The farmers have planted wheat in all the fields that we can remember as potato fields and it is up in that beautiful, verdant, new growth green that characterizes new grass. (This photo was taken in the evening and the soil is black as coal so it seems dark, but the light coming through the new blades of wheat grass is almost chartreuse. You may need to change the angle of your computer screen to get the full impact.) Each blade of grass is its own little miracle and the power of the mystery that binds farmers to farming.
We are seeing other little miracles all around. Last week we had a plumber help with refurbishing one of the homes in our stewardship. We are tiling the floor of the bathroom so the toilet needs to be removed. It is connected to the concrete slab below with a concrete collar! The plumber explains that the porcelain toilet always breaks before the cement that holds it. My mind says, "But this house belongs to Heavenly Father and you may be surprised this time." A few minutes later the plumber is smiling as he carries a completely whole and unmarred toilet out of the bathroom.
It reminds us of a thousand other little miracles: like when we decided we really wanted to volunteer for this mission our budget indicated that we could barely make it - that we would really have to be very frugal to avoid dipping into our life savings. We prayed and didn't understand why we felt that everything would be just fine. We applied and received our call and are informed that we have been called under a new program. When we arrive in England we are told that we will not have to pay any rent on our living quarters and that our car will only cost us mileage for personal, non-volunteer trips. Meanwhile the exchange rate of pound sterling for dollars has shifted 15% in our favor. We are making extra payments on our mortgage and just bought Charlet a much needed computer. There are many, many others.
Like the long ridge pole beam in the ceiling of our home that we prayed for and found on the beach a few days later: Like the new driveway that we needed to build and the heavy equipment business acquaintance who needed wetlands work done in exchange for working on our driveway: Like the friend who took raw logs in exchange for cutting other of our logs into lumber for the improvement of our garage. We just received word yesterday that the lumber is now seasoning in our garage. Like the recent recovery from a severe sore throat that happened in 18 hours instead of the usual week or two. Like the many times Jack would find that the lumber he had on hand was just barely enough (within a few inches) to finish the job he was doing. Like the owner of the lot next door gladly giving permission to fell our trees onto their lot; saving us at least a thousand dollars. Like the audiologist and doctor who said Jack's symptoms showed a tumor at the base of his skull and the Priesthood blessing that said he would be fine and the subsequent MRI that showed absolutely no abnormalities. There are many more that could be listed but they are small compared to one of the greatest miracles of all.
Last night we listened to the Apollo astronauts talk about their trips to and adventures on the moon and at the end of the program they spoke of the spiritual impact upon their lives of seeing the earth so small "you could hide it behind your thumb". One said he had an epiphany when he realized that the molecules of his body, and those of the moon, and the lunar lander and those of the earth then so far away, that they all were from the same great universal source of all these things and that he felt an overwhelming sense of unity with all things. Another said after that experience he had to give his life to Christ. Another said that he could not escape the profound feeling that the earth was so fragile, just a little sphere floating in space, so vulnerable and so tiny and the realization that there was a great creator-mind behind it all.
The great miracle that comes to mind today is that we are all alive and on this earth, that we can think and choose and act, or choose to be just acted upon, and that we can comprehend all these things and contemplate eternity and the great questions of life. And our thoughts are naturally drawn to the Creator, the Holy One of Isreal, the Only Begotten of the Father, the Savior and Redeemer who choose to come to our earth and be be among us in the most humble way so as to not frighten us with his power and might, and the tender mercies that that showed us. Fifty years ago we choose to try the Restored Gospel as promulgated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to see if it was what it claimed to be. Now, after having put it to the test for half a century, we are compelled to say that everything in it is exactly as it is claimed to be; that it all makes sense; that it is truly the way of happiness and fulfillment; that God speaks to men today; that there are Apostles and Prophets in the earth again; that miracles can and do happen on a regular basis and that we have learned by our own experience that it is all true. Therefore we say with gratitude and soberness that Jesus is the Christ, that he was and is what he claimed to be, and that we are just grateful to be able to celebrate this special time of year with the millions who join with us in his praise.
