Meeting with the Apostle

Yesterday was stake conference. We had an apostle come to our stake. Elder Cook and a member of the 70. Elder Cooks talk was about how we need to teach and live the gospel in our home. It was a lovely talk about the importance of family home evenings. ect. In the middle of his talk he said he felt impressed to talk about something else. He started telling us about how recently he held a funeral for a missionary, and another apostle held the funeral for his companion. These missionaries passed away in their sleep because of carbon monoxide poisoning. They had disabled the detector in their flat because every time they took a shower the alarm went off. He then stated that these two young men had done nothing wrong. They were good honourable young men, but they still were taken. Next, he told the story of a man in the Philippines where he was the area president. This man had 5 children and a lovely wife. The children's ages ranged from 9-19, I think. One night he heard a noise downstairs and he went to investigate. It was a fire alarm. As he turned to go back upstairs to get his family the stairway caught on fire. He tried to get through it, but he couldn't. He suffered many burns and was knocked unconscious. He was dragged from his house and survived, but sadly his family didn't make it. It was a very sad funeral with thousands in attendance. The man moved closer to the temple. Elder Cook told him to keep in contact. The man was still grieving because his eldest daughter had expressed a desire to serve a mission the night before her death. The man went to the temple many times and prayed. Elder cook says that one day the man came and visited him, with an absolutely soaked shirt and a wet face and said that his oldest daughter expressed to him that the family was fine and that she was getting to be a missionary after all, she also asked him to please stop grieving.

By this point I had lots of tears in my eyes. Knowing that my husband was still grieving for the baby we lost I said to him, perhaps this is what our child would say to us if it could. My husband got very emotional but tried to hide it in typical man fashion.

President Cook continued by saying that this man had done nothing wrong, but yet still things happen to him. He then talked about trials for a while before switching back to talking about sharing the gospel in our homes.

After the meeting we were heading back to the car, when I started trying to get my husband to talk to me. He was very reluctant. Finally, he told me that he felt like the message was just for him and he felt like he needed to back and thank the apostle. When he went back, he found the apostles wife and the wife arranged for a meeting between my husband and Elder Cook. Elder Cook expressed how he knew that it is difficult to go to church after a trial and told him that he had experienced similar things in his life. Elder Cook comforted my husband and made him feel loved. They probably talked in that little classroom for ten minutes.

I am so grateful for all the people that have taken time and helped my husband when he needs it most. It has made such a big difference in my family.

A Sunday to Remember!

Today at church was VERY eventful. Our ward does sacrament meeting last. In primary there is a little boy named luke who has ADHD. Luke likes to answer questions, but they usually aren't on topic. I don't remember what the question was, but Luke starting into one of his tirades. "The other day in school a little girl was telling me about something," he said so fast that it was like a tornado going by. "She told me about SEX," (sex was emphasised when he said it, thank goodness the other children have learned how to ignore him.) At this point the primary present interrupted him, and said "Luke we don't talk about this in here." Luke continued to ignore her and continued to say and the strongest muscle in the body is the -"

"LUKE!" yelled the primary president.

It was hilarious.

Sacrament meeting was even more eventful. My friend Mark was giving a last minute speaking assignment. He was doing a fine job with his talk when all of the sudden there was a big bang against the side door. A man walks in holding a cane out and with his arms outstretched proclaimed "I am here." Then he shouts "Frank told me I HAD to come so I am here." (mark looks a little bamboozled now.) Next this old man starts walking torwards Mark and says. "Ohh SHUT UP will you?" (the whole congregation has a big collective intake of breath.) He then turns back to the congregation and says "That Bastard Frank told me I had to come and I am here s. He is such a whinny bastard, (he points to a women) You would know, you have to put up with him." Then he says, "F*^& You all," (in the mean time, the whole congregation gasps again, Mark resumes his talk, our ward police officer runs up to the front and starts trying to wrestle his cane from him (I at the moment couldn't understand why she would want to take it from him) and two social workers trained in caring for the mentally ill come up to him and try to calm him down. Eventually after much swearing on the old mans part, they get him out. The spirit that entered that room was so dark. They take him outside, and Emma (Lukes mom, who is also the police officer) Catches many fist as he tries to hit the social workers. Unfortunately, one of them was hurt (he got hit in the cheek bone).

The poor man that was behaving so badly has schezorphania (he has done things like this before, and can never remember them afterward) and lives by himself. I don't think he is receiving any treatment.

View From my Window

This is the sunrise I see from my window, through my window.

Marks Mothers day cake

Interview Nanny Leggett

Yesterday, Ryan and I went to Nannys house and interviewed her about her memories during WWII. It was very interesting. Nanny was not evacuated because she she lived in what was then considered the country. She was 13 when the war started. Nanny said that when the air raids went off, all the children would get out of bed and hide under the kitchen table together. If they were at school they had shelters built into the play ground. Children graduated school at 14. Her father served in WWI, but not WWII. He would work all day, and then he would come home and get dinner - then he would bike 12 miles to go on guard duty in the night. Then he would bike the 12 miles home, get about 2 hours of sleep and then go to work again.

Nanny told us about her wedding dress. Her uncle purchased the silk in asia where he was held as a prisoner of war. All of her sisters wore the same dress - although it had to be altered to fit nanny. During WWII Nanny only had two dresses. She had a sunday dress and an everyday dress. She would get a new sunday dress once a year. They were get it for a special sunday where all the girls would get new straw hats and new shoes. Nanny kept repeating that they didn't have much, but they were happy. The dresses got washed every Monday. Washing clothes was a three person job - one to turn the handle and two to put the clothes through. They always had sunday leftovers on laundry day. Nanny said that here in gorleston was an army base, thats why this area was so heavily bombed. Lots of families around nanny hosted evacuees, but nannys house wasn't big enough. They didn't have a fridge, they had a cupboard where milk and cheese were kept. In fact, the only thing they had that was electric was 1 light in each room. The radio was battery powered. There wasn't even a light out in the out house. The outhouse was outside. There was a seat and underneath it was a large bucket. Once a week her father would empty the bucket. Nanny tells that once he spilled it all down his legs (she thought this was very funny). Nanny had to be home every night by 9. Nanny said they never went hungry, because they had chickens and a vegetable garden.

We learned a lot from talking to Nanny Leggett. The world was a completely different place. The thing that nanny emphasised a lot though was that they were happy, and that people were a lot nicer.

That's the end of my incredibly vague description of Nannys description of life. I did record it however, so copies are available upon request.

So I have decided to conform.

I haven't done this blog because I thought that they were silly. Looking back though - I regret this because underneath the dull exterior of the mundane everyday life, my life in england has been pretty interesting. I am going to try to update some of my past events.