Chapter 9 - The Final Chapter

Our call was to serve for 18 months, with a release date in March 2019.  We then extended our mission until June.  We did so, in order to avoid taking off in the middle of an Institute Semester, which might have been difficult for anyone replacing us — or been even worse, if no replacement were immediately forthcoming.  We extended also, because the major YSA Convention — “Pitch Your Tents Toward the Temple” — was set for 7-8 June; and Doll and I were the main corporate memory and organizers of the thing.  We extended, also, because this whole London Mission gig was so dang cool!  Such a joy and blessing to us.

We enjoyed the many wonders and beauties of another London Spring.  Here the cherry blossoms in Battersea Park:

Blossoms in Kensington Garden: 

And roses in Hyde Park: 

Doll and I came to have a favorite date, which we enjoyed once or twice a week.  We'd do 5-mile walks (tracking our steps on our Fitbits).  Our most common route was through Kensington Garden, then up along the edge of Notting Hill, and back home via Holland Park.  Sometimes one of our YSAs, Jacob Rosenberg, would tag along.

Here we are in Kensington Garden:

And in Holland Park

My bike rides continued to take me all over. 

Along the Pall Mall: 

Past the children wading the Princess Diana Memorial: 

To various London landmarks such as Scotland Yard: 

To the home of Alfred Hitchcock: 

To Somerset House on the Strand: 

And frequently across the Albert Bridge on my way to Battersea Park:  

A scene from St. James’ Park: 

The Banqueting Hall in Whitehall -- where King Charles I lost his head:

On walks and bike rides about London, I was always coming upon intriguing stuff.  Often crews filming movies.  Here I spotted Elizabeth McGovern and Gabriel Byrne, and film crew, in a TV remake of War of the Worlds:

Here a bunch of extras lie about, waiting for their turn to play dead in the War of the Worlds carnage:

And here, in live shoot, actually playing dead:

In our spiritual service, we continued to host Institute at our Flat every Tuesday, followed by a lovely spread from Doll.  Almost every Sunday Doll put on a meal at our Flat for 10-25.  

Here are some of the Facebook postings from our YSAs announcing Tuesday Institute

(Charis Wright from Ireland) —

(Sariah Manning from Australia) —

(Parina Subba from Nepal) —

Here we have a typical Monday Family Home Evening.  On this occasion making Easter treats for children in a local hospital:

We continued to put on a meal (for typically over 100) every Thursday.  Another glimpse at one of those evenings:

We would gather about quarterly for Church Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults.  We could not watch them live — as they were held in the middle of the night our time.  Instead we would play them in the Chapel after our block of Sunday meetings.  Then hold a break the fast dinner in the cultural hall afterward.

The Worldwide Devotional for May featured my friend and former mission companion, Carl B. Cook, now of the Presidency of the Seventy.  

In his speech to the world, he showed this photo of him and yours truly together in Lubeck, and told how I lined him up with his future Eternal Companion, Lynette.  

The YSAs here in London got a kick out of realizing that this General Authority was speaking of the very old Elder Allred now serving in their midst:

In March, our beloved daughter Kristen had a mental collapse — or what we might have called, back in day, "a nervous breakdown."  She was committed to the hospital Psych Ward, on suicide watch.  Things were serious enough that — upon a plea from Ben, and approval from President Checketts and the Area Presidency — Doll and I flew to Chicago.  Then drove on to Michigan, where we spent a couple of weeks with our Edinger Family.  Karin also drove out to join us from Virginia, with Kyrie and Ena.  A few photos from those weeks:

Ethan and Ellie doing what teenagers do best: 

Walks with Murphy: 

A fishing trip with Ethan in which he caught nothing, but deemed it a worthwhile outing when we stopped afterward for burgers at Five Guys:

Some shots of our girls: 

 Grandpa Mark made frequent trips with Lewis and Lily to the playground at Dairy Queen: 

At then end of our Michigan, rehab for Kristen visit, granddaughter Ellie flew home to London with us, where she spent a couple of weeks blessing us with her charming self. 

