Edvalsons in England: 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