Nuts to You!!!

We had a Scary Adventure this week!!!  I always make treats for our Institute classes and I happen to LOVE Nuts!!!  There are a couple of our students that don't "care" for them and one is allergic to them. (so sad)  Now I make my Congo Bars and Brownies in my special pans, but only put Nuts in half of them.  It has worked pretty nice and of course, it helps me because I don't like brownies or congo bars without them!  WELL, one of our boys (Danny) couldn't make it to Institute on Tuesday night, but he made a Special Effort to come on Wednesday night with our senior sisters.  We were so Excited to see him!!!  I had my congo bars separated and gave him an entire container Without Nuts.  I passed the bars out to the sisters and Danny remarked, "Sister Lovell are you sure there aren't any nuts in these?"  I told him I was sure and double checked.  His tongue had started to tingle and then his throat started to tighten.  He was scared.  One of the sisters offered him a ride home and he wasn't going to accept, then he said YES and they shot out of there.  He has pills at home, so Tina took him home.  Anyway we were visiting with the other sisters and cleaning up the room when Tina got back.  As we were walking downstairs to the foyer, one of our Laurels had just received a text from Danny that he was on his way to Emergency!!!  We were Shocked!!!  I felt like crying!!!  Tina offered to drive us to Dartford so we could see him.  We were Grateful to her for that special service.

 

He was Proud because they had to get a Larger cuff to take his blood pressure!

 

Elder Lovell was Very Happy to see that Danny was going to be all right!

 

 

Danny's mother Terri was very happy as well.  We found out the next day that Danny wasn't released until 1am in the morning.  We didn't get home until after 11pm.  We are Grateful for modern medicine.  I will be Doubly careful when preparing food.  I think there was a trace on the knife that I used to cut the bars.  I'm buying a separate pan and using a separate knife! 

 

 

I've been a little behind on our blog.  The next part is a Pancake Upside Down Dinner we had for our YSA's.  We LOVE these kids and thoroughly enjoy having them in our flat!!!

 

 

We didn't know that the kids over here love pancakes so much!  They were surprised at how we mix sweet with "savory"!  Now I personally can't imagine a pancake without an egg on top with maple syrup and a piece of bacon to wash it down. 

 

 

I think Asher ate about a dozen sausages. 

 

 

I ate my annual hotcake and egg.  Elder Lovell & I were demonstrating the "proper" way to eat pancakes and eggs.  ha ha ha

 

 

 

Chloe just put maple syrup on Danny's pancake and he wasn't happy.  He then proceeded to get a new pancake, poked holes in it with a fork, squoze a fresh lemon all over it and then covered it with sugar and ate it!  That's a new way to eat a pancake.  He said it was delicious.

 

 

Jack was Very Adventurous because he was especially concerned about combining "sweet" with "savory," but he tried it and finished it and we Think he Liked it.

 

 

We're assuming that this means Flavia Liked it!   Sorry Chloe, I missed you.  Chloe was in the group picture at the beginning.  It was a fun evening.  Flavia planned a nice fireside for us after and it was wonderful!  We Love having our YSA's over to eat and have a fireside and a visit.  They are a Great group of kids!!! 

 

Bye for now.

 

The Perfect "P" Day!

We had the Perfect "P" Day on Thursday, November 28, 2013--Thanksgiving!  We got up and took the train to Charing Cross and met the Johnsons from our five days in the MTC in Provo and spent the day and evening in LONDON!!!  We got there around lunch time and went to lunch in the "Crypt."  It's really a crypt!  It is underneath the church St Martin's-in-the-Fields.  It's a burial ground and we were walking on flat headstones in the floor.  It looked like it was "full."  Anyway we heard that they donate their proceeds to the homeless, so we thought it would be an appropriate place to eat on Thanksgiving.  At 1pm they had a 30 minute musical celebration of Christ the King.  It was very lovely!!!

 

We were able to hear the organ as well--kind of exciting.

 

 

Our friends Elder and Sister Johnson from Boise, ID.

 

 

  I thought this was an interesting window in this old church.  It was built in 1724--it's older than America!  There has been a church on this site since the Middle Ages.  It's also in Trafalgar Square.

 

 

This was in Covent Gardens.  That's a fun place to go.  They have all kinds of markets there and street performers that are always fun.  (My hair and London weather are not a great combination!)

 

 

This is a "live" Rudolph!

 

 

We went to a small London Movie Museum and we saw this and....

 

This!

