A wonderful week

Dear family and friends,

It has been a wonderful week for us!!   We have done some really fun things this week which make us appreciate British life very much!

We were able to attend an outdoor rendition of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.  It is good I took a warm blanket, but the play was one of the best I’ve seen of this production.  All of the characters were either double or triple cast which was hilarious!  We went with our YSA’s, about 31 of us!!!  What a blast to be with our dear friends.  We told them to bring snacks or treats if they wanted.  One of them brought a layered chocolate cake!!!  It even got consumed in a quick hurry!

On Friday, we had an experience of a lifetime!  We were invited by one of our YSA’s, Sam Dearden, to attend his graduation from Queen’s College as a Master of Philosophy.  He had two extra tickets and we were so honored that he would invite us with his mom to attend!  All the attendees had to be in their seats 45 minutes before the graduation ceremony.  There was no pomp and circumstance music, or applause, or picture taking in the Senate Building.  We all entered quietly and were ushered to our seats by men in tails and top hats (some of them).  The seats were a plank of wood with no backs which lined the big room.  The graduates paraded down the street in front of King College. (But because we had to be seated we were not able to see them parade down the street!)  They entered the building and stood in line during the whole ceremony.  (That’s one way to shorten a graduation!!!)  It lasted about 50 minutes.  The important people entered and some carried in a silver candle-stick like torch about 5 feet tall.  The most important person, either a master of mistress of the college entered with a red and white fur robe and bowed to all the people with the torches.  It was very somber, sophisticated and regal!  One of the men gave some instructions on etiquette during the ceremony.  Then he started reading in Latin!  As the graduates proceeded toward the mistress who was seated in a throne-like chair, they were announced in Latin, their names were read and they went forward, and kneeled before her and she clasped their hands and said something in Latin to each.  Sam told us later that she basically said she proclaimed them graduates.  The graduates had the choice to have her proclaim it in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.   After the proclamation, the graduates stood up and bowed to the mistress.  There probably were 80 graduates and it really went quite quickly.  However, when they got toward the end, one of the graduates almost went down.  She must have been locking her knees and so they had her sit down and then one of the distinquished gentlemen ushers helped her to the mistress and escorted her out.  It was really tender.  So after the graduates were all escorted out of the building after they were presented, all the important people bowed to all the other important people and left the building.  We then were escorted out and met up with the graduates outside.  It was really a cool experience.  We were so proud of Sam.  What an accomplishment for this outstanding young man!

After the graduation, we were walking down the street in front of King’s College, when a woman called out, Elder and Sister!  We turned around and were met by Clayton and Christine Christensen.  He is a professor at Harvard University, has written books on business as well as missionary work.  They were in Cambridge to participate in a wedding of a former student of his at Harvard.  We have never met these wonderful people, but in the short time we spent with them, we feel like they are life-long friends.  We were able to take them to church with us.  What a tender mercy for us because before we left them at their hotel, Brother Christensen asked Brad if there is anything he could do for us.  We have some dear friends, the Budds!  Their son, David, has graduated from Oxford and has gotten a master’s degree from a London University, and is looking to get a PHD possibly at Harvard, but needs some work/intern experience first.  So David has come to us asking if there is any suggestions Brad could give him.  What a miracle to suddenly meet an incredible Harvard professor who would do anything to help a young man succeed!  I can’t tell you how touched we both were to just happen to meet this wonderful couple in the middle of a very busy city center street in Cambridge, UK!

