22 April 2018

Sheep & their lambs

Signs of spring in Yorkshire 

Sister E, Vivien Ramsden, Amelia, Theo, Charlotte and Emma

Sister E, Elizabeth, Claire & Vivien 

Sister & Elder E on top of the world!

Group photo at the top of the hike 

The happy hikers 

It was another busy week here in Leeds.  In fact, it felt like summer with Thursday being in the 80’s and other days being in the 70’s.  We even turned the boiler (radiator heat) off for a couple of days!  Of course, they jokingly told us in ward council this morning that fall starts tomorrow since we just had summer! 

We had 21 people at our Family Home Evening this week.  That ties a record for the most we’ve seen in our time here.  We had a new friend that our Mandarin speaking missionaries invited named Zhenwei (Sister E. called him “John Wayne”) who is an MBA student here for 18 months.  He is scheduled to be baptized next Saturday evening.  Newcomers are asked to “sit in the hot seat” when they come so we can get to know them better.  They get asked any questions by any other attendee.  Questions we’ve heard asked multiple times include:  If you could visit with anyone in history, who would it be and why?  If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?  What is your favorite film?  What sports do you like?  They do this for 5 to 10 minutes to get to know each other better.  It’s quite fun.  “John Wayne” had a great time with that game.  Not everyone enjoys it as much as he did.  He told us he was in the army in China for a few years before he moved here to attend Graduate School.

We had 15 at our Wednesday class regarding the Restoration of the Savior’s church and the Living Christ.  We’re going to miss teaching this course when it finishes in a couple of weeks.  We have great discussions with our core group of students. 

Thursday found us arising early and preparing our evening meal of taco soup and leaving to cook in slow cookers all day while we drove to Nuneaton to attend the funeral for Alwyn Crux, age 98, who was married to Dana’s cousin Colin.  (Sister Edvalson mentioned this in last week’s posting.)  It was a 2.5 hour drive south and outside our mission boundaries.  We received permission from our mission president to attend this event.  It was good to be together with Alwyn’s daughter Vivien Ramsden and her 2 daughters Elizabeth and Claire and her 4 grandchildren, Charlotte, Emma, Amelia and Theo.  We gathered for a meal at a nearby hotel to visit afterwards.  Claire told us that Alwyn frequently talked about Sister E’s first visit to their home when she and Sharron Minsker first visited them while in their mid-20’s.  When going to pick them up at the train station, Colin was expecting someone near his age at the time (67) and was surprised when 2 young lasses greeted him!  Thus began a lifelong friendship with this memorable woman and her family.  We left at about 6 pm to drive back in time for an 8:30 meeting to finalize a planned field trip for the YSA to hike the hills of Skipton on Saturday.

Saturday brought us to our much anticipated trip into the countryside.  We hired a coach which transported the group of about 25 for the hour long drive to the Yorkshire Dales town of Skipton.  From there we assembled at a little reservoir above the town to hike to the top of Crookrise Crag which overlooks the valleys of the Dales.  It was an hour or so hike to the top where a beautiful panorama was visible. Sister Edvalson’s Dr. had suggested that she stay indoors as she has battled a cold and chest infection almost since we’ve been here.  However, the day was very beautiful so she came along to visit and see the sheep.  (Hi all – this is Sister E. reporting that living  56 steps up in the Institute and walking up and down those stairs several times a day produced the wonderful miracle of me being able to get to the top of the crag with little problem.  That is not usual for me even at my healthiest.  It felt great although I would certainly never consider looking over the side of the cliffs up there.  But I did enjoy the walk and fun with the YSA and Elder E.)  Along the way we passed numerous pastures of sheep with many newborn lambs.  It was a great contrast to the busy city where we live.  There is a branch of the Church in Skipton with 5 active YSAs who hosted us at the church for a lunch of fish & chips after our return.  The church is in the old courthouse of Skipton which has been converted into a meetinghouse right downtown.  After this delightful day, we returned to Leeds by about 5:30 pm and exchanged pictures with each other before collapsing on the sofa of our flat and watching the Queen’s 92^nd birthday party on BBC One for our evening’s entertainment.  They even had Tom Jones singing “It’s Not Unusual” and “The Green Green Grass of Home” along with numbers by Sting and many other British celebrities from the Royal Albert Concert Hall.  It made us feel as though we celebrated all things UK for this great excursion.  And the YSAs all had a wonderful day together.  We had several come from adjoining stakes which added to the festivities.

