We have arrived to our little home after a great day!  We have much to share with you so we better begin!  Maybe fewer details this time….

     Saturday, November 26^th.  Today is the day of our YSA Workshops and Thanksgiving Dinner.  Today we cooked 40 foil wrapped potatoes in our little oven. Two of our YSA helped us set up the church.  Sister Wallace made  homemade rolls! Plus our 40 pounds of Turkey Breast and a great tossed salad!  Top it with Ranch dressing, Turkey gravy, and cranberry sauce.  Dessert was Apple Pie and English Custard. The dinner was wonderful!  We got many complements saying that this was the best turkey ever!
We fed just under 40 people.

    The Workshops were amazing!  Self Reliance with sub categories of Spiritual, Emotional, Financial, Educational, and Attitude.  All the presenters were professionals in their fields and it went very well!  We were very relieved and pleased!!

    Sunday, Today we had a Baptism for a young lady who we have been working with.  She is a wonderful, determined young lady. The gospel has brought some stability and friendship into her life. We have Skyped with her and the Sister Missionaries and had her over for FHE several times.  The plan was to baptize her and one other convert at 3pm, right after church.  During the Sacrament meeting, the heat in the building went out.  Dad helped Steve, a ward member, work on it and they got everything up but the chapel area.  The water heater kicked on and they were able to fill the font with warm water.  Everyone was so excited!

    Su was baptized and was so very happy!    She was so determined to be baptized that she was willing to use ice cold water if that was all that was available! She got up at the end of the service and spoke for about 10 minutes and gave the most wonderful talk about her testimony.  Mom gave a talk about the Holy Ghost and one of our YSA converts, Daniel, gave an awesome talk on Baptism.  Daniel was not attending church when we arrived in Watford but he became our good friend and he is now attending every week plus FHE and Institute.  He is getting to be so strong and is starting to plan for a mission!  He is a great young man.  We love these wonderful people!

    Sunday night we had the missionaries over for Thanksgiving leftovers.  Our young Sister Smiddy is being transferred and Sister Wright is staying for her last six weeks of her mission.  She will be training a new sister.  Sister Smiddy will be in North London so we will see her at Christmas.

     Monday,  We taught Seminary at 6:30am.  We then went into London to look for boots for mom on the Black Friday sales.  She found some Dr. Martens that are great! We grabbed some fresh Churros with Spanish Chocolate at Camden!  Yummy!  We toured the British Library and saw some great things including the original Magna Carta.  We then took Bus #10 clear across London looking at the Christmas lights! 

      We got home just in time for a visit with the Sisters and an investigator.  We prepared for FHE and had a great lesson on Prayer!  We had about a dozen people in our little living room. We love Family Home Evenings!

    Tuesday, was a cleaning, washing, shopping for food day!

    Wednesday,  Early Morning Seminary again.  Good kids, great lessons!  After Seminary, the Gym, and morning routines, we went to Hemel Hempstead to see one of our YSA.  Together we went to the movies to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”  It was fun to see the movie and to be with one of our YSA kids!  Her name is Katie and she is a returned missionary who is a really fun, “I can do that” kind of girl!  She has been one of most faithful YSA!  We Love Her!  We checked out the town centre and antique stores before heading home.  We found the granddaddy of all roundabouts!  It has six roundabouts tied together.  You can go around the loop either way and exit on any of the six mini loops!  Crazy!  Mom handled it so well and laughed all the way through it the third time!

     That evening we had a great Institute lesson on Tolerance and Religious Freedom!  Enjoyed the evening!

    Thursday, Today we drove to Hemel (yes, through the Plough Roundabout from purgatory) to do service at the Tesco grocery store.  We greeted shoppers in the entrance to the store and handed out little flyers that announced a food drive for the local Food Bank.  We talked to people and handed out flyers for a couple of hours.  I am amazed at how much food people donated.  Total for the week was over 6 tons of food donated.  The people were pleasant and generous.  After that, we drove to Milton Keynes to visit two of our YSA at their work.  Their dad is the Bishop of the local ward.  They have a restaurant with the BEST Chinese food EVER!  We enjoyed great meals (curry for mom and sweet and sour for dad) plus we brought home carrot cake!  We love visiting them!

    Friday, We wandered North to visit the Waddeson Manor in Aylesbury.  The manor was built by the Vanderbilt Family and is BEAUTIFUL.  They have beautiful grounds, a Christmas Market, stables with shops, art installations, fountains, and a beautiful mansion.  We purchased an annual pass so that we can go back in the spring.  The Manor was decorated for Christmas and was beautiful! The grounds included a lighted art installation with 9000 lights which changed color beautifully.  It looked like a shimmering lake of lights.

    The Christmas Market was excellent!  We tried Roasted Chestnuts, unique cheeses, Potatoes, Cheese, and Sausage, as well as great Hot Chocolate!  We arrived back in Watford in time to attend the ward Christmas Caroling Program. It was a delightful day!  We are glad we will be able to return to the manor when the weather is good.

    We have starting putting up our Christmas decorations and tree.  Of course we need lights on the outside of the house even though we may be the only one with lights on the street.  We want everyone to know we celebrate the birth of Christ, Our Savior!

 

     The days seem so short!  Of Course, the sunlight time is short (it gets dark about 3:20pm). It is cold so we wear vests and coats everywhere.  There is not much rain and some fog but overall, quite pleasant. 

It is so wonderful to work with the members, missionaries, and neighbors.  We know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings people happiness and peace in their lives.  We love sharing the Love!

 

We love you very much and miss seeing our family.

Elder and Sister Baron