Pics from the Second annual Gibson 5k

Temple to Temple Run Provo, UT

July 24, 2014

Where are we? Oh! Wales!!! Councils, Castles & Cardiff

Before posting again, we are long overdue to thank Casey and Amber for setting up this blog for us. They made it real "purty" and taught us how to use it! We are so fortunate to have great kids who know their way around the tech world! And they are 'all around' great kids, who are trying to do some good in the world! Last month, Casey and Amber, Bella, Evie and Trevor welcomed  a new baby into their family, Tessa Lynn, who was delivered by C-section. Amber is still in recovery! So Painful!


Thursday, July 17, 2014, we were invited to the Cardiff Stake by President Somerville.  He was called to be the new Stake President in Cardiff just after we arrived in the U.K.. Unfortunately, he was called away on business this week, so we met with his counselors, President Jones and President Spragg, and the executive secretary, Brother  Taylor who had arranged the meeting for us, along with assorted members of their council.

                                                    President Jones and President Spragg

Pictured Below: The brother in front is Samual Butt, H.C. Bridgend Ward, and the brother behind him is Tim Gould, H.C. Pontypridd Ward and over YW organization, and next is Clive Wilkinson who is the Stake Y.M. President, and the other brother sitting, and the one standing would be Nathan Eagg, stake clerk and Yues Gros H.C. over seminary - Cardiff Ward. Whew! Big meeting of the 'Powers that Be' in Cardiff Stake!

'Grandpa' Gabb, Brother Simon Hayes High Counselor over missionary work and public affairs, Bishop Nathan Woodmore (? difficult to decipher) Cardiff, Catherine Whittaker, stake R.S. President, Kristy Ward, Stake Primary President, Katie Gilmour, Stake Y.W. President, Robert Gilmore, H.C. over Young Men.

We sent a roll around for all the brethren and sisters to sign and make note of their duties. We have met with at least five stakes and this is the first where we did this. Sigh. We didn't imagine the enormity of meeting with 15 stakes and remembering who they are and what they do! Maybe we could each get a secretary to help us keep track of it all. (nope!)

This was our first trip to Wales. We kept talking to them as if they were England and they aren't. We knew that, but we forgot. We have a travel book of England and when we were looking through it recently, we said, "Why isn't Wales in here?" Oh. You mean they're a separate country? Another sign of the times. Elder Jolley would never have "missed" that in his prime! Sister Jolley would have easily missed it since she can get lost in Kaysville!

At the end of the meeting, the Executive Secretary, Brother Robert Taylor, very kindly made a few remarks about the way things are done in Wales as opposed to how they are done in England. Sister Jolley 'seriously' reminded him that the Jolleys are still learning. "And now that we know we are in Wales....!" And they all laughed, so the tension of our stupidity was relieved. (you had to be there)

To complete the round table, which was actually a rectangle: Robert Taylor is a bit dark...Fortunately, he posts a photo of himself on his emails, so we know him already. Next to Brother Taylor is Glenn Thomas, High Counselor over Y.S.A., Malcolm Heal High Counselor from Caerphilly Ward, and Brother Robert Gabb, (again) High Counselor, Single Adult Representative. Brothers Thomas and Heal kept teasing Brother Gabb about being their Grandpa. We THINK they were teasing! :-)

For our next trip to Wales...in September...we will be prepared...with their names memorized!

We used points to book a room in the Marriott in Cardiff for Thursday night. After we had checked in at 3 p.m. we walked up to Cardiff Castle.

This was a view of the city from the hotel window. Cardiff Castle is in the distance with a flag on top.

                                           This is a view of the city from Cardiff Castle wall.

                                                         Cardiff Castle Entrance

                                                The Castle Keep sporting a Griffin Flag

                   The Castle walls are lined with colorful flags representing...knights of old?

Sister Jolley in her P-Day clothes...(belly happy like Chinese girl)...inside the bomb shelter.  One of the kings had the walls built with a walking galley inside so he could exercise in spite of inclement weather. During WWII the chambers were often used as bomb shelters. In the back portion, without windows, the atmosphere is eerie. There are recordings of bombs and sirens to make it more creepy.

When Sister Jolley was walking down the stairs of the castle keep, she dropped her purse (huge black thing that weighs as much as a baby), and scared poor Elder Jolley, as it sounded like she had fallen on the staircase. Sister Jolley is following in the footsteps of her mother, Mavis, who also carries a purse equal to half her body weight. The purse must have a large capacity to contain: a wallet, camera, umbrella, change of underwear and socks, sunglasses, money, kleenex, notepad and pen, sewing project, extra set of keys, and while in a foreign country...a passport; just in case Confucius try to deport missionaries who smile too much, and take too many photos.

 If the Castle was attacked, the Castle Keep was usually the last stand, so it had to be elevated and                  surrounded by a moat, preferably one that was filled with alligators.                              

