We apologize for taking so long to give an update on our activities here in London. We don’t have any good excuse. We just have been busy with lots of things going on. We’ll do our best to fill you in on what we’ve been doing.

Shortly after our last post we enjoyed a two-week visit from Connie’s sister, Dixie, and her husband, Mark, accompanied by their parents. We kept them busy seeing England and wore them out but had a great time. They scheduled their visit so that they could take a quick trip over to the new Paris Temple which was holding an open house. Sadly, we were not able to accompany them there but we have received many first-hand reports from those who visited the temple of its beauty and spirit. Mark served a mission here in England (a little north of London in Coventry) many years ago and so he and Dixie made an overnight trip to his former mission area. Beyond those “side trips” we showed them around London with many of the traditional tourist sites as well as a few hidden gems.

Buckingham Palace

Kew Gardens

Hampton Court Palace

Much of our busyness of the past month has been dealing with a requested increase of online work. In order to accomplish the work requested, Salt Lake had our small office remodeled and we added two new desktop computers to it. We can now have four sisters at a time online which we have tried to do from 9:00 in the morning when we open until 4:00 in the afternoon. That window of time is critical as the New Zealand VC finishes their day at 10:00 our time and Temple Square begins their day at 4:00 our time. Between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. our sisters are generally the only VC sisters online in the world responding to Mormon.org requests. This process of VC sisters responding to Mormon.org requests is still relatively new and we have been on the frontlines helping Salt Lake to improve the computer programs used and to help all of us understand some of the challenges of dealing with the online requests (responding appropriately to “trolls,” answering some tough doctrinal questions, dealing with members who want help with things that should be going through their home teacher or bishop, helping navigate through anti-Mormon questions, resolving technology issues, etc.). It is exciting to see the work that is being done and rejoice in the successes that our sisters are a part of. They have sent over 5,000 referrals to local missionaries so far this year and we have learned of almost 60 baptisms from these referrals.

Baptisms at the Hyde Park Chapel

With the increased attention on our online work we have not neglected the guests who come into the VC. We have actually had more guests come to the VC this year than last year and our sisters and couples are doing a great job of welcoming them and teaching them. We have learned about and experienced story after story of people coming into the VC who are prepared to hear the gospel. We had a man come into the VC on a Thursday evening and Connie gave him a tour. He wore a hoody sweatshirt and was unshaven but he seemed genuinely interested in the gospel. On Sunday that same man came to church and Connie greeted him. He was in a white shirt and tie and clean shaven. He said that he was baptized here in London many years ago but hadn’t been to church in over 8 years. He is getting married in three weeks and wants to change his life. His finance has now been to church and is meeting with missionaries to learn more.

Just a few days ago one of our inspired missionaries saw a couple standing outside the VC and felt prompted to go invite them in. They cautiously came in and were told about our church. They shared that they were reluctant to come in because they had each had a dream about walking by a church and being invited to come in. When this sister missionary went out and invited them in they were in quiet shock. They have requested to meet with missionaries to learn more and have referred a friend of theirs who is also interested.

These experiences of small and mighty miracles are happening more and more. It is humbling to serve here and witness the Lord’s hand touching people’s lives and moving throughout the world. Our sisters have not only rejoiced with friends who have been baptized here at the Hyde Park Chapel (16 convert baptisms here in the chapel so far this year) but with online friends who have been baptized in Ghana, Malaysia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, and Italy as well as elsewhere in England and in the U.S. What a marvelous work is rolling forth! We are honored to be involved in a small way.

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.” 

I can’t believe it has been a month since our last blog entry. We continue to find ourselves busy and pausing to write an entry seems to take a backseat. We are well and still enjoying our time here in London. The events of yesterday that made worldwide news reminded us of how we often take things for granted. The terrorist attack occurred not far from where we live and work (about 3 miles) and we have visited the area many times. Being here in London at the time of the mayhem made it a lot more personal, but still, we were never concerned for our safety or the safety of our missionaries.

