Dinner at the Eastern with Elder Bruno Vassel Oct 23, 2014

Crispy Fried Duck with beautiful veggie flower

It's a hard life but somebody has to do it!

Elder and Sister Vassel, Brother and Sister Pointer

Elder and Sister Lee, Brother and Sister Gardner

Sister Lee, Martin and Karen Gardner

More Crispy Duck with artistic Garni 

Fun Times in a London Taxi

Who ARE these guys?

At least they have good taste in women...

First Self-Reliance Committee Meeting in Birmingham Area Oct 29, 2014

John Bunting, H.C. over SR in Lichfield Stake, Elder Jolley,
President Thomas King, 1st counselor; Karen Gardner, Stake SR Specialist

Lichfield Stake Relief Society President, Mandy Charponiere, Brother Gardner, Bishop Robbins

When we figure out how to do it, we'll add a slide presentation to the blog.

Training Meeting October 27-28 2014

Brother Martin Gardner, Birmingham Centre Manager

Brother Les Pointer, Manchester Centre Manager

Elder Jim Phillips, our cheerleader, getting us all fired up! (Notice Brother Pointer, trying to stay awake.)

Elder Lee, 70 years young(nicknamed 'the kid')

Sister Phillips in green jacket, Elder and Sister Leavitt next to Elder Jolley

Sister and Elder Baxter

On the second day of training, we took a field trip to Gadfield Elm Chapel and had a spiritually uplifting meeting - a bit like a testimony meeting...it made some of us cry so maybe it WAS a testimony meeting! We felt the spirit of those early pioneers very strongly there.

The Whole Group at Gadfield Elm Chapel
Pointer and Gardner in back
The Lees, The Jolleys, The Phillips, The Leavitts, The Baxters

The Preacher is an apt name for Brother Gardner. He has the gift of gab.

Be sure you notice that you turn the knob to the LEFT! wink! wink!

Display inside the Chapel

Sister Starla Phillips walking the road to the Chapel

Brother Gardner and Elder Phillips "Don't go shouldin' all over yourself!!"

Across the field from the chapel there's a cute Harry Potter house on the hill.

Elder Jolley, Elder Phillips, Sister Phillips, Sister Jolley next to our Vauxhall car in front of the mission office.

Pre-2-day-training dinner Oct 26, 2014

Brother Martin Gardner planned a 2-day training event for the self-reliance couples in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Scotland. On the Sunday night before the training, we invited them all to come to our tiny flat where we had a huge pan of homemade lasagna, salad and bread, and Halloween cupcakes. Elder Jim Phillips said it was the best lasagna he had eaten in years. His wife, Starla, cooks for 100 YSA every Thursday. They mostly have soup and salad but that would be a huge feat for that many people. They like to do it because these young people may not have a family meal in any other way than this "gathering". Elder Phillips is a motivational speaker - Elder Jolley has known him for years! But he didn't put it together that this was THE Jim Phillips he had known in the business world in Utah. They had a happy reunion. :-)

Notice our bulletin board on the wall with photos of most of the grandchildren. We've added a few new photos in the past couple of weeks...blessings, baptisms, etc.

Elder and Sister Baxter (London)facing the camera; Elder Leavitt (Scotland)
End of table; Sister and Elder Lee (Manchester) back to camera

Sister Jolley telling tall tales to Elder and Sister Phillips & Sister Leavitt

Elder and Sister Lee arrived late due to motorway congestion

Elder and Sister Baxter; Elder Leavitt

This was our Halloween party/celebration. Notice the orange and purple flowers behind Baxters, the purple cups and Halloween tablecloth...we had to do something ghoulish!

Lichfield Stake Bishops' Self-Reliance Meeting November 13, 2014

Lichfield Stake is Brother Martin Gardner's stake and his wife, Karen is the stake SR specialist so they were quick to get started with selecting their Stake Self-Reliance Committee. The committee includes the SSR Specialist, a member of the stake presidency, the stake R.S. President or one of her counsellors, chairman of the Bishop's Welfare Committee, & stake high counsellor over SR.

