Chapter 8 -- March 2019

The second Autumn of our London mission has come and flown, along with our final Winter as well.  Our weeks remain busy -- much of it structured activity:

Sundays are full of meetings, with me acting as a sort of third Counselor in the Bishopric.  A couple of Sundays a month we have baptisms after our block of meetings.  Here is the baptism of a Chinese brother whose Anglo name is Richard:

Once Sunday meetings are over, we usually have guests to the house for dinner and whatnot:

After the beginning of the year, when we shifted to just two-hours of Church on Sunday, Doll began hosting her Temple Preparation Class at our Flat -- along with a lovely dinner afterward:

Monday Evenings are Family Home Evenings at the Church.  Here we have lip sync competition:

Chinese calligraphy taught by native Chinese:

Cookie decorating:

Learning to Salsa from native Latinos:

Creating and smashing piñatas:

Tuesday evenings we continue to host Institute at our Flat -- taught most often by Doll.  We often pack our place to max capacity, at just over 30, and wonder what to do if that happy problem worsens.  Here we are, visiting and enjoying one of Doll's sumptuous post-Institute smorgasbords.  It's usually 11 pm by the time everyone goes home.

Here is our nephew Sam (more on him later), dozing as Institute class begins:

Thursday evenings are Dinner and Institute at the Church.  The attendance at our dinners rose to about 100 each week.  Followed by a variety of classes.  Below is Mark White, the full-time Institute Instructor, making announcements as we break for class:

I taught the Mission Prep class each week at Institute.  Here's the Manual I used:

My walking and bike rides took me through some lovely Autumn scenes.  Kyoto Garden in Holland Park:

In Kensington Garden:

Regents Park:

Battersea Park:

Here is a lakeside spot in Battersea Park where I often stop to meditate:

Autumn at the London Temple:

Our Flat continued to serve as venue for an assortment of other YSA activities.  We hosted, for example, going away parties for Ben Schmidt (American moving to Brazil) and Louise Lau (Chinese-Brit moving to Australia).

We hosted also gatherings of our beloved Chinese:

Throughout the Fall and Winter, the great political topic of the U.K. remained Brexit (the pending departure from the European Union).  I rode my bike frequently past the protestors -- for and against Brexit -- in front of Parliament.  (The guy on the left in the first photo below is prominent newscaster, Adam Bolton, whose photo I snapped on the day Prime Minister, Teresa May, lost one important vote.)

When our mission hit its goal of 444 baptisms for the year, our Mission President and Sister Checketts sponsored a day of celebration.  They bought us all matching t-shirts.  Along with the spiritual, there was a lot of fun and games:

In October our YSA Ward held a one-day convention (like a Youth Conference), with speakers, activities, and a "silent disco."  A couple hundred YSAs joined us from across the region.

Our Mission President held a one-day conference for all of us senior missionaries.

In November, London held many remembrance events for the Centennial marking the end of World War I.  In support, a group of Church members from across the UK put on an exceptional musical commemoration, repeated over a few days, and broadcast across England from our Chapel:

We added to our list of favorite things to see and do around in these parts.  We enjoyed Hampton Court Palace (the primary residence of Henry VIII) so much during our Autumn visit that we had to return during the Christmas Season:

We became big fans of Bletchley.  The small town outside London where Alan Turing and others cracked Nazi Codes (as depicted in the movie, "Imitation Game"):

Here is Doll at Bletchley, in her special code-breaking hat:

Here is one of our YSAs, Laurel Peacock.  Her mother, Martha Peacock, is a BYU art professor who came for a visit, and led a group of us on a wonderful tour of the National Gallery.

The Christmas Season had a lot going on.  Early in December, we put on a big Christmas dinner, followed by a Ceilidh (Scottish folk dance, like our American square dances) at the Church.  Bottom photo is me, in my apron, on cleanup duty.

The Visitor Centre at our Church held a major Open House for the community.  It featured the roll-out of Giving Machines (the Church's vending machines for charity), along with singing by one of our former YSAs, Savannah Stephenson.  A few years back, Savannah had the lead role (Glinda) in the West End production of Wicked.  You may recognize her as Mary, from Bible videos done by the Church.

One Sunday evening I sang in the Choir at the Stake Christmas concert.  Here my view looking out at the congregation:

Later, Doll also sponsored a Christmas Eve dinner at our flat for any YSAs who had no place to go for the holidays:

New Years we hosted a huge dance, where we packed into the Church about 700 YSAs from across Europe.  When the dance was over, the YSAs went off to watch the fireworks along the Thames.  I joined our Mission President and others in watching the fireworks from the rooftop of our Church:

Some of my cycling activity collided with London's New Years Day parade:

I took Doll to another concert  in the Royal Albert Hall.  Loreena McKennitt and her crew were great -- one of my favorite concerts ever:

In the midst of all this, we continued to have happy visits from friends and family.  Our dear Anges and her son Miklos -- from Hungary -- stayed with us for a couple of days:

Karin, Ronny, and our two beloved granddaughters -- Kyrie and Ena -- were with us from mid-December to mid-January.  Here they arrive at Heathrow Airport:

A few scenes with the granddaughters around home:

They were taking photos at one of our YSA Family Nights:

Kyrie and Ena near the Tower of London Bridge:

Entertaining Japanese tourists:

On the tube:

Ena, while Grandpa Mark does his morning workout

Karin and Ronny joined me on several of my London bike rides:

Karin and Ronny at Abbey Road, and Abbey Road Studios:

Here we are on a trip to beautiful Greenwich:

Grandpa Mark had some special one-on-one time with Kyrie.  She and I rode the bus to Regent Street where we visited Hamleys, the largest toy store in the world.  And there we got her Christmas present -- a Princess Poppy Doll.

