Seventh Week

We were learning a new coordinating position in the Temple this week, which they usually have husbands and wives do together in this Temple, so it was fun being with each other but always intense when you are learning. It meant they did not have Tom working in sealings. We will do the same coordinating positions this week, only it will be on the early shift, as opposed to the late shift.

When we work the early shift, we are able to get our walk in first thing in the day, as well as go to town to get groceries or such. Karen Larsen asked us to take her into a hospital appointment one morning. She is a single sister serving a mission here and none of the single sisters have their own cars and even some of the couples have decided not to purchase cars. Everyone is always willing to help each other out. It is a wonderful atmosphere to be in.

Trevor and Tammie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this week and our coordinators, the Davenports, celebrated their 50th anniversary - two milestones in life. We celebrate our 50th in August.

Every couple of weeks the missionaries have a movie night in our old “Visitors’ Center”, which is now used for meetings and such. Saturday night, as we walked into the building, the door to “Christus” statue was open and rather than turning left to go down the hall to the movie room, where everyone was gathering, I walked toward the Christus and Tom followed. We just pause a moment and when we turned to leave, saw one of our dear friends sitting in a corner. I walked towards her and could see that something was wrong. I hugged her, we talked briefly and I asked if she needed a blessing. She replied in the affirmative. She said that she knew she needed a blessing and had been praying for help and had felt prompted that we should be the ones to give her aid. There are many wonderful people here and we are not her ministering people but when we walked in, she felt it was an answer to her pray and prompting. She sat with us thru the movie, we spent some time talking in our flat afterward and then Tom gave her a beautiful blessing. It confirmed to us that when we walk toward the Savior, as we did the Christus that night, the Lord puts us where we should  to be to assist his children when needed.

We had noted, that though our little Tunbridge Wells ward had a cute teenage girl to play the piano for church, she did not understand how to play the organ in the building. We made arrangements for Sister Sandy Beck, our fellow missionary, to come with us and give her a little organ lesson. It went well and young Tannia Castro was thrilled with the experience. While Sister Beck taught organ, Tom taught a young man, in the ward, his final Temple Prep lesson and he is now ready for his first visit to the Temple.

Sandy teaching our organist

We had a Hi/Bye meeting Sunday evening, where new missionaries introduce themselves, and departing  missionaries say farewell. We have three couples leaving - Davenports, Stokes and Days. We have one Sister leaving - Dora Robertson. The Rushforths have been here for sometime but, for  various reasons, have been unable to do their “Hi”, so they did that to get it in before they have to say good-bye. These meetings are funny and fun, but filled with a spirit of love for each other and for the work we are here to do. These are truly dedicated, faithful people and it is a privilege to serve with them and feel of their acceptance and love.

On Monday we went with a group to Hampton Court Palace, another remarkable site, where King Henry VIII and other monarchs, held court. There are large  reception rooms and opulent surroundings but we enjoyed seeing the huge kitchen complex, where great feasts were prepared, mainly for those who worked for the monarch. The monarch’s food was prepared in private kitchens. Interesting fact - citizens were allowed in to watch the monarch, family and friends dining. We had a great Italian meal after at a restaurant with everyone.

New week ahead and we will continue training in our coordinating position together.

The Royal “Throne”

Hampton Court

Sixth week

We have had a busy week at the Temple as the “Single Adults” had a Temple week and conference. They would attend the Temple during the day and have firesides and activities in the evenings. We were asked to participate at a fireside on Thursday evening with the Shurtleffs and the Sharlands. We were all discussing Temples. The Shurtleffs have been a Temple President and Matron too and the Sharlands are from New Zealand and they discussed their Temple there. I told about the coming of our Temple and Tom talked about Temple miracles. Sandy Beck came to play the piano. We hope it went well. We probably all spoke too long because we are somewhat enthusiastic. It was fun and nice to be with them.

