Small branch

    We are having a new unique experience being part of a very small branch of the church.  There are 31 names on the membership list; only 5 of them currently attend meetings.  Those five are such wonderful sweet people.  They are so strong and faithful.  They have welcomed us lovingly.  
    We have spent much of our time trying to make contact with the other 26 members. Locating their home or apartment is a major challenge due to house names instead of numbers, and walls blocking view of buildings.  We have found it's best to drive to the general area, find a place to park the car, then walk and look for the home.   We have found a few members, who at least spoke with us at the door and agreed to our coming to visit again.   One man who was baptized a year ago and only active a short time, hesitantly let us in, but we had a pretty good conversation, just getting acquainted; we felt positive about it.  Our progress feels like small baby steps, but we will keep praying for how to touch their hearts and remind them of the love they once felt; that they may remember the truths of the gospel will bless their life, and want to renew their faith in Jesus Christ, their Savior.

     Walking is an adventure all its own.  Many roads have no sidewalks; some have small ones on just one side of the street.

One afternoon the sun came out as we drove north to find an address of a sister.  There were some small grassy fields

and we saw several estates that had large lawns.

It was refreshing to see a pretty open area.

We had difficulty locating the address we needed so we pulled into the driveway to this house to see if someone could help us.  We just loved this cute sign that was posted at the edge :

An older woman was outside of the house so we asked her about the place we were looking for, but she didn't know.  Whenever we get a one-on-one situation with someone, it opens an opportunity to talk about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  So after discussing her pretty yard, etc.  E. Dame started that conversation, but she said she wasn't interested in religion.   Generally that is the response we and the full time Elders hear.  People either say they don't need religion, or say they're atheist. Some say they already have their church.

On another day we had to go to the Housing Authority office, and when we went in the front door there were two young adult age women standing near.  They asked if we were registered to vote. That started a fun conversation of who we were, where we were from, how long and why we're here in Guernsey.  One of the girls had heard about the church because she'd had a friend in school who was now serving a mission in Texas.  It turns out we know of him too.  He is the first young man from the branch of Guernsey to serve a mission. He has been out just about a year.  She said she'd like to learn about the church and we got her phone number to set up a time to visit.  So that is forthcoming.

Last week on a very stormy afternoon, we were driving home when suddenly it started to hail. In a matter of seconds the streets were white, and it thundered on the roof of our car.  Lasting just a few minutes, it turned back to rain as we pulled into our driveway.  This is what was left on the side of the windshield when I got out of the car...

Walls

There are rock walls everywhere: they line the streets, separate house lots, and barricade the ocean waves.  

Some are made of common rock.

Some are high; some are low.

                                         

                                             Some are covered over by lovely green vines.

               
                      Some are made with the blue-gray, and/or pink granite quarried on the island.

Many of the walls have hedges at the top that are neatly trimmed.

And some facing north have bright green, mossy growth.

This is an old granite quarry that is now a water reservoir.

From this point we could see the ocean in the background. 

Home in Guernsey

This is our home... called: La Fontenelle.  Homes have names instead of numbers. 

The front door opens to a large entry space, with the kitchen and dining rooms to the left; to the right is a large sitting room - which is going to be the "chapel" for our Sunday meetings.  The main bedrooms are on the second floor; the Elders are on the top floor.  The lot has ample parking, which is very unusual.  Most homes barely have a spot for one car to pull in off the road.  

The first morning on the island we went to meet some investigators with the Elders.  The streets are narrow, with rock walls right at roads 'edge.  The sun was out a few minutes that morning.  It rains a lot and is windy most of the time, but everything is green and beautiful.

Travel

Saturday Jan. 9th, driving in rain from Portsmouth, northwest toward Yeovil, we saw many open fields like this, divided by hedges rather than fences; and often there were hedges right along the sides of the road as well.  They were all trimmed neatly.   I took this picture as we drove. ( a bit blurry )

One of the little towns we drove through. This shows a row of pretty homes, many connected by a common wall.    We arrived in Yeovil late afternoon and enjoyed a wonderful evening with President Crew and his wife. After attending church on Sunday, Sister Crew provided a lovely meal for us, then we headed back to Portsmouth.  It rained most of the way.

This is one narrow road we traveled on; common to see green vines and other foliage clear to the road edge like this.
We spent Sunday night in Portsmouth again. Next morning, Jan. 11th, we drove to the port and took a ferry to Guernsey Island.  The trip took 7 hours.  We were met at the pier by the full time Elders.

Elder Higham (from Logan, Utah) and Elder Taochy (from Nancy, France).
They crowded into the little car and directed us to the home we'll live in together.

In England

After resting a while on Wednesday afternoon, we walked the short way to do a session in the temple. It is in such a beautiful setting.  Reed got a great reflection picture.

The Senior missionary in charge of vehicles, Elder Cannon, gave Reed information for driving, particularly, on the left-hand side of the road.  Thursday we went on 3 practice driving trips with E. Cannon being in the front passenger seat giving instruction and guidance as we went.  Reed did pretty well, but the roads were narrow and there was so much to get used to !

We were to take a ferry to Guernsey Island on Friday AM, but E. Cannon got an email that it was cancelled due to a damaged vessel.  The next available spot wasn't until Monday, the 11th.

So, we had time for some sight-seeing.  We left the mission home on Friday morning in a little mission car, and drove south towards Brighton.  Our i-phones weren't functional yet, so we relied on a Garmin GPS the mission gave us.  It was a lovely drive; bright green fields and foliage everywhere, herds of grazing sheep, and some horses.  We were always on edge though, getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road !!  And the round-a-bouts every few miles were quite interesting.

The senior couple serving in Brighton, Elder and Sister Dean, took us on a tour of the city and the surrounding area.  This is a unique complex that was once a king's summer home.

They showed us this house, which has the most amazing carvings in the wood.

This cluster of homes shared a back yard.

Along the coast there are areas with high white cliffs.

Very strong winds were blowing that day.  Felt like it would blow us right off the edge.

After saying goodbye to the Dean's we drove westward to Portsmouth, to a hotel Elder Cannon had booked online for us.  It was dark when we arrived the city, and though the GPS showed we were at the hotel area we couldn't see any hotel signage.  We were on a narrow street with houses on both sides, so wondered if it was a bed and breakfast type place, but no home looked like it.  After driving back and forth around the area several times with no luck, we decided to follow a small road that looked like it led to a restaurant - which had a large bright sign showing high above the trees.  As we found the restaurant parking area we saw a low small sign that said the name of the hotel we had been looking for :).

(I won't go into too many details of the driving challenges, but it is really a shock to think you're turning onto a little road, only to suddenly face two lanes of headlights coming straight at you :) )

Leaving USA

Saturday evening, Dec. 26th we flew to Salt Lake City, Utah.  We entered the Provo Mission Training Center on Monday morning, Dec. 28th.

Tuesday, January 5th, we flew to London, England.  We stayed in the housing by the mission home and temple.

Departing Ontario

Our bags are packed we're ready to go.
We're standin' here outside our door;
it's time to leave the comfort of our home.

We will miss our friends and family dear,
while we go serve for over a year.
Our hears are filled with love for all of you.

We're leavin' on a jet plane
In time we will come back again
Leavin' on a jet plane....  :)