Our work is very enjoyable. We have spent a lot more time this past month working with our sisters and the other two senior couples in using the visitors’ centre more effectively. Our sisters do an amazing job in using our exhibits and teaching the gospel. But we can all always do better. We are impressed with how our sisters seem to be able to start teaching the gospel from the moment they arrive in the VC. We have learned, though, that they have lots of questions about how to handle certain situations which we are now trying to help them with.

We have had some great experiences recently. A young Chinese man came into the VC on February 11^th. He admitted that he didn’t know much of anything about God or religion but wanted to learn. Last Sunday he was baptised. Last weekend the brother of the man from Rancho Cucamonga that we mentioned in our last entry was baptised here in London. And last Monday we received a letter at the VC (we hardly ever get a letter from our guests) which said:

“I came to the Hyde Park Chapel on 4 March 2017 to find out more information on the Book of Mormon and was given a copy.” He indicated that he has read the book and found out for himself that it is true. Then he wrote, “I have decided to become a Mormon. The missionaries are coming to see me on Saturday March 25^th. I will also be attending the Sunday service at 10 am.”

Such experiences make our efforts all worthwhile. We never know who is going to walk through our doors and we never know how lives will be changed by walking through our doors. But often we learn of some of those people and how their lives are changed. We never force anyone to listen to us nor do we ask them to just believe us. We invite them to find out for themselves.  

We also continue to witness the “hastening of the Lord’s work” through our sisters’ online work. They respond to thousands of requests from Mormon.org. This month they will send more than 1,000 referrals to local missionaries. We have learned that hundreds of those who are referred to local missionaries are being taught the gospel. And since the first of this year we have learned of more than 20 of those have been baptised.

We continue to have many interesting people visit the VC. Recently Jimmy Osmond and his wife and daughter stopped by. They were here in England meeting up with Jimmy’s brothers, Jay and Alan, for some performances. Last Sunday and yesterday Elder Carl B. Pratt, emeritus General Authority Seventy, came by before departing for a temple mission to Panama. We also had a great mission tour a couple of weeks ago from Elder Alan T. Phillips of the Seventy. It was great to be with him as he lives here and his family attends church here every week.

Rod’s brother, Carl, and his family came for a visit last week and we were able to do some fun things with them. We showed them around London and visited many of the traditional sites (Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, etc.). Carl arranged for a private tour into the countryside of England. We were able to join them for a trip to Salisbury Cathedral where one of the original copies of the Magna Carta is housed. 

Salisbury Cathedral

We went to the famous Stonehenge and stood among those huge stones that have stood for millennia. And we visited a site we had never heard of before called Avebury. We saw quaint homes and buildings with beautiful thatched roofs and beautiful farms. The real attraction, however, was another stone circle similar to Stonehenge but much larger and much more complete (with many more stones than at Stonehenge). We learned that there are more than 600 of these ancient stone circles in England.

Stonehenge

Avebury

The daffodils and other flowers are beginning to bloom here which makes the parks look incredible. The daffodils just spring up in the grass with no planting or maintenance. They don’t bloom long, but right now they are amazing.

The past few weeks have been rather uneventful but have still been full of miracles and fun. Perhaps we are becoming casual when we say that miracles are uneventful. But it has been a great few weeks with nothing too dramatic to deal with or experience. We’ve had no evacuations or large groups of visitors to the VC and no recent visits to London from family or friends. We have had a couple of high profile visitors to the chapel but that has become somewhat common-place. Last Sunday Mark Madsen, former player for and now assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, came to church with his wife. And Nancy Marriott, wife of Bill Marriott, came to church at the chapel last Sunday.