 

 

This was Piccadilly Circus and the big bubble in the background was a giant snow globe.

 

 

Here's that English chap again.  I think he likes the name Byron. 

(If you ever get to London, they make the Best hamburgers!!!)

I forgot to mention that we had just eaten our Thanksgiving Dinner at a Mexican restaurant 

in Leicester Square.

It was good, but they still need help over here with the Mexican. 

 

 

And for the Finally--Byron took me to the London Coliseum to see Mozart's

"The Magic Flute"

You are right--we went to the Opera for Thanksgiving!!!

 

 

This was a wonderful Opera House.  It holds 2,000 people and it was full!  We had Great seats.  This was our first time to a "professional" opera and it was wonderful! The cast was amazing.  They had powerful voices.  This was a new Adventure!

 

We had a Great Day and Evening.  Thankfully we were close to the train station because we were on the Last train home to Gravesend from London!  We got there with just 10 minutes to spare.  Actually the train ride home was also an adventure.  The train was FULL when we left Charing Cross.  We were all cramped and we were tired.  We were sitting in a group area I looked up and someone was sitting beside us.  He wanted to talk, so we visited all the way to Dartford when he realized he was on the Wrong train.  It was midnight and he hopped off the train & waved good by to us.  It was pretty funny.  All the way home Byron kept asking him about his stop because we had never seen it.  He assured us that he was ok until he heard Dartford.  ha ha ha  It was quite funny. 

 

We've been here since August 10 and this was our first Big Adventure, and it was thoroughly enjoying!!!

 

Bye for now.



"Cynthia, That was a Comma, Not a Period!"

We've had another party!  This time it was with our Senior Institute Class.  They were a Lot of FUN!  We introduced them to Pulled Pork Barbecued Sandwiches with "Bull's-Eye" Barbecue Sauce.  They Loved it!!!  In fact they all wanted to take some home for lunch the next day.  I was a little worried that they might not like it, but it seemed to be a hit.  They also were introduced to Congo Bars--they liked those too. 

 

The funny thing that happened at the party was Byron was telling a story and I was going to add some details and as I went to open my mouth, he said, "Cynthia, that was a Comma, Not a Period."  Everyone just busted up and laughed and laughed and laughed.  It was so funny that I couldn't help it and I laughed with them.

 

Anyway this is the third time we have cooked barbecue and every time it has been a hit!  So far American food seems to be quite popular.  I made two 7-layer dips last Friday.  One was requested by one of our YSA's for her 25th birthday party.  I also made one for the ward party the same night--thank you to Lindsay for mailing my package of Taco Seasonings!!!  The stuff here isn't the same.

 

 We made pulled pork for the missionaries this past Saturday and they LOVED it!!! One of them is from France and one from South Africa.  Then our Ward Mission Leader and his wife also came for dinner and he is from Portugal and she is from Poland. We also introduced them to Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (Thank You Lindsay).  Our daughter also sent us packages of that and we made it up and the salad was a big hit!  (It's interesting, but people over here don't get too excited about salads--I think it might be the dressings available.  I'm doing a little study on that.)

 

 We had a Mexican theme for our party.  Hazel got a piñata everyone tried to break it.

 

 

 We didn't have a blindfold, so we just closed our eyes.  Byron was twirling me around.

 

 

I was the last one to try, so I peaked and broke it! 

 

This is Tina (red) & Sue (black) they are a lot of fun.  Tina is the one who has driven us all over creation.  She has an infectious laugh.  Behind you can see our chapel.  Our chapel and cultural hall are the same room.  When we're being "cultured" it's a cultural hall, gym, recreation hall, etc. and on Sundays or other special occasions, it's a Chapel.

 

 

This is what it looks like on the outside.  I don't know who that English Bloke is that keeps popping up in my pictures.  He is kind of Cute though isn't he!

 

 

This is what it looks like inside the gate.  It's really a beautiful building.  We finally have a KEY!!!  That has been so Exciting because we could never get into the building without having to make special arrangements etc.  Now we can lock up, open up, clean up, etc. etc. etc.  We're going to start doing some Family History at the church and open it up to anyone who wants to come.  We're excited about that! 

 

We are really Loving our Book of Mormon Institute Classes that we are teaching--Byron is doing most of the teaching and I am his assistant!  We do a LOT of studying!!!  (We LIKE it!)  We LOVE the kids (Young Adults) that we are working with!  We really Enjoy them!  It's Great to be here and we also LOVE the ward members!  We just feel very welcome and that's a nice feeling.  The ward is small but the people are very friendly.

