Good Morning everyone in Utah (and Washington)!

       It is 2pm in England but 8am in Utah.  We have had a very busy week and are enjoying our labors.

Here is the update for the week.

       Tuesday, October 25^th we spent much of the day in London.  We discovered the Courtauld Gallery which is a private collection donated by wealthy people to preserve these excellent works of art to be enjoyed forever.  The collection was amazing!  Many of the impressionist artists were represented with some of the best Seurats, Degas, Cezanne’, and Gauguin that we have seen.  Wonderful collection.

      We then walked to the Sir John Soane’s home.  He was a wealthy Englishman who loved to collect assorted treasures from antiquity.  Not necessarily good things just lots and lots of things.  He stuffed his entire home with stuff including a stone tomb from Egypt, pieces of temples from Greece, Roman ruins, and thousands of artifacts from the past.  When he died, he asked that the home be preserved and shared with the people of London.  The ultimate pack rat of antiquities!  We finished at one of our favorite places, Camden Town.  Great ethnic foods and fun shopping in the markets.  We also “discovered” a booth selling fresh deep fried Churros that we so good.  To make it even better, he injects the entire length of the churro with either chocolate or caramel!  We may have even had two of them!

      Wednesday,  Dad spent time preparing to teach Institute that evening.  We visited the Gym (we now have memberships) and worked around home.  In the evening, we went to the Church to find that the ward was setting up the building for Heni’s Funeral on Thursday.  We moved into the Priesthood room and had an good Institute lesson.  We had about 18 present.  They are great people!  After the lesson, we helped set up and clean up the building for the funeral.

      Thursday, was the funeral for Heni who was a special girl, 21 years old who passed away.  The funeral was very nice.  She had a wicker casket and was cremated directly after the service.  Heni’s family spoke and did very well!  The Stake President spoke last on the atonement and life beyond this existence.  The family served herbal tea, cookies, cakes, and other sweets.  At the conclusion of the day’s activities, the family released about a dozen white doves behind the church.  The birds flew together in larger and larger circles above the church until they got their directions straight.  Then then flew to their home perch miles away.  It was very moving, symbolic, and beautiful.  We had many YSA attending the funeral since they grew up knowing and loving Heni.  It was a very special day.

     Friday, Mom baked brownies and we drove to Wembley Ward for our Missionary Zone meeting.  We love attending their meetings with Sister Jackson and Sister Wallace, the Senior Sisters in that area.  The Sisters fixed lunch of hot ham and cheese rolls that were delicious!  We were asked to speak briefly about Obedience so we prepared and spoke.  Mom spoke about using the zip line at the Olympic Park by Park City and the lesson of being totally obedient to all the safety rules because you did not really want to come out of your harness and die.  She did a great job!  Dad spoke about the miracle of the Fishes in Luke 5.  The Savior asked Simon Peter to do a couple of small things (Can I borrow your boat?  Will you push me out just a little way?) and then asked him to go back out into the lake and let down their nets. Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing but obeyed the Savior anyway.  His net was filled so full of fishes that it began to sink both ships.  Peter and his family were blessed with fish for their income to help the family after Peter left to follow Jesus.  The talk went well.

   After Zone Meeting we went to the Royal Airforce Museum in Wembley.  It was awesome! They had many aircraft including many from world war I.  Dad really enjoyed the planes displayed in four huge buildings.  We will send some pictures!  In the evening, Mom cooked about 10 pounds of hamburger for the YSA Halloween party Saturday.  We will have Taco Salad.

   Saturday, we prepared for the party, Mom painted, we worked to arrange rides from the Tube station to President Bettridge’s home, picked up fresh filled donuts that we ordered from the grocery store, and generally tied up loose ends before the party.  We drove and found the President’s home.  Beautiful!! Very contemporary “L” shaped two story home.  Beautiful Garden, open floor plan, theater screen and projector, etc.  Wonderful home.  Peter from Aylesbury helped pickup kids from the station.  The President brought some in as well.  We had YSA from Wembley, Hayes, Aylesbury, and Watford.  We felt good about the turnout.  We played games in the family room, moved to the kitchen and ate Taco Salad, Awarded prizes (Chocolate of Course!) for Halloween hats.  They have GREAT Chocolate here!!  We then went back to the family room and watched Disney’s “Hocus Pocus”.  Some of the YSA had seen it but others had not.  They got a good laugh out of it.  We then ate our filled Donuts for dessert and visited.  We left at 10:45pm.  Mission accomplished!