That’s about it for another week across the pond!  Wishing you all a Happy Springtime!

 

Love,

Elder & Sister Edvalson

15 April 2018

        Last week most of the students returned from their Easter Break and we started Institute classes, dinners  and our regular schedule once again.  I’m so thankful that I’m feeling better and have more energy.  We are coming to the end of our class, “Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel”.  We have loved the learning we have done as we have prepared these lessons and loved sharing them with the YSA.  Take the opportunity to look at the LDS Bible Videos of the Savior’s life.  They are beautiful and reverent and truly can help you come closer to the Savior as you learn more about His attributes and character and especially about the love He demonstrates for us throughout his life, ministry, death and resurrection.  We teach two lessons at a time which is difficult because there is so much in each lesson.  Because I couldn’t help myself, I started writing little scenarios around some of the stories and principles in the lesson.  It gives more students a chance to speak and even though their words are scripted, it brings them into the lesson and they seem more willing to share their thoughts with each other in the discussion parts of the lessons.  Elder E. is getting great at putting together his lessons using the power point.  I can do it, but it takes me a lot longer.  We finish these lessons May 2 then the term ends and Summer Term begins on May 21. There are a lot of possibilities for summer school classes so we are excited to look into those.

        Our Prophet and President of the Church, Russell M. Nelson, his wife, Wendy Watson Nelson and one of the Apostles and his wife (Jeffrey and Patricia Holland) are traveling around the world speaking to Church members in Europe, Africa, Israel, Thailand, India and Hawaii.  Their first stop was London so we were able to stream their talks here.  They spoke first to all of the missionaries so we gathered with them at one of the church buildings for those talks.  Later on that day, they spoke to the general membership and once again we hosted about 30 YSA here for those talks.   My two favorite parts:   “Our Doctrine is not complicated.  Love God, love your neighbor.  Make life better for people. The only reason we have missionaries is so we can make life better for people.” (Pres. Nelson)  and  “Find a quiet place and pray in the name of Jesus Christ and reach beyond your current spiritual ability.  Seek for your own personal revelation.  One who believes MUST bear witness.  We are not bound to say everything we think BUT we must not be silent when we hear what we do NOT think!”  (Elder Holland)

        Yesterday (Saturday)  all of the Senior Missionaries went on a field trip with President and Sister Turvey (Mission Pres.) We take turns planning a fun day in some area that we can all get to fairly easily although the missionaries in our area are pretty spread out - probably about 4 hours away at the farthest point.  We headed up to Hartlepool on the coast some two hours away and met everyone up there to tour the National Royal Naval Museum including Europe’s oldest floating warship from the early 1800’s.  Really interesting.  We had lunch together then walked to the beach for ice cream and I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing the beach until I looked out at the waves of the North Sea and, although it does look a bit different than the Pacific Ocean, I really loved being there. 

        When my roommate, Sharron and I first came up here to Yorkshire back in 1977, we stopped by my mother’s cousin’s house in Halifax to visit Colin and his wife, Alwyn.  That was when I really started doing family history on my mother’s side since many of them came from this area.  Colin passed away in 1988 I believe and his wife Alwyn then flew to the US twice to visit us including time spent with Tami and Mark and also the Walthers up in Federal Way.  She eventually moved in with her daughter, Vivien who was a widow and we visited them in central England (Nuneaton) a few times through the years - the last time was summer of 2016 when Tim and I visited. Alwyn was 98 and passed away last week so we are going down this week for her funeral and to see Vivien. 

