My Favorite Waitress

We often go to "Frankie's and Benny's" with the missionaries and this lovely waitress waits on us all of the time and has become my friend. I had left a pair of reading glasses there once and she knew we would be back. She told me that one night she had a dream that I would be at the restaurant that day. She had taken the glasses I had left home with her. And sure enough we showed up that day at the restaurant and she shared her story as she gave me the glasses. Of course I gave her a pass along card and we pray she follows up with it. We have met the most lovely people here in Wales.

Missionary Pictures at Nigel's Baptism

Here are pictures of some of our favorite missionaries and of Nigel and Gareth at Nigel's baptism today. The missionaries are Elder Pulsipher, Elder Knecht, Elder Taylor, and Elder Mansfield. They are amazing missionaries!!

Double Baptisms

It doesn't get any better than this!!! Two baptisms in the same day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our dear, dear Martha was baptized in Newcastle Emlyn and Nigel, a new convert in Llanelli. I had the privilege of speaking about the Holy Ghost at both baptisms and felt most honored. We are so excited about the new beginnings for both of these special people. Martha has been so excited for her baptism for months and had planned every detail. She is an extra special little girl with a strong testimony of the gospel. Nigel has made major changes in his life and has accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ with all of his heart. His good friend Gareth had the opportunity of baptizing him and has been most instrumental in helping convert Nigel. We are so proud of them both!!

A Double Your Pleasure Birthday

Two of our favorite people had birthdays on the same day. They were big birthdays too, with President Williams turning 40 and Martha turning 8!!! We had a lovely evening with them. We hadn't been able to watch the Royal Wedding because we were doing missionary work, so they taped it for us and we watched the highlights that night at their home. They are always doing thoughtful things like that for everyone!!

A Special Evening with the Williams

We had the privilege once again to hear President Williams perform in the Tenby Male Choir in a beautiful Church of Wales in Tenby. Theresa's parents were here and we got to meet and love them and our special Martha got to come with us also. The choir was amazing and the evening even better spent with the dearest of friends!!!

Elder Rasmussen Returns

We were invited to the homecoming of Elder Rasmussen. We didn't know him but know and love his family. His father is the Bishop in Swansea Ward and Camie, his sister is in our Institute class. Ian Govier, his uncle and the High Counselor we work closely with in the Addiction Recovery Program, is shown here singing a special song he created as a welcome home treat!! And a treat it was. Wow he is talented!!

Lienna and TJ's Birthday Party

We were invited to a very fun evening with the Pomfrets and their many friends in order to celebrate Lienna and TJ's birthdays. It was a super fun evening with lots of dancing and even more food. Of course Elder Crandall and I didn't dance but it was hard not to. They are special friends!!

More Fun Flat Inspections

Here are more pictures of our fun flat inspections. Here we get to know the missionaries and enjoy their personalities and their testimonies. We will miss these choice associations!!

District Meetings and Flat Inspections

We continue to have the privilege of having District Meeting at our home nearly every week and we always have a meal afterwards. We went to Newport and Cardiff this week for flat inspections and had lunch with Elder Steed from Utah and Elder Guo from China and Elder Hanks from Utah and Elder Roberts from England. These Elders become are kids away from home. How we enjoy their great spirits!!!

The Three Teams at Mission Football

Can you believe the hot pink team (Cheltenham Zone) won the championship game at mission football with the blue in second place (Merthyr Zone) and in third place was Cardiff Zone, those in red. The missionaries all have so much fun on these Mission Football days!! I made lots of goodies for them and most of all just enjoyed their great company!!!

Special Friends at Mission Football

A few of the elders decided to especially pose for us at Mission football. What a fun day!!!

A beautiful park in Cardiff

This is the park we went to in Cardiff for Mission Football. It was beautiful but the day was very cold and wet and windy. We had a lot of fun however with all of the missionaries.

Spring in Wales

We are so blessed to be able to spend our second spring in Wales. All of the fruit trees are in bloom and the flowers are gorgeous and the trees are all green now!!!

