Churches

This is the pretty stone church in the Foulon Cemetery where we held the funeral for Catriona:
                                                                         

The Island of Guernsey has 10 Parishes (cities), with St. Peter Port being the capital and largest with a population of about 15,000.  Two other Parishes have 8,000; the rest are smaller ...and all total  about 65,000 people on the entire island.   Each Parish has an old stone church, with a tall steeple one can see above the trees.

  

This is the Vale Parish Church:

We are told that attendance at these churches has declined over the past few years.  Several of the churches have been turned into other venues ... such as charity shops (used clothing)  or art and homemade crafts shops.  

This one in St. Peter Port - called St. James - has been restored/repaired and is now also used as a concert hall.  Last spring, we attended a performance of  the Messiah there.  The acoustics were great.  It is a favorite place for weddings.

  

House / Church

Having church meetings in the house you live in, is a unique experience.  It requires Saturday nights "quick clean up and vacuum," and Sunday mornings "limit the breakfast mess." :)
         
  This end of the long sitting room is our "chapel."

Our hymn # board is an old chalkboard.  If we could remove the built-in black cabinets on the left side of the room we'd have a bit more space in the isle, but we make do.

                    The partial walls create a divide in the long room; we slide the keyboard toward the middle so the sound can go forward:

Sunday School, and then Priesthood is held in the other end of the room, after

a quick rearrangement of the chairs:

And Relief Society is held in the dining room - with the table pushed to one side

and the chairs in a small semi-circle:

And this room has become the "nursery:"

It's where Elder Dame and I take turns hanging out with Libby and Niclas.

                                There is a multi-shelved library, which has been great to put all the missionary and branch supplies in:

New Members / Celebrations

                 Pictures of the two wonderful new young families that moved to Guernsey this fall:

Amrose and Caleb Holder with their daughter Libby.

He is a lawyer; they moved from Australia.

Daniel and Estrellita Guy with their son  Niclas. 

She was born in the Philippines; Daniel in England.  They had been working in Gibraltar previous

to moving to Guernsey.  

*****

Guernsey celebrates Halloween, too.  Brother Guy gave the Elders pumpkins to carve. So on Halloween - since they aren't to go out proselyting that night - they created their jack-o-lanterns.

November 5th is a unique day in England;  it's called Guy Fawkes Day (also called Bonfire Night).
It's history began with the events of  Nov. 5, 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the "Gunpowder Plot," was arrested while guarding barrels of gunpowder the conspirators had placed in the cellar beneath the Parliament building ...with intent to destroy the King.  Celebrating the fact that King James had been saved from an attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London.  Nov. 5th became an annual day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure, and is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.

Since our Brother Guy grew up in England, he volunteered to organize a branch activity for Bonfire Night.   We had the traditional food: hotdogs, jacket potatoes, baked beans, and parkin (gingerbread). Since our yard is all either grass, shrubs, trees, or laid with brick or stone there's no open space for a real bonfire.  Manuel supplied an old rusty garbage bin which contained a little fire all right.  The Elders created a stuffed "Guy Fawkes" with an old pair of trousers and shirt for the 'burning.'  We warmed up with nontraditional hot chocolate :)  We had no fireworks to lite, but we could see and hear the neighbor's.  It was a fun night, and we had one investigator attend.

England has a day similar to our Veterans Day on November 11th, called Remembrance Day.  On that day precisely at 11:00 o'clock a siren is sounded and everyone pauses for 2 minutes of silence to honor the fallen soldiers from all wars.   The Sunday closest to the 11th, is called Remembrance Sunday, and cities hold wreath laying ceremonies at cemeteries and memorial statues.  The Poole Stake sent us a wreath to be laid at the Guernsey one to represent the church.  One of our members went to the event to lay the wreath, since it took place at 11:00. during our meeting.  He reported that it was very formally organized - with a parade of groups in uniform, representing the different military segments; after they laid their wreaths, then in turn, all other organizations and businesses laid their's on the monument.  Later that week I was in town, and went to take a picture of the display, but the wind had caused havoc so I managed a shot of one of the wreaths still in good condition.

In our kitchen with limited tools, pans, and an undependable oven, our Thanksgiving Dinner was a big job, but we enjoyed it with the Elders, the Holder's and the Guy's.  It's not a holiday celebrated by either England or Australia, so they had their first "American Thanksgiving"  :)