        Marel and her family will be here in five weeks and we are so excited to take some time off seeing sites with them and just hugging the Grandkids.  Let’s face it - THAT will be memorable.   Lots of love to all of you back in America.  We miss you, but feel great about being here.  We spoke with three of the YSA leaders today at one of the Wards, then went to the Bishop’s house for a big dinner and a fun game of Banana-grams.  All five of us spoke about the Institute and how it helps us improve our lives and gather together with each other in our effort to come closer to God and live a better life.  Megan, Isobel and John did a great job speaking and inviting other YSA to come, join with us and we loved spending today with them. 

Cheers to All!

Sister and Elder Edvalson  

The Senior Missionaries

On the ship HMS Trincomalee

Elder E on the quay. 

Hartlepool Beach

Our missionary district. 

Eating Sunday dinner with the YSA and the Bishop and family. 

8 April 2018

Whew!  We just finished an intense weekend with about 40 of our newest friends at the Mandarin speaking YSA (Young Single Adult) Convention which we hosted at the Leeds Institute of Religion.  A little explanation is in order.  Shortly after our arrival in the UK last November, we met with our mission wide YSA advisor couple regarding the planning of this convention for April 6-8.  In our mission, we have several sets of Mandarin speaking missionaries in each of the major cities (Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, and York) who work with Chinese speaking residents and students.  Elder & Sister Wain live in Huddersfield, a city about a half hour drive from Leeds and supervise all those working with this age group in the 7 LDS Stakes in our mission area.  They are not full time missionaries but are called for 3 years to train and support both full time senior missionaries and local YSA leaders here.  They’re a wonderful couple who we really enjoy working with.  Elder Wain was an executive with Heinz and Kellogg’s for a number of years with major accounts in the food industry here and Sister Wain has worked in a dental office for a number of years.  He’s from Liverpool and served his mission as a young man in Sacramento California and told us how people would let them in to visit because of his Liverpool accent. 

The European YSAs hold frequent conventions to meet other like-minded peers and to increase their faith in the Savior.  The weekend events usually consist of classes, service projects, devotionals, meals, dances and worship services.  Local families will host them with places to stay in their homes and the local church buildings provide the venue for the daily events.

This is the 2^nd Mandarin speaking such event in recent history in our mission.  There is a Mandarin speaking branch in Newcastle (about 2 hours North) that wanted to host such an event but wanted to invite Mandarin speakers from throughout the UK and they thought Leeds was closer to being more centrally located.  They knew about our Institute building where we live and thought it would be the right size to host such a group.  Most of the YSA Mandarin speakers came to the UK for university educations and end up meeting our missionaries and for those that choose to embrace the faith, get baptized and become church members while here.  There are 2 such young ladies in Newcastle that fervently wanted to organize such a convention before they finish their time in the UK.  They are Angela and Rachel.  Nearly all of the Chinese who come here, select English names to go by here, rather than their Chinese names.  We ended up meeting them 2 or 3 times before this weekend to show them around our building, plan the event in detail, and assist them in carrying it off.  The event was put on by the Sunderland Stake and the Newcastle Mandarin Branch but staged in our building. 

Angela and Rachel came down to Leeds on Thursday this week and we spent Thursday and the first half of Friday going to about 4 different grocery and sundry stores, including a huge Asian food wholesaler to procure all the food and other necessities for the weekend.  We were the taxi and advisor service for them.  Then on Friday the 40 participants started arriving.  They held a get to know you activity and everyone made Chinese dumplings for the evening meal.  It was a very fun activity.  We crowded around the 3 tables in our kitchen and made hundreds of pork and beef dumplings.  At the end of the evening, they all took Ubers back to their host’s homes and reconvened at 9:00 am for a pancake breakfast.  We cooked about 150-200 pancakes and had a wonderful time eating together.  It was then on to a series of get to know you activities.  Those included a Harry Potter themed adventure room, 3 legged races, a walk around Leeds doing missionary related activities to show people on the street Mormon videos, a trip to a laser tag facility to have a themed activity there.  Then it was back to the Institute for a take-out Chinese food dinner followed by a Christ centered devotional with video presentations and talks by our Mission President and his wife Martin and Debra Turvey.

