Up with the Christmas Decorations - we can have them all up in 15 minutes!

We received an email from our family with their Christmas wishes and telling us that they will be sending letters that we can open each day in December up through Christmas Day.  We received our first envelope of letters so we decided that is was time to put up our Christmas Decorations - which included our Elder and Sister Stockings that we received last year from our family.  It will be so fun to open a letter each day and will make our holiday special.  Thank you our sweet family - we love you all.
We listened to Christmas music all day Saturday when we were home in our flat.














We had four missionaries leave this week before our official departure day which will be in nine days on November 29th.  We will have 23 more missionaries leaving that day so we have been getting everything ready for their departure.  We also had trainers meeting on Friday and a Self Reliance class for missionaries departing in 6 months on Thursday so the office has been full of missionaries.

President Leppard, Elder Hoffmann, Elder Mkhulise, Sister Leppard

Elder Mkhulise and Elder Hoffman had to leave this week instead of on November 29th because their visas were expiring before that date.

It was inspiring to talk to one of the young sisters that came to the office for trainers meeting.  She was burned on her face and neck while she was cooking with oil .  I saw the and it caught on fire.  I saw pictures of her when she was in the hospital and when she came to the office she has healed quite a bit but you can still see the scars on her face and neck.  She has such a positive, cheerful attitude and a beautiful smile.  She was a joy to talk to and learn from her example.

Today (Sunday) I was able to talk  to my brother and sister-in-law, Laurie.  She has been battling cancer in her liver and stomach for the past couple years and she also inspires me with her optimism and positive attitude as she goes through this trial.  She goes in for surgery on December 6 and our prayers are with her and Doren.  We love you both.

Sunday - November 19
We had a munch and mingle after church and then had Elder Ashwell and Elder Clark over for dinner.   They serve in the office with us.  The best part of having them for dinner is hearing them give us their message they prepare.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING - 
November 11th
Saturday we held our annual Thanksgiving Senior Social with the senior missionaries and our flat inspectors (and also our office elders and assistants) - What a lovely event.  This will be the last one that I plan. Out of the 37 that attended:  20 were from England, 15 were from America and 2 were from Canada.
The turkey's were British!

After the Thanksgiving Social we drove to Stourbridge where we attended a Canadian Night with the Stourbridge ward - we had Canadian food and two of the missionaries serving there entertained us with music - Elder Matwayachuk and Elder Matus



Happy Birthday to Ashlee today! - November 12th
She is 11 years old today.  She is a beautiful artist and has sent us many beautiful letters and pictures as we have served in England.  She brightens our day! (Ashlee is in the orange shirt)
She also brightened some other people's day yesterday as she raked leaves for them.

Giving service to others - raking leaves for five families

November has arrived

Happy Birthday to Nichol tomorrow - November 6th
We feel so blessed to call her our DAUGHTER.
We love you Nichol!




The highlight at the office this week was MLC - held on Friday, November 3rd.  We helped prepare the lunch for them and loved the time to see all the Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders. Such an amazing group of Elders and Sisters. 


The week was busy finishing up all the projects that come with new arrivals that arrived last week.  Since it was such a large group - it took most of this week to get everything done.

  This weekend England celebrated Guy Fawkes Night - They celebrate with bonfires and lighting off fireworks similar to our fireworks on the 4th of July.
Guy Fawkes Night is annually held on November 5. It is sometimes known as Bonfire Night and marks the anniversary of the discovery of a plot organized by Catholic conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in 1605. Many people light bonfires and set off fireworks.  He failed to blow up parliament but is the most celebrated villan in England.

Our October Arrivals

Our new arrivals came into the office on Tuesday morning, October 24th.  This month we received twenty three new missionaires.  One of them was temporarily serving in Ghana while he was waiting for his visa to come through.  We had their Trainers in the office for a trainer meeting and off they went to their areas to begin serving - It is always wonderful to meet these new missionaries after seeing their names on paperwork for the last four to five months.  Here they go with their new adventures!
Arrival day is always a very busy but fun day.






Goodbye to Elder and Sister Richards

We also had a senior couple, Elder and Sister Richards leave on Tuesday to go back to Idaho after serving for one year in Member Leadership Support.  Elder And Sister Richards were amazing working with the members in Milford Haven in Wales - they will be missed.  They live in Rexburg/Island Park so we look forward to seeing them again.

Beautiful drive on our Pday - Saturday, October 28th
We drove to Worcester (my favorite part of England) and walked around a farm house (Brockhampton Estate) that is 600 years old.  It was a beautiful fall day and it felt revitalizing to be outside and see the beautiful fall leaves swirling and falling in the wind.  Perfect day out of the office.





Happy 40th Birthday to Scott today.
We love you and miss you.  We brought him home from the hospital on Halloween day and his funeral was on Halloween day.

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)