   Sunday, Daylight Savings time arrived in England.  We fell back one hour!  We went for a walk on this foggy moody English morning.  We drove about 50 minutes to the Enfield Ward.  When it was time to start Sacrament meeting, there were only a few people in the chapel.  Our YSA representative was there and is an AWESOME young man!!  We met with about five YSA and got the contact information for them plus others.  They us a WhatsApp conversation to stay in touch.  They added Mom’s phone to their conversation group.  We had a good conversation with the Bishop and the YSA Advisor.  Right after church we hurried back to Watford for a Baptism.  About 40 people showed up to support this young man.  It was very nice with better attendance than other baptisms.  We shared some of our filled donuts (it is spelled doughnuts in England) with everyone after the baptism.  Sunday evening we had our second Skype Stake meeting for the YSA and everything went well!  We are still struggling to get participation from all wards.

   Monday, we did our Laundry.  We are so very thankful for our little dryer!  Some loads take over an hour but they are dry when they are finished!  We took a walk up to the High Street mall on the warm sunny day.  We decided to sign up for two Gym memberships in the Watford Leisure Centre (Gym and Pool).  We are on a month to month contract.   We planned to carve pumpkins during Family Home Evening and were all prepared for the activity however only one faithful YSA young lady came (without a pumpkin) but we were soon joined by four missionaries and two investigators.  It was fun to plan some games and have some treats.  Mom makes great treats for FHE!  Nacho Cheese and chips (Using real cheddar cheese).  No pumpkins so no carving.  After the missionaries left we watched some Studio C with Katie.  She is so very awesome!

    Tuesday we took our little car in for its one year service and oil change.  We had to set up the appointment two weeks ago.  While they had the car for a couple of hours, we walked over to a ASDA shopping center (British Walmart).  It was HUGE!  We also visited a motorcycle shop, the BMW Dealer, and the Mini Cooper dealer.  Cute cars!   After receiving our car back, we made our weekly Costco run.  The Sisters called while we were there and wanted us to get them some Skippy Peanut Butter!  It was on sale for £3.99.  Good deal! 

    Tuesday evening we met with the Sisters and Sharam, one of our home teaching people.  He has quite a story.  He is a refugee from Iran.  He left his country, traveled to Greece and finally arrived in England.  He is learning to be a barber but now works at a car wash.  He is still having trouble with smoking.  He has such a simple strong testimony and sincere heart.  

     Wednesday was a service and Institute day.  Elder Gale from the Mission Office called earlier in the week with a problem.  The Senior Sisters in Wembley did an apartment check on the Elders in Enfield and found that they have a bunk bed that is falling apart.  It was so bad that they put the mattresses on the floor rather than use the broken bed.  They have three Elders in the apartment now but will add a fourth one soon.  The mattresses were so bad that the Elders have real trouble sleeping.  Mom did some research into beds.  The Elders texted us pictures and sizes of the two bedrooms in the apartment.  We looked for a good sturdy bunk bed and found none.  We decided to get two new beds for the small bedroom (actually like a wide hallway).  The beds have drawers under them so that they do not need dressers.  We drove to IKEA in Wembley, bought two beds, two drawer sets, and four good mattresses and stuffed them all into our little car!  We even had room to spare (not much.. but a little!).

   We next drove to Enfield, and met the Elders at their apartment.  They had already removed the bunk bed in pieces and made it disappear.  They carried in all our IKEA treasures and together we assembled everything!  I brought my tools including my little drill/screw driver.  Very handy!!  They went together easily.  One Elder is from Spain, one from Ukraine, and one from Utah.  The Elder from the Ukraine knew Elder Teuscher (Dan’s son) when he was a missionary.  Small world.