We live in the country: Feltwell, the nearest village is 3 miles South and the next is Southery, about 5 miles North. They are both small villages with one petrol station, a post office, a pub or two and a small grocery. It is a beautiful area made verdant by the deep, black soil of these ancient fens.
Today, while on our way to work on the bungalow at 1 Church Farm (this is a reference to a nearby church built in 1905 on the farm that was, and still is, there), we crossed the bridge over the Little Ouse river. The scene was one of those you see in the English movies. You will want to click on this picture and then click again on View Full Size (upper right corner of the picture you will soon see) so you can get a much better look.
Also of interest here is the high banks of the Little Ouse. This ancient river has been elevated several feet so that it will function as a drainage channel for the draining of the fens. The deep ditches around the farm fields (fields are about 10 feet below sea level) gather the ground water and it is pumped up into the Little Ouse. The surface of the water in this picture is approximately sea level. This water will be lifted again before reaching The Wash, a large natural shallow bay North of Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
We suppose that people may think, based on our blog, that we do a lot of sight seeing and maybe not so much work. Well, most of what we do is pretty boring, mundane stuff that we don't bother to mention here. However, this morning, we did get help from Brothers Ross and Ben Smith with some heavy concrete work. We were pouring footings for the last two supports for the large "poly tunnel" (a partially covered vinyl quonset hut with open sides and ends) that makes a nice rain shelter for part of the Liahona Youth Activity Centre. But this past week we have done the following more typical things: scrubbed walls, replaced loose tiles, cleaned away peeled paint and applied damp seal, painted, repaired warped flooring, tightened windows, fixed a door so it swings properly and latches without having to slam it, removed, cleaned and replaced light fixtures, repaired window blinds, installed a man hole cover, cleaned out a shed, winterized the camp water system, bought and set up storage shelves, mowed a lawn, trimmed a hedge, whacked weeds, tidied up flower beds, fixed a faucet leak, etc etc. We also set up a system with forms for a survey of 51 homes and inspected 7 of them for needed repairs, upgrades, etc. We could take pictures of all that stuff and post it here but we don't think it makes very interesting reading. Well, maybe once - so you can see what we do most of the time - and this may be that once.
On the other hand, we probably are doing a bit more sight-seeing than some of our predecessors. The Church asks the Elder to work 30 to 40 hours a week and expects that the Sister will do very little of the work and gives her a page and a half of ideas about things she can do like volunteering in the community, etc. Sister Pemberton, however, is spending most of her discretionary time working with Elder Pemberton and puts in at least 20 hours a week of "farm" work. She does most of the mowing, and nearly all the painting and cleaning. We are running about 65 - 80 hours a week between the two of us. That takes a little pressure off and lets us take an hour or two during runs for parts or materials to see some sights. Our big trips - Norwich Cathedral and the Tower of London - were done as part of other trips we had to take anyway.
On a clear autumn Sunday afternoon, we took pictures of our local village. This is the Post Office, just tucked into the end of an apartment building.
This is Londis, one of two grocery stores. There is also a butcher shop, a auto repair shop, and a second hand/antique store where you can buy, for example, a hand cranked sewing machine with curved wooden cover for about $55. There are three pubs (public house, inn, or hotel with bar) one of which, the Chequers, is pictured here.
Painting over the natural brick and stone construction, as seen on Londis and Chequers, is quite popular, as is naming your house with a little plaque like the Forget Me Not Cottage.
The largest house in the area is on the outskirts of the village. It seems to have been converted into some kind of institution. The chimneys are each remarkably elaborate as seen at the right below.
