Dear Family and Friends:
We’re just hours away from Christmas day now…..so we send our love and greetings to you all. We seem to sail from one day and week to the next with days full of activities and preparation for the next activity! Highlights from the last 2 weeks include:
We enjoyed a faculty Christmas lunch at a downtown Italian restaurant. We walked to the city center (it’s about 15 minutes away) and enjoyed a couple of hours together with our director Brother McMorn and our office specialist Marian Rider. When we first arrived last November that would’ve been very difficult for Sister E who was still in recovery mode from pneumonia, but now it’s a pleasant walk and invigorating in the winter air. We’re blessed to have good health in doing this work.
For our last hymn class of December, we did a service activity and went caroling to a care home called Cookridge Court Care Home in the adjoining suburb of Horsforth, fairly near the mission office. We had about 20 YSA come with us and were accompanied on the violin by Adam Smith who did a great job keeping us together. Afterward the senior sister missionaries from the mission office were our guest chefs for the evening and we got warm with homemade soup, bread and brownies! It helped bring on the Christmas spirit.
The next night we had an Institute Christmas Dinner at a downtown “carvery” restaurant which was highly anticipated. 50 of us walked downtown and enjoyed a meal cooked by someone other than us!! (Last year we prepared 4 turkey “crowns” (mostly breast meat) and served those 50 people in our kitchen…..so we especially appreciated getting to do this courtesy of the stake YSA budget). A carvery is like a buffet where you pick all your own vegetables and gravy but you are served a certain portion of meats and Yorkshire pudding by the staff. You can get all you can eat on the vegetable portion but only the one serving of meat. Many of the YSA piled their plates high for the experience! (Some play football after Institute on Thursdays so are happy to have a big meal).
On Saturday Dec 15 we traveled to York for a mission wide Senior Missionary activity. We gathered at the York Stake Center and made our way to the old city center to wander the town for a few hours. We took some of those that hadn’t been there before and showed them the Minster, the Shambles and other environs. York was especially beautiful with all the Christmas decorations and lights around town. It was also especially frigid, as there was a fairly stiff wind and the threat of freezing rain/snow. We assembled at the entrance to Bettys restaurant and, along with the York YSA, did some caroling for about 30 minutes. There were a lot of shoppers out so it was well received. We then returned to the Stake Center for a lovely meal and socializing. The newest senior couple, the Palmers had just arrived in country about 2 hours before the event, and afterwards had to receive their mission car and drive 2 hours south to their assigned area of Nottingham. We didn’t envy them that long drive after being up for at least 24 hours! We were happy to get in our heated vehicle and do our 1 hour drive back to Leeds.
On Sunday the 16th we enjoyed an evening meal with the Leeds First Ward Bishop and Sister Barker along with Ben and Rachel Terry and their daughter Eva. Sister Barker is the Stake Relief Society President and the Terrys are here for a year while he is on a sabbatical from the University of Nebraska where he is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. They serve as the ward YSA advisor couple and do a wonderful job of helping minister to our large group of YSA. We discussed the needs and concerns for the coming year and had a nice evening together comparing Christmas traditions.
On Wednesday Dec 20 we made a return trip to York to have our Christmas Social for the northern half of the mission (5 Stakes—Leeds, Hull, York, Sunderland and Billingham). These are all day affairs with both spiritual and fun components. We could all wear our P-day clothes and were encouraged to wear our Christmas jumpers (sweaters). The British are very big on what we would call “ugly” Christmas sweaters and attire. It was all quite festive. There was a full on Christmas dinner of turkey with all the trimmings. Then there was an afternoon talent show which went overtime, so we skipped the number Sister E had prepared. (It was a parody of Modern Major General from Pirates of Penzance which she called Modern Mission President. It was very clever and up to her usual standards!—hopefully we’ll get to do it another time).
Yesterday we made our 3rd foray past York to Castle Howard. It’s about 20 minutes past York on the way toward Scarborough. It is a treasure house that is very opulent and decorated especially for Christmas. The theme was the 12 Days of Christmas and there were 12 different rooms decorated with the theme of one of those days. There were also other decorations about the way the 12th day of Christmas was celebrated. We went with Sisters Lyle and Lee from the mission office. It was quite a pleasant day for the second day of winter, with sunshine and a temperature in the mid 40’s. We had a nice meal and looked at the different shops after our tour of the house and grounds. These are quite popular, especially at Christmas. It was a fun day out after a whirlwind first 3 weeks of December.
Meanwhile, in our regular assignment at the Institute, most of the students have returned home for Christmas. However, there are some that are staying and others that have jobs and are still here. For those, we have held quite a number of movie nights which have been well received. We’ve watched:
Muppet Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, Little Women, While You Were Sleeping, Nativity!. There will be a few more to come before the break is over.
Well, that’s our report for now. We love being here. We’re looking forward to our Christmas celebration here. We wish you all a blessed day remembering the “reason for the season”. We’re blessed to wear a badge with his name on it every day and are trying to be good disciples and representatives of His church.
Our love and hugs to each of you!
Elder Tim & Sister Dana
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