- Elder and Sister Warnick noticed that they often pass a nesting swan on their drives. Also came across a fun fox bench.
- Had dinner with the bishop of the Paignton Ward and his wife. They are converts of about 5 years.
- Taught Institute in Plymouth, with 23 in attendance. The lesson was on the Utah war, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the revelation on the priesthood. They recommended this article.
- Spoke in Paignton Ward's Sacrament meeting, on the theme of "rescue". Discussed examples from the rescues of the Willie and Martin handcart companies and compared to our modern-day responsibilities to rescue others. Also shared the experience of Elder Warnick's great grandfather, William Woodward:
"He joined the church as a 14 year old boy after hearing the missionaries speak. He said that their words were 'electrifying'. He was immediately convinced that what they were saying was true. When his stepfather discovered that he had been baptized he was put out of the house. He lived with the missionaries for a time before emigrating to Utah [from England]. Heber C. Kimball took him into his home, treating him as one of his own family. William went on a mission back to England, and upon his return was one of the captains in the Willie Handcart company. He recorded in his journal that when he saw the rescuers coming he thought they were angels. He did not think they were real men coming to save him. All of us [in our family] owe our very lives and existence to those 'angels' who reached out to save the Willie Handcart Company."
- They continue to teach a missionary preparation class in Newton Abbott. Some members come quite a long distance by train in order to attend. One young man just received his mission call to New Delhi.
- Pablo, returning to the church after more than 20 years of inactivity, was able to baptize his wife Jennifer. Pablo expressed that the few minutes waiting for her to enter the font were really like having waited for her for 21 years. (Pictured below with Elder Kjaer, from Denmark, and Elder Lorenzana, from the Phillipines.)
- Drove to Poole for a 3 zone conference. Heard an amusing experience related by Elder Herberton of the area presidency, in his rich Scottish accent: When he was a bishop, a young woman from Zaire was converted when a member shared a Book of Mormon with her on a bus. She wanted to be baptized, but felt she needed her older sister's approval. When she called her sister to tell her, the sister was so upset that she flew to the UK from Zaire to talk her out of it. They met with Elder Herbertson (then bishop). After listening to the upset sister for a while, he said, "This is a real mess." He suggested they talk it over with the missionaries and then come back to see him and sort it out. After 3 days, the sister returned and said she also wanted to be baptized, but was fearful of what her husband would say. He was one of Zaire's government ministers, and was sensitive of his family's reputation. Bishop Herbertson handed her a phone right there to call her husband. He was so upset that he also flew to the UK. The sister brought her husband in to see the bishop, who carried on in agreement with the husband about this being totally unacceptable. "This is a real mess. All I can suggest is that you meet with the missionaries about it, then come back to see me and we'll see if we can get it sorted out." 3 days later the husband returned a visibly different person, and also asked to be baptized. When they returned to Zaire, he offered to resign his government position, but the country's president told him that was unnecessary. They also discovered that there was a church building only a few blocks from their home.
-Spoke in sacrament meeting again, this time about the restoration of the keys of the priesthood.
- Traveled with other senior missionaries to historic and geographic sites in Devon and Cornwall. Elder and Sister Lock, from Bristol, acted as tour guides. They visited Plymouth Hoe, where a battle with the Spanish Armada took place in 1588; St. Michael's Mount, an island monastery later fortified as a defense against supposed Catholic invaders after Henry VIII abolished Catholicism (the hill took several hours to climb); visited Penzance and St. Ives, but did not see any pirates or kits, cats, sacks, and wives; Port Isaac, setting of the Doc Martin BBC show, where they walked the beach and found lots of sea glass; Padstow, home to lots of restaurants and chef Rick Stein's cooking school; Tintagel, supposed site of King Arthur's castle, and also the oldest post office in England, a 14th century thatched-roof building; Lanhydrock, where they toured a Victorian home and garden, complete with furnishings; Dartmoor National Park, where they saw lots of wild ponies with their foals, sheep, and a few more of the Belted Galloway "oreo" cows.
- Had dinner with the Paignton ward bishop and wife again, the Schofields. They had an interesting elderflower drink, and heard about their conversion story.
- Attended the first Institute class of the summer in Newton Abbot- this term is on the Pearl of Great Price.
We're all caught up to the present now! Check in for more next week!
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