    Elder and Sister Gale are finishing their missions and leaving in a week.  We were glad we could help them!  They are wonderful hardworking missionaries who will be greatly missed!!

   We returned to Watford, prepared for Institute and headed for the church.  We had a good crowd with a fun activity afterword.  They took  gaffer tape and taped two young men to the wall.  They then timed them to see which one would stay up the longest.  It is on Youtube now.  Dad was worried about the kids (both named Jacob) so he stayed close by with his handy pocket knife just in case the tape got to be too tight.  The kids had fun and there were no injuries or problems!  You gotta love it!   Mom brought treats and they ate about everything.

     

    Well, that is about it.   We love serving our mission and working with both the YSA and Missionaries.  We love them all!  The gospel is helping these good people become even better.

We are thankful for our wonderful family!  Thank you so much for taking care of things at home so that we can serve without worrying about the home front!

Bless you All!     

Mom and Dad

Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Baron.

Family and Friends,

    Here is the latest report from Watford England.  We are a day or two late because we have been really busy! Of course, we were never ones to NOT be busy so I guess that busy is our normal.  It was been a great week!

    Monday October 10^th,  Mom had a chance to paint today!  She used our multipurpose table in the Family Home Evening room.  The Royal Academy of Art is judging an abstract art exhibition and Mom wants to enter.  We will attach a picture.  She had So very much fun!  Dad worked on the computer and got things ready for the YSA FHE (Young Single Adults) (Family Home Evening).

    We had 5 YSA attending which was good.  We played some games including Charades using smart phones!  Dad told the story of Cliff Young, the sheep herder who was a long distance runner.  Each person then agreed to teach a lesson in a future FHE.  We are planning to do a Halloween Party so we encouraged the kids to make a scary hat and come!

    Tuesday was a preparation day with work around the house, mowing the lawn, etc.  We did have a long bike ride and Mom worked on her painting.  It looks awesome!  It is about 2 feet by 3 feet.   Our friends, Jade and Tom have a severely handicapped special daughter, Heni, who is 21 years old.  Heni has been ill for a time and she passed away this morning.  This young lady has been such a big part of their lives.  We feel so sorry for their loss.  Their lives will be so different from now on.  We are so thankful that we have the gospel. We know she will live again and is now with her Heavenly Father.

    We had the Sister Missionaries over for a quick Dinner and then we ran them to their teaching appointment.  They are so wonderful!!

    Wednesday, We shopped at Costco for the week.  Mom found some pants that she loves so she bought two colors.  She then got her hair cut and colored.  Dad went to an upscale barber shop and got a haircut.  Mom looks great!  Dad looks like a sheared sheep but not as bad as last month. 

     Institute was great!  Dad played the organ for the hymns.  He was nervous but did okay.  The kids had great games afterwards.  They really love being together!

     Thursday we traveled to the Temple.  We left our home at 7:30am and arrived just in time for the 10:00am session.  The traffic can be so bad.  We were in a tiny session with two men and six women.  We ate lunch at the temple and took a walk around the grounds.  We then drove to explore the Leeds Castle which is located out toward Dover.  It is on 500 acres of land with beautiful streams and lakes.  It is a beautiful castle that has been remodeled many times, lastly in 1927.  Not very historical but beautiful.  The land has had a castle on it for centuries.  We left at 4:30pm and arrived at home after 7pm.  More Traffic.

     Friday, we went for our bike ride for our exercise.  We love the trails around here.  Sometimes we go on trails that were once old railroad beds, sometimes up or down the canal looking at locks and houseboats, other times we go through the parks and sometimes we go uptown.  Lots of fun.  We straightened our home and welcomed friends from Park City, Utah.  Renee and Wade came to England and agreed to stay with us a couple of nights.  Renee is an artist and a flight attendant with Delta.  They drove up from the airport, found our home, and arrived in time for a walk.  They brought Mom’s artist easel and supplies (plus a leather coat) from Utah. It was so good to see them! We walked up the canal watching the houseboats, birds, and things.  After settling in and having a delicious dinner, we took another walk uptown to see the area.  We ran into the Sister Missionaries and visited for a bit before returning home.

