Home From Our Mission

Before we left Lima, we had a few more Farewell Meals with friends which were so enjoyable, and will help us remember the friends we left behind.  

Rocio (from the CCM) and her family enjoying Chinese

Some of the Senior Couples enjoyed Argentine beef

Presient & Hna. Cardon loved Chilli's

Liliana and family fed us in their home

We were so pleased we had a 4 day overlap with Steve & Lynda Bramwell, our successors.  We were able to show them the local Supermarket and market where we bought our fruit & veg.  Also the Area Office where we taught them about Missionary Applications.  They were able to sit in on our Health Presentations to the Americans & Latinos to get an idea of the sort of thing they could do when it was their turn in 3 weeks.  

Dr. & Hna. Bramwell in the grounds of the CCM

Due to changes in airline policy, we could only have one check-in case each, fortunately the Church agreed to pay for an extra case per person, for which we were very grateful.  (As if you could mange for 18 months with only one case of clothes etc!)  So when Graciela took us to Lima Airport, two office elders came too, to pay for the extra case.  One of them was Elder Pritchett who had been with us on Christmas Day & ate with us many other times.  Graciela’s husband also came to wave us off, which was a lovely surprise! 

Graciela sharing a Starbucks Hot Chocolate just before take-off

We were grateful to have an uneventful journey home via Amsterdam.  There was a bomb scare in Amsterdam Airport.  It was due to a dud World War 2 bomb, found near where we boarded our plane.  We knew nothing about it till the Pilot said that was the reason for our 15 minute delay.  A few of our friends were concerned though.  It was great to have Sarah, Paul & Family meet us, along with Malcolm, a friend to take us & our 4 cases + carry-ons home.  We were delighted to leave London City Airport within 40 minutes of landing, what a contrast to Heathrow!!!  

The Welcome Committee at London City Airport 

Brian reading with Mae & Nauvoo.

For some reason our garden hadn’t been done for a while, maybe due to frequent rain!  We were so grateful our son Simon & Paul, son-in-law had arranged for our Ward members to come & do a Service Project our first Saturday home.  There were 14 of them helping begin to restore the wilderness to a garden.  We were so grateful for their help.  Bernie Wheeler thought to bring his trailer, which was a brilliant idea.  He was able to take so many bulky things to the tip for us & saved us paying for a skip. 

From wilderness to garden

Bernie loading his trailer

A few days after arriving home we had a 4 day break in Eastbourn, a seaside resort on the South coast, which was really nice.  It gave us the chance to plan our Fireside for the 9th Sept.  About 70 people came to that, & it went well.  The atmosphere was very relaxed, where people could ask questions at any point, & Brian imitated the routine we did for helping missionaries to sleep well, having cleared their minds of worries. 

Fun in the park with 5 of our grandchildren

Jane tells of some of our mission highlights

Simon's daughter, Astrid, born during our mission

Our daughter & husband & little girls (of one and a half & two and a half) moved in before we came home, & had everything looking lovely for us.  It meant we could sleep in our own beds, instead of a hotel the first few nights while we unpacked our home.  The disadvantage is that we still use all their things, & are gradually going through our boxes seeing if there's anything we need, & listing the contents ready for use when Sarah moves out in Nov.  The plan is for them to rent somewhere in Bury St Edmunds, the town they plan to live in, & look where they want to buy a home.   We will follow when we've done a few home repairs & sold our home.

Sarah had their little boy on Sunday 23rd Sept at 5.25pm, having been to Church in the morning, &  Paul's patents for dinner (about 45 mins away).  She'd been contracting at Church, but it wore off, then as dinner was ready, they had to leave & hurry back.  The Midwife arrived 20 mins after they did & Sarah did very well on the gas & air (wonderful stuff!!)  Little Heber arrived just under 2 hours after Sarah arrived home & weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz - a good weight considering Sarah is normally quite slim.  It was lovely that we could see Heber when he was still very new.  His little sisters met him the following morning, having been looked after by Paul's sister until their bedtime, which was a Godsend for us.  Mae was very interested, but Nauvoo was more interested in playing with the fan beside the bed!  

Heber, grandchild number 11, just an hour old

Mae sees her new brother for the first time

The subsequent days have been a blur of preparing meals, doing 2 or 3 loads of washing daily (as apposed to 2 or 3 loads a week in Lima!) & trying to keep the place tidy.  How blessed we are that we are here to help, & not still on our mission in Lima, we love it!  We had a lovely Skype with the Bramwells, our successors, & we were surprised to find that afterwards we didn't wish we were back with them.  Now is the time to be here for family. 

On Sunday we had to defrost the windscreen before driving to Stake Conference in Ipswich, it was 2C

Brian had previously been called as Ward Executive Secretary, &  I was called to the Stake Public Affairs Committee.  I also gave a talk about how Marriage can bring Happiness & included a little about our Mission.  Due to the large number of people, the Conference was held in a Theatre, so it was a little daunting looking out at nearly 800 people as I spoke.  At least it was in English & about a subject I was comfortable with!

Even Colchester Zoo has an Inca Trail

We are so grateful we had the opportunity to serve our Mission & meet some wonderful people, they are what made it so good.  Now it’s great to be home.  I love it that every time we go out we are greeted by friends & neighbours asking how we are, or at the very least we see people we know.  It is wonderful to feel carpets under our feet, to be able to enjoy a relaxing bath and to have a continental quilt/duvet on the bed instead of a sheet & blankets which parted company sometimes.  We enjoy the smell of rain & everywhere looking green due to an abundance of rain.  Fortunately we haven’t had the flooding that other parts of England have had.  In Lima, it was wonderful to have Graciela drive us everywhere we needed to go, we wouldn’t have had it any other way!  She is a good friend who safely negotiated the manic traffic.  But now it’s great to be able to drive ourselves again, when and where we need to go.

Jane catching up on grandma experience

Thank you for reading our Blog, & commenting on it sometimes.  We will have it made into a book to remind us of the wonderful experience we’ve had.  We hope to serve another Mission doing the same kind of work, & again Spanish speaking in a couple of years.  Watch this space!