England London Mission: The Fox, Another London Adventure and the England London Mission

Dear Family and Friends

One of the things that makes it bearable for Ken to live in a city with a population of 13,170,000, is to be able to see a bit of "country" and wildlife every so often. On one of our last P days we went to Richmond Park. It is an area of about 2400 acres and has about 800 deer. Most of it is wild and the deer freely roam over the property. Ken was interested in the wildlife and I was interested in the ancient oaks, some 700+ years old. It was a beautiful day- the only nice day without rain that we had had in weeks.

Ken saw a lot of deer but he really wanted to see a fox. Richmond Park is supposed to have fox and they are supposed to be all over. When we went to Wimbledon our guide there told us that they frequently have foxes running around the tennis courts, but we didn't see any. We also didn’t see any fox at Richmond Park.

The next morning as we were walking down the road in the town of Kew on our way to The National Archives, we saw a fox! He was right in front of us on the sidewalk. We couldn't believe our eyes. It took me a minute to retrieve my camera our of my bag so I just got a picture of the back end of him running down the sidewalk.

Ken finally saw a fox! So I guess that means we can now really get ready to come home.

The rest of the story…

A couple of days later, we were in our flat. Ken saw a movement in the back garden, looked up and there stood a beautiful red fox. The fox was faster then I was finding my camera so this is a shot of it leaping over the garden fence.

Another London Adventure

We noticed that there was a new Mexican restaurant opening near to where we go to the grocery. We found out that it opened on a Saturday at 4:00 so decided to come back then and try it. It turns out that we were the very first customers. The owners are 2 Turkish brothers who went to the States and Mexico to check out Mexican restaurants before they opened. The decorations were authentic wood carvings, old photos and dried peppers hanging from the ceiling. After the dinner, which was pretty good, the owner brought us over a bottle of wine to take as a gift. When we told him that we didn't drink alcohol and that we were Mormon he said, "You never drink alcohol?" He was very shocked and didn't know quite what to say or do. Then he disappeared and came back with a bottle of hot chili sauce from Mexico and gave us that instead. I plan on bringing it home as a memento. When we asked for the check they said that there was no charge. I think they were so excited to have Americans be their first customers and really wanted our feedback. They were very proud of their restaurant. It was fun- not exactly Los Hermanos, but fun.

England London Mission

All of the senior missionaries were invited to a dinner and fireside hosted by President and Sister Renn Patch. The Patches are finishing their mission in July and have served for 3 years. They are our neighbors in Orem and it’s been wonderful to serve with them.

All of the senior couples in our mission were able to be at the dinner.

From left to right: Brooks, Inskeep, Empey, Fugal, Robertson, Patch, Ellis, Sprouse, Wells/Edwards, Browns, Mills

President Patch shared with us experiences that the young missionaries are having in the mission. One of the things I have noticed about these young men and women is the growth they experience as they forget themselves and serve others. President Patch related many experiences that emphasize this. Missionary work is a truly inspired program that benefits the young missionaries as well as those they serve. We are so proud of our own children and their spouses who served missions.

Jeff- Seattle Washington; Megan- Maracaibo, Venezuela; Steve- Maracaibo, Venezuela; Andrew- Guatemala North; Amy- Paraguay; Mark- Scotland; Curtis- Perth, Australia

Ken served in the North Scottish Mission as a young missionary and now Ken and I can add serving in the England London Mission to our list of family missionary service.

At present we have 5 fulltime missionary couples working at the London Family History Centre at The National Archives. That includes Loa and Leonard Ellis, Don and Claudia Inskeep, us, John and Barbara Robertson and Joyce and Larry Sprouse. The Sprouses are called as Employment Missionaries but help us a couple of hours each day.

The end of our mission is fast approaching. Sunday we are scheduled to give our farewell talks at the North London Ward. The journey there has been challenging, but we have so enjoyed the association with the Ward members. We have especially loved helping them with their family history. We have been touched by the people who have joined the church since we arrived. Not too long ago, one of the new members said to me, “I can’t believe there is anything so wonderful as the gospel and that I have found it.”

News From Home

Congratulations, Josh, on a first place finish in the 800 meter run at the Alpine Days track meet! Josh’s time was 2:08. The running genes from both sides of the family are kicking in. Josh’s dad ran for BYU.