    Saturday we were up very early and took Renee and Wade to the Tube for a day in London.  We arrived early at the Tower of London.  Renee was so kind to treat us to Guest Memberships to the Tower and six other castles.  We went right in and saw the Crown Jewels of England!  AWESOME! Diamonds, Rubies, etc. etc.  Gold, Silver, and beautiful things.  We were the only ones in the jewel rooms because we were so early.  We then explored the castle walls and exhibits before catching a tour from the only female Beefeater at the Tower.  She was an awesome guide and the tour was scary, gross, true, and well done.  We then zoomed to the Tube to Blackfriars to see the Thames River, the Globe Theater, Millennium Bridge, and London skyline.  We ate lunch at the Globe.  Next Dad drug us all to the Tube station for a quick trip to the British Museum.  We ran in to see the Rosetta Stone, the outstanding Egyptian exhibits, the Greek exhibits including much of the Parthenon, ran through the Assyrian exhibit and ended up in early European History.  We next zoomed down to the tube and over to St. Pauls.  Dad got lost but only for a bit.  We arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral just in time for their Evensong service.  We went in, sat down and enjoyed choir and organ music (the organ was awesome in that great stone cathedral!).  After the services we were worn out so we returned to the Tube for our hour ride back to Watford.  Upon arriving home we visited until late.  It was a great, full, fun day!

   Sunday, We said goodbye to Renee and Wade as they left for the rest of their week in the Cotswold.  We drove to Hayes ward for church.  Mom visited Primary since many YSA teach there.  Dad went to Elders to meet some more members.  Some members are such good teachers. Other member are not as good!  If they would just follow the teaching guidelines, they could at least have a reasonable class.  “Winging it” is not a good plan!  Enough said!

    We returned home in time for Mom to fix waffles, roasted potato wedges, scrambled eggs, British bacon (ham) and Ice cream for dessert for two Elders and two Sister Missionaries.  What a feed!! Two of our missionaries will be transferred next week.  Elder Folke’ needs to return home to Germany for a medical issue probably surgery. Sister Kerr will spend her last six weeks at the Hyde Park Visitor’s center before going home to Arizona.  We love the missionaries and love to have them over!  Sister Kerr’s parents are coming to pick her up so we hope to meet them.  They have a wonderful daughter who we love!

   As soon as we finished our missionary “Breakfast” lunch, Dad set up the computer for a Skype Stake YSA Committee meeting. He was worried sick about the technology.  We had so many issues in the day or so before the meeting but it all came together at the right time.  Tender Mercies from Heaven!  We had four of our five wards participate and the meeting was very good with no technical issues.  Amy, our YSA president conducted the meeting and really came through well!  They have great goals and are focusing on helping others.  I was really proud of them!  After the meeting, we worked on our Halloween hats for the hat contest. Fun!

    Monday, October 17^th, we went shopping for groceries for us and the YSA FHE and Institute.  We also had a long list so we drove to IKEA in Wembley.  It is less than 10 miles away but takes over a half an hour to drive there.  We were successful and found exactly what we needed (Maybe in the wrong color but that’s okay!).   We had two big office chairs that took up so much room so we sold them on the Watford classified ads and bought new much smaller ones at IKEA.  The backs are bright pink. Pink and Black seats.  Cool!

    FHE was great with four YSA’s plus our two Sister Missionaries!  Two of our regular attenders had to work. We had fun treats, a great discussion, some games, and a cake that Sara brought.  Three of the kids just started new jobs today.  Sara and Sam both started working at the Harry Potter Movie studios.  They are both returned missionaries.  I believe that Sam speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and some Swedish.  Sara speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, Japanese and some German.  They are both amazing!!   Katie also started a new job and was exhausted!  Stephanie attended as well.  She is awesome!!  She speaks Cantonese Chinese and teaches Chinese to Missionaries for the MTC by Skype. This is a great group of wonderful talented people!!  We love working with them.

    Well, that’s about it!   We are working trying to locate some of our six home teaching families.  Dad is on Facebook trying to get the YSA to come to activities.  Mom is planning several events, painting, being a tour director, and cooking for missionaries. We are busy, happy, and loving England.

