Leaving England

This will be an 'official' record of our mission, & a few of you may read things you already know - we hope this won't happen often.  As you can see, we are new to this game, so will learn as we go along.

On 14th January Simon came & helped us move out of The Homestead, in Witham.  He took some bits of furniture to Sarah, that she wanted, we gave some away, & the majority of our things was packed into 2 sheds, the smaller loft (leaving our larger one for our tenants) and jam-packed into the study.  Simon, kindly took the rest to their home to use/store.  We had our Farewell on 14th, at Witham Chapel, & really appreciated our friends coming.  We sang 'I am a Child of God' in Spanish with our Bishop & his family plus a family from Argentina. Part of our preparation for Peru.  We spent a week with Sarah & Paul, it was lovely getting to know Mae better, especially as she started walking then.  Our visas were still not through, so we moved to the Accommodation Centre at the London Temple, on 21st January.  They were grateful for our help there, & we were grateful for their friendship.

Simon's Consulting Room

On 27th Jan, Simon & Jenette were burgled while she was doing the school run.  The shattered glass of the window was all over the kitchen, & the rooms were

ransacked.  It was a very unsettling time for them, especially with Jenette being about 8 months pregnant.  We paid a flying visit to their home near Halifax, Yorkshire to wave the flag of support from the Goughs & were also able to visit Simon's new Chiropractic Clinic in Calderdale.  Very impressive.

Welcome Nauvoo

Another blessing of not getting our visas on time, was that we were able to visit Paul & Sarah’s little daughter, Nauvoo Valerie Brooks, born 14th Feb, before she was 24 hrs old.  We were so grateful, she looks like a mini Mae!  We were also able to spend our last weekend with them before Paul’s Dad took us to Heathrow.

Another "Doctor Gough"

We really enjoyed our short visit to Andrew, Ruth & family in Detroit, on 21st Feb.    We were amazed how the children had grown, especially Ben & Lilly.   We were able to go round St Mary Mercy Hospital in Lavonia, near Detroit, where Andrew works.  It made us very proud to hear how much the staff enjoy working with him

Matthew at Idaho State University

It was lovely to see Matthew in his new surroundings at Idaho State University, (ISU) & to see how well he has settled in there.  On Sun 6th March,  a missionary from Hampshire, Elder Bishop, sat in front of us in a Sacrament Meeting.  When he said he was going to the Pocatello Mission in Idaho, I told him that Matthew was at ISU, & altho’ there was little chance of them meeting, it would be great if they did.  I wrote, telling Matthew about this on the Monday & the next day received a reply.  He’d met Elder Bishop before he’d even read my e-mail.  What a blessing for these two Brits,  surrounded by Americans & people from other countries, to meet each other!!  We don’t think that was a coincidence!

That's where we are going

We entered the Missionary Training Centre (MTC) in Provo on Mon 28th Feb along with about 24 other couples, who were going all over the world on different kinds of missions.  We had a very busy week with presentations & classes from various teachers & couples who’d been on missions.  We really enjoyed being part of the 2,000 strong missionaries in the MTC at that time.   It was amazing to see how well organised everything was, like a well oiled machine. 

See the size of that canteen

We enjoyed a lunch in the Cafeteria with Heather Baxter, now Mrs Ellsworth. She is a teacher in the MTC while studying at Brigham Young University (BYU).  Having not seen her for a number of years, it was good to catch up, & also tell her about our stay with her parents the night before we started in the MTC.

Here's the other half of the canteen!

The Cafeteria could seat 800, & I just couldn’t begin to imagine what it must be like preparing food, & clearing up after that number.  

There's another row like this one

The laundry room was also a sight to see, with over a hundred washers & dryers.  Fortunately the cycles were short because the missionaries couldn’t leave their washing & go off.  They sat & wrote letters, sent e-mails or studied, or chatted while they waited.  Senior Missionaries have much more leeway, so we used to put our washing on & go & have dinner, because nobody used the machines in the evening.

Welcome to this world, Astrid

The second week we travelled to SLC three times to be trained about the Medical Computer Program for missionaries around the world.  Luckily we’d given the mobile phone number of the sister we travelled with to Simon.  He was able to ring us & tell us about the birth of Astrid Ann Gough, born on 7th March.  Jenette was very relieved as she was already 10 days overdue.

Outside the Salt Lake Temple 

After our 9 days training, we spent a day with Lillian and Claron Alldredge.  He was Mission President of the London Mission 1977 - 2000.  They live next door to President Monson. We were able to go into the Salt Lake Temple, & again admire the wonderful craftsmanship, that took 40 years to complete by the pioneers who didn’t have the tools etc. that we use today.

Volunteers at the Bakery

We visited Welfare Square where there is a Cannery, Dairy, Bakery where food is prepared for purchase, and for those in need in any part of the world.  The Church is always ready to ship supplies after any disaster, the most recent being the Tsunami & Earthquake in Japan.  We also saw Deseret Industries where people donate good quality goods & clothing, that can be bought or donated to those in need.  All of these places have a number of volunteers serving there, and the Alldredges often give of their time to volunteer in the Bakery.  

The most amazing thing of all was when we were watching a film about the work connected with Welfare Square.  Right at the end we saw a friend from Chelmsford, Mike Fagg, (recently released as London Temple President).  He was volunteering there & expressing how wonderful the program was.

Dwight Aitken, a friend I’d made during my first Mission, took us to visit our Mission President, Russell Bishop & his wife Claudia.  They lived nearby, & we spent a lovely evening reminiscing.  We stayed our last weekend with Karla Williamson, my Companion from the Language Training Mission, as it was called in 1975.  So as well as receiving training for our time in Peru, our three weeks in America was a lovely time for catching up with friends & family.  We flew to Lima, via Atlanta on  7th March, arriving at 12.30am. the next day.  In the huge crowd of people, never were we more pleased to see the white shirts & black badges of three missionaries who had come with their wives  to meet us.  We have been very blessed that the previous Dr & his wife left the apartment fully furnished & equipped with food, & every kind of supplies you need in a home.   Some missionaries have to fully equip an apartment when they rent it out.  We will tell you about the fun we've had in our next installment  "Our First Peruvian Week".