Playing a game at FHE

We are having FHE with all of the Camathen members before we go home and challenging them to be great missionaries. We end the evening talking about the agency we have to make either righteous choices or unrighteous choices. We draw an analogy to the "Chutes and Ladders" game or as it is called in the UK, "Snakes and Ladders", where we advance in the game on the ladders (righteous choices) or go downhill on the chutes (bad choices). Of course a righteous choice is TO DO OUR MISSIONARY WORK!!! Here we are with the great Pomfret family. Elder Crandall had never played this game before but he beat us all by arriving at the picture of Jesus first. Beginners luck or is he just plain more righteous? He is a very good man,that's for sure!!

Inspecting the Sisters's Flat

It was such a lovely day on Friday and we were inspecting Sister Nadsady's (from Scotland) and Sister Perera's (from Sri Lanka) flat. Because we wanted to enjoy the "Rare" warmth and sun we sat outside on the balcony of the restaurant we treated them at. It was such a wonderful day and we topped it off with our scripture study group at our home that night. How we love this great work!!!

Inspiring Handouts at our Missionary Preparation Activity

We had the most fun activity at our home this week--fun because our favorite topic was discussed, "Sharing the Gospel" and because of who was there. Here is a picture of our handouts--all of the church pamphlets regarding the missionary discussions, and a large candy bar with a unique wrapping encouraging Sharing the Gospel and how to do it!!

The Wonderful Pomfrets

Bev and TJ helped make our YW and YM Missionary Preparation Evening a success by furnishing their chocolate fountain and operating it. They both are always so eager to serve others and we love them for this great quality. We drew analogies between the sweetness of the gospel and the chocolate fountain and the items we dipped in it. It turned out to be a very fun evening!! How could it not be with chocolate involved???

These are our Fearless Leaders

I think we exhausted our great YW President and our Bishopric member at our Missionary Preparation Activity at our home this past Wednesday evening. They are the greatest leaders and we were so happy to have them and their youth with us that night. There are some great future missionaries among the group

Learning Missionary Skills

At the YW YM Activity held at our home this week we taught many missionary skills. One of which was sewing on a button Look at those faces, some pained, and some quite pleased with themselves!! It was sooooooooooooo much fun.

Missionary YW YM Activity

We used a chocolate fountain as an analogy of the sweetness of the gospel and the youth really got into it, literally!!! Such a fun night. I know why the Lord has called me so many times to work with the youth--CAUSE I LOVE THEM!!!! They are the BEST!

I Love my Sweetheart

It has been a great experience serving our mission in Wales and we have grown closer and more understanding and appreciative of each other. We are grateful to the Lord for this great blessing in our lives!!!

Beverly's Birthday Dinner

We had a wonderful time with the Pomfrets as we celebrated Beverly's birthday!!! They have been such good friends to us and have made us feel like a part of their family. Thanks so much for your friendship and love. We will miss you all!!!

The Fasinating Willett Farm

I visit teach Joanne Willett and her lovely family always joins us in our visit. This time we got a tour of the lambing area!! Fascinating. In the lower right hand picture the ewe is about to deliver, and in the left hand lower picture, that ewe has just delivered twins. In the upper right hand picture, those are lambs that have been rejected by their mothers and are being bottle fed, poor babies!!! There must be a gospel message here but we just enjoyed the visit.

The Roads are Lined with Daffodils

Spring is here and the roads are lined with beautiful yellow and white Daffodils!! It is always a delightful sign that spring is on its way!!! We are so delighted to enjoy two springs in this beautiful country.

Beautiful Cherry Blossoms

Spring is here and we are delighted. We still have the rain but not the bitter cold!!! Hooray!!! We tell everyone here we are from the "Valley of the Sun" and they say welcome to the "Valley of the Rain"!! No kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that is why it is so beautiful and green!!

Our Fun District Before Transfers

We always have fun pictures with our district before transfers. How we love this group of missionaries--they are so much fun and very devoted!!!