Received a calling today. Can you guess?
Third week straight in the nursery, and now it
seems I am to become a permanent fixture. Brother Lineker, second counselor in
the bishopric, found me as I sat on the floor and invited me upstairs to the
bishop’s office. Yes, you guessed it – I
have been invited to continue glorifying the nursery. Awesome – no better place
on earth than among babes! (I felt very flattered when Leah told me that Lorina,
aka Sister Jones {not anywhere near as much fun as saying ‘Doig!’}, had
requested my present there. I consider that a real compliment. Leah also
mentioned that one scenairo may be that with four of us leaders, we may be able
to rotate having the chance to attend Relief Society and Sunday School. Sounds
good to me!) Besides in the nursery this week I met Molly, another nursery leader
from Alaska who came to England to follow her heart. Her boyfriend, Elvis, of
Afro-Caribbean descent, is not a member, and she likes him a lot – obviously
that she has come here: it all started on eHarmony. Molly turned out to be a
great resource: from her I learned that Birmingham is a perfect airport to
travel to, and from, Amsterdam. That’s important news for me, you know, as
Amsterdam is going to my ticket out of the country, so that I can re-enter and
renew my visa for a few more months before returning home. She said that not
only was it a fairly inexpensive flight, but also that immigration officers are
much less anal here compared to those in London airports. That’s good to hear!
Today in the nursery we had the regulars: saucy Marley,
mild Beth and taciturn Barnaby, then Diego, Sadie, Renee, Mia – not to mention, interloper, Ella Bella Ward.
In sacrament meeting, as this was her last Sunday
as a missionary, Sister Stucki was called upon to bear her testimony. She has
served faithfully and been an asset wherever she’s been. (She told me that her
mom was arriving this week and they were going to do some touring before
heading for home. That sounds fun.) She confided that she was SO glad she’d
been able to have our ward as her last service area, asserting that the
Harborne Ward was known affectionately in the England Birmingham Mission as the
‘promised land.’ (I guess, knowing our ward as I do, that I wasn’t surprised to
learn that, but it sure was awesome to hear it labeled as such.) Elders Eckelt
and Gorougi were some of the other speakers. They’re companions and were both
wearing floral skinny ties. It seemed especially humorous to me that they were
such blatant copy-catters, so much so that I had to chide them about it.
Besides asking if that style of tie really
WAS in vogue right now, I asked them where they’d gotten them. They said they came
from a store I’ve heard of before but never been to: Primark. Leah says it is a
store where dirt cheap is the mantra – and, of course, with cheap does NOT come
quality. To the elders it was affectionately known as Primani – take off on
Armani. Haha.
The last to speak were a missionary couple from
Bakersfield, California. More and more older couples nowadays are being called
specifically to work with young and mid singles (I understand the rate of
falling away from the church for this situation and age category is especially
high), and such is the case with them. Brother Woolsey is also serving as a
high counselor in our stake. (Martin tells me that he is a former bishop and
stake president.) He spoke on the different things in our lives that can act as
liahonas – such as one’s conscience, the Holy Ghost, one’s patriarchal
blessing, the scriptures, words of the prophet, prayers, temples, etc. God
promises that if we will obey these promptings, he will bless us with
additional light and knowledge – all leading to a greater understanding of God
and godliness.
Today, Linc was advanced to the office of priest
in the Aaronic Priesthood. I also had the occasion to meet a teensy, tiny
96-year old member of our ward – escorted by a younger woman who advised me to
speak up, as the lady is quite hard of hearing and somewhat blind. Sister Gwyn
Swift informed me that she goes dancing twice every week. (I would have
thought, ‘uhuh, right!’ except for the fact that her companion cheerfully
corroborated her story. Amazing - wow, way to keep young!!)
Following church, the young woman we saw with the
sisters in Pizza Hut this past week got baptized. I really admire Paige because,
though part of a member family, at the age of 16 it is her own decision and
commitment that has led her to the waters of baptism. It was really fun to see
her New Zealander EFY counselor from this past summer – all the way up from
London, she spoke on the topic of faith. Addressing Paige, she queried rhetorically,
can you easily describe the wind? Of course, not, and similarly, so it is with faith.
I found that correlation especially appealing. In his remarks, the bishop said
that he had often wondered why she was not a baptized member, as for all
intents and purposes she was, and might as well have been, a Mormon – terming
it a ‘dry Mormon.’ He concluded by saying, ‘and now, Paige, you are a WET
Mormon!’
Later in the day, a new family to our ward joined
us for dinner – the Gardners, Hannah and David, with their two small children.
David is a doctoral student, and Hannah a stay at home mom (pretty rare in this
landscape). On student wages, they have NO car. Man, I can hardly imagine that,
what with a family and all, but obviously they are making due and managing it
just fine. One interesting fact is that Hannah, as a youth, was in an institute
choir that Leah conducted a number of years back. An special item of note was
our Sunday dinner – Shepard’s or cottage pie (originally
an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. ‘Americans typically make
shepherd's pie with beef, I think mostly because we are much more of a beef-eating
culture than a lamb-eating one.’ The English call the beef dish a "cottage
pie". Naming conventions aside, the American version of Shepherd's pie is
essentially a casserole, lined with cooked meat and vegetables, topped with
mashed potatoes, and baked) – but not any ordinary old Shepard’s/cottage pie.
Leah says that, between her and Martin, ground hamburger meat is not a welcome
guest in their home, so she uses a meat substitute known by the company who
makes it as Quorn. (Erin, have you ever heard of this specific product?) At
Sainsbury’s I discovered that Quorn, found in the freezer section, is made from
‘mycoprotein, a nutritional member of the fungi family (88%), rehydrated egg
white, and roasted barley malt extract.’ It comes in a broad array of products:
from chicken fillets, nuggets, and roast, to steak strips and burgers, bacon
and sausage, plus fish fingers. Larger stores probably carry an even more
extensive line. I can tell you from experience that you could not tell that the
‘hamburger’ in our Shepard’s pie was anything other than good old tasty beef,
and also that Quron has a delectable tender texture, with none of the usual
gristle or fatty bits come to be expected of the original.
Photos_
1- in (as opposed to out of) the mouth of a babe
2- Quorn
Photos_
1- in (as opposed to out of) the mouth of a babe
2- Quorn
