Konold Chronicles

Tim’s work is becoming more pressing. Seems that people know the church is both financially strong and dislikes litigation—so, why not make a claim or attempt a scam.

Our investigator came to a baptism service with us yesterday.  He has so many questions, but seems sincerely interested in learning.  He and Tim keep in close contact through email.  It is nice to feel like missionaries.

Yesterday, after the baptism, we drove to Lancaster and toured the 13th century castle there.  It was used as a prison until just a few years ago, and is still being used as a court.

Today, after church, we drove with the Backmans and their son John’s family, down to Chatburn and Downham—two of the cities where Heber C. Kimball recorded miraculous baptisms and other activities (see Chap 23 of biography). Downham looks like it did then. The whole town is owned by a Lord who lives in the manor and will not permit any improvements. It was actually very nice.

We are getting to know more people in the Ward. Our Sunday School teacher is really a character (from Scotland). He is an artist, carpenter and magician. Quite a show.We look forward to his class each week.

Kathy had her first driving lesson this week. Let’s just say she will need a few more.

We have been a month without TV. It is missed, but, frankly, I find our evenings quite pleasant. More time for reading, writing and talking to kids, etc.
Looking forward to Quinn, Amy and Tenley arriving this week. It will be fun to show them around.

We see this every day.  A simple and beautiful structure.

Some of our children have commented that our blog posts seem more like vacation reports than missionary journals.  That is probably because both of us are serving in callings we can’t talk much about.  So, to avoid silence, many of our posts will be about what we do when not serving in our callings.  Sorry about that.

Quinn, Amy and Tenley arrived for a visit on Thurs.  What a wonderful time we have had with them.  Tenley has been an absolute joy.  We have made her life miserable and she just takes it and smiles.  

On Friday, we drove to Chester, England.  Truly, a must-see.  We spent quite a bit of time in a thirteenth century Cathedral (below).  On Sunday, they will be installing the first ever Anglican female bishop (married with children).  The quide we were speaking with is a personal friend of hers and says she is the perfect choice.  

The marketplace in Chester is indescribable–mix of antiquity and current.

On Saturday, we visited an incredible botanical garden in Northern Wales.  

I almost got a wild pheasant to eat out of my hand, but I had no food. Note the eye of terror.  I think he knew I was Ryan’s dad.

Here are all four of us in the botanical garden.

We visited the Conwy Castle in Wales, but, due to high wind, it was closed….for another day.

Church was quite nice.  It is so refreshing to hear the gospel eloquently taught by people of so many nationalities.  I’m not talking about people whose understanding we can admire; I’m talking about people from whom I can learn–at lot.

After church, we drove to the Lake District.  There was just time to do one thing and the vote went in favor of the Beatrix Potter Museum.  It was actually quite nice to see something so innocent and creative.  I wonder if it could happen today.

Quinn and Amy would like us to go into London with them.  That did not appear possible until I was assigned to attend a court hearing in London.  That seemed to clear the way, but I heard on Friday that the other side had asked for a postponement of the trial.  Will not hear the ruling until tomorrow.

The church is moving so quickly to implement its programs world-wide.  Self-reliance centers, PEF programs, BYU Idaho Pathway program–together with family history centers–the works.  All at great expense and personal commitment–but forging on nonetheless.  And miracles are experienced as we see countries issuing missionary visas that either never did or have not for some time.  It is uplifting to watch and be part of all of it.  I always enjoy the part of our deliberations when someone reminds us that we are dealing with the souls of men and the impact of our decisions on testimonies is always considered and often drives a decision.

Signing off for today.

We had a wonderful week+ with Quinn, Amy, and Tenny. What a cool baby Tenny is. We took her through every uncomfortable environment imaginable and she did not once complain. In fact, the tour guide at the Old Globe theatre knighted her the “Best Baby in England.” And he was right!

I don’t think I have commented on how cool the Temple complex is here in Chorley.

In the picture above, the temple itself if at the top. Moving down, there are parking lots and then the Stake Center on the right of the drive.  Continue down and the smaller building in the center is the distribution center and Family History Center.  Then, you see three larger buildings in a horseshoe.  The building on the right is the MTC.  I always enjoy driving by at 7:30 am to drop Kathy off for work at the temple and the classrooms are filled with young missionaries all suited up and far into their training for the day.  On the left of the horseshoe is the patron accommodations.  Two stories of studio apartments for those traveling to attend the temple.  I would guess there are 50 rooms.  At the bottom of the horseshoe is the senior temple missionary apartments.  This is a happnin place.  There are about 30 senior couples who live here for the term of their mission (6 months – two years).  As you might expect, there are social activities constantly.  Every Sunday night is a devotional–come in your slippers.  Every Monday is Family Home Evening and lots of dinners on the other nights.  Last night we attended their St. Patrick’s Day party.  Of course, the event was hosted by the real Irish folks.  It was very hard to understand some of them; but they had a great time entertaining–with plenty of heckling from the Scots and Englishmen present.  The large pad to the right of the picture is where many hope a visitors center will be built.  The mission president’s home is one of those on the left of the picture.  The temple is visible from almost any angle in Chorley.  It sits on a small hill adjacent to the M61 Motorway.