 

 

I had to put this picture in because if you look real hard, you can see a ship floating down the "street."

If you look straight up the middle and see a "white" building, that's a Big ship sailing down the Thames.  We live just to the left--not in the picture, but our flat is really close to the one in the picture.

This is the view we see almost everyday when we walk "Up" the street to go to the church, town center, the train, the bus, etc.  That Tudor building is a Pub.  The cars parked on the left are all taxis.  This is our little town.

 

Bye for now.

London--Old People's Training

We got to go to London last Monday for the Old Folk's Training!  We went "all by ourselves."  We didn't have any help, and We made it & were there Early!  It was actually quite fun.  We visited with a couple that we went through the MTC with and that was fun to trade adventures.  Then the night before Byron was looking at the list of emails of the couples who would be there, and there was a name from his past--Long Past.  His name is Nephi Chad Watt and he and Byron served their missions together back in 1965-1967.  He's from Pingree, ID and he went to high school with all my old friends from my Elementary School in Moreland, ID.  It was really fun to see him and his wife.  We forgot to take a picture of them.  There was so much going on and we had a Great visit.  It was a wonderful day with the Mission President and his wife and the other couples.  After the training the Sills (who work in our Zone) offered us a ride home back to Gravesend, but they wanted to miss the traffic, so we stayed on London until about 9pm.

 

We decided to go see Harrod's after our meeting and we walked through the back streets for about 10 minutes and this is some of what we saw.  Beautiful!!!  This is a Very Pricey part of London.  These were the Mews in olden times--another word for Stables.

 

 

It was a little wet outside. Did wonders for my hair.  ha ha ha

 

 

That's Harrod's in the background.  The most famous department store in the world!  I picked up a leather handbag to look at it and there was a sales clerk right there and I asked her for the price--10,000 pounds (the exchange rate is about $1.70) and she told me there was another one which was all alligator for 17,000 pounds!  I told her that I didn't own any oil wells.

 

 

This is inside Harrod's.at the deli counter.  In this store you can buy Mink Coats, Leather Purses, Cookies, Groceries, Dine in, Eat out, Make-up, Designer Clothes, etc. I bought a tin of cookies there back in 1985 so I could have a green bag with Harrod's written on it.

  

 

We were almost to the Hyde Park Chapel and it's next to the Victoria & Albert Museum.  That's some old English Chap who agreed to pose for me so I could take a picture of the Museum.

 

This is Yours Truly in front of the Hyde Park Chapel.  The Mission President lives right across the street four floors up.  That's some Expensive Real Estate!!!  They're GREAT People!!!  They also have a Lot of Important (VIP) visitors!

 

 

These were a group of the London Missionaries who have been performing around town.  They did a few numbers for us.  They were Cute!  There's all the "Old People" in front of us enjoying the show.

 

Sunday night we had a dinner/fireside at our flat and I fixed "Café Rio."  I think the kids really enjoyed it.  They Love getting together and socializing.  We have a problem here that the only jobs the kids seem to be able to get is retail and that means they work on Sundays and evenings.  BUT, the stores all close Early on Sunday, so we had them over to our flat and fed them.  We Love these kids!!!  We have a few more that we're seriously working on.

 

 

Flavia had to work in London but she came anyway and we still had enough food for her.  She's our Albanian Beauty.

 

 

There's the entire group that were with us Sunday night.  Great Kids!!!

 

\

 

This is Hazel and her boys.  Sunday night I cooked "Café Rio" and it called for 5 lbs. of chicken.  Well here everything is Metric and the chicken came in Kilos.  Well I put the Entire bag in and cooked it.  I couldn't understand why there was No Liquid in the chicken.  Anyway with All the people who ate here Sunday night, I still had half a crockpot of chicken, so I invited Hazel and her boys over for Family Home Evening!  I made Fresh "Pico" and Fresh Lime Rice.  It was delicious.  They have tremendous appetites and even they couldn't finish it all--so I sent the left overs home for their son who couldn't make it.  This picture was actually taken a few weeks ago when I tried out "Pulled Pork" over here.  There wasn't a "Taste" left!  I found "Bull's-Eye" at the grocery store.