On Friday morning, July 18th, Elder and Sister Jolley took a walk down to Cardiff Bay. They needed a walk before they climbed back in the car for the two hour drive back to Birmingham. (It should have been 2 hours but due to heavy traffic, it was closer to 3 hours.)

                                                  Another "selfie" in front of Cardiff Bay....

           
               These umbrellas were made of dried grass so we almost felt like we were in the Islands.

                                 
                                   Pretty clock tower and carousel in the plaza next to the Bay.

                                         
                                           Cardiff Bay - just a hop and a skip to the Ocean!

Happy Pioneer Day this Thursday, July 24th! We will be in Coventry that evening to make a presentation to their Council. We'll be thinking of you -

Loves, Ma & Pa, Elder and Sister, and Gramps and Grammy

Gadfield Elm Chapel and Benbow Farm Pond

Last Saturday morning, July 12th, Sister Jolley, (using the Self-Employment Office upright vacuum), did aerobic vacuuming of the flat, cleaned the entire kitchen including cupboard doors, countertops, appliances and floor. Then she cleaned the bathrooms and dusted all the furniture, which may have totaled 2 hours...definitely easier cleaning than the homestead back in Kaysville! But far less exercise. :-) Meanwhile, the Hulk a.k.a. Elder Jolley was out for his "wog". Hip hip hooray!

After the cleaning, wogging, and showering, we headed out in the afternoon of this sunny day, for some church history sight seeing. We had the co-ordinates for the Gadfield Elm Chapel, which took us right to the chapel. It is located near Pendock, in Worcestershire. (Yes the sauce originated here!) The chapel was built in 1836. In the entrance, photos can be seen of some of the early local church leaders. There is also a register for visitors who wish to sign their names and make comments.

                                              The wooden pews & rafters inside the chapel.

                                                   

                                             This side is the entrance with the secret code.

                                           This door leads directly into the area with pews.

                                                   Sister Jolley out by the wishing well.

Over 160 years ago, Gadfield Elm Chapel belonged to a Christian congregation called the United Brethren. They were a group who had broken away from the traditional religious denominations of their time. All but one of their congregation joined the LDS church after hearing sermons preached by Wilford Woodruff. After the congregation was baptized by Brother Woodruff, they donated the Gadfield Elm Chapel to the LDS church for their meetings.

During the few months he was in this area, Wilford Woodruff also baptized 1200 from other denominations. Church History (as someone said) did not happen only in America. Lots of church history took place in the U.K. Many of these converts traveled to America and helped to establish the city of Nauvoo. They were later driven out and were among the saints who crossed the plains and settled in the Salt Lake Valley. This was the first chapel used by the saints. They had not constructed chapels in America at that point in time.

The Gadfield Elm Chapel fell into disrepair through the years, but in 1995, the church bought the site and restored the chapel as best they could to replicate its original state. In 2001, Jeffrey R. Holland, a descendant of one of the original United Brethren leaders, re-dedicated the chapel. It is now a popular church history site for youth groups and others to tour.

If you can figure out the riddle at the door, you can enter the chapel at any time. First, what is the middle initial of Heber Kimball? Second, How many chapters are in the book of Enos? Third, What age must you be for baptism? Fourth, How many members are in the Godhead? Fifth, How many books are there in the BOM after Moroni? And sixth, What was the first initial in Brigham's last name? The only ones that count are the 4 in the middle - did you guess what they are?

Hill Farm

                                                    Path Leading to Benbow Farm Pond

                                           The water is surrounded by a wooden perimeter.
                                       Difficult to see the pond since it is as green as the grass!

                                         

                                               Plaque located near Benbow Farm Pond

                                                    Elder Jolley: "THIS IS THE POND!"

The Benbow Farm Pond was our next destination. The significance of the farm is that is where Wilford Woodruff met John Benbow, a wealthy farmer, and his wife, Jane. He preached his first sermon in their home. The next day, he preached another sermon. Six people were baptized in the pond, including John Benbow, his wife and four United Brethren. When Wilford Woodruff preached in their church, 1000 people showed up, as compared to their usual congregation of 15. Many of the 1000 were baptized and formed some of the earliest branches in the church in England. Brother Benbow also helped finance the 1st British edition of the Book of Mormon.

It took us about an hour, tired and hungry by then, to find the Benbow Farm Pond. The secret is: When you leave Gadfield Elm Chapel, enter Ledbury into your SatNav (England for GPS).  Once you find Ledbury, the farm is only 20 minutes from there.  Head into Ledbury City Centre, pass the Tesco on your left, continue straight ahead to the turnoff to 4214 Bromyerd. (sign post) Continue through Staplow Village. Road forks. Take LEFT fork to 4220.  Signpost will say Bishop's Frome & Bromyerd. Continue to a sign post at tip top of the hill which points to the right and says: Frome's Hill. Take that right turn and continue until you see the Hill Farm sign.