Kyrie was always happy to join Grandpa Mark on the merry-go-round outside the Museum of Natural History.

Kyrie and me on a trip to the Museum of Natural History:

We had some nice walks, and rides atop to the double-decker buses.  A good way to view the Christmas lights:

At the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park:

Karin and Ronny at the Tate Britain.  Before we went for fish and chips at a favorite pub, the White Swan.

Kyrie and Ena were not overfond of the gulls, ducks, geese and swans that would swarm them in Kensington Garden and Hyde Park:

Karin, Ronny and girls in the cry room above the Hyde Park Chapel:

While they were with us, Ronny celebrated his 30th birthday:

In January, nephew Sam Allred arrived and spent nearly a month with us, overlapping Karin and Ronny a bit.

Sam had the healthy ability to catch good sleep just about anywhere:

Sleeping on our train ride to the London Temple:

Sam did a lot of great work with the missionaries.  Here with Sister Narcizo (Valencia, Spain) and Sister Chiang (Taiwan).

Here at the Bristol Convention with our Stake YSA Rep, Wilma Wu:

While Sam was here, it repeatedly jumped out at me.  Mine are the older, used version.  But we both have the same, Allred Model Hands:

Sam and I managed to get stand-by tickets for Hamilton:

In March we had a nice visit from my dear brother Rob and his sweet Amber.

 

Then we were blessed with our gorgeous nieces, Jasmine Junk and Allie Shaw.

Once each transfer (every six weeks), Doll and I travel outside London to inspect the flats of young missionaries for safety and cleanliness.  This sad damage occurred to a Church vehicle during one of these inspection trips.  Doll meant to apply the brake, but instead hit the gas:  (We had deliver the car to a towing company, then find our way home via bus and train.)

Our Hyde Park Chapel remains a focal point for visits by many Church leaders and personalities.

We saw Elder Holland a number of times.  On one occasion he threw me out of the High Council room, so he could hold a meeting.  Here is Elder Holland with Prime Minister Theresa May:

Here our YSAs receive a visit from Area Authority, Francisco Ruiz de Mendoza.

Here our Area Authority, D. Roy Tunnicliffe, speaks to us at an FHE gathering:

Here I am I before a fireside with Jay and Merill Osmond:

Our Mission President, Dave Checketts, is good budies with Scott O'Neal, CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers.  Scott joined the Church a few years ago.  He has a marvelous conversion story, which he shared with us at a Zone Conference, while visiting London.

Walking and riding about London we encounter now and then famous people.  Here I made a bit of an idiot of myself.  Near his home in Holland Park, I saw rock legend Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin walking toward me.  (He is the guy on the far left in the first photo.).  When he saw me, he shielded his face from this gawking fan.  When he put his little shield away, he gave me a bit of a friendly smile, and a shrug, as if to say, "I kind of have to do this you know."

We have some very talented YSAs.  Katie Li, from China, is now being commissioned to do some serious work:

Kirstie Elen Hachenberger (aka Hachi) has some good violin work on Spotify

Robin Dick from our ward left for an advanced vocal program in Italy.  He did a lot of singing around London professionally.  And had a lead role last summer in the Nauvoo and British Pageants.

In January, we said goodbye, as my good friend and Bishop, Dave Kirkham, was released along with his fine counselors, Ian Clark and Ionut Banu:

The new first counselor in our Bishopric was Matt Owen, Chief Financial Officer for Disney Corp.  Here we are at the gorgeous Hammersmith flat of him and his wife, Leslie:

Dinner and socializing with some of our Senior Missionaries:

Lily (from Slowenia) and Alex (Brazil) -- one of our nice young couples on the day of their sealing at the London Temple:

February was record warm and filled with Spring.  We loved the sunshine and flowers bursting onto the scene:

We served much of our time in a "personal ministry" to those who wanted contact.  Here we are at a restaurant, Bella Italia, with our friend, Jaffar Lafta:

And with Bishop Kirkham and Sebastian Criste:

Doll's hairdresser, Chava, from Hungary, decided she needed a new look.  And Doll wasn't entirely happy.  The bright red might have worked better in the Communist lands we visited a generation or two past.  With that red hair, we also thought she might look good with a cigarette dangling from her lips.  Our Mission President had jokes about his failing to recognize the new member of our mission, or sending her home for violation of Mission standards.

And that's the way things are going about now.