 

Anyway we're doing well--we're LOVING it over here!!!  We're even handling the rain and the walking.  Byron is suffering a bit with his shoulders.  I think it's been All the heavy "carrying" we've had to do.  We have to walk everywhere or take the bus, but that means Groceries, Computers, etc.  It's Hard on these "Old" Bodies!!!  We're getting ready to go teach Institute tonight and we're loving that!  We're teaching the Book of Mormon and it's Wonderful!!!

 

We LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Bye for now!

Lehi Came to our Institute!

Well we are really getting into the work!!!  We have been asked to work with the YSA's (Young Single Adults) and we are holding Institute every Tuesday evening.  We have over 10 YSA's in our ward and seven committed to come and Two showed up Late!  We've got some Work to do here!  The Guys who came were Great though and we really Enjoyed them.  Our full time missionaries also came and lent their support, so that was nice.  Anyway we had a Visitor and he Enhanced the lesson!!

 

The single sisters heard that we were studying the Book of Mormon and they requested to join the YSA's, but that would conflict with the program we're trying to establish with the YSA's, so we are doing it Two nights.  One for the YSA's and One for the sisters or anyone else who wants to join.  We had seven sisters come to the lesson on Wed. night during Mutual.  We found a room upstairs away from the youth and had a GREAT lesson.  Lehi came to that one as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ladies Loved it as well and immediately got out their iphones and took pictures.  One of them posted it on My Facebook page.  In spite of all that, there was a sweet spirit in the room and the lesson was very effective!  We won't be dressing up every time, but it was a good attention getter.

 
 This was our last District Meeting.  We ride to train to Gillingham and then take a taxi to the church.
We had transfers last week and Lost four members from our group.  We've been getting close to them, so it's kind of hard to say good-by.  Our Brazilian, Elder Torres (who looks like he could belong to the Tirrells in our ward) is behind Byron and he was transferred.  He is such a Great Elder.  We will certainly Miss him!  Sister Som (from Cambodia) next to me was transferred and the two elders directly behind her were also transferred.  Elder Yap is from Malaysia and Elder Orr is from Alberta, Canada. 

Actually this is what it really looks like.  ha ha ha  When our six weeks is up, we make guesses where everyone will be serving and then we take pictures.  Since there are no Extra people there to take them, everyone sets their camera on a table (which doesn't get the best view) and then sets the timer on their cameras and then Runs back to their chairs.  We don't always make it.  ha ha ha  Looks like I need to sit up straighter.

Byron with Elder Torres and Elder Palmer.  Elder Palmer is from Sugar House in Salt Lake.  He's just been out 6 weeks longer than we have.  This was in Canterbury.  (Beautiful City)

This is what we woke up to a few days ago.  It's called London Fog!  We can hear the fog horns on the river.  There was a 100 car pile up on the bridge just a few miles to the North.  We can see it on a clear day.  We'll be getting a Lot more of this.

I just can't get over how BIG some of the ships are that travel down the Thames.  It's so fascinating!
I can't even get the entire ship in when it's in front of our flat.  It's too large to see it all at once in the camera.  It looks like there's the equivalent of 18 semi's side by side and who know how high they go.

We spent the day with one of the sisters in our ward who was gracious enough to be our taxi.  We spent seven hours together driving all over trying to find less active members on our ward list.  We stopped at this restaurant for one of the Best hamburgers I have ever eaten.  Couldn't resist taking a picture on our way out.  Just to give you an idea of how expensive it is over here--our hamburgers were 9.5 pounds each. (That's British Money)  Then we shared an order of fries--they were delicious but large, and we each had a Fanta.  For three of us it was $60 in our money.

 

This is one of the areas we were working in.  It was a bit chilly that day.

 

 

 

This was a good looking English Chap that we picked up on the way!  He said he was interested in our message!

 

 

This is Tina at the end of the day.  We had a Wonderful time with her and she was so Gracious to drive us all over the countryside and down the little narrow lanes.  It's truly Beautiful over here. I like having a lady driver, then I can sit in the front seat and enjoy the view.  Tina is a hoot!!  We laugh a lot!  We found people (well they weren't there) who had moved over four years ago.  I guess what I'm saying is we found their homes and talked to their neighbors and found they hadn't lived there for over four years.  We got to one door the same time the cleaners were delivering the cleaning, so they had to acknowledge us, but the person we were trying to see was on the "phone" and couldn't see us.  But we did manage to have two GREAT visits and they were worth the Entire day!!! 

 

Well I could go on, but we have a LOT to do to get ready for our next Institute lesson which is this Tues.  We've had a Very Busy week, but We LOVE It!!!

Bye for now.