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
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