 

Saturday, Brad and I spent an incredible day with some other dear friends, the Haskins!  They wanted to show us some real UK country villages.  We were blown away!  We headed to a village called Lavenham, where the city center was a row of crooked houses.  You know the poem:  There was a crooked man, And he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence, upon a crooked stile.  He bought a crooked cat, who caught a crooked mouse and they all lived together in a crooked little house!!!  Well we stopped in this little crooked house and it was set up for tea!!!!  Our friends had their coffee, Brad had a mineral water, and I had elderflower juice!  (this is incredible, by the way!!!!)  We went into some of the little shops—a lot of beam and plaster ceilings, crooked and slanted floors, short entryways!  I felt as if we had gone back into time to about the 1400’s! (actually, most of these buildings were built then!!!).  We then passed through other little villages Kersey, Hadleigh, and ended up in Flatford, a gorgeous country where the artist John Constable painted his English countryside pictures.  The day was warm and clear and absolutely beautiful.  People were having picnics on the grassy slopes of the River Stour, rowing up and down the river, and walking on footpaths which meandered through the countryside.  I WILL be going back to do some meandering of my own!!!!  We had some lovely lunch, and wandered around a beautiful church before heading home.  The best way I can describe the day is mesmerizing!  I was so overwhelmed with the calm, the beauty, and the peacefulness of this magnificent country!

Needless to say, we have had a wonderful week!  We appreciate our study time everyday and our exercise time each day to walk around this lovely place.  We have met some wonderful new friends this week, and each day feel more and more connected to the people here!  We were able to talk with our friend Ank this week.  She is the Vicar of the Anglican Church down the street.  We have become good friends.  We asked her about her vicarage and how many people they have.  She said, 15,000 in this area.  How many would you say attend Sunday services each week.  She said, maybe 30 to 50 people!  It made me feel so sad!  How empty life would be without God in our lives.  I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is what fulfills and completes us!  Perhaps this is what I have felt most of all from this mission—how much I have grown in appreciation for a loving Heavenly Father, and His Beloved Son, and the gift of the Holy Ghost in our lives.  We are truly blessed!!!

We love you all!!!  Happy Birthday to our big 4 year old Tucker Royal Jackman on July 19^th.  How we love you Tucker!  You are so precious to us!!  Have a wonderful day!  Also, Happy Anniversary on July 18^th to Scott and Sherri on 2 wonderful years of marriage!!!!  We are so grateful that you two discovered each other!  What a blessing you both are to our family!  Also Happy Anniversary to Dad and Mom Glauser on July 23^rd.  If I do my math right this is #64!  Wow!  That is fantastic!  What a miracle your lives together have been!  We are sooo grateful you two got married, and what a posterity!  We love you both dearly!

With all our love,

Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Brad and Vicki
(I'll send pictures later!)

Hello from Cambridge

Dear family and friends,

Good Monday morning!!  It seems as though things get busy and I don’t send out my blog on the same day each week!  So, I won’t worry about it and just send it out when I get it out! 

Since the BYU students have arrived we find ourselves very happily engaged in YSA planning, logistics, feeding, and preparing to feed!!!  One thing I have found in every culture, the language is different, but  young single adults love to eat no matter what country they come from!!  Food is a common language!

This BYU/Cambridge program has typically been organized and spearheaded by someone from BYU, until this year.  Their thinking is that the youth are mature enough to take care of themselves, so they don’t need to pay for someone to watch over the flock.  And besides, there is a Senior missionary couple that can take care of them.  We don’t mind doing that!  It’s just that we really didn’t receive any  official direction from BYU, so we are winging it!!!  We finally got approval for some money for food and activities for the group, so we have spent this week calendaring and trying to come up with some cultural and fun activities to involve the YSA’s in.  We are really excited!!  They have a Shakespeare festival for 2 months in Cambridge, so this week we are scheduled to go to King’s College Gardens to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream!  The youth are really excited to participate, as are we!

 We held a munch and mingle affair after church yesterday for the ward as an opportunity for the new students to thank and get acquainted with the ward members.  Thank heavens for Costco!!  We had the youth serve up the fixins for hoagie sandwiches, veggies, crisps (chips), cookies and drinks.  In the summer, we have a lot of visitors come to our meetings, so we had a full house.  It was really fun to have a chance to meet a lot of new people.  And it is also amazing to us, that these kids have been here for 2 weeks and we feel like we have known and loved them our whole lives.  We are so impressed with the caliber of youth we have the blessing of knowing and working with every day.

