March 23, 2012

It's been a while since I have given an update of what's happening here in our corner of the world.

 

I guess you could say we are "settling in" as the British always ask us - "Are you settling in yet?" they always ask.  I can't tell you all of the different things they say to us that are so funny - We had dinner at a nearby restaurant last Tuesday - We tried the traditional fish and chips and mushy peas - Sister Gunderson, a transplanted Brit, in our Draper Ward told me about five different dishes she made me promise to try - one was the dinner we had - the fish and chips tasted just like any fish and chips we would have in America--deep fried and full of cholesterol--mushy peas?  Don't ask me why they serve that with fish and chips but they do--all I can say is it tastes like baby food peas but not quite so strained--will we be trying those again?  Probably not :)  Anyway, we cleaned up our plates and the waitress said - "looks like you mopped it all up"  So many funny phrases we hear each day.

 

We had our stake conference last Sunday in City Hall in Sheffield where it can hold a lot of people.  The visiting General Authority is an Area Seventy from Wales.  He and his wife spoke and the Saturday evening and Sunday sessions plus the Stake Presidency, Mission President, and quite a few new converts in the last year.  The new converts were all young people teens and probably in their twenties - I think this is where the growth of the Church here will take place--with the younger ones.  The historic event was that four of the Slovakian men were sustained to the Melchizedek Priesthood--probably a first for that many being sustained at one time. 

 

One disappointment was that quite a few people from the group were not there on Sunday to see it take place - One reason--the night before there was a big fracas in the Don Valley area where they live - I can only describe it has two Slovakian clans fighting against one another--none were Church members, but some had been investigators--apparently they all lived in the same community in Slovakia and now live in the same community here in England.  The same frictions that came to the surface in Slovakia came to the surface here--they say, that hasn't happened in the five years they have been here.  One person related to some Church members was taken to the hospital to have some stitches in his head.  I really don't understand why it happened - a sister missionary said one of the clan members is practicing polygamy - one legal wife and several others he claims are his wives--since polygamy isn't legal here of course -- he thinks he should be able to have them just like the Muslims do in their community - many, many Muslims live in Don Valley.  I'm sure there are many other culture frictions that exist--another one has to do with their skin color--some darker than others-which puts them in different social classes.  The sad thing was of the four men at Church only one had his wife there - I don't know if it had anything to do with the Saturday night fracas--maybe they felt they needed to stay home to protect their families--if they had all been at Church they would have been fine.  One thing we are noticing is that many times the women stay home from Church but their husbands are always there--this could be another issue--the place of women in their homes--they tell the missionaries they have to stay home to cook all day for their families.

 

So, there are issues that need to be addressed--changing from their native culture to a gospel-centered culture--baby steps have to be taken along the way.  The men will be ordained this Sunday at Church - we will see how many of the women are there.  Another Slovakian family are to be baptized tomorrow - father, mother, and two of their four children--others are in the process of preparing for baptism--several have had to get married first--another issue that has to be dealt with.

 

We experienced watching our first transfers in the mission last Wednesday--Of the seven of us that work with the Slovakians two were transferred--one is the sister from the Ukraine (it is going to be hard not to have her language skills--it leaves Elder Juran here, but he is spread so thinly trying to translate for everyone.  The goal is to help the Slovakians speak English better, so that could be a positive with their having to understand us better.   The other transfer was one of the zone leaders was sent to Leeds to be one of the assistants to the President.  I must say it was hard to see the two leave (actually there were three) but one doesn't work in the Slovakian group from our district. 

People ask us if we will be transferred - I have no idea -

 

Dad and I are still trying to feel our way as to what we should be doing - We've decided we are probably going to play the role of home and visiting teachers, contacting them periodically, helping establish programs at Church--Primary, YM/YW, Priesthood classes, SS etc.  Dad has to get speakers for Sacrament meetings--hard to figure out how to do that when you can't communicate with them.  We went to one of the members home yesterday to ask him to speak in Church about his Priesthood ordination--Dad tried to tell him that and gave him a talk out of the priethood manual which they have in Slovakian that he could use - He turned to the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon and wanted to know if he could use that--who knows what he will end up saying (we won't know anyway :)  Dad is going to begin teaching them about family history and preparing some names for them to do at the temple--

 

I've told you there are so many youth--about 30 in YM/YW and about 30 in Primary--it turns out to be a logistical nightmare to find the space necessary for their classes and keeping them somewhat under control!!  We're having Catherine send to us as soon as it gets to her house manuals and Primary helps to give us some materials - A lot is being translated into Slovakian but it hasn't been printed yet - don't know when that will happen - Since we have no idea how long it would take to actually get it here we are trying this method--having the materials sent to Draper from Salt Lake and then for her to send them here.  Hopefully, it won't be too long  - we can use all the help we can get.

 

I had my first visit with Ricky the boy who wants to learn how to play Church songs - he has an electronic keyboard at his home so we went there to try to teach him the songs he wanted to learn - because he just plays by ear and watching where my hands are on the keyboard he tries to learn - it's not the best way - I'm trying to decide if the basic keyboard instruction manual the Church puts out would be useful - I'll have to see how this goes.

 

We are trying to visit the members on their birthdays and take them a cake - trouble with that is even finding out their correct birthdays.  Today we spent over an hour looking for one person's address.  We think we found it only to discover he didn't live there - at least that is what some people in the courtyard said that no one lived at that address - possibly he had moved and we had the wrong address - it was quite a trick trying to get the GPS to get us where we needed to be - it looked like a dilapted business building, but you had to walk into an entrance between buildings which took you to the back--there was a little courtyard which I can't even describe - I guess people might live in the rooms above their businesses--it's sad to see how they eke out an existence.  Anyway, the cake is now in our freezer probably going to be eaten by me if we don't find his house.

We went to Leeds for a Senior missionary dinner last Friday - Eight couples are in our mission - I thought there were only five--Dad really hated to make the drive particularly at night - it took an hour and a half to drive back - we ended up on a one way street going the wrong way - thankfully there was only one car on the road who blinked his lights and honked at us - we were able to move over to the other side quickly when we realized what had happened - it just makes Dad not want to drive at all - I think we have become good at getting to Church, grocery, mall, library without the GPS but if we have to go anywhere else it becomes a real hassle.

 

We have permission to go to York in a couple of weeks on a bus tour.  It is just for the day but isn't our P-day but President Lindley told us we could go - we will be going there the end of May for a mission conference too.  We drove last Monday to Worksop, one of the ward areas in the stake - it's about 30 minutes from where we live but again the driving is difficult - once you can get to a main road it is not so bad, but getting into the town and driving around makes us stressed - we didn't even get out of the car just found our way back again.