Farewell to Carol and Clive Sharland

We had our Family Home Evening on Wednesday evening with our B shift in the common room. We were all to tell about our special songs. It was really fun as we had everything from “Great Balls of Fire” to Hymns, to Brother Evans, who sings in a Welsh Man’s choir, singing to us, to George Playter serenading us with “Autumn Leaves”. Everyone sang along and had such fun. We did “O My Father” and I told how the Hurd family had come into the church, here in England, in the early days, as a result of hearing the missionaries on the street singing “O My Father”. We also did “Sweet Caroline” and they loved singing that one. Fun.

 Storm Dennis hit on the weekend, and as we had no directive to remain here for church, we drove with the Muellers to Tunbridge Wells. We probably should not have gone. The motorway (freeway) was closed and we had to take another route to get there. The Bishop announced that we were just going to have sacrament meeting and get everyone home. Tom and Elder Mueller taught the young man, in the ward, his Temple prep lesson and Jan Mueller and I taught MaryAnn a Temple prep lesson. This was my first time meeting MaryAnn. She is very sweet but I can see that her life has not been easy. We drove her home and then started making our way home. We traveled the back way and went thru flooded areas and encountered a tree which had fallen right across one road. We were rerouted a number of times by the “satnav” and yes, finally made it home. It was an adventure.

We had invited David and Deborah Davenport for dinner Sunday evening and when Tom messaged them to come up anytime (they live below us), they phoned back that, while driving back from singing to the seniors, they and Grames had decided to drive thru a very flooded portion of road for FUN! Their car stalled part way thru. They had, had to push it out in knee deep water and were waiting for a tow truck. Please remember that these are not young missionaries but grandparents, senior Temple missionaries and David is a medical doctor. This are what responsible missionaries do for FUN! They finally all made it home and both couples came for dinner. It was interesting dinner conversation to say the least.

On Monday, Chris Fitzner drove a group of us, in the Temple van, to Blue Water, where there is a very large mall and we all had a good shop, ate and went to a movie. Ours was not a good movie - “The Life of David Copperfield”. Don’t bother going.

It has been a good week full of interesting people and situations but sadly we all had to say farewell to the Sharlands, who have concluded their mission, and are making their way back to New Zealand. They have been our trainers and we have appreciated them and enjoyed their friendship.

Fifth Week

Our week’s activities are always determined by which shift we are on and this week we were on the late shift. It makes it a little more difficult to get out and do errands and our walking but we manage to get both done.

We went into East Grinstead to pick up a few groceries and see if they had “essential silver” at the vitamin store for my eye, which is still infected. They did not have it, but knew of a store a little further away that might. We went to a traditional “sweets” shop to see if they had Tom’s little licorice “nipits”. They said they did not but, just as we were leaving, the owner asked us to wait and told his assistant to grab a little container of them off the shelf behind where he was standing. He said that he just remembered that he found the box the other day and he gave it to us - no charge. What a little miracle. Tom is doing sealings now and, when his voice gets weary, the little candies, being small, quickly sooth his throat.

Clive and Carol Sharland have one more week before their return to New Zealand and a group of us went out Saturday evening for dinner at the Peacock Pub and Restaurant,  just around the corner from the Temple. We sat across from Peter and Maggie Stokes, who are from England, and they related to us their amazing conversion story. They decided to sell their things in England, go to America, buy an RV and tour the USA, Canada and Mexico for a year or so with their young daughter. As they traveled in the eastern states, they began to feel that something significant had happened there, that there was reason for the strong feeling of freedom and that they needed to start praying and reading the Bible. They came to the conclusion that they needed to be baptized, but didn’t know how to go about it. Then they remembered a family, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that they had met in a campground while at Disneyland. They remembered too, that the family were from Burley, Idaho and they decided to travel there and ask for their advice. They parked their RV at the family’s home for a month, learned about the gospel and yes, were baptized. They are solid as a rock and absolutely hilarious. We had a good time.


That night Storm Clara blew in from the North Atlantic and she certainly blew. In the morning we received word that the missionaries had been given permission to have church on site due to the intensity of the storm, so we walked across the street to our Welcome Center meeting room and had a
lovely Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. The sacrament serving was improvised with large plastic cups containing small amounts of water, blessed and passed by two elderly Ordinance Workers using a kitchen tray. President Anitsui asked four people to share their testimonies and we closed the meeting. President Jensen led a discussion, for the Sunday School lesson, on President Nelson’s talk on living the second great commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves. Some wonderful stories were shared and we all left the building feeling that we needed to pray for a storm each Sunday.

