This past week we completed our training as Veil Co-ordinators. We have now been trained in all Co-ordinator positions. We had a very busy Saturday (Feb. 23rd) which helped us in our training. It was a wonderful day at the Temple. This next week there will be a large group coming from France. It should also be very busy, which is the way we like it. It still amazes us on how fast time passes. We have almost been here 5 months now. Every day at the Temple is a spiritual experience.

Hampton Court Palace & Gardens

Today (Feb. 25) the Temple van and one car took 14 missionaries to Hampton Court Palace. It was one of the residences of Henry VIII. surrounded by beautiful gardens. It was also the home of King William III. It was very cold and the only heat in the Palace was in the gift shops and the cafeteria. By the time we finished looking we were quite cold, however, the  Palace was amazing inside so even though it was cold we enjoyed what we saw. There was also a group of actors depicting Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and others moving around the palace and acting out scenes from the life of Henry VIII. They were excellent actors and we enjoyed their story.
Here are 6 of the over 200 pictures we took.

 Front Entrance

 One of the Stained Glass Windows showing Henry VIII

 Actors 

 one of the gardens

 One of the Tapestries

One of the Inner Courts showing unique window frames

We are looking forward to spring.

Love from Elder & Sister Kiddle

Baptistry, Valentine's Day and Sister Kiddle's Birthday

This past week we had a very busy week in the temple as we were Baptistry Co-ordinators. We had a very large group from Cardiff that kept us busy for two days. Brother and Sister Spencer's son was a chaperone with the group and helped in performing the ordinances. He was very helpful to us and we enjoyed visiting with him. His parents can be very proud of the example he is setting for the youth in Cardiff. His group did over 600 baptisms and confirmations. On Saturday we were nearly run off our feet co-ordinating three large groups of youth and young adults who did over 600 baptisms and confirmations. We love it when we are kept busy.

Thursday was Valentine's Day and our day to go grocery shopping so we picked up some roses for Sister Kiddle.

Yesterday was Sister Kiddle's Birthday. She really enjoyed all of the cards, letters, e-mails and phone calls she received. To mention 2 of cards, both the Relief Society from the Canyon Creek Ward and the 13th Ward sent cards. Over 40 sisters signed the card from the 13th Ward. Thank you everyone.

Flowers for Sister Kiddle

Valentine & Birthday Cards for Sister Kiddle

Love and best wishes

Elder and Sister Kiddle

Family Visitors

Last Thursday, February 7th, Cameron and Amber visited with us at the Temple and participated in completing some sealing's of Family Ancestors. It was wonderful. After the sealing session we showed them around the Temple. They were impressed with the Celestial Room and the Baptistry.

On the following day we travelled into London and tried to keep up with them as we visited St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. England's history continues to amaze us. In the late afternoon we went to St. Martin's in the Field Church and rested our feet while listening to a practice in preparation for a Bach Concert. The musicians consisted of 3 violinists, one Cellist, one Oboist and a pianist. The music was beautiful. After that we had supper at a local Italian restaurant (Prezzo)  across the street from Her Majesty's Theatre where we ended the day by enjoying the production of Phantom of the Opera. Cam and Amber treated us to the performance. We then caught the subway back to Victoria Station where we parted company and we returned to Lingfield by train and they returned to their hotel near St Pancras.

On Saturday we were privileged to have Aunt Joyce and Aunt Valerie come on their Stake Temple Bus for the eleven o'clock session on which Sister Kiddle was the follower. We then enjoyed lunch with them and Sister Kiddle took them to see our flat before they left on their bus at 3:00 PM. It was an exciting 3 days.

This evening we attended a Family History Fireside at the Visitor's Centre. This week we will be serving in the Temple Baptistry.

 St. Paul's Cathedral

Big Ben & Houses of Parliament

 The Tower of London

 Tower Bridge

 Trafalgar Square

 Her Majesty's Theatre

Love Elder & Sister Kiddle

Brighton Pavilion

This past Monday we went with a Van full of Temple Missionaries to Brighton which is only a half hour drive from the Temple to visit another of England's historic sites, "The Brighton Pavilion" which was built by King George IV. The structure of the building is of East Indian design but the interior of the building is Chinese in design. It was very beautiful.

We then had fish and chips at Harry Ramsdens Restaurant which is famous for its fish and chips and is across the street from the Brighton Pier.

After a walk along the pier we visited an old 12th century church " St Nicolas of Myra". One of the Temple Missionaries, "Elder Anderson", had ancestors who attended church there. He was excited as he was able to find one gravestone with the same surname as his ancestors who lived there hundreds of years ago. Most of the gravestones are now unreadable or have been destroyed.

 Brighton Pavilion

 Having fish & chips at Harry Ramsdens

 Elder Anderson in front of an American Hot Dog Stand on Brighton Pier

 Elder & Sister Kiddle standing on Brighton Pier

St Nicholas of Myra Church built about 1100 A.D.