Spring is finally starting to come to England.  We took a long walk around our Buckshaw Village tonight.  We met a lot of our neighbors (including one that was baptized about 20 years ago but is no longer actively participating).

Things are good.  We are quite busy and enjoying our work very much.

We had a very enjoyable outing yesterday with the Backmans and the Stevens.  Craig Stevens is the mission medical advisor for England.  They have only 4 months left on their mission.  Two of his brothers are also serving missions. We visited Skipton–home of one of the best preserved castles in England.  A portion of it is still inhabited by the family which purchased it in 1956 (for 20,000 pounds).  Portions of the castle were built in the thirteenth century. It is where much of the Battle of the Roses was fought (between Lancashire and Yorkshire).

In the City, we found the LDS chapel (on Alma Terrace).

This morning, we attended the services of the Buckshaw Village Church at the invitation of our friend, Lachlan. It was a very friendly and relaxed service. It starts with coffee and tea and they start their service when they are through–whenever that might be. It is interesting that their congregation has grown to probably 100 people just from folks that move into Buckshaw Village (which is only about 12 years old). They meet in the Community Center. We had not previously met Lacklan’s wife, Karen. She was very nice and hospitable. Their minister, James, seems like a bright young man–a former actor–doing what he can to lead people to Christ. Near the end of the service, he invited the congregation to text him questions that had been troubling them. After a few minutes, he said, “I’m not receiving any texts. Have you no questions?” Several members said they had texted him questions–he was not getting them. So much for technology. So, he took questions in voice. Many very interesting questions, but we had to leave to make another meeting before he got to the answers. I committed Lachlan to take careful notes and fill me in.

Elder Backman encouraged me to join an International Group of expatriates living in the UK.  They get together occasionally and interact on one thing or another.  Yesterday was an outing to the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston—apparently not a very popular choice since there were only two others who showed up in addition to ourselves:  a young fellow from India named Jai and a young lady named Emma from a French island I had never heard of.  Both very well educated and very nice folks.

When we got to the museum, we randomly started in a room displaying ceramic pieces. Everyone sort of went at their own pace. So, as you might imagine, I was the first to be done and mom was, by far, the last. We were next to go upstairs to the art gallery, but while Elder Backman and I were waiting, he wandered into a small office and I walked over to an adjacent room housing a display on the history of Preston, England.  I don’t think I have mentioned before that Sister Backman is a direct descendant of Heber C. Kimball (the first missionary to England) and Elder Backman’s ancestors joined the church in the Benbough Farm era a few years later—so they are both very anxious to find anything of historical value to their ancestry.

Jim spoke to a man who had never heard of the Mormon connection to Preston and didn’t seem interested in adding to his void.  I was no sooner in the Preston room when a man probably in his late 70’s approached me and said he would be conducting a tour starting in about 2 minutes if I was interested. My normal response would be to look around and make sure mom did not hear him and politely excuse myself. For some reason, I asked him if he could wait while I collected the others in our group.  I didn’t have to say much more than “free tour” to get Kathy, the Backmans, Jai and Emma assembled.  The gentlemen, who introduced himself as “Lawrence,” quickly noticed our name tags and asked,  “Isn’t the Latter-day Saint church the same as the Mormons?”  Surprised, I asked how he knew that connection.  He started what would become a very long commentary on the history of the church in Preston—starting with Heber C. Kimball.  He knew exactly where the baptisms were done in the River Ribble, where the early Saints met, and how the church still has a presence in Preston. When informed that Elder Kimball’s third great granddaughter was standing in front of him, he became visibly disoriented with awe.  He started asking he questions—wanted a picture of Lynn and said he was not going to come in today because he wasn’t feeling well, but that something urged him on and that meeting a direct descendant of Heber was one of the highlights of his service at the museum.  What a sharp contrast to Elder Backman’s experience across the hall just moments earlier. 

Our tour lasted for well over an hour and would still be going today if we had not finally told him we had to move on.  But that was not enough, he checked out and took us to the tea room several blocks away where the ladies wanted to eat and continued his tour as we strolled down the streets in central Preston.

When I got home, I ordered him a copy of Orson Hyde’s book on the Life of Heber C. Kimball—which I am sure he will devour. im arranged to put Lawrence in touch with Peter Fagg (our local Preston historian) with the possibility of building a small Mormon exhibit in the corner of the Preston section of the museum.

At lunch, we apologized to Jai and Emma about consuming their time on something of particular interest to us and they said they felt very fortunate to have been there. They asked questions about genealogy and gladly accepted information on FamilySearch and were anxious to get home and see what they could find.>

So, all in all, it was a good day—certainly different that what we expected as we left that morning.