Our "Aber" life !

So much catching up to do - even though our last 6 weeks look very similar to each other! 

Let's start with something fun about the UK!  You may be a bit curious about some of the differences we have found so far living in the UK.  I posted about the dyer a couple of blogs ago, so today lets talk food... 

Ranch dressing - no where to be found! 

Ranch dry powder mix to make Ranch Dressing - no where to be found! Luckily Amazon comes to the rescue, but at a cost, I probably paid 2-3x's what I would have, but well worth it! 

Half & Half - not here

Miracle Whip- nope

Applesauce here comes with full on chunks in it- so I have to puree it if I am using it to bake with! 

The verison of "jello" I was pointed to at the grocery store by the kind worker, was already "jello" in a cube form. Which I then desolve in boiling water/ cold water method (like we normally do in the US), to then reset the "jello" for whatever I am using it for.  Here it is called "jelly" ! 

We have been asked quite a bit about what we miss from America - my immediate answer is : I miss being able to park in FRONT of a "take away" (meaning a fast food-ish kind of restaurant like Cafe Rio  or even Subway). Here, there is NO such thing as parking in front of your restaurant of choice! You would have to park in a grocery store parking lot, which gives you 2-3 hours of free parking. and then walk to your restaurant. Or you could find a parking garage & pay and then walk to your restaurant, or you just drive around and around until you find a space 10 blocks away, on a random residental street and then walk back to the restaurant! Parking is crazy here because of the narrowness of the streets! 

Luckily, we have learned that Aberystwyth is a very, very safe town to live in! 

Speaking of Parking !  Elder Hanks is now an offical UK Drivers License holder ! 

Missionary work: 

We SO love getting to work with the YA's on FHE and Institute nights! Even though it is alot of work, it is such a blessing getting to know all of these kids! One week, we had around 14-15 young adults attend Institute and 9 of them are not currently members!  

We are visiting a lady who lives in the same building as our Branch President. She is 80 years old and is wanting to know what our church believes. We told her about the restoration and she had some really great questions reagarding "that quite unbelievable story". She asked if we had seen God just like that Joseph Smith guy.   She recently told her Jehovah Witness neighbor that she was no longer interested in hearing from her, as she loves Christmas and her birthday ! We are excited to check back in a week or so and see what she thinks about 3rd Nephi and Christ appearing to the Nephites. 

We are also envolved in teaching the most kind hearted woman, who is going to school here for what we think is like a PA degree. She is probably close to our age, but loves coming to insititue and will make the best, insightful comments during our lessons. 

This week, we are beginning to teach one of the YA's who has been coming to FHE & Institute for a few months. Her mom was baptized in January and it would be so great to have both of them baptized to support each other and then, hopefully, be a good influence for the dad to be next ! Pray for Marcela as she starts her journey! 

A few weeks ago, we and the elders met with a guy who was a member a few years ago, but very quickly after joining, got caught up on some "internet research" and then asked for his name to be taken off. So he asked to met with us to have some of his "questions" answered, but it really was him trying to tell us that we needed to be "saved" and that he felt prompted to let us know that we were the ones who needed to consider some of our teachings.

We are constantly preparing for something ! We currently teach the Temple Prep class each sunday after church, we teach the combined EQ/RS at least once a month, or primary, or SS Come Follow Me or called on to fill in for a speaker. We are currently the "Easter Program" so if you have any ideas let us know ! 

Here is our lasted Zone Conference picture- This one has 4 Zones out of 7 attending

UK OUT & ABOUTS 

Here in Aberystwyth, we visited one of the local churches & this was attached at the end of ever pew... What do you think it is ? 

A Monday pday with our District playing Bocce

This is what our walks look like now. Even though the walks along the canal in Taunton were nice, nothing compares to the sound of waves while you exercise! 

We recently had a Sr. Couples retreat down in the south of England in a city called Weymouth. 

We were able to see Durdle Door, Corfe Castle, Salisbury Cathedral and the gravesite of Lawrence of Arabia.

Durdle Door:

Corfe Castle:

They were doing herring bone tile all the way back in the early 1200's !

Compare the 2 sides of the archway- see how much the left side has dropped?! 

the quaint little village outside the castle

Salsibury Cathedral : They have one of the 4 remaining original copies of the Magna Carta from 1215 on site here. No photos were allowed, so you will have to imagine or google what it looks like - it was amazing how TINY, beautiful and precise their handwritting was back then!

A Sr couple tried to take an artistic picture of us, reflecting off of the baptismal font. The white, streaky part at the bottom of the picture, is like a spout where the water flows out of the font into a catch basin on the floor.....he was so excited to take the picture for us! 

Our Local Aberystwyth Adventures: 

A local hike/walk called Devils Bridge- the water fall actually rivals Hawaii type waterfalls! I can't even imagine how green it will be in the summer!

                                                        

We found the Money Tree... stump! 

We think this may be our one and only Mini Golf.... but you can't beat that view! 

We love you all and miss you but we are grateful for the chance to try to strengthen the people in this part of the Lords vineyard! 

Thanks for reading this LONG one! 

Cheers, 
Elder & Sis Hanks