The single most imposing structure
in town is St Mary's Church, built in
about 1300 AD. It is a very unusual
building that just happens to be in our little village. In 1602 the church was listed among the Ruined and Decayed Churches in the Deanery of Fincham and Cranwich. However, it was obviously still in use since the three bells are dated 1621 and 1711. It was repaired in 1834 and in 1862. Towers of the size of this one, and churches in general, were built at the rate of 6 feet per year to enable the mortar to dry.
The church contains nine
stained glass windows
forming the only set of such windows in the United Kingdom. The red coloured glass was only found in two of the most notable cathedrals in Europe. No other church in Britain has the same red
colored glass.
The main entrance from the street is this small but very heavy door. There is some evidence that there may have been a Church here before 1300 since some of the oldest parts of the building, near this door, seem Roman.
The pews are interesting in that they are intricately carved with tiny figures of people and animals on the hand rests at each end.
During the Commonwealth, 1647, when England was "converted" from Catholicism, most churches received considerable damage as people destroyed what they thought were forbidden, graven images. Luckily, they missed a few in St Mary's as can be seen at the right. These pews are 400 years old and still as miserable to sit in now as they were then. The red poppies are a reminder that the UK is observing "Remembrance" of Armistice Day.
There are numerous, finely detailed, carved wooden lattices in St Mary's, typical of most European churches of the period.
Please note that any picture on our blog can be enlarged by clicking on it. When you see the enlargement, there will be a tiny magnifying glass next to it at the upper right. Click on "View fill size" if you want more. The Back Button on your browser will return you to the normal blog formatting.
Here is our Stake Centre in Norwich, and hour drive from our home. We made the trip for Saturday evening session, doing our errands beforehand to make the most of the trip. We met President and Sister Foulger of the London Mission, who welcomed us to attend gatherings of senior missionary couples, even though we are not technically under their wing. On Sunday, the building was packed, new converts, investigators, and the recently reactivated seated on the front rows.
Our Stake Presidency, all native English, have an oratory style of speaking that lifts you right out of your seat. It was a wonderful Conference.
On the way this morning, the sun was bright so we took a few moments of video of the drive along A11 from Thetford to Norwich, both of Norfolk. Here it is:
The A11 is an excellent highway, maximum speed is 70 mph, it is smooth and well maintained. In this little clip you see a typical "roundabout" sign (green sign with circle and radiating spokes) and see us navigate it. We are continuing on the A11 so we basically go in at the bottom and out at the top of the circle. These roundabouts always slow you down and so are a bit of a pain. However, they obviate the need for overpasses and traffic lights and usually you move right through them so they are, except during heavy traffic periods, very good at keeping everyone moving. For this reason, we suppose that gasoline burned while waiting for traffic control in England is much lower than in the US.
The table set for dinner features some typical English dishes including Toad in the Hole made from sausages baked in a popover batter, onion gravy to go over the Toad, potatoes mashed with Stilton cheese (not shown) pickled beetroot, and Black Currant/Lemon Squash, a beverage made from squashing fruit. ( I had to ask didn't I?) Toad in the hole is pretty good if you want to try making it from a recipe on the internet which may have a less confusing method sequence than the one I found on the BBC.
The rose on the table is from our garden. Pretty good for November, eh? See Jack in the mirror? We got this sideboard from another missionary flat that was closing up. It has "barley twist" turned spindles on either side, quite popular with the American collectors. We found 4 barley twist chairs in one of the sheds here.
A major part of our stewardship is to act as administrators and Camp Directors for the Liahona youth camp located on the farm in Feltwell, Norfolk, UK. Nearly half the time we spend at this is in mowing about 7 acres of grass - on a regular basis in the summer months. Today our Ward in Thetford is celebrating Guy Fawkes (say "fox") night at the camp so we have been very busy getting everything in order. We cleaned up the large fire ring (King James I said we have to have a big bonfire), cut down and then cut up a couple large branches from a tree overhanging the fire ring, placed upside down potato trays in a large circle around the fire pit, got three generators going to provide lighting for parking and the camp proper, cleaned the black fen dust off the counters, tables and benches in the eating area, and made sure the hot water heater was working.
