Per Perkins Perhe: W#3 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang By Ian Flemming

Or all about our car experiences here in England so far ...

Welcome to our missionary week. We'll start with Scott's phone screen saver which I screen shot on Britt's birthday ... but all that aside I think she makes a great poster child for Sister Missionaries everywhere, don't you?

The bang bang part starts here, however. Meet Emmaleigh, she is an atypical car czar. Here we are on Monday afternoon as she shows Dad some tips for connecting his phone to the car's blue tooth. She quickly showed me the packet in the glove box for emergencies and we were off.

We decided to drive to Slough, where we are attending church, because we would be meeting the Sisters there the next day to feed them, and we'd only ridden there. Lots of lovely tree tunnels on the way ...

and ran into this road narrowing device that allows only one car through at a time ... the speed limit on some of these narrow country lanes is 60 MPH so when Dad came to it going about 25, thinking he should keep his speed up ....

This happened ... He had torn two slits shown here at about 3:00 on the tire, and it pretty much blew ... flat immediately, yep Bang-Bang (Aren't you surprised to know that Ian Flemming wrote Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang? I was) So unfortunately no magic involved in this car .... other than the magic of ...

Our Fair Fairy Godmother, who drove out the ten minutes from the office when Dad had a phone glitch that would not allow him to call the emergency number. The darling girl came right out and stayed with us until we had a firm appointment with a man to come replace the tire.

I went back to the office with her to wait, as I was in need of facilities not available road side. And Scott waited.

And waited ....

and waited .... in the end, from the time he hit this barrier, until the time the man was finished replacing the tire, which took 10 minutes, 5 and a half hours had passed.

Sadly we missed this farewell dinner for the Eddys who had been so kind to us since we arrived.

On Tuesday we were back at the office. Here you see us working with a gentleman in Denmark. He will be on our team as a service missionary as soon as his call comes through.

After the meeting, when James was off to do other work, we stayed on and visited with Niels. He told us how this beautiful young woman won the heart of an ancestor of his who was clergy men, which meant he ranked just beneath the gentry. He sent his younger brother to propose for him, and his brother made her his own bride. The clergy man later married the older sister ... The interloper was a policeman and an artist, he painted her portrait, as you see.

I loved this very old picture of the town where it all happened in the 1700's. I think. Niels was very interesting to talk to.

That night we successfully made the drive to the Slough chapel where we fed these two cute Missionaries. Both life long members, the front sister is from Cambodia, and the peace sign sister is from the Phillipines.

On Wednesday we did our first Webcat submission based on an Oral History James had done. It was pretty interesting, and Scott made a few submission goofs, but he was amazing in figuring out various elements of the submission process. It was very satisfying to realize that perhaps one day it will be a simple process for us.

After work we walked through the mall to the historic streets behind, this beautiful building is some kind of a church out building, and I thought it worth saving the image.

We had dinner later and then we joined this lunch time seminar in SLC live, at the church history museum as they discussed a new exhibit they are in the process of putting together.... It was a lot of fun to watch. There were several presenters talking about the display that will be part of the Salt Lake Temple open house.

When this painting popped up (The exhibit will have stylized portraits of various women from all over the world who were early members.) When I saw this painting, I told Scott I was sure it was done by Julie Rogers... an artist by whom we had many handcart experience painting prints hanging at Mosida. Julie even came out to Mosida while we were there and talked to us about her spiritual experiences that were part of the research she did for many of the paintings. This particular woman was a native of India, and had married a man from England who lived there as part of his employment. They joined the church, but he was away on assignment elsewhere when they each left to join the Saints in Salt Lake City separately. She ending up coming on her own as a, you guessed it, handcart pioneer and met him in SLC.

Here's a better shot of the painting.

On Thursday Scott took a driving lesson for an hour and a half. The instructor directed him to the place where the next Barbershop chorus he's going to check out is located. Dad learned a lot of new things ... I had stayed home that day, suffering from digestive issues.

I got feeling better by about 10, and had some excellent entertainment, like these two pigeons doing a mating dance on our balcony. (I googled "What does it mean if two pigeons peck at themselves while walking around each other in a circle, then stop and peck each others beaks, and then repeat and repeat?)

I also found this article on a Church History site about the back story of the building of the new Visitors' Center in Nauvoo. Long time readers will remember that we saw this amazing Tiffany stained glass window when we visited the center on a visit to see the Crumps on their mission in Nauvoo in July. Church history is amazing, even the history we are making now.

The same article mentioned how the stones found in the wreckage of the Temple were know to be part of the oxen from the original font in the temple. The article explained how the pieces were mapped into place to become 'part of an oxen again'. Reading this article made me go to my memory wall pictures, and to get all of my historic rocks marked now while I remember. You may recall that I have 3 pieces from the original Nauvoo temple as well.

That evening Scott attended a Record Preservation Center meeting for the Finland RPC on line at home.

This was our dinner that night. It was quite international, we had a vegan Chicken Kiev (Russian), Gnocci (Italian) and veggies in Curry (Indian) sauce with a Yorkshire pudding (Classic English) on the side.

Back at the office on Friday the Eddy's came in to turn in their keys, etc.

In the afternoon I had a meeting with Susana. She was the chair of a conference for the Self Reliance Department that was held in the Nordic Countries 6 weeks ago. While I was talking to her she shared a fun story. She is a convert to the church and lives in Portugal. Soon after her marriage, she and her husband had plans to move to a new location, and were concerned because their were no missionaries there and no organized branches. They went in to talk to their church leader, not sure if it was a stake or District leader, or even a mission leader and told him of their concerns. He told them to make the move and her husband would be called to be the branch president. But how could that be, there was no branch. Then her husband was called to preside over a branch that didn't exist. They made the move, held church in their home, and the branch grew. That was, I am guessing here, 15 years ago? Anyway. she told me that the branch is about to become a ward. I just love pioneer stories, and knowing people who are that strong. She works in the office one week a month, and remotely from home the rest of the month. My friend Annette Eddy and her husband worked under Susana while they were here.