Our miracles mostly revolve around the number of visitors that we have seen come to the chapel and the number of those visitors who have taken tours at the visitors’ centre. January and February are generally much slower for the VC as fewer tourists visit London during those months and the weather is generally not very good. January had more visitors than expected but having 400 on one day due to the Science Museum evacuation increased those numbers. Our sisters set goals each month for the number of visitors and the number of tours. When we set goals for February they were all very optimistic about those numbers but we (Connie and Rod) were skeptical that we could achieve their lofty goals. But after just 20 days of the month we are nearly at the numbers that they have set. Last week alone we had almost 1,000 visitors to the VC.

Another area of miracles have been baptisms. Last Sunday a young Chinese student who has been meeting with our sisters since before we arrived here finally got baptized. She had been scheduled for baptism many times over the last two years but she finally did it. We’ve also seen three other VC baptisms this past month of friends that our sisters worked with online.

The online work that our sisters do every day still amazes us. They each have time to go in the office and use the computers to pick up people’s requests to get a copy of the Bible or the Book of Mormon or to be taught by missionaries or just to chat. They have widely varied experiences with these interactions but it is amazing to see how many requests there are every day and how many of those requests our sisters are able to pick up. Because we are really the only VC between New Zealand and the U.S. who are doing online work (the London Temple VC is also in between those locations but they apparently aren’t doing much online work) our sisters are the only ones in the world who are picking up requests for certain hours each day (like from 9 am to 2 pm our time. New Zealand is 12 hours ahead of us and U.S. Eastern Time is 5 hours behind us). Requests are coming into Mormon.org 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are those who come online only as a joke. There are those who come online to try and make trouble. There are those who are members of the church who come online to ask silly things like “can you tell me what time church starts?” But there are a lot who are honestly seeking to know more. Our sisters are doing an incredible job handling the many, many requests that are received. As a result we get to see and hear about people being taught by missionaries all over the world.

We had a request recently from someone in the U.S. to send missionaries to his brother here in London. We gladly have done so and his brother is being taught. The interesting twist is that the person sending the request lives in the Rancho Cucamonga Stake right next door to Upland. Sometimes the world can be rather small.

We’ve managed to see a bit more of London having made a trip to Kew Gardens to see the Orchid Festival and a trip to Greenwich to see “where time begins" (Greenwich Mean Time). The Orchid Festival is housed in a large greenhouse at Kew Gardens but Spring flowers are also coming to London as the daffodils have started to bloom in many of the parks. We are looking forward to some days of more sunlight and the beauty of Spring.

This New Year has started fast. It seems like we just welcomed 2017 and now we are about to welcome February 2017. The number of tourists in London slow down tremendously in January and February and consequently the number of visitors to the Hyde Park Chapel VC also slow down. However, we’ve still had some great visitors to the chapel and had some great experiences teaching people more about Jesus Christ.

On Wednesday, January 11^th, Exhibition Road in front of the chapel filled with people more than its usual number of people and we soon learned that the Science Museum across the street had been evacuated. Many of those standing in the cold were school children who had been in the museum on a field trip. Soon a worker for the museum came into the VC and asked if we could have some of the children come inside. After some quick evaluation we said, “Yes,” and in they came---almost 400 in all. We had them sit on the floor in the cultural hall and some went into the building’s Institute of Religion room. We even had some who (their teacher requested it) asked to learn more about our church. So we even got to teach the gospel to some.

On Saturday, January 21^st, we had The Organ Club come to the Hyde Park Chapel for their monthly meeting. This club consists of organists from all over the United Kingdom and some additional guests with the club were from other parts of Europe. Some were given the opportunity to play the pipe organ in the Hyde Park Chapel. One of the original designers of the organ spoke to the group about the organ and how it came to be. The organ was built in 1960 so you may guess that this designer is not a young man today.

We had another fun group of visitors on Thursday, January 26^th. One of our bishops’ daughters talked to her teacher about bringing their class to the Hyde Park Chapel for a field trip. They are studying world religions and visited a Jewish synagogue, a Hindu Temple, an Islamic mosque, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. So the teacher was willing to add the Hyde Park Chapel to their tour. We had 28 4^th grade children and 2 teachers and 2 chaperones. We had all of our VC sisters come to help with the tours so we divided the class into four groups and had our sisters show them all of our exhibits. It went really well and it was amazing to see all of these people being taught so much about the Restored Gospel.

