Dear family and friends,

A grand Cheerio to you all!  We hope all of you are well and happy!  We’ve had a great week.  With each passing of another week, I feel as though I repeat myself.  We do pretty much the same things each week, just usually with different people!  We are feeling such a part of this country, this city, that we have to remember American words, and try to remember what things are like in the West!

We did have some wonderful experiences this week, so I will share a few that are new to you and meaningful to us!

With the BYU YSA program here, we had the opportunity to sing as a choir in a college chapel.  We sang in the Girton College Chapel.  This is a gorgeous building with a magnificent organ, beautiful and ornate wood and leaded glass windows.  It is fun to sing here because the acoustics are brilliant! (kind of like singing in the shower!!!)  Carolee Fairbanks, a lovely sister in our ward sings in a College Choir.  She has a beautiful voice and is generous with sharing her musical talents in a very humble way.  She was the director.  So for FHE last week we gathered at the chapel and sang for about 45 minutes or so.  Carolee had taught us an Anglican Chant, and some other Anglican hymns which were amazing to hear in the chapel.  It was so fun to sing some of our own hymns as well;  The Spirit of God, How Firm a Foundation, and I am a Child of God.  We had a professional organist work with us.  It was an amazing experience! I've sung "The Spirit of God" in a Temple dedication.  Nothing can compare to that for me.  So as we sang the words, my heart filled with such love for the miracle of the restoration of the gospel, even in this ornate place! The organist had never seen our hymns, so as he sightread them, he played them very fast!  Sometimes, I would like to sing them that way in Sacrament Meetings!!  The young adults loved this experience!

 

We finally found a new flat for the Elders!  We have been looking for a long time, trying to find something big enough and yet not exorbitantly expensive (as most things are in Cambridge).  We found a very nice place, so we spent a couple of days moving their stuff, and looking for things to use in their new flat.  We went to charity shops to look for kitchen chairs, book cases and a kitchen table.  I was so amazed at what we found for so cheap!!!  It was great!  They love their new place, and we love it as well!

We had some really fun visits this week with some members of the church we haven’t even met before!  One of our YSA’s from Utah was asked to teach RS on Sunday.  We had a chance to meet her for ice cream this week and talk.  She has been inactive in the church for 2 years, and when she came here, her mother encouraged her to go back to church while she was here!  She told her mom she would.  So this opportunity to have her teach a lesson was a real tender mercy.  She is lovely, confidant and articulate, and so very sweet!  She just has a lot of questions and uncertainties about the church.  We had an incredible visit.  She was very open with us and we left feeling like really good friends.  So all week we prayed that she would feel the spirit as she studied for the lesson.  It was Elder Renlund’s talk entitled,  “That I Might Draw All Men Unto Me.”  It couldn’t have been a more perfect subject for a struggling young person.  As I fasted for her on Sunday, I felt such a testimony that Heavenly Father knows and loves each of his children very intimately.  She was nervous, but you would never have guessed it!  She was very honest with the sisters and I think they opened up in a way that was wonderful.  Every comment was so inspiring!  At the end she said, “the gospel is very good.  I can’t say I have a testimony of it, but I am trying, but I do know that it is very good.”  I hugged her and told her how much the Lord needs her!  She has had some really challenging experiences in her young life, but because she lives in the Provo/Orem area, we are going to keep in touch.  I have developed such a testimony that the people we meet aren’t by accident.  The Lord has a plan and I think in the next life we will be amazed at how many people we have met that the Lord has put in our way to help us along the path.  The sweet young lady has been such a blessing in my life!

Our time here is going so quickly, I can hardly believe it!  We were able to skype with the couple who are taking our place.  That is incredible.  They are a delightful couple and we just wanted to suggest some things that they could prepare for, such as banking, cell phones and such.  Just to let you know, we are not trunky.  It was hard for me to talk to someone who is going to take my place, because I feel so attached.  It just made us so determined to work hard and not think about how fast the time is going!

We love you all!  The Gospel is good and the Gospel is true!  This IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life!!!  WE love Him!

Have a great week.

Love to you all,

Elder and Sister Jackman
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma