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:

HEVER CASTLE

This past week we continued to have unique temple experiences in the Baptistry, Initiatory and Endowment sessions. It is especially uplifting when a patron comes with their own family file to do. One such experience was when Elder Kiddle helped a couple do baptisms for their family names and then was in the Initiatory when the Brother brought the same names for receiving the initiatory ordinances. With one name the spirit was very strong. After doing that name the brother explained, without being asked, that the relative they were doing the work for was a young 19 year old boy who died as a soldier in the 1st World War. It is so special to work in the Temple.

Yesterday we didn't have any exciting outings but a few weeks ago (December 17th) we went to Hever Castle. We didn't report this outing at that time, instead we reported on some spiritual activities related to Christmas. This was the most exciting of the old castles we have visited because it was very old and was the home where Anne Boleyn grew up. She was the second wife of King Henry the 8th and the castle also had rooms dedicated to him as he lived there sometimes. We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the Castle but the rooms were full of exquisite woodwork. To think they had such wonderful craftsman that long ago is incredible. Another unique feature that we enjoyed was that it is still heated by huge stone fireplaces in almost every room. It has never been upgraded to modern central hot water heating as most of the old buildings we previously visited. We will be going back to it in the summer as it has beautiful gardens that will be alive with thousands of blooms then. The castle also has a proper moat and drawbridge.

Here are a few pictures from our visit there.

 Some shaped bushes(topiary) along the approach path to the cattle

 Hever Castle with some Christmas lighting

Christmas lighting in a small portion the Gardens

We knew there were historical places to see in England but they seem to be endless.

We think of our friends and family every day and wish you could have the same experience we are having. Get your mission papers in soon.

Love Elder and Sister Kiddle

New Years Day 2013

Happy New Year Everyone.

Today, one of the drivers was given permission to take out the van and 10 of us went to Eastbourne. The most sun we have seen in one day since we arrived so total blue sky and then darkness did not hit until  4:30 p.m. Eastbourne was quite the little seaside town. We walked out on the pier & had delicious fish and chips. Loved being by the sea for the first time since we got here. The beach is a gravel beach so we just walked along the sidewalk in front of it. Quite the display of hotels and Bed & Breakfasts along the front. It was very chilly  but the warmth of the sun was great. We then  drove to some cliffs at Beachy Head. The cliffs were called the Seven Sisters. We climbed up the back side of the cliffs and looked over. Quite the fun day. 

Tonight we went to a pot luck supper at 6:00 PM for which Sister Kiddle made potato salad. With all the food we have had we will want to sleep in tomorrow. We are on the afternoon shift tomorrow so we can take it slowly in the morning.

 Beach on North Side of Pier

 Elder and Sister Kiddle on the Pier

View from South side of Pier

Us at Beachy Head above the cliff

May 2013 be a great year for everyone. 

With all our love

Elder & Sister Kiddle