We enjoyed a visit from our son, Todd, and his friend Rick, from January 18^th until January 22^nd. We were able to attend a British musical called “Half a Sixpence” and toured the Tower of London. We also went on a Thames Riverboat cruise and visited Kew Gardens. We walked through St. James’s Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park seeing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards Parade, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. We had an enjoyable time and love showing our family around London.

We enjoyed a great Christmas time here in London. We were very busy at the visitors’centre with our live nativity and the church’s Christmas Initiative #LIGHTtheWORLD. Every evening from November 27^th through December 21^st we had Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus in a stable that was built in front of the chapel. This was quite an attraction on Exhibition Road and thousands of people passed by and many stopped to check it out. We had some people climb into the stable with Mary & Joseph to have their picture taken and we had many who came into the VC to learn more about our church. We received a lot of great comments like “it is so nice to see someone displaying the true meaning of Christmas.”

 

The Beesley Family

We had a very enjoyable Christmas Eve get-together at our flat with our entire VC family. We had a great dinner, sang some songs, watched the Mormon Tabernacle Choir A Dickens’ Christmas video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZe-hLewU80), and exchanged some gifts. The Dickens’ Christmas video was particularly special for all of us gathered because it portrays things right here in London and the young man playing Charles Dickens is in our YSA ward here at the Hyde Park Chapel.

Being with our VC family made Christmas special for us but it did not replace our own family. Through the marvels of technology we were able to witness the excitement of Christmas morning with seven of our eleven grandchildren as they were gathered together in Arizona at our son Brian’s home. We also got to video chat with all of our other children and grandchildren.

Although we spent a lot of time at the VC including Christmas Day, we also managed to see some Christmas sites in London. We took an evening and went to see Christmas at Kew Gardens where we witnessed some unique displays including a light tunnel, fire presentations of the first five days of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and a laser light show over a pond and projected on the Palm House.

The Palm House at Kew Gardens

Another evening we went for a walk through the ritzy, retail area of London. We saw the fabulous Christmas lights and decorations along Regent Street and Oxford Street. We visited the famous London store called Liberty and also the famous toy store called Hamley’s. The streets and stores were very busy but it was an enjoyable evening to see these seasonal sites of London.

 

Regent Street Decorations

We were privileged to attend a performance of Handel's Messiah at Royal Albert Hall with our mission president and his wife (Mark & Jean Stevens). It was performed by four excellent soloists, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and three different choral groups combining over 500 voices. It was an amazing production.

Another unique thing we found here in London was the creation of a huge amusement park in Hyde Park called Winter Wonderland. They built the entire amusement park with 65 rides, a couple of ice skating rinks, several stages for performers indoors and outdoors, and many, many food booths and gift shops. The rides included several full-blown roller coasters, towering swings and drops, a couple of ferris wheels, and a couple of large “fun houses.” The whole complex was built in about a month’s time and was open November 19^th through January 2^nd. It now is being taken down.

 

Winter Wonderland

Our past year at the Hyde Park Chapel was amazing. We learned so much and got to meet so many great people. As a VC family we were able to welcome almost 37,000 visitors to the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors’ Centre and over 11,000 of them took tours (we were able to share something about the church or show them at least one of our exhibits). From our guests who came into the VC and through our sisters’ work online we were able to send over 4,400 referrals to missionaries throughout the world. From those referrals we learned of 67 people who were baptized. It is so rewarding to see the joy that comes from those who choose to follow Jesus Christ.

We are looking forward to a great 2017 and wish all of you a very Happy New Year. We want the best for you and appreciate your interest in what we are doing. Thank you for your prayers and support.