The tragic part of the week was my practical driving test!!!  I can’t remember when I was so nervous about anything in my life, except maybe by first driving test in America at age 16!  I prayed that I would be calm!  Well, I must say, I was calm, but I flunked the test!!!!  (I flunked my first practical driving test in America as well!)  So I will try again.  This time I think I will pray that I will pass the test!!!!  Those darn round-a-bouts.  I took it in an area I was not familiar with and she had me go through some seriously busy and multi-laned round abouts, so I should have failed, but I was so ready to be done with the testing stuff.   Ho-hum!  I guess I needed to be humbled!

The highlight of the week was to be with the sister missionaries as they taught the restoration to two new investigator friends.  Tang from Viet Nam and Landy from China were both very receptive.  As we taught them about prophets, the apostasy and the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith, my heart was very touched by the spirit.  I think my favorite thing to do on a mission is to testify of the truth of Joseph Smith, and the reality of Heavenly Father and His Son! Tang offered the closing prayer, the first vocal prayer he had ever said.  He was very nervous, but his prayer was thoughtful and so humble.  It was truly a sacred experience for all of us. We also got to testify to a sweet member family of the Savior and the sanctity of baptism to their 8 year old son.  I thought so much of Jaylee and Bailey as they will be baptized in the next 2 months, and how much we will be missing them.  This was an especially tender experience for me.  Last night we visited a less active family whom we love and shared with them the story of the First Vision and testified of Heavenly Father and the Savior’s love for them, and the truthfulness of the Gospel.  You know, we are just ordinary people declaring an extraordinary message.  I think often of the Lord’s message that through the weak and simple of the world, He does His work.  My goodness, do I get that!!!  I can better understand that a mission is more for the missionary than for those they teach.

 We love this work.  Thank you for your love and prayers!  We love what we are doing (other than the driving tests!)  We love the missionaries we serve with and the people we serve!  And we LOVE you!

Have a wonderful week!  Hug and kiss and cuddle those precious little children, and pray with them!  Please teach them that Heavenly Father loves them and that the Savior is real!!!!  And please tell them that Grandpa and Grandma Jackman love them will all of our hearts!!!

Happy Birthday to our precious Charlie on July 14th!!!  He'll be in Texas when he turns "1".  We love you Charlie Ryder Jackman!!!!!

We love you all,

Love,

Grandpa and Grandma
Dad and Mom

visited American Cemetary in Cambridge  over 3000 soldiers buried here from WWII, over 5000 soldiers and others who were killed in WWII whose bodies were never found--Glen Miller-the great trumpet player died and his body was never found--remembered here!  Very beautiful and sobering

the day we visited the American Cemetary, we watched 400 motorcycles come in for a special service

Our home is on Honey Hill!  We thought it was named that because there were beehives here--No, this was the area of Cambridge used for the sewage!!!!

 

on a skpe call with the Bishops--This is Sam, our dapper chap!  What a cutie!!!

Can you believe it?  Brad is picking strawberries!!!! with his wellies and missionary clothes.  This is what we did on the 4th of July--we went to a PYO (pick your own) berry farm to get some strawberries  for our YSA FHE treats--strawberry/blueberry shortcake (red, white, and blue)

 

Visit from Family!!!! YEAH!!!!

Dear family and friends,

Sorry this blog post is late!  I’ll have to just combine 2 weeks worth!  Some weeks get so busy that I am not able to write, so it is what it is!!!  I’ll just mention some highlights from the past couple of weeks.