Enter the driveway and park up by the barn. You need to get out and look for the gate. There is a little sign on the gate that designates this is the way to the BF Pond. Open the gate and walk down a slight slope. The church doesn't own the farm. They only own and maintain the pond. You can enter another  gate to get closer to the pond...have a seat on the bench and relax and meditate. :-) These directions are for US in case we go back. We won't ever get lost again!

Great Church History Tour! These photos were taken with Elder Jolley's phone, since the camera battery had died. Pretty Sweet!

Coventry, Preston Temple & Church History

On July 1st, Elder and Sister Jolley went to Coventry Stake where they met with Mark Reynolds, the high councilor over employment; Sister Natalie Green, and Brother John Taroni who are the Coventry Stake Self-Reliance specialists. We had a nice visit with them in the computer room of the stake center. They are anxious for the arrival of the new SR materials.

Coventry Stake Centre...not one of the more beautiful shots of the building, but the name looks good!

Here we are in front of the Coventry Stake Centre with our cheesy "selfie" photo.

Coventry stake SR specialists are ready for the "new day"...they have been waiting for a long time to get their stake on board, but without much luck! We will be returning to Coventry on July 24th... happy Pioneer Day!...to talk to as many of their council as the specialists can gather up. :-) We'll report further after that visit.

On July 8th we headed up to Chorley/Preston - about a 2 hour drive from Sutton Coldfield. We arrived at the patron accommodations at 3:30 so we unloaded the car and took a short walk around before going to the temple for the 5 p.m. session. We were the only ones there. This was a Tuesday.

I added most of our family's names to the prayer roll since we had some time to kill. :-) We waited until almost 5 p.m. but didn't see anyone else come in so we decided to come back for the 7:30 p.m. session. Fortunately, there was a small wedding party there for that session. We were the witness couple since most of the family members were involved with the excitement of the bride to be. (In other words, most of them were late coming into the session.)

                                                          Preston Temple in Chorley

                                                     Elder Jolley next to the spooky tree

                                                  Lovely flowers on the temple grounds

                                           The temple spire can be seen through the archway.

                                                   The bed is more comfy than it looks!

                                                            Temple Accommodations

Preston and Chorley are within a few miles of one another. For Tuesday dinner we went to a restaurant in Chorley called the Cosmopolitan. We met a couple of young women who worked there who were also LDS. They noticed our badges, of course, and told us they were church members. They said they came from a family of 10 siblings...5 girls and 5 boys. These sisters looked nothing alike...one was skinny and blonde while the other was full-figured and dark-haired. Maybe a bit like Aunt Judy and Sister Jolley about 45 years ago. heehee  I tried the restaurant's soup of the day, broccoli and zucchini. (They call zucchini corguettes or something like that.) It was excellent. I will have to attempt to re-create it! In the tradition of cookbook research carried on in merry old England!

On Wednesday morning, July 9th, we went into Preston to see some of the church history sites. There's an obelisk in the market square that was supposed to be near where the first LDS missionaries would stand to preach. They stood on a small platform called a Bull Pit. (sounds a lot like Pulpit! :-)) Elder Jolley photographed the obelisk and some of the buildings in the square.

                                                         Talk about a fork in the road!

                                    Monument to the Preston heroes who died in WWI & WWII

  In Avenham Park there are 3 plaques honoring those who joined the church in the U.K. and Ireland.

                                             The plaques are located in the Japanese Garden.

                                   Beautiful view of the Japanese Garden & bridge over the pond.



                                    Ribble River where many of the new converts were baptized.

 Lovely Swans on the Ribble River. "As I went down to the Ribble to pray, studying about that good old way and who shall wear the robe and crown... Good Lord, show me the way!"

          Elder and Sister Jolley wearing their shades. Elder Jolley did not bring his sunglasses to England since he was sure he would never see the sun here. Luckily, he had to buy a new pair. :-)

                                                Elder and Sister Jolley IN the shade.

That chocolate thingee that I had forgotten the name for when we had hot chocolate at the castle, is called a "flake".  It's a long piece of chocolate that is kind of flaky. Hummmm...Hard to describe! But they like to stick one in ice cream cones or in hot chocolate, etc. It kind of looks like a single kitkat stick with holes in it. We'll have to do a closeup on some of the foods here so you can see some authentic fish and chips, Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, flakes, etc.

Wednesday evening, we met with a great group of SR specialists from Chorley. The stake centre is conveniently located right on the temple grounds. We were planning a half hour to an hour meeting but we were there from 6:30 until 9:30. They really enjoyed learning more about the SR initiative! After the meeting we grabbed a burger and then drove back to B'ham, which put us home about midnight. We're called brummies since we're from Birmingham. :-) Well it's late so gotta go catch 40 winks. So bye-bye until next time...

Thank you to ALL those who contributed jokes to the blog. (That would be Emma and Brock. haha)

Next Blog...Gadfield Elm Chapel and Benbow Farm Pond.

AND we head to Wales on Wednesday the 16th to meet with Cardiff Stake. Pretty excitinin' folks! :-)