at the office -We spend this week preparing for our new arrivals which will be coming from the Preston MTC on Tuesday.  The arrivals were postponed a week because of the mission president seminar.  We have ten new arrivals this week and 3 arrivals next week.  Two of them are Senior Sister Missionaries from Utah.  It will be a very busy week.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner Friday evening at Elder and Sister Veaters home.

Another terrorist attack in London On Friday - and my sister Nyla and her husband Ron were in London.  An explosion from a bomb on the underground train. Attacks just keep coming.  I was very happy to hear from Nyla that they was safe and not on that train.  They have been riding the underground "tube" all around London this week.

Dinner with Elder Liang and Elder Terry on Sunday evening.
We sure enjoy having the missionaries in our home and love the message they give and the spirit they bring.  Elder Liang is from China and Elder Terry is from California.


 Sunday evening we loved spending time face-timing with our family.

Departures and Transfers

Monday evening we had Elder Celestini and Elder Halvorsen over for dinner.  Elder Celestini will be leaving this Wednesday and Elder Halvorsen is being transferred to Wales. They live in a flat
down the street from us.  We sure love having the missionaries in our home and feel their special spirit and love to hear their message.

Tuesday - September 5 we had transfers throughout the mission and our departing missionaries came to the office to prepare to depart on Wednesday morning and to have a testimony meeting and farewell dinner.  We had three departures this month.  This is the highlight of each 6 week cycle - to spend a few hours with these awesome missionaries and hear them bear testimony of their Savior and their feelings about their mission.

Sister Leppard, Sister Tartaglia, Elder Holbrook, Elder Celestini, President Leppard

Elder Celestini with his brother and sister

It is always such an special occasion to watch parents and missionaries reunite when a family picks their missionary up at the mission office.  We all got tears in our eyes.  Elder Celestini's family is from Italy and I loved hearing his cute little sister, Emma, speak in Italian.

Elder Liang, Elder Terry-Wylde Green Elders
Elder Willis, Elder Ashwell-Office Elders

Some of the missionaries watching the departing missionaries and saying their farewells.












Our Preparation day adventure for this week:

We drove to Tewkesbury to walk through the Tewkesbury Abbey.  It was built in the 1100's for housing Benedictine Monks.  We stopped at a boot sale on our way.  They are so much fun to walk through.





Then we drove through Lowbands to stop and buy some delicious homemade jam from a stand at the edge of the road - you pay by the honor system.  Very delicious!  I bought Summer Fruit with Junipers, Damson, and Blackcurrant.  It is just down the street from Gadfield Elm Chapel.
I have a feeling we will be stopping by for more in a few weeks.

Then we drove a few more miles down the road to the Malvern Hills - such a beautiful view of the countryside.

A perfect way to spend a Pday.



Busy day at church today - we had five of our primary children attend.  We just recently had a new family move in which added another member of our class.  She is a very sweet young lady from Australia.   During part of primary I went into Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School to give a part of the lesson (we took the primary class in with us) , then finished teaching our primary lesson.  Went into the nursery for second part of primary.   We drove to a chapel in another town to take a flyer to put up about our Addiction Recovery Class.




Just remembering my sweet mother this week - it is her birthday on the 14th.  One of her greatest accomplishments is being "Grandma Booth".  All the grandchildren and great grandchildren adore her.  She made each of them feel special and she loved to spend time with them.  Such a Christ-like and charitable lady.  I was certainly blessed to call her "Mother".

WHAT WILL BE SAID OF YOU?

Lovely flowers from Brother and Sister Fell

OFFICE MEETING THOUGHT on Monday

Heleman 5:7 (Heleman to his sons)
Therefore, my sons (and daughters), I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you and also written, even as it has been said and written of them (their ancestors - Nephi and Lehi)

What will be said of you?  How would you like to be remembered?  By your actions, what do you show is important to you?   Things to think about and DO.

FaDene reminded me of a talk by Linda Burton (General RS President) "Certain Women" which I enjoyed reading today (Sunday)
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/certain-women?lang=eng

THIS COMING TUESDAY (SEPT 5TH) WILL BE OUR ONE YEAR MARK - How time flies.

My birthday flowers are still beautiful
two weeks later

Mission Tour - August 30, 31 and September 1, 2017

Elder Willmore and I were able to attend one day of the multi-zone conferences for the mission tour with Elder De Feo who is a General Authority Seventy.



The talks were amazing -
A parable of the Bumble Bee by the AP's
Bear "HIS" name of our hearts (our name badges)
We have something wonderful to DECLARE - Pres. Leppard
The art of LISTENING - Sister Leppard
Elder De Feo:
The MANTEL of a missionary - do not make the mantel change to fit you - change you to fit the mantel.
If we do not have a PLAN, Satan will come to us with His Plan.
D & C 84:88 Angels will help

Wonderful conference!

Dinner after the Mission Tour on my birthday

 


Thought I read by President Uchtdorf this week:
"The Lord knows you.  He knows your heart and is pleased with your sacrifice.  He smiles upon you each day.  He will uphold you and prepare the way for you.  He will send His angels before you.  You will feel their presence.  And with the help of heaven, your talents will be multiplied.

I promise you that as you lift those around you, the Lord God, the Creator of the universe, will lift you up.  If you will only believe and incline your heart to our Beloved Father, He will place within you a peace that surpasses understanding.  He will give you joy.  May each of you always remember this."

I bear testimony of this promise - I feel His presence and guidance and the the help of angels in my life and I express gratitude for that blessing.

Chipping Norton - The Cotswolds

Slaughter - The Cotswolds

Chipping Norton with Geoffrey the Hare

Sites we saw on Saturday as we went to get a meter reading from a flat in Banbury.

Sunday Dinner with Elder Willis, Elder Liang and Elder Ashwell.  Tuesday is transfers and we just found out that we are not going to have Elder Liang in the office anymore.  We will miss him.

We appreciate all the hard work they do for us in the office.  Elder Willis has just been assigned as the district leader and he will be amazing.

So grateful for all the emails and cards and calls for my birthday - thank you for making my day special.  Just a note:  I appreciate that Sami describes me as "Young"  Thank you Sami - are trying to brown nose grandma???  Such special notes and emails!