    We got our “Flu Jabs”  (Flu shots) and they put a “Plaster” on us (Band aid) after.  Oh, what an adventure!!  We love it!

We love our family and miss you all!  We are so thankful that our family members love each other! 

    Heavenly Father is watching over us!  He helps us in so many ways.  He lives and answers prayers.

We love you all!

Dad and Mom

Clark and Joyce

Grandpa and Grandma Baron.

   This week has been a good week!

       The weather here in Watford is still very nice most days but it is getting dark earlier and cooler than before.  The summer is over.  We now wear our coats while biking in the morning.  Here is our report of the past week!

     Monday, September 26^th.  Monday is usually a preparation day for Family Home Evening (FHE) and other things in general.  We were happy to talk to our son, Tyler and hear about his great job, family, and move to Colorado.  It sounds like everything is going well for them!!   We were bummed to learn that our faithful BMW has not sold so I guess we will just store it until we return.

     We had some very good soup at the munch and mingle after church on Sunday and this sweet sister gave us the recipe so we decided to make it for FHE tonight. It is a sausage, potato, spinach cream soup.  We had trouble finding some of the ingredients but when all was finished, it was delicious!  The kids at FHE also enjoyed it.  We have such a wonderful diverse group!  Our newest FHE member is Sarah.  It appears that her family is from Portugal, but is living in England, and she served a mission in Japan and spent two months in the Provo mission training center.  So yes, she speaks at least three languages very well.  Wonderful Fun young lady! We played some fun games and had a good lesson from the Women’s General session of LDS Conference.  Our convert friend Nikki from Hungary was also there.  She wants to go to the US to work and live.  The young adults enjoy coming to our house and spending time together!  We enjoy it as well!  Daniel was not excited to play the “pick up cotton balls with your nose covered in Vaseline” game but he and Elder Baron had a great game of Battleship!

    Wednesday we traveled into London to meet our artist friend from Utah, Willamarie.  She is a great artist and we love we work!  We had a great day visiting the historic Blackfriar Pub with its wonderful copper relief decorations. Mom had a chance to do a sketch from the center of the Millennium Bridge over the Thames. The artists visited the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit while Dad worked on emails and YSA things.  After catching another excellent exhibit we went to the top floor of the Tate Modern and ate at the restaurant overlooking the London Skyline.  We had a great time together! 

   Wednesday evening we met with the YSA for Institute at the church.  We had a good group attend.  After the lesson by Bishop Manning, Sister Baron set up refreshments of sweet rolls, drinks, and carrots with dip,  while Elder Baron cooked eight Pizzas in the church kitchen. These Young Adults are so very good and fun and hungry.  We have some with learning disabilities, some with emotional challenges and social issues but most are just awesome young people!  It was late by the time we arrived back home.

    Thursday we went into London to see two special art exhibits.  Both were at the Royal Academy.  Portraits by David Hockney and an awesome exhibit of American Abstract artists like Pollock, Motherwell, Rothko, etc.  Two days of awesome wonderful paintings that are world treasures.  We later grabbed a meat pie at Covent Gardens and tried to locate a new YSA member of the church who works in that area.  Back home on the Tube with three transfers.  We are getting pretty good at getting around London.

   Friday,  The painter is here painting the kitchen walls.  Just the walls.  Not the ceiling.  Not the trim. He was very nice and a good worker but he can only go what the landlord says should be done.  There were paint patches on the wall before and they are still there just not as noticeable.  The painter is recommending to the landlord that they repaint the whole house and put another coat on the kitchen walls.  That would be great but I am not overly hopeful..  We worked on church computer work, listened to the Book of Mormon, prepared for the YSA activities and took a nap.  We learned about an Abstract Art Exhibit contest to be held in London next month. Sister Baron really wants to enter something so we will work on that.  We had a great bike ride after the painter left.

