5 August 2017

We thought we would give you an update of some of the things happening recently with us.  Probably the largest focus has been our work with the missionaries.  We have seen a number of baptisms, notably Kaleb, an impressive young single adult who joined the church on July 22nd.  He recorded his conversion experience for the mission.  We will forward it on to you if we can. He attended Institute for the first time on Thursday and is a wonderful addition, interacting very freely with everyone.  It is wonderful to see young single adults rally around each other.

We also experienced on Thursday what we consider to be something amazing.  The YSA have taught the Institute lessons the last 4 weeks.   One of our YSA, who in the past has attended Institute but didn't participate much, volunteered to teach that lesson.  He did a tremendous job with Pres. Uchtdorf's conference address Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear.  We do not think he would ever have done that 18 months ago when we first met him.

After a discussion with the stake presidency, our distance problems for the YSA in Cornwall are going to be solved by creating a satellite class that will meet together with their own instructor and activities three weeks out of the month and joining us in Plymouth once a month.  We hope this will serve them best and provide a nucleus for growth.  Institute slows down in August, as most people go on holiday, with the next meeting not until Aug. 31st.

We are looking forward to LaMar and Debby Hatch joining us as senior missionaries in the England London South Mission in mid August.  They will be assigned to the Bristol zone and will overlap with the Ramptons there for about a month.  We look forward to seeing them at our next senior missionary conference the first part of Sept.  Our replacement for the Plymouth Zone has not been identified yet.  If you know anyone that would like to come to southern England tell them to submit their application as soon as possible.  "The harvest is indeed great and the laborers are few".

We are in the planning phase now for our YSA convention which will take place in October.  It will be very small compared to some conventions like Festinord in Sweden where one of our young people just went.  The Pettits helped with it and were so impressed with the 800 plus attendees and all of the well planned activities.  Festinord has been going on for many years and is a great place to meet other European young people.

We continue to be invited to speak in sacrament meetings and Stake conference and are grateful for the opportunity we have to bear testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that through Joseph Smith the Saviour restored His church to the earth once more.  We are grateful for the testimony and direction of apostles and prophets that provide us safety in these times.