Here we are with Ellie, on a trip to Windsor Castle and boat ride on the upper Thames:

Lunch with her at the Churchill Arms Pub

A trip with Ellie along Regents Canal to Camden Market

With Ellie at the Victoria and Albert Museum

At Greenwich:

Ellie fit well with the older Institute crowd:

She joined one of our YSA Baptisms trips to the London Temple, with the Spring flowers just beginning to bloom:

Doll and I enjoyed our trip to Windsor Castle with Ellie so much that, after she went home, we ventured there a second time by ourselves:

Doll continued to teach Temple Preparation classes, usually at our Flat, and always followed by a great meal:

Outside of formal Church gatherings, we enjoyed many warm and happy personal associations.  Here is Doll with our beloved Sizhe “Helen” Chen — and her mother, Ru Yen (sp?), visiting her from mainland China.

Our Flat continued to serve YSAs as a home away from home.  Here Tracey Watt (Australia), Catherine and Emma Kitsell (England), and Kaitlin Poteet (Canada) dro by to make candy:

Here some of our Beloved Daughters of God gather for a Relief Society activity:  

Kaitlin Poteet and Tracey Watt once invited us to their Flat for dinner.  On another occasion, they came to our Flat to fix dinner, and then went to Doll to afternoon tea at the Charlotte Hotel:

Here was interesting intellectual fellow — not a member of the Church — known only to us as Jack.  Our friend Jaffar would occasionally bring him by the Flat occasionally to discuss issues of the day.

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Here a happy spiritual event.  Maxwell Grussing, a faithful convert of about 10 months, asked that I ordain him an Elder.

And Jacob Rosenberg — a former Hasidic Jew — asked that I be his escort, when he received his endowment in the London Temple. 

Here is Jacob in his Hasidic days (ringlets tucked behind his ears)

And with me here, before his endowment:

Jacob’s endowment was one of my greatest temple experiences.  Jacob was without question the best prepared and most spiritually receptive young man I have known going for his endowment.  His Jewish background gave him great insight.  He spent dozens of hours studying and getting ready for the temple.  He loved and appreciated the initiatory ordinances.

Before his endowment began, the Temple President, Michael Otterson, took a full hour to teach Jacob (and me) one on one about the temple. 

In the last month of my mission, I caught a couple of tremendous concerts in Royal Albert Hall.  The first was Eric Clapton.  When the tickets for Eric went on sale, they sold so fast there were only scattered singles throughout the Hall by the time I could buy.  Since Doll wasn’t interested in going and sitting by herself, I went alone — and loved the concert:

Here the Eric Clapton playlist from that night:

The next week was Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.  I couldn’t guarantee Doll she would like it.  But she joined me anyway.  He and his 10-piece all-star band were so exceptional Doll seemed to love the concert as much as I did:

Here that night's play list:

One of last days here, Doll and I enjoyed the Royal Horticulture Flower Show In Chelsea.  A very big deal here in London, it’s kicked off every year by the Queen and the Royal Household.

Toward the end of May, Prime Minister Teresa May tearfully called it quits, over the Government’s Brexit debacle:

Life continued to move forward for our children and their families.  James and Jessee gave us grandchild 16 — sweet Ruby.  Then made their PCS (permanent change of station move) from Okinawa back to the States.

Jessee and the girls spent a couple of months with her family in The West.  While James went off to Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, to attend Squadron Officer School.  One Sunday in church, James encountered our great friends Kirk and Cynthia Davies who had returned to Alabama for a visit:

In the eventful last month of our mission, Ashley and Hiram gave us grandchild #17, Maverick:

On 3 Jun 19, President Donald Trump arrived on a State visit to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Landing.  It was fun to bike about in the middle of all the Hijinks

I spotted Prince Charles and Camilla leaving Clarence House to meet the Trumps (not great photos — but it truly is the Royal Couple I caught here):

Of course, Donald never goes anywhere without a great insult and controversy -- by him and toward him.  Here, as I walked by, is Yamiche Alcindor -- the very anti-Trump reporter for the PBS Newshour.

