January 26, 2018

          It’s been a very busy week here at the Leeds Institute of Religion.  Last Friday, two of the YSA, Oscar and Isobel hung out with me most of the day.  We made cookies and redid lots of old bulletin boards that needed updating.  We listened to music and talked and when Elder E. and some other YSA arrived, we ordered pizza and watched our Friday movie, Amazing Grace.   Sometimes you just need to chill out. 

          By Monday it was time to get to work.  Brother McMorn, the Institute Director went down south to Oxford for an Institute Conference, so Elder E and I divided up his classes. We had no idea the Institute was on the cusp of a population explosion.  Monday, we held our usual Family Home Evening with a wonderful lesson on the Temple.  The usual 4 or 5 attendees were gathered in the cozy lounge when the door opened and more than half a dozen YSA entered.  Luckily, the “Loaves and Fishes” miracle worked as it usually does around here and we happened to have a nice big sticky toffee cake for goodies so they’ll probably be back.

          Tuesday was a lunch lesson which Elder E taught and everyone made their own sandwiches for lunch.  Again - a nice big group attended.

          Wednesday was one of the main classes, “Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel” which I taught.  The lessons for this class are of course inspirational and wonderful and Elder E. helped me realize the possibilities by putting my ideas into a powerpoint presentation.  This class has grown from 3 a couple weeks ago to this week’s total of 17 students which fills all the chairs in this smaller room. We also continued with our Guest Chef program and the students made Lemon Couscous with Moroccan Chicken and El Salvador Chocoflan cake.  Fabulous and we were happy to help clean up and even happier not to cook. We had a record attendance of diners.

          Thursday was the big Book of Mormon class which is usually around 45 students.  Elder E. regaled them with another colorful powerpoint presentation while I served them the meal we had cooked - Tuna noodle Casserole and ice Cream for dessert.  Then the college students held a speed dating type of activity (called Fast Friends) in one of the rooms while I taught the younger high school age students of the Mission Preparation Class.  It was truly the most spiritual class I’ve ever been in - not to mention teach.  Every one of the eight students spoke about their decision to go on a mission and how they are doing it to serve Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father and bring the happiness of the Gospel to anyone who is interested. How they have seen the difference living the Gospel has made in their lives and the lives of their families who they want to honor by serving other families wherever the Lord sends them  They are going to many different places from Baltimore, Maryland to London, England, to Australia and beyond. 

          This morning - Friday, Elder E. made pancakes for breakfast and we showed a speech recently given at BYU by a new church leader, Sharon Eubank who is in charge of the church’s humanitarian efforts.   She encouraged us all to think of humanitarian work as a little more personal than usual.  Giving money, clothes and other material offerings is certainly appreciated, but she talked about how we were the gift - ourselves - our time, our love and caring of others, of children, of family members even of strangers. We are looking forward to a visit from my humanitarian cousin, Katie some time this year so we can hear about her experiences and ideas.  Brother McMorn got back today so I’m thinking seriously about a nap. Tonight’s movie is “Monuments Men”.  Do you see how we fit movies into our activity calendar? (:  God bless you all.  I can’t wait to hug everybody. Love getting your emails, cards, messages and feeling your prayers and good thoughts as well. Love to all. Cheers!

Sister & Elder Edvalson (Dana & Tim to you)

Gearing Up for a New Term!

We had our first week of classes as students trickle in from their Christmas break.  This past week and the week ahead are mainly examination periods for our students.  Most are attending Leeds University, which they call Leeds Uni.  Others are attending Leeds Beckett University and Leeds College of Music.  This past week concluded our fall term of Institute courses and we started our new class this week teaching the Institute Cornerstone course called “Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel.”  It technically doesn’t begin until this week but we created an introductory lesson for last week before we start in earnest this coming week. 

We had our first experience developing a power point lesson with accompanying inserts of musical and video content which was a new skill for both of us.  On Monday evening we reconvened our Family Home Evening group after a 3 week hiatus.  It was a small group but we had 2 new Chinese speaking friends (investigators) and one new less active member who hadn’t been here for a few years.  Wednesday brought our first student cooked dinners as we kick off a new event called “Come Dine With Me” where Institute students sign up to be guest chefs and cook dinner that night.  Our Institute Student Council President made a chicken curry which everyone enjoyed.  We then had a small but really good first class at our Cornerstone Course.  Sister Edvalson taught the lesson and Elder Edvalson handled the technology.  Since it was given on Dana’s birthday, I was able to slip in an extra power point slide at the end with a Happy Birthday notice and cheesy song to celebrate together.  We had a Costco sheet cake which everyone enjoyed over the next 2 days!

Thursday brought a bigger crowd back for our main night of dinner and classes.  We made taco salad and it was well received, in fact we had twice as many come for dinner as had signed up, but we managed to have enough.  We had 35 to 40 for the main class, so we’re getting back into the pre-holiday numbers that we expected.

Friday morning we had about 8 for our breakfast devotional.  We then hosted everyone who could come to see President Monson’s Funeral which we live streamed here at 7 pm local time.  We had 8 come for that event and served “Dada Cookies” for refreshment.  (Tim’s mother’s chocolate drop cookies).  All week long the Institute was rewired for new Wi-Fi routers with higher speed capacity so we were glad when that was completed. 

