Yuma to London: Temple Week #47, 28 April

The week was filled with various happenings. The saints were here from Lille, France. They filled the temple with plenty of work to be done. It was nice to see Brother & Sister Del Forge. They are faithful and come each time and are ordinance workers and join right in with us. We used many language cards; French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Mandarin. Dad's relation, Noah Nelson was back with his wife, Carolyn, and 3 year old daughter, Lola, to be sealed as a family. We enjoyed another conversation with them. He works for British Gas and has been here in England for four years. We are happy to have met them.

Our study material for spiritual thoughts this week is based on a conference talk by David A Bednar, Therefore They Hushed Their Fears. Sister Adler's (she if from Wales) thought touched all of our hearts as she shared the following events: "When I was born, my mother was unable to take care of me. When I was ten days old, I went to live with my grandparents. They were religious and took me to church each Sunday. When I was about seven, we went to meeting and the preacher was one of those fire and brimstone preachers. He put the fear of dying into my heart so badly that I wondered what I would do if my grandparents died. They were older and I knew at that young age they would not always be around. These thoughts weighed heavy on my heart and at age 16, my grandparents did die. A couple of years later I married and we had a daughter. It wasn't long before we had another daughter and I once again became very fearful of death. What would my children do if I were to die? What would I do if my children were to die? As parents, my husband and I decided we needed to take our girls to church and began going to different churches to find the right one for us. It was during this period of time that the knock on the door came. We embraced the good news of the gospel and my fears were dispelled about death as I knew there was a way we could be together as a family forever." She quoted from the talk: "The peace Christ gives allows us to view mortality through the precious perspective of eternity and supplies a spiritual settledness that helps us maintain a consistent focus on our heavenly destination. Thus, we can be blessed to hush our fears because His doctrine provides purpose and direction in all aspects of our lives. His ordinances and covenants fortify and comfort in times both good and bad. And His priesthood authority gives assurance that the things that matter most can endure both in time and in eternity."

Savannah Stevenson and her new hubby were in the temple. She stars as Mary in the Bible videos and currently is in Wicked, here in London. They were sealed in the temple a couple of weeks ago and I caught a glimpse of them as they were heading up to the sealing room. This week, when they were in, Dad and I were on assignment such that we helped them and were able to converse with them. It was a treat to see them.

The highlight of the week was Dad passing his driving test. Fifteen hours of theory study and driving lessons and £300 later, he is licensed to drive in England! Was it worth it? Yes! Freedom is so sweet!

An Arctic Front was in for the week and brought cooler temperatures, cloudy skies, high winds, and rain. One week of sunshine did not insure that the weather had changed!

We made a visit to the chiropractor. They have a trivia book Dad enjoys reading while waiting. I was icing and he read out loud this item: "To a German, a joke is no laughing matter." There were others in the waiting area and a man, about 45 yrs old, said: "That is right. They do not laugh at jokes because they don't get them. I worked there for five years and when I told jokes they just stared at me. I explained the joke and by then I couldn't see the humor in it either." He continued to share other experiences while living there. He kept us all entertained with his thoughts, etc.

McKenna was baptized on Saturday, 2 May. We almost missed it and for that we really feel dumb. One of the missionaries that is going home this week, decided to hold a fireside and wanted me to play the music for it. One thing led to another and he did not give me any more information or details and I was beginning to dread going since by Saturday we are so tired and I just want to do my own thing. We finished our shift, went out to eat, and had just got back and waiting for the time we needed to leave for the fireside when Kendal called to remind us of the baptism. She said she thought of us and that we had not talked in a week or so and was impressed to give us a call. All I could think of was, "Glory hallelujah!" I gave Brother Banks a quick call to let him know I would not be there and then we settled in to wait for the baptism FaceTime. We were so happy we made it and was a part of the event. We are happy McKenna has chosen to be baptized and were impressed with her knowledge of the gospel as she answered questions her Aunt Erin asked when she talked about baptism.