Here is a note from Dad. They also went to Buckingham Palace last week - you can't take pictures of the inside but Mom assures us that it was amazing and that all the centerpieces looked great. I think she is secretly getting inspiration from it all for when she comes home. Oh, and Dad's back is still a little sore from lifting too many heavy boxes during the office move but he is slowly mending.
We are sorry for all of you suffering from heat and drought. We remember only too well how long the summer is in Texas, and obviously this one has been and continues to be particularly rough. Maybe it is a good thing we still have property in Bear Lake. If Global Warming is a reality, we may need to head further north. Hopefully the weather will get in better balance, and we can still enjoy Texas.
Friday we drove up to Birmingham, about two and a half hours north, for a days training. We stayed the night there, and then drove back about 45 minutes to Warwick Castle; one of the best preserved old castles in all of England. (You don't pronounce the second w in England so it is Warick. The English drop a lot of letters in their words.) It was the real thing with a dungeon, towers, drawbridge, etc. We spent the day there and really enjoyed it. The first castle or defense building on the ground goes back to 1068 - almost 1,000 years ago, and the present castle started taking form 500 years ago. In addition to touring all parts of the castle, we watched an archer demonstrate how the longbow was used. He told us that it took so much strength to use it that over a life-time of pulling on the bow string it would change the bone structure of the archer. They can look at the bones of someone dead for 300 hundred years and tell if they were an archer. The bones in their right arm will be larger, their chest bones may be fused together incorrectly, and they may even have a twisted spine. The longbow as a fearsome weapon. It could shoot an arrow through armor. It ended the ability of knights on horse back to win a battle. Having seen the bows and the huge old arrows I can believe the stories about them shooting down horses and knights. A good archer could shoot as many as 13 arrows a minute so they were really deadly. We also saw a demonstration of hunting birds - raptors. The trainer worked with four large birds. He started with a full size 10 year old American Eagle. It was beautiful and kept flying right over our heads, and I do mean right over. He was so close to one man on the other side of the small demonstration area that he almost creased his bald head. Maybe he mistook it for a large egg - who knows. Then he used a young American Eagle. It hadn't yet developed the white head, but was all brown like a small golden eagle. Because it was young, it really hadn't figured out how to get the best use of its wings and the heat thermals so it flapped a lot more than its 10 year old father; and we were warned that it could accidentally hit into us though it didn't. The other two birds were smaller but still very impressive. They would always come back to the handler for a treat. The treats were not anything any of us would want - dead rats, pieces of chicken, or maybe a small fish though one of them liked vegetables too. A bit odd, I can't quite picture a hawk out their digging in my garden looking for a really good carrot or swooping down to carry off a small squash.
It is now Sunday afternoon here and we just finished listening to the Woman's broadcast. Great talks. The sisters are always wonderful teachers with great illustrations. While we are listening I was also reading in an old conference report from April 1985. It includes Elder McConkie's final talk and testimony. I can still remember listening to it. We all knew he was horrible sick and on his last legs. In fact he had willed himself to be there to give his final testimony of the Savior. What a great talk and a great ending for such a spiritual and intellectual giant.
Joyce is mastering English driving including the round-abouts which are a step away from witch craft. Go left and take the fourth exit or third or whatever, then try to count them with any accuracy. The Tom Tom is great but not always as totally clear as we would like. It is also complicated by being wonderfully jerky at slow speeds or when it shifts gears. Still Joyce has it down very well.
It is interesting to be able to help those who need a bit of guidance and encouragement. There are so many that have good talents and experience but lack the confidence to sell themselves. That is the one thing we both enjoy; helping people to see themselves a bit more clearly. It is amazing to see people come in with a lot of fears and walk back out seeing themselves in a totally different light. All those years I spent writing policy and procedures are paying off as I have the opportunity to help people writhe their CV's and cover letters. We may not be the perfect twosome for this, but we can help; and really that is what a mission is all about, just helping.
Love you all, take care of each other.
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