Sunday morning they were all back at 8:30 am for a light breakfast and then a worship service (Sacrament Meeting) and Sunday School.  We had a visiting Area Authority Seventy from London, Elder Philips who brought his 9 year old son with him.  Of course, all of these meetings are in Mandarin with the exception of the Turveys and Elder Philips but it was an exceptionally spiritual time. 

Most of the Mandarin speaking missionaries also attended these events with their friends (people they are teaching).  Sister Turvey said she couldn’t understand a word that was said but was overcome by the spirit that she felt being there.  President Turvey showed the group a list of ten math problems (multiplication examples) in which one was wrong and nine were correct.  He asked for feedback on what they saw, and everyone noticed the one error.  He remarked that wasn’t it interesting that no one complimented him on getting nine right?!  His message was that we shouldn’t be overly hard on ourselves and that through the Savior’s atonement, we can correct all of our mistakes. 

Elder Philips spoke of what Pioneers these Chinese saints are.  When they return to China, they will be the backbone for the growth of the Church in their homeland.  He talked about the gathering of Israel and that where one or two are gathered in the Savior’s name, there He will be also.  He was nearly overcome by the emotion of the moment in meeting with these wonderful people. 

We concluded the day with another great meal.  They call them hot pots.  A “hot pot” dual boiler is placed at the center of each round table and bowls of ingredients are then placed around them.  A mild and a more spicy flavored stock is prepared and then a multitude of ingredients are boiled and cooked.  Thinly sliced beef and pork, different fish, especially cuttle fish, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lettuce, Bok choi, tofu, and many others that I can’t remember.  It was a super fun way to spend an hour or two as well as very delicious.  Then, it was time to adjourn, clean up, and send people on their way home.  We’ll attach some pictures of our memorable weekend with our 40 newest friends and hope we’ve conveyed some of the wonderful things that happened to them and us.

Our regular classes start again tomorrow as our students trickle back in after their Easter break.  We’ll also get a visit from the European senior missionaries over those of us who work with YSAs as they are visiting the UK from Frankfort, Germany. 

Our love to all of you back home!   Thanks for your cards, prayers, emails and calls.  We miss you all, as they say, with affection unspeakable!       Cheers!      

Elder & Sister Edvalson

Angela, Rachel & Andy making dumplings

Elders Wain & Edvalson on 1 of 3 Costco runs!

Rachel, Sister E, Elder E and Angela

Our table for Sunday hot pots!  Yum!

Food prep with Elder & Sister Wain

Some of the Mandarin Speaking attendees

Saying goodbye at the Institute

April Blog Post

April 3, 2018

Greetings from the mission!  It’s been a while since we’ve communicated.  That doesn’t mean we don’t think of you all and pray for you and miss you too.  In our last episode, I had a cold as I recall.  I just finished my last antibiotic this morning.  I am feeling much better although still some wheezing going on and I”m really not as strong as I can be.  I call it “without guts”.  I haven’t been outside for weeks - Doctors order - and probably a good idea.  I missed our Zone Conference so I’m sad about that and you know, it’s just a hassle not feeling 100 per cent.  Done complaining now. 

We are closing in on our weekend of the International Chinese Mandarin Convention.  We will have 41 students and I think (hope) they’re all housed at this point.  The college students here have about a month long Easter break.  If they’re Grad students, not as much, but still a fair amount of time.  They can get terrific deals here so they’re off for Paris or India and everywhere in between.   We have a few who will be staying here - mainly because they’re from the USA (Melissa) or El Salvador (that’s Oscar) so they will probably help us set up some games and do some cooking.  Rachel and Angela, the Chinese girls who came up with the idea will be calling the shots and we’ll be their helpers. 

