APRIL CASTLES

We spent the weekend of General Conference in a castle. April Fools?....The proof is in the photos! Happy Birthday(s) to us.

BODELWYDDAN CASTLE (pronounced bod-el-with-an) was built in the 1400’s as a ‘manor house’.  Except for the medieval castle ruins we have visited, we haven't been able to figure out the difference between a castle and a manor house because they are all GIGANTIC!  It was sold a few years ago to a private company which transformed it into a luxury hotel/castle.  We (almost) felt guilty taking a 3-day holiday, but enjoyed every minute.  Because of the time difference, General conference sessions began at 5pm, 9pm, and 1am next morning….plenty of time to explore the beautiful grounds, chase sheep, eat ‘pretty good’ food, and walk to another old castle ruin nearby (Rhuddlan Castle). We returned to our flat refreshed, motivated by general conference addresses and determined to work our hardest in the last few weeks of our mission.

Our ‘castle suite’ included the tower behind us on the right!

(Just down the lane….Rhuddlan Castle ruins)

We attended a departing senior couple dinner at the mission home.  Two couples left that week and we were also included in the ‘farewell’ to share final testimonies as we leave next month.  We love these wonderful senior missionaries.  Every single one of us has left aging parents, children, grandchildren, missed births of new grandbabies, graduations, etc. and all of us have felt the multiplicity of blessings as we left home to serve here in England Manchester Mission. 

Great friends…Elder and Sister Briggs

Sisters Roos, Briggs, Philips, Dudley

We were so excited to have Ryan, Stephanie, Jack, Quin, Seren, and Piper fly from Maryland to visit us!  We shared the beauty of Wales, the charm of the Cotswolds, Windsor Castle, Conwy Castle, Penrhyn Castle, Caernarfon Castle, Beaumaris Castle, the Irish Sea beaches/cliffs, lighthouses, sheep pastures, and dairy farms which were absolutely magical. We did A LOT of walking and hiking and eating fish and chips! We loved hearing all their ‘oohs and ahhs' at every bend in the road….because that is what we have been doing our entire time here!  Wales is a postcard of beauty.

A highlight of their visit to us was Easter Sunday, attending Gaerwen Ward, introducing them to people we have grown to love…Kev and Alicia Cooney, Damian and Denise Halligan, Elaine Wain, Janette Leung,and others - then coming home to read 3 Nephi 11 together and share testimonies.  It has been a real blessing that so many of our family could travel here and we could introduce them to our dear friends.

The Cotswolds

Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Bourton-on-the-Water

Conwy Castle and city walls

Llanrwst Village

EASTER SUNDAY, GAERWEN WARD

So happy to introduce Ryan’s family to Cooneys

Newborough beach, Llanddwyn Island

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Our village. Michael can pronounce it.  I can't and I'm ok with that!

We discovered that Seren is a Welsh name!!!

Holyhead - Southstack Lighthouse-980 steps down/up

We walked down in cold windy rain, back up in full sunshine!

Our reward for climbing ?  Reubens hot chocolate & waffles

Beaumaris Castle - the only medieval castle with a full moat

Next castle?  Caernarfon Castle is the most famous castle because of the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is now the King of England.

Then lunch at a pub inside the city walls 

Not to be forgotten - Penrhyn Castle, on a rainy day!

AND THEN…..feeding lambs at our local farm.  My biggest wish has been to feed a baby lamb in a field, but this is the closest I’ll ever get, so I lined up with the children and got my turn!!!

As we drove all of them back to London, we enjoyed a few hours at Windsor Castle.  The KING and some of his family were there. We could see some of their cars, and the flag that flies over the castle when they are in residence. 

We had our last visitors the last two days of April - Mark and Mary Durham. Michael and Mark were called as Seventy together and Mary was called as a counselor in the General Primary Presidency that same day. We sat with them for five years at trainings and General Conference sessions. It was fun to ‘speed sightsee’ with them and especially introduce them to our ward friends. They spoke in our sacrament meeting and bore powerful testimonies. After church Damien and Denise ate dinner with all of us and we walked together that afternoon. It was perfect!!

April was a busy month of visitors for sure and after a spectacular time together, we returned back to our ‘castle’ in Wales and resumed our busy missionary schedule.  A highlight was the baptism of Chris Israel and Light Onuigbo from Nigeria who are students at Bangor University.  The ‘young’ elders in our ward taught them the missionary discussions and we have taught them at institute and fellowshipped them.  They already had a love for Jesus Christ as their Savior and quickly  accepted His restored gospel message. 

We were asked to speak at a two-stake Young Adult fireside.  It was wonderful to be with them.  Shocking - but I forgot to take any pictures!  Later that week, we also spoke at Saturday evening Chester stake conference.  We enjoyed standing together as we shared our testimony and experiences as ‘messengers of the covenant’.