   Saturday was Elder Baron’s Birthday.  68 years young!   On our bike ride, we visited the public library, farmers market, and town center.  Our family room seems dark during Family Home Evening so we are looking at Charity shops for a floor lamp.  We ate lunch with a member family named Maria and Lawrence.  Lawrence has had health issues and is now on disability.  He had really bad ear aches and went to the doctors.  After many Doctor visits and four hospital visits they diagnosed him with cancer.  Six months later they were still just watching it while he was on heavy morphine. He finally received a priesthood blessing and the cancer appears to be gone.  He then went in for cataract surgery and things went horribly wrong.  Eight or nine surgeries later he is totally blind in one eye and nearly so in the other.  He and his sweet wife raise beautiful Koi fish in a 1000 gallon tank in the back garden.  They also have a Cockatiel that likes to join in the conversations.  He was working as a carpenter and is now very discouraged with the loss of his sight. He has just finished a recovery program after getting off the morphine.  We had a good visit, ate beef stew and apple cobbler which was very good.    It appears that the health care system has not treated him very well.

    We later went to the church to see the Saturday morning session of General Conference.  Only about 20 people were at the Stake Center for the broadcast but many watched it at home on the internet.  Most in attendance were missionaries and investigators.  Conference was great!!  Our faith and prayers will not override someone’s agency. Sister McConkie taught us to "Learn How to Pray and Learn How to Listen after the prayer". And “Are you really praying or just saying prayers?”

   We took the Sister Missionaries out for supper at their favorite Pizza place.  We love being with the Missionaries!

   Sunday morning we went for a great bike ride!  Then we stayed home and watched the General Conference Priesthood session on the iPad.  Great counsel and information!  We were at the church at 1pm to see the Saturday evening session tape delayed.  Ran home and ate and went back to watch the Sunday morning session live (10am Utah time, 5pm England time).  The sessions were good.  The members of the church are so awesome.  We were invited to visit the members who live on the house boat on the canal.  What an adventure!

     We have been asked to teach Institute this Wednesday, so we are preparing our lessons.  We also have a BIG stake YSA committee meeting Wednesday evening so we are preparing for that as well. We have prepared and planned for a number of activities and now will work to see that they happen!

     We are loving our adventure of serving and loving the people in England.

Mum and Poppy

Mom and Dad

Elder and Sister Baron

Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Baron

                                                     Leaning Bookstore in Canterbury
Dear Family and Friends,

    Things are going well and we are very busy.  I thought that I would write on Sunday afternoon and then it slid to Monday.  Now it is Tuesday evening for this week!!  

      Sundays are so busy and so very good.  We are meeting the most wonderful people!  Some very humble, others financially well-to-do. Some are brilliant, others have great challenges, most very hard working, all trying to figure out life, most are happy. 

     Mondays are getting very busy as well.  We prepare for Family Home Evening at our house by getting games ready, fixing food, trying to follow a US recipe using UK products and measurements, prayerfully preparing a lesson, etc.  Tuesday has become our Preparation Day.  We are very thankful for our nice little dryer that does a great job.  Unlike the US dryers, the clothes do not come out hot but just warm but still dry.  Anyway..... Here was our week!

    Monday Sept 19 we rode our bikes for exercise.  We love our old squeaky mountain bikes! Seriously, I have never heard louder squeals from brakes anywhere and that is even after we replaced the brake pads.  We came home and started to make bread using a Camie and Ben recipe. Very easy!   But for other things, I am glad we have two small grocery stores within a 5 minute walk.  The bread was great!  We had the Young Missionary Sisters over for dinner and then they did some of their paper work and phone calling while we prepared for FHE.

    When the Young Adults arrived we played games, ate popcorn and fresh bread with peanut butter and honey. All four missionaries where there for a short time. Dan and Katie stayed until after 10pm just visiting with us.  Dan is a great guy who rides the scooter.  He is the only member of the church in his family and comes from a Jewish background.  He is going to fix us some Jewish treats in two weeks.  Katie is a returned missionary who is just bubbly and great fun!  We really enjoy them.