It has been a while since we posted anything on our blog. We don’t have any good excuses for being delinquent but life has been busy the past couple of months. Those months were highlighted by a visit to London by Rod’s mom, the departure of three of our VC sisters and the arrival of three new VC sisters, and the arrival of the Christmas Season.

Rod’s mom arrived on Wednesday, November 9^th and stayed with us until Tuesday, November 22^nd. During her stay we enjoyed seeing many of the sites of London while also fulfilling our responsibilities at the VC. We started her visit with a nighttime walk along the Thames River (nighttime is very long here in London this time of the year as the sun rises after 8:00 a.m. and sets before 4:00 p.m.) where we saw the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. On other days we walked through Hyde Park, Green Park, St. James’s Park, and Holland Park. We were fortunate to have rented a wheelchair for Mom and so she didn’t have to walk all that way but was able to enjoy the sites and the scenery as we walked. One evening we took in a Broadway show (Wicked) and another night we attend the Classical Spectacular at Royal Albert Hall. We spent a day touring the Tower of London and another day touring Windsor Castle. We squeezed in a few other things like visiting Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace and, of course, the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors’ Centre. We had a great couple of weeks with Mom but wore her out and us too.

Big Ben

Outside Royal Albert Hall

Inside Royal Albert Hall

Changing of the Guard at Windsor Castle

Buckingham Palace

At the end of November two of our outstanding young sisters returned home, followed by the arrival of three new sisters. Our new sisters are Sister Gregson from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Sister Wallace from Maui, Hawaii; and Sister Koiv from Estonia. We then said goodbye to another great VC sister whose parents came to pick her up on Friday, December 9^th. It is difficult to see these sisters leave us and return home but it is exciting to welcome these new sisters and see their great talents. This transition puts a bit of a strain on our work as we have to help our staff with the learning curve that exists for all of us as we take on new things. But the work has still been going forward and great things are happening at the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors’ Centre.

Church Visitors’ Centres throughout the world have been at the forefront of the release of the Christmas Initiative “#Light the World.” Preparation began early in November with banners and training and anticipation for this great resource in sharing the gospel with others. If you haven’t seen the video or learned about “Lighting the World” we invite you to check it out at www.Mormon.org.  We have shown the video in our cinema many times and many guests have come into the VC to watch the short video. We also have had a live nativity in front of the Hyde Park Chapel. This is the 2^nd year for this resource and it too has brought in many people. A stable was built over a raised planter box in front and we have bales of straw and a manger. We have missionaries or local members dress up as Mary and Joseph and pose for pictures in the stable. We started the live nativity on Sunday, November 27^th and have had it every evening since then. We will continue through December 21^st after which the stable will come down. In the meantime it takes a lot of time to schedule people to be Joseph and Mary and then to dress them and oversee the nativity. But it has been well worth it.

VC Decorated for Christmas

Live Nativity

Decorating the VC and preparing for the Christmas events has been time consuming. We are also planning a Christmas Eve VC family celebration and other Christmas events which have taken a lot of time.  We love Christmas though and are enjoying the season. We look forward to video chatting with many of our family members on Christmas. Our VC sisters are also looking forward to their family calls on Christmas Day. We have eight sisters and their homes are in time zones ranging from 8 hours ahead of us to 11 hours later than us. That makes scheduling those calls a real challenge.

The work at the VC continues to go forward. We have seen many more baptisms in the past month and we have welcomed many guests. The first 11 days of this month we had over 2,000 visitors to the VC. Our sisters continue to do work online while on shift and respond to requests from people who go onto Mormon.org to learn more about the gospel. They have sent over 600 referrals to local missionaries each of the past three months. In the first two weeks of this month they have sent almost 500 referrals. It is exciting to see the interest in the church and the work moving forward.

We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas. We wished we could give you our greetings personally but time and distance won’t allow that. We recognize that our priority is here in London in the full-time service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season and He is why we are here on a mission. God bless you all and Merry Christmas!