We saw the Donald fly into Buckingham Palace — though we could not be quite sure which was actually his helicopter, and which was the decoy chopper.

Upon landing, Donald and Melania walked off to meet with the Queen, and Charles, and Camilla:

While across the street from Buckingham Palace, in Green Park, came an exciting 82-Gun Salute from the Royal artillery:

As departure neared we received loving remarks, like this from Mia Felin:

There were fond goodbyes such as these.  With Charis Wright (Ireland) and Abraham Mambo (Spain):

Brother Mark White, the Institute Director, gave us this wonderful miner’s lamp, rich in symbolism:

The weekend of our formal release date was the Temple Convention.   We had about 100 attending.  Here is they are, camping and roasting s’mores:

Doll put on two dinners, a breakfast and a lunch in the dining room of the Hotel Accommodation.  Here is our Bishopric cooking breakfast.  Second Counselor, Ian Wright (with son Moses).  Bishop Dennis Webb.  First Counselor Matt Owen.

Games in the Accommodation.

A Devotional presented by President Odoi, Counselor in our Stake Presidency

Temple service project.

Home of the Temple Presidency:

While we were at the temple convention, Tony, Deb, and Jackson arrived at our Flat.  Sunday morning, 9 June, we attended Church in the Hyde Park Second Ward.  Then I took the three of them on a cycling adventure through Hyde Park to Abbey Road, along the Regents Canal to Camden Market, and to the Rose Gardens in Regents Park.

Enjoying a last Gelato with Tonse, Deb and Jackson.

On the morning of Monday, 10 June, we headed off in a rental car for North Wales.  We spent a couple of nights at a AirBnB in the town of Conwy.  Where we climbed about the towns medieval walls, and enjoyed the castle and the harbor.  We ate once at the Erskine Arms (one of the finest pubs I ever encountered) and liked it so much we went back a second time.

We also made forays to the castle city of  Beaumaris:

And to Caernarfon Castle:

And to the resort town of  Llandudno:

We encountered here and there this sign.  And weren't sure whether it was good news, or bad:

The weather was chill and rainy in Wales — in the 40s and 50s — which I didn’t mind at all.  It only added to the character of the place.  But we dropped Tony and Family off at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, and flew the next day to Budapest, where they we in the middle of a record setting heatwave.  Temps will into the 90s.  And very humid.

Our dear friend Ágnes and her son Miklos were tremendous hosts.  We spent Thursday night in their lovely home, along the river In Szolnok.  Here we are walking about the town — with Ágnes, and Miklos the Younger and Miklos the Elder.

-     This is a picture of a branch of our Church now in Szolnok.

What this pictures don’t show is the horrific mosquito invasion.  Which was not all abated by the mosquito-friendly “pesticides” prescribed by the European Union.

They wined and dined us at fine restaurants.  Ágnes insisted on paying for our three nights’ stay at an elegant hotel near the Buda Castle in Budapest.

Ágnes paid also for our sightseeing tours around Budapest.

And a find tour through the countryside to the historic towns of Esztergom:

To Visegrad:

-     And Szentendre

Before a boat ride down the Danube:

On Sunday, 16 June, Doll and I attended a service of our Church in the Buda Ward — with about 100 members present.

We spent the afternoon barbecue and visit to the home of Ágnes’ daughter — also called Ágnes (or the diminutive, Agika) — and her husband Tamas.  Wonderful hosts and wonderful visit.

Monday morning, 17 June, Doll and I strolled the castle area and visited St. Mathias Cathedral. 

We had lunch with Ágnes and Miklos.  Then flew home to London.  In time to finish packing, rise the next morning, and fly home to Utah.  Where Adam, grandkids -- and the beginning of a new life -- awaited us.