   Tuesday, we walked uptown to High Street to the NatWest bank branch for an appointment.  We succeeded in getting a UK Bank Account and a Debit Card!  Yippee!!  It is a little crazy because you cannot get a bank account without a verified address and utility bills in your name.  You cannot rent (let) a home or sign up for utilities without a bank account. So round and round they go.  Since the home and utilities are in the church's name, it was a challenge for us.  They finally accepted our Internet contract as a utility bill and gave us the account.  Mom found a kitchen store like Williams and Sonoma back in Utah.  She was so excited!  On the way home we walked to the Watford FC (Football Club) stadium.  Later we made our weekly trip to Costco getting refreshments for tomorrows YSA Institute registration.  Dad spent quite a bit of time working on a proposal for the stake.  We are setting up to coordinate the stake YSA program.

    Wednesday, we enjoyed a longer than usual bike ride along the Canal.  We passed several locks and lots of house boats.  The are very narrow and very long. We met with out YSA students for Institute that evening.  Kids from only two wards out of five arrived.  We had our scheduled meeting with the Stake Presidency after Institute.  They are awesome! They accepted our suggestions and proposal which made us thankful and excited.  They started a second Institute class in Wembley for the three wards that are closer in toward London.  That will be a real blessing for those wards!  We were directed to spend most of our efforts in those three wards.  After the meeting, we met with the YSA and played games.

    Thursday, we were off to London on the Tube to the British Museum.  They had a special exhibit about two Egyptian cities that were buried in the sea when the ground settled.  The ruins were really neat and showed a heavy Greek presence in Egypt.  We next zoomed off for a tour of the High Gate cemetery.  What an adventure!!  It all looked like Disney's Haunted house for real.  Lead caskets bulging at the seams, above and below ground burials, Great trees and vines growing everywhere!  Very strange headstones none of which were level.  We learned about grave robbers, strange customs, disease around the church burial yards, etc. etc.  We saw the tomb of Karl Marx.   Next off to Covent Gardens for an English meat pie.  I really like those!  Back to the Tube for the ride home.  It costs us about $15 each for the Tube for the day.

    Friday, we decided to drive down to Canterbury to see the Cathedral.  They welcomed us inside for free because we were clergy.  BEAUTIFUL building! WOW.  It has been a christian church since 497 AD.  Each end of the building is a different style but beautiful!  Learned the story of Thomas Becker.  The building is like the Vatican for the Church of England.  Great Stained glass windows.  We caught a walking tour of Canterbury and learned a bunch!  Lots of damage in WWII since they are close to Dover and the east coast.  We saw some fun leaning buildings and unique construction.  A three story house would have each upper story larger than the one below it.  Very fun. I want to go back and do some more exploring.  We found a great restaurant recommended by Rick Steves and had some great meat pies!!

     Saturday we wanted to try out a possible YSA adventure so we took the tube into Hyde Park and rented bikes.  We rode on every trail that will allow bikes in Hyde Park.  We saw it ALL including the lakes, (with a swimming race going on), fountains, Kensington Palace, horse paths, Prince Albert's gold statue, and lots of open space. Very fun.

     Sunday, we visited Hayes Ward.  A very unique two story building on a very small lot.  They have a two level parking garage that covers every inch of the back property.  We visited Primary and visited with their YSA.  Wonderful humble ward.  They had a munch and mingle after church for everyone.  Good soup, great people!  We had met some of the people at other events so it was good to see them again.  That evening we went to the Watford Stake center to see a rebroadcast of the General Women's conference.  It was great!!  The messages were spot on for today's challenges.  We visited with the sisters and really enjoyed the evening.  Dad was the ONLY man in the meeting. We ate some great cakes including carrot cake and Mandarin Orange cakes.  We were stuffed!

     We are spending lots of time on the computer, setting up events, working on agendas, communicating with members, and just checking in.  We are scheduled into November for YSA events each week.  Fun!!

     May the Lord Bless you and Keep you Safe.  I agree with Parker's scripture for the week.  Jacob 4:10.  Check it out.

Love you all very much!

Dad and Mom

                                            Biking in Hyde Park!

                                            Hyde Park and Kensington Palace

                                             BlackFriar Pub in London

                                             Sketching on the River Thames.

                                            Sister Baron and Good Friend and Artist Willamarie

                                            Canterbury Cathedral.. Beautiful!!