Edvalsons in England: 11 Feb 2018

Greetings from merry old England! This past Sunday we visited the Leeds 3^rd Ward on Sunday. The other members of our missionary district are assigned to this ward. We were warmly received and able to meet some new young single adults, one of which came to Institute this Thursday. Marlon is just coming back into activity and is originally from Brazil. He attended the Missionary Preparation Class on Thursday evening. The sister missionaries in Leeds 3 are teaching a new investigator and he also came to Institute this week. Victor is from Nigeria and is studying electrical engineering here as a graduate student. It turns out he is a roommate in a large house with Oscar, our favorite dessert maker from El Salvador. Oscar is a great member missionary and invited them both to visit us at Institute and gave them each a tour of the facility.

We went to visit some other YSAs who haven’t been out for a while but they weren’t home so we left some cards and treats for them. Monday brought us a new week at the Institute and we watched a recording of a recent CES worker training with Brother McMorn, our director, Marian our Institute specialist (who coordinates regional Seminary and Institute communications and has her office here) and a local Seminary teacher. We heard a motivational fireside with Elder D. Todd Christofferson from a week ago. It was a great talk about the importance of truth and how precious a possession it is. He described his work with Judge Sirica back in the Watergate trials when he clerked for him. A prescient message for our times.

I then had to take our car (a Hyundai i20) in for its 20,000 mile servicing. As senior missionaries, we pay $150 per month to use the mission car, plus all fuel and oil changes and other maintenance costs. The mission pays for new tires and other expenses. By the way, gas costs about $6.50 to $7 per gallon, depending on the exchange rate. I also received by provisional (learner’s) UK driver’s license this week and signed up to take the first 2 examinations for my regular license. You take a computerized test on the rules of the road and then a 2^nd computerized “Hazard Awareness” test, which sees how accurately you perceive potential road hazards that would cause you to slow down or use caution. I’ve been studying some DVD’s that take you through examples and give you sample tests. So far, I’m passing them. That exam takes place in early March. Once you pass those exams, you can sign up for the driving test itself. It’s a long process but we can drive on our US licenses for the first year in country, so there is time to get it all “sorted”, as they say over here.

We attended the Tuesday noontime class about how the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve spend their days and a typical week for them. It is very topical with the recent change in the First Presidency. We spend Mondays, Tuesdays and early Wednesdays preparing for our Wednesday evening class. We had 11 in attendance this week where we taught lessons 7 & 8 in Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel. (Jesus Christ—God’s Only Begotten Son in the Flesh and Jesus Christ Fulfilled All Righteousness). We each take a topic and divide our teaching accordingly. We both assemble our lesson plan on power point and are having fun adding pictures, videos & charts to help guide our discussions. Not being a formally trained teacher myself, I am learning appreciation for curriculum development and all that goes into that process.

Our evening meals have been a good experience in teamwork as well. The Institute students carry out the meal prep on Wednesdays as guest chefs. This week, our cook’s bus was severely delayed so everyone pitched in to peel, chop & dice all the ingredients for chicken pot pie. It turned out to be delicious and was a crowd favorite. Several wanted to buy the leftovers! Thursday we reverted to the first meal we served when we arrived in November---one of our family favorites of baked ziti. It was a loaves & fishes kind of night, as only 12 signed up online but we ended up serving over 20! Fortunately, we had just the right amount of food. We probably had 50 in attendance that night so the place was hopping after class and they all socialized for 90 minutes playing pool, foosball, board games & just hanging out in our lounge. We finally had to shut it down at 10:15 so that we could empty all the garbage cans and get ready for our breakfast devotional which starts at 8:00 am on Friday. It’s usually a pancake breakfast with bacon, juice, etc. They all love it, although we only get between 3 and 10 each morning. Sister E. led the presentation of Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s first and last General Conference talks as an apostle. They are powerful messages about the divinity of the Savior and timely advice for practical discipleship in today’s world. We highly recommend them!

On Friday afternoon, we were able to go to York to see our friends Elder & Sister Hansen and have lunch at our favorite restaurant—Betty’s (of York). It was a cool and brisk day and we were glad that they could show us around the city. They will be going home next month to Georgia. This is their 3^rd mission. The first was in Atlanta running a regional bishop’s storehouse, then they were in Russia, and now here. They’re a wonderful couple and he always likes the jokes I collect (Thanks Dave Ward for all the puns!).

We finished off the week with our Friday night movie night, where we showed “The Other Side of Heaven” which was very well received. It’s such a moving story about Elder John Groberg’s mission to Tonga and the wonderful experiences he had while there. We have 3 young YSAs who have their mission calls and will be leaving in March. It is a good thing for them to see before they leave. One is going to Baltimore Maryland, one to Australia, and the other to London. They’re all excited to go.

On Saturday we attended the baptism of a new family….a mom and her two 8 year old twins. We were able to sit in on one of her lessons last month and she is excited to be a member. Her 14 year old son is not interested yet. He is a rugby player and does that most Sundays. They were confirmed members today and were well received in Church. Two of our stalwart YSAs were the speakers in Church today plus we had 2 new YSA members move in. One is here from Northern Arizona University as an exchange student studying drama. The other sells vintage clothing from the 90’s. I had to ask him if vintage clothing was from the 1890’s or 1990’s! I guess some of my wardrobe back home is now vintage!

We saw a 5 minute recap of the Winter Olympic opening ceremonies on the BBC….interesting to not see 1 minute of anything American in any highlights. Wishing you all a great week from our penthouse!

Love,

Elder & Sister Edvalson