In fact the Eddys invited us over that evening to find things we might use, as they cleared their apartment and packed. Annette is like me about saving money and waste. (I get it from being raised by a mother who lived through the depression, not sure where A gets hers)

We got a few more spices, that we didn't have yet, some cabbage, (She is a whole foods person too, it was great to talk nutrition with her.) I laughed when she wanted me to take one egg ... but see it was meant to be, I had only used one from the carton we bought.

On Saturday Scott went out for a run. He's been going once a week so far. He noticed all these folks at a sports field, and it looked suspiciously like a 5K set-up, so he went to investigate and found out that they have a 5K every Saturday. While Scott was talking to one of the officials a woman came up and said that she would be running her 300th race there that day.

Yep, Scott finds yet another way to mingle with the locals. I have become acquainted with a gal that clerks at my favorite Charity Shop on Saturdays. Does that count?

So this is me playing at my hobby while he is gone ...

I rather like how it turned out, I may print it off and frame it for my apartment. Its has many of the things that I love ...

Do you think I can count it as an art project?

After Scott got home and showered and worked on some of the mysteries of the computer programs we're using for a while .... we headed out to the Charity Shops. This one is a new one for me and I was so tickled, another shop owner, when asked if there was another Charity Shop near by mentioned it, but cautioned me, its a Haberdashery. I love the word and have been using it to describe my dedicated fabrics, trims and buttons booth at the Antique Store where I work. I didn't actually know it was part of the current vernacular.

How perfect is that? I know I'll be back, I bought a few things for my mission junk journal, including the packet with the bird cage in the upper middle picture.

Just a picture down the street, and yes we got wet. Sister Eddy had tasked me with taking a few items that didn't fit in their luggage to a Charity Shop ... so done and done.

On the way home I noticed this sign on our apartment building ... and yes they are boutique apartments, evidently decorated by a Japanese firm. I do love the style.

Here are a few of the pieces of signature art in the hall ways.

Dinner that night was not quite as exotic, but we had leftover Gnocchi, coleslaw (Thanks for the cabbage Annette) and broccoli.

That night we got together with two other couples who work at the office and live in our building. They drove together and we followed, mainly so we would know where to park and get to the Band Concert we were to attend. Unfortunately Scott hit another curb just before we got there, and we had the typical flat ... again ... the other missionaries say its a sort of initiatory activity. BANG! Elder Harris waiting with us, and then walked to the church to show me the way ... can you see the church behind him here?

I walked back to the car and waited with Scott until he got a phone call saying when the technician would be there. Then he walked back to the church with me, so he could come when the tire had been changed.

The man on the left playing the Euphonium works at the office with us, in the tech department. He told us about the Harlow Town Band Concert.

This collage is to honor Mark ... He walked me down the fun royal alley before we got to the church, and he and Cindy were sitting in front of us. The picture in the upper left hand corner is of him receiving the prize he deserved! (The conductor walked down the isle with the gingerbread gift and tickets directed by band members ... 5th row, right side, 3rd seat ... yep, it just goes to show you that there is some kind of karma thing going on, right?

Here he is with the prize afterwards

We got to sing Amazing Grace along with the band ...

Here are some other favorite, 'classics'

Here's the whole gang, save Scott who was still out at the car during intermission when it was taken ... The Flanagans, the Harrises, The Euphonium player and me.

Meanwhile at the site of the Bang Bang fix ....

The truck is amazing, full of tools and tyres, and the stuff to pull the ruined tyre from the rim and to replace and blow up the new tyre. Scott thought it was sooo cool.

a peak inside the truck.

Scott managed to catch the last four numbers and also got to visit with his fellow brass band enthusiast.

Today after church we had a linger longer and we got to get acquainted with two ward members who are dating. That was fun

Walking out another ward member said, "Here is a local history fact, this olive tree was brought back from a trip to Israel 30 years ago. How fun is that? Note the olives on the side walk.

What a beautiful tree.

We had an opportunity to sign into our home Stake Conference and we were so glad we did. A couple from our ward who were baptized a bit over a year ago spoke. They both grew up in Payson, she as a non member and him as a never really active member. The missionaries tracted them out and baptized a family of 5, in Payson. The most amazing thing is that their son who was baptized with them, was actually a member of my primary class .... for 10 months!! How did I not know that? I love happy beginnings. They were sealed last month, and when the father talked about his three little children dressed in white coming into the sealing room ... I doubt there was a dry eye at the conference.

Such an amazing week, trials yes, growth yes and learning patience definitely yes.

And now for family memories from home.

Pumpkin carving time for the Summers.

The master's candidate teaching a lab in college... hey I guess dinosaurs ARE a part of the science curriculum.

The triplet cousins (Born with in 6 weeks of each other) are gifted a party all their own! Thanks Aunt Nell for the trip to the pumpkin patch! Titan, Eleanor and Elias.

And a big congrats to Becca and her team!!

And Trevor had a nice trip to Texas ... with his work.

Becca's telling haunting stories on her social media pages ... my favorite is the one about the secret door she found at an open house with a client that led first to a tunnel, then to a bomb shelter, then another tunnel comes out a block from the house ... She also told about growing up in what the neighbors thought was a haunted house.

Our Campbell had a birthday and "Now We Are Six." (A.A. Milne)

Not family family, but my hiking family is having so much fun. I've not hiked with them since I fell and broke my arm back in 22, but they are beloved friends, and mostly book club buddies as well.