This is the time of year when we get to host BYU students who come for 8 weeks to attend classes at the different Cambridge Universities.  They have changed the program this year in that the person who directed the students is no longer in place.  So Brother Paul Kerry , who was the director, is now serving as a volunteer.  What an incredible man.  He is a “Fellow” at Oxford as well as a visiting Fellow at Cambridge.  Because BYU has just installed a new dean who oversees this program, no one really knows what is going on, including us!!!  But we have met the students and find them confident, bright, friendly, and extremely on the ball!  We love them already!  There are 22 of them as of right now.  With that size of group, we had to find a place to hold FHE.  In the years past, they have used the Quaker’s church.  The Methodist’s have a beautiful church just across the street from us, but they have never wanted Mormon’s using their building.  So, our goal since we’ve been here is to try to build a positive relationship with the Methodist minister.  We attend their Wednesday morning coffee and biscuits social on occasion, we rent their car park for our FHE parking, and we have volunteered with them in helping the homeless during the winter months.  This has been an incredible blessing, as we’ve come to know and love them, and I think they have come to know and trust us.  So when we prayerfully approached Allison, the minister about the possibility of renting a room in their church for FHE for the next 2 months, she very graciously said, “Yes!”  In fact, she came to our home and we had a wonderful conversation!  She knew quite a bit about our faith.  I asked her how she knew so much.  She did a paper on Mormonism and listened to missionaries.  One thing, she said that I like about your church is the fact that you know how to do missionary work.  Those missionaries are gorgeous!!!  She is anxious to sit down and have a discussion about our doctrine and how it compares to the Methodist sect.  We, of course, are very interested in doing the same!

Scott, Lisa, Ruth and Hamilton Hardy and Janet came for a visit, YEAH!!!!  They got here Saturday night and stayed with us through Monday afternoon.  It was so fun to see them, hug them, and visit with them.  It was fun to show them off to the ward members.  Hamilton got to pass the sacrament.  Our neighbor took us on a walking tour of the early history of Cambridge from the Roman times.  The weather was nice, but the tour got really long.  So, I think we exhausted them to the max.  We chatted nonstop it seems and then Monday, went on a walk through city centre and around the Cambridge colleges, and stopped in for a bit of fish and chips!  They left on the train for London, Monday night, then we headed into London on Wednesday and joined them to see the matinee of “Wicked”!  It was fantastic!  The girl who plays Mary in all the recent Bible videos plays the part of Glynda.  Their voices were spectacular!  We enjoyed a delicious Thai dinner, walked to the LDS visitors center, then went our separate ways!  It was so fun to spend time with family!  We won't see Ruth for about 2 years as she will be on her mission when we get home.  What a great family I have!  It meant so much to us to have them spend some time with us here!

We booked a hotel in London as we had a mission zone conference with Elder Kearon on Thursday.  What an inspirational experience.  His main message to us was how to become an exceptional missionary.  He gave us 7 things that really inspired us: 1. We need to know who we are—that we are children of Heavenly Father. 2.  We all have choice—choose to be happy. 3.  Be the message 4. Don’t worry so much, just work hard! 5.  Make changes aggressively—Be happy—Be authentic. 6.  Attack the morning (get up, exercise until you sweat, eat a good breakfast, study wholeheartedly).  The way you start the day will determine the success of your day! 7.  Star the things pertinent to you and act on it, don’t just take notes, but act on those things.  We had to leave early as we had to get back home to prepare for Institute, but what we heard was magnificent!

Time is flying by.  We are very busy, which is good!  We are loving our mission!  We love you and pray for all of you.  Have a wonderful week.

With all our love,

Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Brad and Vicki

We had a massive hail storm!  some of the pieces were the size of a dime!

 

saying good-bye at the tube station--and laughing of course

looking for a hat for Hamilton and Scott

just the right hat for Janet!

a selfie while waiting for Wicked to start

Lisa, Hamilton, Ruth, Scott and Janet waiting for Wicked

A Beautiful Week!!!!

Dear family and friends,

Cheers!!!! We trust you are all enjoying this beautiful summer!

We had a fantastic week!  We had a chance to travel a little throughout a bit of the northern part of our mission to install CO2 and fire alarms in all the missionary flats.  The area was absolutely beautiful and it was delightful to meet a lot of missionaries we haven’t met before.  They are all so kind and warm.  We loved them all instantly.  This is a church wide instruction apparently for all missionary flats (apartments).

Another highlight this week was participating in a BYU Ballroom Dance Exhibition in our neighborhood!!!!  The event was hosted by our stake with our ward in charge of the organization.  Many members in our ward hosted the dancers, we talked to many of our friends, inviting them to come.  It was absolutely magnificent!  As you know, Brad was on the dance team while at BYU, and the whole evening was a blast from the past for him.  All who attended were mesmermized by the professionalism, and the high quality of the production.  Brad was amazed at the work involved in performing the dances!  He remembered the great amount of practice required!!!

We are still in the process of finding a new flat for a set of our missionaries.  So we have been flat hunting!  One flat we went to see was being rented by a cute little family from Greece who had two little girls.  She had family pictures in her home and a frame about family.  I felt impressed to go back into her kitchen when we were done and thank her for letting us come.  We were dressed in our work clothes because we had just finished moving and cleaning the Tilbrooks.  We finished just in time to meet up with an agent to look at the flat.  We were embarrassed that we had grubbies on, but we did wear our name tags.  When I went back into thank Marjorie, she asked about my name tag.  I told her that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (the Mormons).  She had never heard of us.  I told her we have a strong belief in the sanctity of families and would she like to hear more about our church.  She said she would!  We had transfers last week and we got a new sister missionary, who is incredible, so I gave her name to the sisters.  They have taught her twice!  I got to go with them the second time.  She is very interested in God, and learning about Him.  She has a lot of questions.  The sisters have another appointment set up with her and she wants to come to church.  So we are praying that the spirit will touch her!!!  I love missionary work!!!

We are excited for next week as the BYU students are coming!  This is a combined BYU/Cambridge program that occurs for eight weeks every summer.  The students attend Cambridge University classes and live in various college housing units.  They will attend the Cambridge ward and we encourage them to attend FHE and Institute each week.  Our YSA numbers are shrinking as many have finished their studies and are leaving for the summer, or are going home.  The ones staying are really excited to meet new young people, as are we.  We’ve experienced a real miracle of sorts involving the planning of this event.  I’ll tell you about it in my blog next week!!!

We are also really looking forward to this weekend as the Hardy family and Janet are coming to see us!!!!!!  We LOVE visitors!!!  We’ll tell you all about that next week as well!

We want you to know that the “stripling warrior” picture has gone gang busters in the UK.  Our mission president’s wife, Sister Stevens was so very touched by the picture, she said you need to write an article for The Friend and/or The Ensign!  (Sister Stevens served as a counselor in the General Primary Presidency and has a real soft spot for children!!!)  So dear daughters, that is your challenge!!!!!  Thank you for all of your pictures, your calls, your videos, and your love and support!  We love you so very much!  Have a wonderful week!

“No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done!!!”  Joseph Smith

We love you all!

Love,

Dad and Mom
Papa and Grandma
Brad and Vicki

BYU Ballroom Dance

BYU Ballroom Dance

Our new district: from l to r front row

Sister Becker, Elder Chew, Elder Coon, Elder Dalley

Sister Daines, me, Brad, Elder Walker

Meeting Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Dear family and friends,

A missionary’s life is full of different experiences every day!  That’s what makes it such an adventure!

We had a great week serving and working!  Last Tuesday, we had the opportunity to meet with all the missionaries in our mission as well as the entire England London South Mission.  We converged on the Hyde Park Chapel around 9 am, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  He and his lovely wife and Elder and Sister Kieron, an Area Seventy came about 11:00.  So for nearly 2 hours, the missionaries waited, and studied.  We were asked to sit very quietly while in the chapel.  It was quite an experience to be among these dynamic souls!  After Elder Oaks arrived and before the meeting started, they asked all the missionaries to file up one by one to shake their hands.  The senior couples were seated together and we were nearly the last to file through the line. (Mom and Dad, we were able to meet Elder and Sister Record, a vibrant and lovely couple who serve in the office in the South Mission. They are in my parents ward in South Ogden and they love “the Glausers”.  I guess their granddaughter, or daughter had a thing for Brother Glauser and knew he would one day become the President of the United States!!! We had planned to meet up at the London Temple later in the week, but were unable to catch each other, but we know where they serve!)  It was a very sweet experience to shake a prophet’s hand!  He was very kind.  Elder Kieron expressed gratitude for our service.  He and his wife were also very wonderful.  We were inspired by Elder Oaks words.  He spoke of missionary work in Europe as being very challenging, where people commit to read, attend church, listen to discussions, but then don’t show up.  He spoke of the misnomer that a successful missionary is one who baptizes a great number of investigators.  Our call is to teach repentance and baptize converts.  But we can’t get caught up in the numbers.  He made the comment that he heard a missionary in Denmark say that every time a European missionary knocks on a door, an investigator in Latin America is baptized!  Every mission is different.  He said, we need to focus on teaching the people that Heavenly Father loves them and is their Father, and that the Savior came to earth to make it possible for us to receive immortality and eternal life.  Even with that information, they can at some future day be perhaps softened to the point of accepting the gospel.  I wish I could explain the feeling we felt as he spoke.  As missionaries, Brad and I were buoyed up and left feeling that we CAN make a difference in this country.  We may not find many friends to baptize, but with all the inactive and nonmember friends we have met here, we can let them know that we love them and Heavenly Father loves them, and testify of the Savior.  The other wonderful thing about being with the missionaries, is that we were able to meet up afterward with the missionaries that served in Cambridge and were transferred to different areas.  It was like meeting up with our children again!  We also were able to meet Sister Daines, a beautiful missionary who is the niece of Michelle and Boyd Craig, our dear friends from our Orem ward!  And she was being trained by Sister Lawler, one of our missionaries we served with and loved in Cambridge.  Even better than that is, this week is transfer week and Sister Daines has been assigned to serve in Cambridge!  She even has red hair!!  She truly is like a daughter!

We have been busy this week moving and helping clean houses of ward members who are moving!  We are making up for the fact that we won’t be around to help both sets of parents move in the next few weeks!!!  Brad has been a trooper and really was a help to the Tilbrooks to organize and load up several truck loads for them.  I got to help clean bathrooms, and reorganize and box up stuff from garages.  We worked hard.  It felt really good to work so hard!  We had a chance as well to teach a temple class, teach a discussion with the sisters on the restoration, teach a new member lesson, attend the temple with our ward and some new converts.  (I even got to work in the baptistery handing out clothing!), attend one of our YSA’s rowing competitions, feed YSA’s, teach primary, check out new flats for missionaries, and skype with our kids during their family reunion in St. George!!!  We had a great week! 

We are so grateful that our kids got together for a few days in St. George.  All of them were there!  I will include the stripling warrior pictures and other pictures of the family! 

We feel that the Lord has truly blessed us.  Rick, a man we were teaching with the Sisters asked us if we had ever experienced hard things in our life.  Of course, we have, but at the moment, I had to really think what those things were.  I feel that the Lord has blessed us with the strength to deal with hard things.  He has eased the burdens which have been put upon our shoulders, that even we cannot feel them upon our backs.  That is what the gospel and making and keeping sacred covenants do for us.  It is hard to explain those miracles to those not of our faith. Our hearts are brimming over with gratitude!

Another miracle happened just this week.  Since meeting with Elder Oaks, I’ve been praying every morning that we will be able to meet people in our comings and goings that are receptive to hearing about the gospel.  Well, Tuesday, we went on our monthly Costco run, and happened to run into a lady that was so anxious to talk to us.  As she spoke, she said she lived at one time in Aylesbury.  I asked her if she knew Elder and Sister Glauser.  She was shocked out of her head, as she said over and over, I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it.  Her name is Pat Knight and dad and mom were dear friends when they were here on their mission.  We met her daughter Sarah as well.  She loves them!  She has left the church as has Sarah.  When we asked why, she explained the situation that a member of the church had said something very offensive to her.  So she left and hasn’t gone back.  She begged us to come to her home sometime for “tea”.  I can’t get her out of my mind, as I feel it was not a coincidence that we ran into that day.  She doesn’t want anything to do with the church and doesn’t want the missionaries to teach her, so we have been praying about what it is we can say when we meet up with her for tea!  She is a very lovely lady and as much as she said she doesn’t want anything to do with the church, I sensed she feels something missing from her life.

We love you all!  We feel a rejuvenation for the work and love what we are doing!  This is God’s work!  We feel Him close to us and will cherish this experience forever! 

Happy Birthday to Todd Jackman and Jaylee Nelson (June 12) and Grandma LaDawn Jackman (June 13).  We are so grateful for these special people in our lives.  Also, we wish our dear fathers and sons a very Happy Father's Day this upcoming Sunday!  We love these noble men in our lives and thank you for your goodness!

Have a glorious week!

With all our love,

Dad and Mom
Papa and Grandma
Brad and Vicki

June 2016 family picture in St. George

our stripling warriors- from l. to r. Asher Brown, Charlie Jackman, Grayden Miles, Russell Jackman, Samuel Bishop, Jordan Jackman (oldest to youngest)

another stripling warrior pose.  We want to do this in 18 years again

the beautiful mothers

Picture adendum

Here are some more pictures!

Andrew Tilbrook

Gail Tilbrook listening to Chloe

FHE after pizza with Tilbrooks--getting ready to move to Scotland

Dearest family and friends,

This blog post will have to do for two weeks!  We had a glorious time this past week with our children. Scott and Sherri and their girls, Chloe, Carlee and Jaylee were here with us and it was magnificent.  They were able to stay in our home and then we spent a couple of days in London with them.  It is an adventure I won’t soon forget and I think they all had a memorable time as well.  I’ll share some highlights from our week!

They arrived on Thursday, 26 May, 2016 at Gatwick Airport near London. We had rented a 7 passenger van, so we could get around with everyone.  We picked them up at the airport and on the way home stopped by the London Temple for a tour around the gardens and some pictures.  They brought the nice sunny weather with them which we enjoyed for a few days!  We were planning on them meeting President Johnson, the temple president, but he was in meetings.  With traffic it took us a while to get to Cambridge!  We picked up some pizza and headed to Littleport, a  nearby village to visit the Tilbrooks.  They are moving to Scotland and we wanted to bring them dinner and host a family home evening for them.  We thought this would be a great missionary opportunity for the kids, and it was!!!  Though the Tilbrooks are in the middle of great chaos as is the case when one moves, they were so welcoming to have us come.  This being the Tilbrooks first FHE, it really was a tender experience.  We had an opening song and Chloe gave us lesson.  She shared with us her 13 year old life experiences of diabetes, dealing with divorce, a new family, and moving to a new home.  She shared that even with these challenges, she felt the peace of the gospel and Heavenly Father strengthen her to learn and grow from these challenges/opportunities.  We shared feelings of gratitude and love for each other.  Tears were freely shed as we said our good-byes to our dear eternal friends, the Tilbrooks.  We told Andrew, that he is to let us know when he gets baptized, and we want to be there!!!  Feelings of love are deep and Scott and Sherri felt a sweet love for this wonderful family in just the short time we were there. (Scott and Brad did go back on Saturday afternoon to help Andrew load up a truck for another trip to Scotland!)  We’ll get to see Andrew again next week as they have one more load to take and I can help with any last minute cleaning.  But we won’t see Gail again for a while.  They truly have penetrated our hearts with love forever!!!  Hey, if anyone is planning a trip to Scotland, we now know of a great place to stay, as they are buying a hotel near Lochness!!!

For two more days, we spent walking around our beloved Cambridge!  We enjoyed an afternoon tea in the Grandchester Orchards with scones and hot chocolate, walked down the college backs, through the country, and experienced the city centre.  We saw the shops, tasted the fudge, found Harry Potter memorabilia, met friends, ate a “proper burger”, and tried on hats!  We just enjoyed being together.  Sunday morning, Scott and Sherri headed to Paris for 2 days and the girls stayed with us.  We proudly introduced them in church, ate, played games, did more walking, grocery shopping, and took them punting!  (Our next door neighbor, Neil Steed, is an avid punter and took us on the river tour on Monday!!!)

Tuesday, in a torrent of rain, we headed for London on the train with the girls.  We met up at the train station with Scott and Sherri, who by the way had a fabulous time in France, fulfilling a lifelong dream for Sherri of getting a dipped kiss from her honey at the Eiffel Tower!  She’ll have to share her pictures!

With suitcases in tow, we boarded the tubes (the subway) and set out to find our flat we had rented for the time in London.  When we got there, we found out that the boiler was broken and we were not able to stay in that place while in London—a traveler’s nightmare!  So here we were, 7 of us, in downtown London with no place to stay.  We spent the rest of the day trying to sort out the problem.  Luckily, we found a lovely hotel a block down the street that had rooms for us to rent! Despite the worry and concern, we were blessed to find a place and enjoy the rest of our trip!   That night even though it was raining, the kids wanted to see some of London, so we headed to Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye.  Even in the rain, it was magnificent.  There is something to be said about seeing sights that you’ve only seen in pictures.  It was so fun to see how excited all the family was to see London! The next day we awoke early and going by tube, rail and bus, we arrived at the Warner Brother’s Studio where the Harry Potter films were created!  This was Chloe’s favorite place!  It was really a fun place to see!   We saw the small but complete Hogwarts School of Wizardry, thousands of props, all of the sets, the costumes, and learned the secrets of the film magic in producing Harry Potter. We got back in time to rest a little while and then headed to see the acclaimed Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre!  As tired as the girls were, they were mesmerized, as were we all!

Thursday, Brad and I headed back to Cambridge to prepare for institute and get back into our missionary routine.  All day long all I could think of was that my kids were an hour away from me and I wasn’t with them.  That was a hard day for me!  But I was excited that they could take the London bus tour, see Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London, and the sights in between.  They even got their meal of fish and chips!  They then left back to America the next day and arrived home in the wee Saturday morning hours!

Will we be able to focus on missionary work now?  Yes, we have a new motivation—to work as hard as we can!  We’ve been gone 9 months now and seeing the family, although the girls look a little older and have gotten a bit taller, it was as if we haven’t even been away!  All the love, the interest, the chatting and listening hasn’t even changed at all.  We loved the late night chats on our bed with Scott and Sherri!  We loved the hugs, the games and the laughter, and the genuine caring with them all!  Family is eternal!

Thank you for coming Scott and Sherri, Chloe, Carlee and Jaylee.  Of course we missed little Greydon!  Our love only gets stronger with each passing day!

Happy Birthday to Justin and Keaton on May 29^th!!!  We love you wonderful men in our lives!

Have a wonderful week!  My challenge for you this week is to read Elder M. Russell Ballard’s conference talk on family councils!  Here is a message from a prophet, seer, and revelator, on how to protect and preserve our families!  They are the most important things we have in this life!  You are our everything!!!!  We love you forever!

Love,

Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma

meeting our kids at Gatwick airport!!!  They looked BEAUTIFUL!!

stop off at London Temple

our beautiful girls

how many bodies can you fit in one British phone booth?

a street in downtown Cambridge

our afternoon tea in Grandchester Orchards

cemetery at Trumpington Church (where Brad got did one of his large brass rubbings)

man's search for happiness--we have found it!!!!

time with the girls is not complete without a game of telestrations

on Sherri's bucket list!!!!

nothing like punting down the Cam River--Jaylee is under the blanket--typical spring like weather in Cambridge, UK

the ladies are ready for Ascott!!!

Diagon Alley

The rain didn't stop us!!!

Hogwarts School of Wizardry

train to Hogwarts

more hats--the mother's of the brides wear them to weddings here!

trying to get on the Hogwarts express

 

 

riding the tube!  Mind the Gap!

sharing our FHE with the girls and our YSA's

waiting in the lobby of the place we were supposed to be staying!