Benbow Pond at Hill Farm near Castle Fromme

President Rasmussen at the close of our meeting at Benbow Pond.

The farmhouse where John Benbow lived.  It appears that many of the outbuildings would have been standing in 1840.

My favorite missionary again!

It has been a dry year, so the water level is low in Benbow pond. 

This is the text of the marker placed in front of the pond:

 Wilford Woodruff at Hill Farm

On 4 March 1840, Elder Wilford Woodruff, and Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and William Benbow, a recent convert, visited John and Jane Benbow here at Hill Farm.  Sent from America to preach by Church president Joseph Smith, Elder Woodruff had been teaching and baptising in the Staffordshire area when he was prompted by the Lord to journey southward.  William brought him here to his brother's home.  John Benbow, a yeoman farmer and freeholder of this property, and his wife were affiliated with the United Brethren, a group of dissenters from the Primitive Methodist Church who held meetings here.  Elder Woodruff's journal records:  'I told Mr. Benbow I would like to commence my Master's business by preaching the gospel to the people....  I also preached at the same place on the following evening, and baptised six persons, including Mr. John Benbow, his wife, and four preachers of the United Brethren.  I spent most of the following day in clearing out a pool of water and preparing it for baptising, as I saw that many would receive that ordinance.  "I continued to preach and baptise daily.  The first thirty days after my arrival in Herefordshire, I had baptised forty-five preachers and one hundred and sixty members of the United Brethren.'  By December 1840, Elder Woodruff had baptised more than 300 persons and, together with other missionaries, converted 1200 others in the Malvern area.  The Benbows later assisted in financing the first British publication of the Book of Mormon.  Elder Woodruff's great missionary success helped create a strong foundation for the Church in Great Britain.  'The people were praying for light and truth,' he wrote, 'and the Lord sent me to them.'  This marker placed in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain, 1897.  This marker was dedicated by Jeffrey R. Holland in 1987.

Bikes, Bikes, and more bikes

 Ah the smell of a bike shop!  Who would think that such a smell would make me think of home and our children!  It made me miss my nice new bike too! 

One of our responsibilities as a senior missionary couple is to conduct flat checks.  That means that once a transfer (every six weeks) we inspect each of the missionary apartments in our zone.  Not only do we check for cleanliness, we look at condition of the apartment to be sure that the missionaries are in a safe and healthy environment.

We did our first flat checks in July. One thing that we noticed right away was the number of old bike frames and parts kept in the apartments.  Some of them are being used for parts, but most were just sitting there.  So in our September flat checks, Elder Hilton (aka Allen) collected all the unused frames and parts.  After collecting many parts, and with the resourcefulness of an elder in the zone, we now have one more working bike!  But it needed bearings.

So we took all of the parts (a total of five frames and about twelve rims) to a local bike shop. They will finish the work on the bike and then use whatever parts they can.

Best of all, we learned what will happen to the parts they cannot use. The hopeless parts are recycled. But the usable parts are collected by Raleigh bikes.  Raleigh has a program where they gather usable parts from participating shops, and then give the parts to local prisons.  The prisoners then assemble the parts into usable bikes. Then the bikes are sent to developing countries!  Here is a link to the Raleigh site describing the program:     http://www.raleigh.co.uk/Company/Recycle/

I was excited to learn of the good that can come from cleaning up the flats!

Just a side note.  Many people here call bicycles "push bikes."

Our bike shop has a great location.  It is adjacent to the bus stations!

This is the stack of bike frames and parts we took to the shop.

The bike shop in Lichfield

The bike shop owner suggested that I come behind the counter to get a better photo of the stack of bikes!

Doubled in size

These are missionaries who were serving in the Burton and Cannock Ward

With the wave of new missionaries, the England Birmingham Mission is doubled in size from a year ago! I cannot imagine how President and Sister Rasmussen keep up with it all. Last week we had the privilege of helping President with a missionary who was ill.  We spent a long, long night in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham with the elder before he was admitted to the hospital.

This week we helped with our first transfer. What a thrill it was to be at the Mission Office and meet some of the newly arrived missionaries, and see the new companionships. Our assignment was to provide transportation for elders who will be serving in our stake.  Our little Vauxhall Meriva was full loaded!  Allen's great packing skills came in handy as he and the missionaries wedged five suitcases into the back of the car. Then their bikes were strapped to a bike rack on the car.

Because of the influx of new missionaries, every ward in our stake now has two sets of missionaries. What an exciting time to be serving!

Sister Rasmussen does a great job keeping the mission blog up to date.  You can see photos of transfer day, Zone Conference, and new missionaries at her blog:  http://ebmission.blogspot.co.uk/

Double Cousins

Allen learned that he and Elder Singleton are double cousins.  They are closely related both through the Hilton and the Allen line!

Mexican dinners

The Mexican food section at an ASDA

Last night we had a few young people over for dinner and fixed Mexican food.  (It is the third time we have done so.)  I prepared chicken fajitas and refried beans and served it wish sour cream, salsa, lime, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and rice.  They loved it!   I am thankful I brought taco seasoning, chili powder, and Montreal steak seasoning from home.  Mexican food is available in the supermarkets in the International Foods section as you can see, but everything I have see it a kit for a dinner, not a package of seasoning.  We have not bought the tortillas in this section.  In the bread section of ASDAs they have wonderful fresh tortillas in four varieties:  white flour, white/whole wheat mix, whole wheat, and white flour/cornmeal mix. 

Baptism at Lichfield

We are happy to have another baptism here in Lichfield on Saturday.  Here is Aaron with our Lichfield missionaries.

Fresh produce

Allen last week

In downtown Lichfield there is a small produce shop.  Last week there were beautiful heads of cauliflower priced at only 59 pence each or 2 for one pound.  That is the equivalent of 75 cents per head!  We enjoyed them so much that I went back and bought more today.  I came home with a head of cabbage and two of cauliflower.  They looked so beautiful I could not resist taking a photo.  

Today's purchases, and my camera case for perspective.