In closing this week we wish to leave a religious message.

Elder Kiddle has started reading the book "Doctrinal Discourses of Brigham Young" and made the following notes after reading the first discourse.

1) The path to Eternal Life is paved with righteous decisions.
2) When we make an unrighteous decision (sin) we leave the path to Eternal Life.
3) When we repent of the unrighteous decision we are back on the path to Eternal Life.
4) God wants all of his children to gain Eternal Life (life with him) and is patient and long suffering towards us and gives us every opportunity to repent and even will give us help through inspiration when we are sincere in our desire to repent.
5) Each of our days should be full of righteous decisions and repentance.
6) When we stand in Holy Places it is much easier to make righteous decisions and we are less likely to sin.
7) It is not an easy goal but if we approach it one day at a time and have the Lord's help we can achieve it.

Each day as we go to work in the Temple we are hopeful that we will make righteous decisions every day and are working one day at a time to reach this goal in our lives. Also the love we feel for our family and friends helps give us the strength and courage to try harder each day to follow the path to Eternal Life.

Love Elder and Sister Kiddle

Standen (near East Grinstead)

There was no van trip today so we decided to explore by bus and visit one of the historical sites at Standen in order to prepare for Beverley's visit in March. We caught a bus at the Temple at about 9:43 AM and after two bus changes arrived at Standen at about 10:39 AM which was great. However, the historical site that will be open when Beverley is here was closed today so we had to return by bus without seeing what we had come for. Unfortunately the buses only run every two hours so it was a long wait. As we were out in the middle of the country and we knew that it wasn't far back to civilization we walked back to the edge of East Grinstead. Along the road we passed by several farms and a couple of retirement homes. Once in Town we passed by some new show homes. We finally got to the bus stop and waited for the next bus for over an hour which took us back to the town centre of East Grinstead where we did a little shopping before catching the two buses back to the Temple. We got back to the temple at 3:30 PM. We organized some washing and went to the Accommodation Centre to do it. While we were waiting in the reading room for the wash to finish the electricity went out all over the Temple site. Of course the washing machines hadn't finished yet so we waited patiently for the power to come on for almost two hrs without any luck. We decided to go back to the Manor House to see if the power was out there and it was out. We returned to the Accommodation Centre and again waited in the Reading Room which had an emergency light on so we weren't in the dark. By this time we were joined by others waiting for the electricity to come on as the individual apartments were in total darkness. The administration staff came by and said that the emergency lighting would soon fail and gave us flashlights to return to our apartments. We took the flashlight and found that the washers had spun out most of the water in our clothes before the power went out so we emptied the wet wash into a couple of bags and went back to our apartment where we hung everything to dry. We hadn't been home long and the power came back on.  Here are some pictures of our time waiting for the bus back from Standen.

 A farm we walked past

 Some new show homes

 Sister Kiddle at the bus stop on the edge of town

Some greenery near the bus stop

Love from Brother and Sister Kiddle

Winter comes to the London Temple

We have finally received a good snow fall, not that we would have missed it had it not come. Because it was going to snow all day yesterday which could create bad road conditions the Temple President, President Lowry asked that the van not be taken to Church in Crawley so we held a Testimony Meeting in the dining room of the Accommodation Centre. It was a very spiritual meeting with most in attendance bearing their testimonies. Today David went out and took some photos of the new snow fall, some of which are shown below. Today we also cleaned house, did the laundry and relaxed for a while. David even took some time to create some snow angles. We look forward to tomorrow when we will be back serving in the Temple.

 Frozen reflecting pond

 Manor House

Snow Angels

Our flat is on the second floor (3 last windows)

Love from Elder and Sister Kiddle

Canterbury Cathedral

At the Temple right now we are training another couple to be Baptistry Co-ordinators. This is another first for us to be trainers. In Crawley Ward this past Sunday Elder Kiddle gave the priesthood lesson in High Priests Group which involved a lot of preparation and which was very rewarding. We continue to thrill in our service in the Temple.

For our day off yesterday we were able to visit Canterbury Cathedral, parts of which date back to 1070 AD. The workmanship is excellent. It contains the coffin of King Henry the IV which was very interesting as the carved likeness of him on the top of the coffin looked a  lot like King Henry the VIII. There were many beautiful stained glass windows which we have always enjoyed when visiting old Churches. Also we walked around what they call the Crypt in the lower level of the Cathedral. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures in the Crypt as it is regarded as very sacred. To our amazement we found a prayer roll desk in the Crypt with instructions that said that the prayers deposited there would be placed on the Altar at a certain time each day.

The part of the city surrounding the Cathedral was also a lot of fun to explore. We had lunch at a Pizza Hut. It was like we were back in Calgary inside the restaurant. The shops and stores were different from those in Calgary and many unique items were available which we would have loved to buy if we weren't on a mission. It was fun window shopping.

Here are a few of the pictures we took: