YSA, Seminary & Funeral = A lot of baking

September 18, 2012

 It has been a few weeks so I had better update this blog or people will stop looking at it.  But then again maybe no one is looking at it.  No matter it is the diary of my mission and I will look at it and remember fondly.

On Aug. 27^th we served American pancakes for the Young Single Adults (YSA) for Family Home Evening (FHE).  They really enjoyed them.  After they played games and put on importune skits.  The next day we had district meeting which I took brownies too for Elder Lusks birthday.

I mentioned in my last blog that we had a new calling and it did come about.  Brother Corbett passed away like the next day so Elder Ottley and I took over the early morning seminary the day it started and continued for two weeks.  We had an average of five in attendance each day.  That is just half of those signed up.  I guess that isn't horrible considering one couldn't come because his ride there is Sister Corbett and Lucy's family was on holiday the first week and they bring one of the other boys.  Not to mention that 6:15 a.m. is really early when it takes some a half hour or so to ride a bus there.

We taught Monday – Wednesday morning then Thursday night just before mutual and then again Friday morning.  Our best attendance was on Thursday nights.  I can’t believe I never even took one picture in the two weeks.  We had one girl come in her PJ’s (Rebecca Park) and wrapped in a blanket, her mother and Lucy Middleton’s mother served them toast and juice during class.  Rebecca’s brother, Ryan was the most involved.  This is his first year of seminary.  He has usually worn a hoodie all through sacrament, even while passing the sacrament.  Last week he didn’t have it on, he had a white shirt and looked very nice.  After sacrament I mentioned to him that he looked very nice and it wasn’t 5 seconds later that someone else commented to him how nice he looked and then a third person all of which I heard commented.  I don’t think it was my imagination, he was very active in participation that next week in seminary, started reading his scriptures and passed off 3 or 4 master scriptorian scriptures.  I think praise can go a long way!

The last day of seminary I made American pancakes for them.  They really enjoyed them and ate everyone so we ate when we got home.  The first day I had taken cinnamon rolls and they really enjoyed them also.  They claim they have never had one.  I cut the leftovers in half and took them to zone meeting the next day.  It worked out that I had enough for everyone to have one.  The president’s wife really liked them (She is originally from England).

Our Ward High Priests Group from home sent us a package which we got at zone meeting.  It was a fun surprise and had brownies in it.  I really enjoyed them warmed up with ice cream and topping on them. J  We had noticed from Facebook that they were having a party and told them they could deliver our portion to us in person.  Well they did the next best thing.  Thank You for thinking of us!!!

It’s very interesting trying to find ingredients to bake with.  We went shopping on Friday to buy ingredients to make cookies for our fireside on Sunday night.  I wanted to make applesauce or pumpkin cookies with my burnt butter frosting.  Elder Ottley would keep going to store people asking where something was.  He found out from a produce guy that people in England to not bake.  They are to use to the corner bakery doing the baking.  They carried pumpkin once but no one bought it so they don’t sell it anymore.  We found some applesauce in small jars so I bought them and made applesauce cookies.  Their applesauce is very different from ours, it is very tart so I was very disappointed in my cookies.  I guess I will have to stick to good old chocolate chips and chocolate cookies.

A week ago today we went to Hyde Park in down town London, for FHE with the YSA.   Elder Causse from the Presiding Bishopric was the speaker.  They were not expecting as many YSA that came so it was very crowded, no microphone and we were in the back on a couch so we couldn’t hear or see him.  They had it down in a recreation area and we can’t figure out why they didn’t move it to the chapel so everyone could sit and hear.

We enjoyed the ride on the train with some of the YSA from our Ward.  We didn’t get there any too early because we had to wait for Jocy to get back from shopping for shoes so that she could ware flats to walk in and then when we got there her and her sister changed from the flats to the spiked heels.  I guess those impress the guys or something?

Well that is it for the past 3 weeks and hope to have great news for you next week so stay tuned, until then ta da or “it’s been lovely”

Elder & Sister Ottley

The kitchen at the church.
This picture is the night we had pancakes.
Then  I spent hours washing dishes after a funeral Thursday.
 The other lady helping doesn't rinse the dishes.  She just dries the soap off.
  So I took over that part and she went out and kept the food replenished.
I also ended up cleaning and reorganizing things so there was counter space.

The YSA on American pancake night

Elder Lusk giving me thumbs up on his birthday brownies          

Elder Ottley in a garden we happened to see on way to visit someone

Sister Ottley making cinnamon rolls for seminary

The end results

Elder Ottley found a wild berry patch in a park/golf course across from the bus stop

Sister Ottley enjoying a brownie sent from Cascade Ward High Priests.
  What a nice surprise and a delicious one too.

Jocy and Hazel on way to Hyde Park for Fireside

Armindo  on way to Hyde Park for Fireside

London from the train on way to Hyde Park

London from the train on way to Hyde Park

Museum of Natural History at night in London

James our YSA leader, his fiancee
 and his brother & two sisters (triplets) that his parents
adopted while he was on his mission

Transfer time again so we have to have pictures at our last
 Zone Meeting before the transfer

The Work Rolls on Even in the Rain

The past two weeks we have spent most of our day either on the computer figuring out where people live or out walking the streets trying to find the people we have checked out.  We are really getting it down now.  I have taken charge of the YSA list and Dave the New Convert list.  We have checked out the post codes, entered them in to Sally (GPS2) and again in Sally (GPS3) and will yet be able to enter them again in Sally (GPS4) when it arrives.  Sally 2 died and would only blink at us so we have buried her in a box.  Sally 3 is very unreliable and takes about 30 minutes to acquire satellites.  What would you expect from a Pawn Shop purchase?  We found a sales receipt in the box of the person before us that took it back to the pawn shop a few days before we bought it.  It is getting us through until we get the one we ordered from online.  We have 20 days to take it back and get a refund so we will be doing that on Wed. when we go to District meeting in Orpington where we bought it.

We now have people grouped in neighborhoods and it is very nice to be able to go from one house to another in just a few blocks rather than a few miles and it is saving my feet.  I haven’t had a blister this week!

Day time visits were not working as no one was ever home, so we started going out around 3:00 to 7:00 and then by the time we get home, it is 8:30 before we get to eat.  This did not prove to be any more effective than the day time, so we went out on Saturday and walaaaa!  We had someone answer at every door we went to.  Of course we were the only people out on the street as it was pouring rain and they were all smart and cozy in their little flats!  We did stay at one families home for a longer period because there was so much thunder, lightning and rain that just didn’t want to let up.  The first inkling that it was slowing found us going two doors down and making a very fast visit with some inactive that didn’t like us interrupting their smoke filled poker game.  We then took off for the train station just a few blocks away.  I had to hold my skirt tight so it didn’t blow up in the wind and get all wet from the rain.

When we got off of the train we had to walk a block to catch the bus to take us within a couple blocks of our flat.  As we were walking to the bus stop the bus was stopped at a light so we took off running to beat it to the stop.  Well we ran across a street and on the other side of the street was this huge puddle and we just ran right through it making a big splash.  We made it home and I am happy to announce my shoes (sandals) dried out after putting them under the radiator.

We went to church today and was called into the Bishops Office and given another calling.  We have been called as Sub. Seminary Teachers, (Dave will be doing the teaching but I have to go too so it is our calling).  The Seminary Teachers husband has cancer and is not doing well at all so she might have to take some time off if he comes home from the hospital.  We will have to be up by 4:00am to leave at 5:00am to get to the church by 6:00am.  We may not have much notice so I guess I better start getting to bed a little earlier than I am accustom too.

You will find pictures following this informative information.   The camera makes the bad things look good and the good things look bad so I guess you just have to use your imagination.  But know that we are doing well and feel that with yours and our prayers we can make a difference. 

A view of London from a new route on a different bus

I just love the Architecture in London.  I have no idea what this is just saw it from the bus.

These next two are the equestrian grounds from the Olympics

More Architecture and one of many churches

This is one of the areas people could go to watch the Olympics.
  This one was just outside the train station

I could blow this up enough to read that it is St. Johns Church in Sidcup

Dave standing between two complexes that are more of the same.
They are in Plumstead, the ghetto of London.
  This picture just doesn't show
how it really is. 

Linda and Rod Larson came to visit us and took us out to dinner.
We had a lovely time and appreciated them coming and their kindness.

On Sunday August 19th the Middelton family had all 8 of the missionaries from
our ward over for dinner.  It was delicious!  We had Lamb steak, ribs, chicken, hotdogs
and hamburgers along with potato, coleslaw, & lettuce salad.

This was just odd to me so I took a picture.  It is the first one I have seen
and was just random on a corner.  I didn't check it out to see how it works.

Dave loved this and had to have a picture of it.  The sign says:
This Market has been serving the citizens of Woolwich
 since it was created by a charter granted by James I in 1619

London from the10th floor of Sister Jacksons apartment building in our ward.
I should have zoomed in.  Notice the black clouds!  It wasn't much more than
 15 minutes before they were dumping on us.

We pass this every day on the bus and think of you Katie.
It is a baby furniture etc. store

This is how we travel each day in fear for our lives!

This week’s adventures took us back to where we started in England.  We were summoned back to the office to help out with transfers.  Dave helped in the office while I helped with meals.  The first day we made, I think they called it Café Rio?  I thought it tasted just like the pulled pork salad at Costa Vedas that just opened a little while ago in Kennewick.  The next day we made the big meal for lunch and made my chicken enchiladas.  We were just feeding 28 but as it turned out it was like we fed the 5000.  Elders just kept coming out of the woodwork.  The first 28 are the only ones that got the enchiladas the others got left over rice, salad along with chips, bread, peanut butter and jam and left over rice crispy treats cut smaller.  That night the 28 new elders and their trainers got a Greggs Sandwich and cookies to take with them on their travels home.

The next day the Kearls took us to IKEA on our way back home.  We were looking for an end table and lamp.  We didn’t find anything we liked there and ended up just buying a bulletin board, to hang the letters we get in the mail, (Thanks Nancy, Jeff, Carter, Mackenzie, Madison and Ashlynn) and two broken boards to make shelves in a closet.

We found our end table this morning at our friendly thrift store for 25 pounds.  It was actually three tables.  They are what they call nesting tables.  We called the Zone leaders and asked them to pick us up at the store instead of our apartment so they could take them home for us.  We had an appointment with the Zone Leaders to visit a lady named Sarah.  We had a very good visit with her and she said that we can come back.  It was a referral from a lady in our Ward.  Sarah also lives in Sidcup not far from us.  She was a very nice lady that thought that because she was divorced that we wouldn’t want her.  She had a brain aneurism a couple years ago and it is a miracle she is still living.

The last two days we have spent mapping out and going to visit new converts in our ward.  We have found that 5 out of the 6 we have gone to have moved and the other one no one has been there to tell us if they live there or not.  It would really be nice if we could get addresses for all of these but that is just too much to expect.

So this brings me to the trip home from visits.  I had my camera in my purse and took some pictures of how close all the houses are and there are soooo many.  Then I decided to take one of the traffic in front of us on the bus that shows how small the roads are.  Kinda like in Seattle.  Well little did I know that I would be taking a series that led up to a five minute bus trying to pass a bus on a small road with cars parked on both sides of the street.  Both buses had to pull their mirrors in so they didn’t rip each others off.  The one bus just stopped while ours tried to get past it inch by inch.  I still can’t believe he made it.  The bus drivers here are just unbelievable.  They can weave in and out and turn the buses on a dime, and all while driving on the wrong side of the street!! Oh that’s right, that’s how they do it around here.

We LOVE IT!!!!!!

2012 08-7 London Temple from our window at the accomadation center.
  We were summond to help with transfers

2012 08-7 room 28 for 2 nights was much better
 than room 42 where we stayed for a month

2012 08-9 twins Jade & Chole Stevens in YSA on their birthday

2012 08-11 The nesting table found at thrift store

2012 08-11 This shows 4 different houses 4 different colors.
 Next to it is  4 more houses.  This is how most homes are.

2012 08-11 Ridding bus 229 from Erith, after doing visits, to home in Sidcup

2012 08-11 Ridding bus 229 from Erith, after doing visits, to home in Sidcup .
  Just showing housing continued next 2 pictures

2012 08-11 This is showing traffic and parked cars.
  Notice the bus coming  in this
and the next few pictures

We are inching our way

literal inches

Week 7 transfers

We have been busy this week seeking out some lost sheep.  The first day we went I wore the wrong shoes and socks and I was getting blisters on the ball of my feet from walking and trying to find the addresses.  I might mention that we were in a part of town that I have never seen the likes of (well maybe on TV, but I never knew, or never wanted to know that such a place really existed.)  I say that because it broke my heart that people really have to live in those conditions.  Why have I been so blessed, and here I was complaining because my shoes hurt my feet but at least I had shoes.

 

We didn’t find anyone home at the three places we went so we went back a couple of days later and found that two had moved and the third still didn’t answer.

On Wed. we had district meeting and took pictures of our district in case some got transferred.  As it turned out the one getting transferred was not there and not in the picture at that time.  Our District leader Edosomwan, is the one next to me and his companion Mafubelu is the one by Elder Ottley.  I just love Elder Mafubelu’s smile, it just makes me want to be happy.

We got a list of all the YSA today and I have been entering them in s spreadsheet so we can start looking for them.  We had about 10 in Sunday School today and there are about 75 on the list.  This should keep us  busy for a while.

We have been called back to the office for three days this week.  It is transfers so we are catching the train Tuesday morning and I will help Sister Kearl with meals and Elder Ottley will probably help out in the office until Thursday.  I am looking forward to going and seeing my friends there for a few days but then will be happy to come back home and go to work.  This will also help pass the time until we get internet and will help that we will have it there for a few days.  I really feel bad I couldn’t call Dad on his birthday so hoping I will be able to while at the office.

Last night (Friday 4^th) we were having the missionaries over for dinner to talk about converts.  As it turned out Elder Albrechtsen is being transferred to the office as an AP so the present AP’s Elder Simmons & White were here with them so we had all of them for dinner.  Elder Simmons is going home Tuesday to Idaho and it turns out that we are related.  His Grandmother was an Ottley.  He will probably be going to BYU so Katie you will have to look him up when you get there.  He is an awesome missionary!

2012 08-01 Elder & Sister Kyle, Sister Casasola & Cubova, Elders Hansen & Paulo

2012 08-01 Elder Manisalla & Aichele (Dave calls him Chandia from Chile),
 Elder Edosomwan, Sister & Elder Ottley, Elder Mafubelu, Elders Corca & Tsutsunashvili

2012 08-02 Charlene ironing the new living room curtains

The curtains in office and the two chairs we found
at the thrift store for 10 pounds each.  It seemed people stared at
 us carrying them home more than when we pulled the desk home.
They came in handy when we had four missionaries for dinner

Our new living room curtains

new bedroom curtains

2012 08-03 As close as we have got to the Olympics
 This might be the housing and close to the rifle shooting.
We are not sure but maybe one of these three pictures are something

2012 08-4 Elder Simmons AP,  with Elder & Sister Ottley.
He is going home Tuesday his Grandmother was an Ottley

2012 08-4 Elder Simmons AP, Elder Curran, Elder White AP and
Elder Allbrechtsen (replacing Simmons AP) came for dinner.
Elder Ottley is one of the guys