Life here in London continues to provide new experiences and challenges. Shortly after our last post, the terrorist attack became much more personal as we learned that one of the victims who died was here in London to visit his in-laws who were serving a mission for the Church. As this news broke we weren’t immediately impacted as the in-laws were serving at the London Temple which is not part of our mission. So we did not know the missionary couple. However, shortly after news of the connection to the Church became public we began getting inquiries at the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors’ Centre. We had a BBC news crew show up at the VC looking to get a story about the missionaries. We had phone inquiries at the VC from the Daily Mail, ITV, BBC Radio Today Show and others that we hadn’t even heard of before. KSL-TV from Salt Lake City also sent a reporter and cameraman to London and they came to the VC a couple of times and filmed in front of the chapel. We still don’t know the missionary couple whose family were involved but they did come to church at the Hyde Park Chapel the Sunday after the tragedy. So we greeted them as we do all of the other visitors each Sunday and only learned afterward that they were the family of the victims.

We have been blessed with a lot of visitors to the VC the past few weeks. We are not sure what the increase in visitors is due to but we are grateful for them. They are why we are here. We also have experienced an increased urgency from the Missionary Department in Salt Lake to get our sisters to spend more time online responding to online requests (Mormon.org) about the Church. We are also grateful for that increase in work. The increase in visitors and the increase in online work makes our work very busy. We are responsible to see that all of our guests are welcomed and taught the gospel and we are to see that our sisters are sending referrals and teaching the gospel online as well. Anyone who is not aware that the Lord is hastening His work can be so informed now. This is exciting.

It is not all work and no play here either. We have experienced some beautiful weather this Spring which we didn’t really see last year. We have had a good number of sunny days and some temperatures that almost allow you to go outside without a jacket or coat (almost but not quite for Connie as she is almost always freezing when she is outside). We’ve enjoyed some beautiful walks through the parks and neighborhoods. The trees in bloom and the flowers in abundance are stunning.

We also found a new treasure to add to our list of incredible historic places here. We went to Hampton Court Palace which is now one of our favorite places to recommend visitors go and see. It is a marvelous old palace with beautifully manicured grounds and many elegant buildings and courtyards. We haven’t explored it all yet but we plan to go back.

The figures on this table are all folded napkins!

We also went to the Imperial War Museum which has exhibits that provide a wealth of history about World War I and World War II. It is very different to learn about these great conflicts through different viewpoints than we were taught in school (in the U.S.). When the bombing and battles are taking place on your home soil and at nearby neighbors the impact is much different than a war that was fought “overseas.”