When the celebration began, it was dark but we had the place lit up and the people just kept coming. Here are a few of them in the kitchen/dining area and here is the effigy of Guy Fawkes.
He will be burned a bit later as part of the Guy Fawkes Day celebration of the survival of the King and Parliament that were nearly blown up by the powder Guy was guarding. Guy wasn't the ring leader, but he is the one who was captured first so the 5th of November got his name on it.
There was plenty to eat, there was a skit retelling the Guy Fawkes day's origin, and a huge bonfire where he was burned in effigy.
We suppose that the Church would frown a bit on that, but it is a local
cultural event, so --
For the bonfire, we had hauled four loads of obsolete potato trays (6 inch tall wooden slat boxes) from one of the huge barn sheds over a mile to the camp. We pressure washed a bunch of them because they made good benches. You can see them stacked two high circling the fire in the picture on the right. (If you click on any picture it enlarges.)
Today after church we decided to take some videos using our cell phones. This first one is how the fall colors look through the windscreen of our car moving at 65 mph through the countryside in Old England (as opposed to New England).
We will have to take a few stills around town and post them later on. The old town church on the right here, is especially picturesque. Every town has at least one stone church that looks very much like this one: large square bell tower with chapel extending from one of its sides. There are literally hundreds of them.
You will hear our GPS navigator tell us "In 2.4 miles, turn right on Little Oulsham Drove". That is the turn onto the street where we live so you know how far we live from these scenes.
One of the things we especially like about England is that there is almost no shopping available on the Sabbath. Families get to be together without job obligations interrupting them.
A local home economics class, headed by Margaret Bruce, needed a bunch of potatoes for a special dinner they are
hosting and to support ongoing cooking training. Margaret heard about our huge potato fields and called to ask about gleaning. I called the farm manager - good thing I did - and he said all the potato fields had already been drilled with next year's wheat except one - SR23. So I checked my map and sure enough it was a close one. Some of the scouts came out to assist as they needed service hours. Here we are - picking up the gleaners - This field is about 24 acres. The soil was altogether different from that of our previous gleaning. Here is was heavy and the tractor tires had packed it down pretty hard. It had rained a little the day before so that made things gooey.
We also gave Margaret a bunch of beet root - part of what our great gardener neighbor Ray Dowe gave us.
Most of our work consists of small projects. We have a To Do list of about 25 items all the time and new ones come on almost as fast as we work them off so the list is actually shrinking slowly. When we start inspecting the 50 homes that are located on these farms, the list may grow again as that one is a rather large project. Anyway, here are some pictures of recent completions.
Today we cut down the left 12 feet of the hedge right over Jack's shoulder see the "after" picture below right. The brush on the trailer is from the area between our back fence and the fen drainage ditch just beyond that. We use the riding mower as a tractor when we are working on lawns as anything else would leave terribly deep tracks in the ultra soft soil
Yesterday we finished making a bed for a row of
roses and daffodils right next to the road in front of our row of duplexes. We are instructed to beautify our property and to "make it look like someone cares" so we are working at it. The farm pays for the flowers so all we have to do is the labor.
Yesterday, we also finished fixing up the front walk of the other half of our duplex. We leveled the soil, put down landscaping cloth and covered it all with two tons of "shingle", a colorful mixture of broken rock or gravel. (A lot of the rock in shingle is broken small flint stones.) We also placed four large square concrete pavers in front of each door to make nice front steps. Here's how #5 looks now. Compare with the left half of picture of September 16, 2008.
Two days ago we put a cast iron cover over this storm drain located just off the edge of one of our many barn yards. It was a four foot deep catch basin with a poor drowned hedgehog in it. We were glad to get it covered.
The stick is 6' long and only about 2' are above ground. The water is 3' deep. It was uncovered by thieves looking for scrap metal.
Today we are finishing up the painting of the down stairs bathroom and hanging a medicine cabinet in it.