This last weekend we showed the General Conference of the LDS Church which is presented in May and in October.  We live streamed all of it so that means we watched the morning and afternoon sessions from 5-7pm and from 9-11pm.  We had a fair amount of YSA here and we had pot luck dinners between sessions.  Such a great way to celebrate Easter because the Conference is all about how we can follow Jesus Christ more lovingly and with renewed vigor. Our previous Prophet, President Monson was known for his kind service to others.  His health had been a bit precarious for a while and he passed away first part of January.  We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and so we have 12 Apostles and also the President and two counselors.  The senior Apostle becomes the President of the Church so there is no jostling for power or confusion.  Our new President, Russell M. Nelson is a world-renowned heart surgeon who helped invent the first heart-lung machine.  He is 93 and still skis.  We believe he was prepared for this service and the membership of the world (over 16 million internationally) showed that by raising our hands throughout the world in solidarity with him and his counselors.  Then the fun began.  Since we believe this is the Lord’s church, inspiration is absolutely essential and that can means inspired change and improvement and what is best for the Church as a whole right now.  It was just a very exciting Conference as they changed our practice of visiting everyone we can to ministering to everyone we can.  What’s the difference?  The visiting was great and worked well, but it became a bit “check on your calendar if you gave your families the message of the month.”  Now we are encouraged to serve as needed the way the families need to be served.  In addition, all the youth will become more involved in serving and ministering to others.  One of the most exciting changes to me were the two new Apostles who were called replace two who had passed away (they serve for a lifetime) One of the Apostles is from Brazil and the other is a Chinese-American Rhodes Scholar and we love the diversity.  Also announced were 7 new Temples all over the world including one in India and one in Russia - no city has been chosen for Russia as yet.   I’ll just end with a few of our favorite quotes from Conference:

President Nelson:  “Let us thank the Lord for his inspiration and guidance. Let us all press on in the work of the Lord. I exhort you to study the messages of this conference in the next 6 months….  The Lord has made important adjustments in the ways we serve one another through ministering….Our message to the world is simple and sincere.  We invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil, to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the Holy Temple (we presently have 159), have enduring joy and qualify for Eternal Life…..In coming days, it will not be possible to know what is truth and how to act without the knowledge from the Holy Ghost.”

Gerard Caussee (from France - Presiding Bishop): “Our work is about people and covenants.  Are we active in the Gospel or only busy in the Church.?”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf (from Germany - Apostle):  “We all die, but you will live again, free from pain and suffering.  Because of Christ, all will have this blessing.”

Massimo De Feo (from Italy - A General Authority): True disciples love to be in holy places and to make holy the places where they are.”

Jean B. Bingham (USA - General Relief Society President (women’s organization):  “Our service to others is what the Savior did. Ask how can I share the love of this Gospel with this family or person.”

Jeffrey R. Holland (USA Apostle) (He was the Dean of the Religion Dept at BYU when I worked in that department many years ago - later Pres. of BYU) “We have a heaven sent opportunity to comfort those who stand in need, to practice our religion undefiled.  To give the warm hand of friendship.  We must see this as a way to care for one another in a bold way.”

David Bednar (USA Apostle):  “The uniting quality of meekness and the three aspects of it - A righteous response; A willing submission; and Strong self restraint.  Meekness is a defining attribute of Jesus Christ.  It is protection from blindness of pride and selfishness.”

Larry Echo Hawk (Native American General Authority): forgive freely and receive peace.”

May the peace that passeth understanding be with you as we go into beautiful springtime.  We love you; we miss you;  Thank you for your many kind messages.  We can feel your support.

Sister Edvalson & Elder Edvalson

Fruit Pizza for dinner!  Made with Nutella of course.

Love Sister Barker. Stake RS President. We’re thinking of starting a singing group.

YSA Get Together after the monthly Fireside.

Getting ready to watch General Conference.

Three of our wonderful friends.