Saturday brought us to our quarterly senior missionary social outing.  We went to the Royal Armory (museum) here in Leeds with all the senior missionary couples and President & Sister Turvey.  It was surprisingly fun and we enjoyed seeing some live performances explaining some historical battles in the English Civil War and some in India.  We also got to see the swords from Lord of the Rings and lots of armor both for humans, horses and even elephants!  We said goodbye to the Morgans who are returning to Australia and hello to 2 sisters from California and Arizona who are serving as companions.  There were 18 of us in all—8 companionships plus the Turveys. 

Sunday we visited the Leeds 4^th Ward (We did the Bradford Ward last Sunday) in our efforts to visit each of the 10 units (8 ward and 2 branches) in the stake and publicize and recruit students to attend Institute.  We take 2 of the Institute Student Council with us each week and have a wonderful time being with them as they talk with all the YSAs we can meet with.  They call it going to church in the “party car” because we have such a good time with each other as we go. 

The week flew by and here we are again on a Sunday evening looking at another full week of activities to plan and publicize.  We love being here but miss the day to day contact with you, our family and friends.  We are blessed as senior missionaries to have as frequent contact as we wish with our children and grandchildren, so that is definitely a plus to being a senior missionary!  It is great to see the enthusiasm and love for the gospel that these YSAs and young missionaries have and to be a part of strengthening them and them strengthening us as we serve together! 

Cheerio from across the pond!

Elder & Sister Edvalson

 

Senior Missionary Outing

Royal Armory English Civil War actor

Armored Elephant in full battle dress

Sister Edvalson with her birthday admirers, cake and new faux leopard skin kitchen gloves!

At the Royal Armory

Central Leeds on the River Aire

Last Power Point Slide sneakily inserted into our first lesson.

January 4, 2018

A NEW YEAR IN LEEDS       January 4, 2018       

This coming Monday (January 8)  is the day the students return to school and also come home to the Institute.  We are gearing up for a new term of classes and activities.  Elder Tim and I will be teaching a class on Wednesday nights entitled “Christ And The Everlasting Gospel”.   The Institute will also be beginning a Guest Chef Night on Wednesdays before our class.  The students will sign up to be the guest chef, guest sous chef, etc.  They will plan, cook and serve the dinner.  The Institute Director and his Assistant will purchase the food so we’re off the hook there. 

Meanwhile, as you see from the picture, we have been traveling about the lovely area of Sheffield and environs inspecting the “flats” of the young missionaries.  We visited six flats within the city on one day and six located in the towns of Barnsley, Mansfield, Worksop and Chesterfield in day two.  We saw every manner of living arrangements from new high rises to aging two story apartments.  It was great fun visiting each of the companions and finding out how they are doing.  Elder Tim did a lot of home fixup with his handy Leatherman and I gave some instructions on scrubbing pink mildew out of sinks and bathtubs.  Then we chatted with the wonderful Sister companions and Elder companions about their experiences and how they were doing.  It was such fun.  Then we took some great pictures of each companionship and sent them home to their parents who wrote us back with enthusiasm missing their children, but so glad to see them learning and growing and keeping their flats cleaner than they kept their rooms at home.   The first day, I put together some chocolate treats for them along with a little message from a church leader, President Uchtdorf:  “Do you yearn to feel within your heart the peace that passeth  understanding?  Then turn your soul toward the light.  Begin your own wonderful journey home.  As you do so, your life will be better, happier and more purposeful.”  They, like us, miss their families and their lives back at home, but know, as do we, that giving your time, service and love to others here in the mission learning to follow in the Savior’s path will bring blessings that will last a lifetime and beyond.  One of my dear friends recently reminded me of a statement by Elder Holland: “Miracles occur in our lives if we look for them.  Angels attend us if we ask.”  Its a great blessing working with these sweet young missionaries.  So after I gave them the chocolate treats, they showed us - nearly every single companionship - a table or corner that looked something like this:

They even tried to give chocolate away to us.  Their families and the Ward members had been so generous, but that was a lot of chocolate.  The next day we gave them gifts of oranges and they were universally thrilled.

Today was a Zone Conference an hour away in Huddersfield and another great day hanging with the young missionaries.  They get instruction from Pres. Turvey and Sister Turvey but they also get instruction from their peers - called Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders who plan wonderful discussions, demonstrations and role playing. It was a full day, but we are constantly impressed at these missionaries’ love, dedication and competence  We met with our Zone leaders as they planned their presentation here at the Institute so they put us into their presentation.  They like our stories of the olden days apparently. 

That’s all from us for this week.  We hope all is well at everyones’ homes and know we think of you with affection and love and pray for every one back home.  We hear of some crazy weather back there and hope all is well.  We had some wind storms here this week, and some cold rain.  People are always apologizing to us for the terrible weather, but really - they have less rain than Oregon here so we’re used to it.
 Cheers!     Sister Dana and Elder Tim