1st row, Elder Jolley
2nd row, Neil Mace, Wylde Green HC;Bishop Gary Mason, Wylde Green Ward
3rd row, Bishop Patrick Robbins, Tamworth; Bishop Jonathan Baker, Burton-on-Trent

Phillip Adeogun, 1st cousellor; W.H.1st; Mike Smith, 1st counsellor, Walsall
Mandy Chaproniere, Stake R.S. President

Brother Mace, HC; Bishop Mason; Bishop Robbins; Bishop Baker

Elder Jolley and Martin Gardner, background
1st row, Bishop Mark Gilbert; 2nd row, Bishop Brian J. Mills

Attendees: Bishop Jonathan N. Baker, Burton on Trent; Bishop Mark Gilbert, Cannock; Bishop Patrick B. Robbins, Tamworth; Mike Smith, 1st counsellor Walsall (rep for Bishop Bryan Baker); Phillip Adeogun, 1st counsellor Wolverhampton 1st (rep for Bishop Peter Whittaker); Bishop Brian J. Mills, Wolverhampton 2nd; Bishop Gary M. Mason, Wylde Green; Mandy Chaproniere, Stake R.S. President; Neil Mace, high council Wylde Green; John Bunting, high council, Wolverhampton 1st

Bishops Meeting in Coventry Stake October 23rd

Bishops Meeting in Coventry -  a bit blurry but all we've got!

We met with the Bishops on a Thursday night after their Bishop's correlation meeting. Left to right:
President David Peterson (branch president of Warwick Branch), Bishop Paul Hughes (Rugby Ward),
Bishop Craig White (Coventry Ward), Mike Reynolds (Coventry Stake High Council over self-reliance, Bishop David Charmbury (Chelmsley Wood Ward), Bishop Joseph Gedge (Banbury Ward),
Bishop Matthew Grant (Nuneaton) John Taroni (Coventry Stake SR Specialist) was also there.

Bishop Grant initiated the meeting. A few days later, we received word from Brother Taroni that Bishop Charmbury requested us to teach November 30th in the Chelmsley Wood Ward joint Relief Society & Priesthood Meeting.

What we teach:
Self-reliance is not new - it was introduced in the Garden of Eden, but it is essential to our salvation. Can we return to live with our Heavenly Father if we're not self-reliant? NO!

Temporal and spiritual self-reliance are equally important to our salvation. There are new members all over the world who have never heard the word, nor learned the concept. It is the duty of all church members to strengthen and lift themselves after which they will be able to lift others. If we work together, there should be no poor among us. In Zion we are of one heart and one mind.

There are many longstanding members of the church who have forgotten that WORK is an important part of the Gospel plan. There is a new self-reliance initiative now available in many parts of the world, which comes complete with manuals for teaching, coaching and mentoring our brethren. This initiative has come through the 1st Presidency who have been inspired to take action to help all church members become self-reliant.

The booklet My Plan will be used to assess the direction needed by each member who is working to become more SR. According to the results of this assessment, each member will move on to lessons from My Foundation coupled with one of three other manuals. The booklet My Foundation contains a spiritual component while a companion manual will address one of three areas: Education for Better Work, Starting and Growing My Business, or My Job Search.

We're encouraging each stake to call a self-reliance specialist and to set up a SR committee. Each ward will have a SR specialist as well. Ideally it won't be the over-worked Bishop or R.S. President! Part of the work these specialists are helping to do is to identify the needs of the members in each ward. Once all the cogs are in place, those who need training should have access to resources in one of several places. They can come to the SR Model Centre where we will help them, or they can go to their own Stake SR Centre if they have one set up. They will become part of a Group who works together to help all members of that group. There is no leader or teacher. There is a facilitator who may be a ward or stake specialist, or SR missionary, etc. Each time the group meets, they will discuss one of the lessons in their workbooks. The group will assist each other to achieve their education or work goals.

If it sounds complicated...it IS! The whole thing has to take place in baby steps because we can't get ahead of the Priesthood leaders. The Stake President is in charge and it's his duty to get the ball rolling. We're here to assist. We're not the Ugly Americans coming in to take over! We do write letters and offer our services, but there are a couple of stakes that have never replied to our letters in the past 5 months. We may have to go in there with Self-Reliance pitchforks and coax them out of their hidey holes! haha

Ultimately, the goal is to become as self-reliant as possible, both temporally and spiritually. We will soon be sending out the SR "talk" that will be given to the Chelmsley Wood Ward the end of this month. It incorporates the 12 steps that are part of the SR lessons.