Aftermath of Storm on Temple Grounds

Pat and Chris Fitzner had us and the Sellars for dinner. It was very nice and we had fun using the find a relative “ap” to see if we were related to each other. Pat is Gibb, so is related to Tom closely thru Grandma Tanner. Some of the rest of us were also related, though more distantly.

When we walked the grounds this morning, we saw the affects of Storm Clara on the Temple grounds.   A construction tent had taken flight and ended up some distance away, the creek was overflowing it’s banks and a large, mature tree had a good portion of it broken off. We saw more trees and flooding as we drove out around the surrounding area today. We also acquired a leak in the roof of our building, manifesting itself in one of the common areas.

Today the Temple vans took a group of us to tour Hever Castle and the grounds. It is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, whom he had beheaded. He broke from the Catholic Church to be able to divorce his first wife and marry Anne, but she fell into disfavour and had to be removed. He married four other wives after Anne, making a total of six wives. It is a beautiful little castle that was bought and restored by wealthy American William Waldorf Astor in the early 1900s. He added a Tudor wing, developed very large and beautiful gardens and had a lake made  using a small army of workers. It was a social hub for the elite. It is close by and we definitely want to return and perhaps stay overnight in the Anne Boleyn Tudor wing for a special treat - perhaps my birthday.

Hever Castle

Bridge to Hever Castle

Fourth Week

We were on early shifts this week and so it means that we are up and off early. The Temples front steps and baptistery entrance by the front steps have been under construction for some time. We can go in the front door but to facilitate baptistery youth coming in, they have allowed us and the youth to come in thru a lower service door and as it turns out that door is a quicker access for us to the Temple and our locker areas. We were on baptistery again with the Sharlands but most weekday mornings are slow baptistery wise so we did other things too. The Sharlands were gone on family business on Saturday so Saturday morning, which was very busy, we were on our own and we did alright. Tom has done some sealing work this week and has done well.

We both had eye infections this week in our left eyes. We are hoping they are on the mend and not require a visit to the doctor.

Being on morning shifts we do our walking later. We were just heading out for our walk when Brother Rushforth saw us and invited us to drive with them to a nearby hill and do our walk with them as well as see a view of the area. They had also invited Sister Beck. They first needed to drive some Canadian Temple patrons to the train in Lingfield and then return for us. It was getting a 

little late in the day when we finally arrived at Reagate Hill and it was starting to get dark but we had a nice walk thru the woods and were still able to see the view. We saw some tips of bomber wings which were a memorial to a USA bomber that crashed into the hill while returning from a mission during WWII. Nine crew members were killed. Very sad.

We took the country back road to church on Sunday. It was a scenic drive but the roads were narrow and winding. Our little Tunbridge Wells ward continues to impress us. They have a couple in the ward that are both nuclear physicists and travel throughout the world consulting. He is American and she is Swedish and they are needing to move back to USA at this time because they are needed there. They will be back in England however, as the British government requires their consulting abilities too. We have a woman in the ward who has epilepsy and has sensitivity to light and sound and so remains behind the back curtain. She too is extremely bright and funny and an impressive individual to be around. It would  be much easier for her to stay home snug and safe but she is doing her very best.

We had “Break the Fast” with the other missionaries Sunday afternoon and President and Sister Irwin had the Temple President and Matron from the Kiev Temple there with them. They must be on a Temple closure time. Always good food when the missionaries get together. Some of the food is new to us and some is familiar. It all depends on who is cooking.

Attended our safety and emergency training meeting this morning. There seems to be some concern for the Temple’s safety from terrorists but we are in the Lord’s hands and not really worried. However, we do have a pray in our hearts every time we set out on a driving excursion and we did venture out to the town of Crawley today to get some needed shopping done. We actually went to a   mall. Home again and ready for another week.  

Reagate Hill

Walk with Rushforths and Sandy Beck