The past few weeks have continued the parade of amazing people coming to the Hyde Park Chapel. Last post we mentioned the visit of Alex Boye’s mom to the chapel. Alex then came in on the following Sunday, October 9^th. He baptized his mom that afternoon and then did a devotional in the chapel that evening. The house was packed. Nearly 500 people showed up for this event. Alex did not disappoint as he told of his gospel conversion, experiences in the church and sang a couple of songs. He involved the audience and kept them entertained for two hours. The next day he came to the chapel and spent time with our VC staff. He helped one of our companionships with a lesson and then he sang with some of our sisters and President Stevens (he knows Alex from their Tabernacle Choir days together). Then he came the next day and just hung out at the chapel for a while.

The following Sunday (October 16^th) Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife came to the Hyde Park Chapel. He was not on any specific assignment but came to visit a former missionary companion who is a senior missionary here (he did have an assignment elsewhere in England the next day). He spoke at the Britannia (YSA) Ward sacrament meeting. He then met with the senior missionary couples serving in the local area (about a dozen couples) for an hour of Q&A.

The next day Elder Bradley D. Foster, a General Authority Seventy and Executive Director of the Family History Department, came to the VC and spent some time with us. It was exciting to share with him and his companion, Stephen Rockwood, Managing Director of the Family History Department, things in the VC as well as show them our Teaching Center where our sisters our teaching people all over the world. They were in England to meet up with Elder Cook and attend a Family History event elsewhere in England.

Today we were visited by Matthew Holland, President of Utah Valley University. We had the privilege of showing him and his two companions around the VC and the chapel. They are here in England for a stained glass exhibition that was at Oxford University yesterday and will be here in London this next week. The exhibition will be permanently placed at UVU in Orem, Utah.

We also continue to have great experiences with other guests who come into the VC. We have had several more baptisms in the chapel (including another Chinese young man today) and around the world (in the Philippines and Wisconsin). We have many people who come into the VC not really knowing what it is or who we are. And before they leave they are intrigued and want to know more. We look forward to many more baptisms in the future.

We haven’t been able to do much sightseeing lately but we have made it on a few walks. Fall is definitely here as our high temperatures barely reach 60 degrees now. The leaves are turning colors and the daylight hours are diminishing (we now have less than 11 hours of daylight compared to 17 hours just a few weeks ago). The VC continues to be open 9 to 9 every day and the gospel light shines brightly there at all times. It is such an honor to serve here.

We have had a busy few weeks again and have failed to get another post done for our blog…until now. The past three weeks plus a couple of days have been “highlighted” (or “low-lighted” in some cases) with one of our senior couples completing their mission and going home, a new couple arriving to replace them, another VC sister spending time in the hospital, more convert baptisms, many more referrals being sent to local missionaries, more miracles with guests coming into the VC, and a great General Conference.

Elder and Sister Neeley from Idaho Falls, Idaho completed their mission at the Hyde Park Chapel VC on September 28^th. We were involved in several events honoring their service including a senior missionary Family Home Evening and dinner, a dinner with the three VC senior couples, a training meeting and breakfast where our sisters honored them, and a surprise picnic in Hyde Park for them with our sisters. All of these events required some of our time to make them happen but the Neeley’s were very deserving of the recognition. As they left the VC for the last time on Wednesday, September 28^th, all of our VC sisters were there and a lot of tears of gratitude were shed. We are missing the Neeley’s already and wish them well back home with their family.

On Thursday, September 29^th, we welcomed Elder and Sister Keller from Orem, Utah to the Hyde Park Chapel VC. We have spent the last few days training and orienting them which has also been time-consuming and rewarding. They are doing great and are great additions to our VC family.

On Tuesday, September 20^th we had another VC sister become ill and she was taken to a local hospital. Fortunately, she quickly recovered and was fine the next day. However, we were unable to get her released from the hospital as they wanted to run more tests to make sure she was ok. After another day in the hospital we finally were able to convince them that she didn’t want any more tests and wanted to be released. Reluctantly, they consented.

We enjoyed hearing about several more convert baptisms that our VC sisters played a part in. One was a lady who came into the VC last December when a live nativity was set up in front of the chapel. She took a tour and our missionaries stayed in touch with her. At first she wasn’t interested but after about six months she started meeting with missionaries in her local area. On September 17^th she was baptized. Another miracle baptism took place in Orem, Utah on September 24^th. A young man from Russia came to London last year on holiday (vacation) and stopped in to the Hyde Park Chapel VC. He had not heard of our church before but was introduced to it by our sisters and was given a copy of the Book of Mormon in Russian. He returned to Russia and our sisters stayed in touch with him via Facebook. Recently, he decided to travel to Utah and attend college there. Once in Utah he met with missionaries and was baptized. About two weeks before his baptism we had a guest from Utah come into the VC and said that she was asked by this Russian young man to thank us for introducing him to the gospel of Jesus Christ. These stories make our efforts totally worthwhile. We never know when a visit by one of our guests will change his or her life forever.

We haven’t been able to do much outside of the VC the past three weeks but we did enjoy watching all sessions of General Conference. We were inspired and uplifted by the messages we heard and the spirit we felt. It is a different experience to watch conference here as the Women’s Session and the Priesthood Session each started at 1:00 a.m. Thanks to technology we were able to watch each of those the next morning here. The Saturday and Sunday morning sessions are shown live at 5:00 p.m. our time and the afternoon sessions are from 9:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. We are grateful to be able to hear the words of our living prophet and apostles in such a timely way.

One other interesting event this past week was a visit to the VC by Alex Boye’s mother. She is a dear, little lady who lives here in London and Alex is coming this weekend to baptize her. Alex grew up in London and is going to be singing and speaking at a devotional at the Hyde Park Chapel this Sunday evening.