Zone Specilized Trainging

 Here we are gathered in the hallway to greet our Mission President and his wife, as well as Elder and Sister Dyke who is the visiting General Authority from the Second Quorum of the Seventy.  We sang "Called to Serve" as they came in the door and then followed them into the cultural hall for pictures.  We later went in to chapel for a five hour meeting.  It was so amazing!  It filled us with love, hope and a thirst to do as the Lord has instructed us to "Preach unto every nation". 

  All the missionaries have the same car.  If it works, why change it?  Do you know which one is ours?

 Lunch time!  After five hours of being taught by master teachers we had a quick bite to eat before everyone returned to their assigned areas.

Sister Cross, Sister Once and Sister Amesha rode with us to the Zone Meeting in Manchester.  They are so fun and kept us entertained while we sat in traffic for a full hour.  

YSA

Family Home Evening on Monday nights is really fun with the YSA.  We had a night of indexing, games, and a pizza party.  Elder Mahalanen, from Finland, is getting ready to go home so we made a card for him and everyone signed it.  We are going to miss him so much!  He helped us adjust to our mission and taught us how to organize things.  Sister Cross, Sister Bement and Amy are the best!  Love you all!

Book of Mormon Class

Can you believe it?  We are teaching  Book of Mormon class for new converts, investigators and really anyone who wants to come.  We have had 10 people there or two people.  It just depends on the night.  In this picture there in one young man who was recently baptized and one older man who got baptized the following Saturday, the rest are missionaries.  We love teaching this class because it is helping us learn more about the Book of Mormon.  It is true that when you teach you learn more then the students.

Second letter

Hi Lovies!

How's it going?  I hope to get this email written while we sit at the church waiting for the YSA to come for FHE.  It is raining now but it has been so beautiful and warm here.  Everyone tells us that it is unusual and to get ready to have the coldest winter of our lives.  It is so damp and windy here when it rains.

We have been given many assignments by the mission president that keep us busy visiting and checking on wards and missionaries.  One Elder in Carlisle (almost to Scotland) has been in the hospital since last Thursday.  When we took him to the doctor she thought he had meningitis.  She said she would call an ambulance but we drove him to the hospital instead.  I think it was faster, although we still had to sit in the waiting room for an hour.  Socialized medicine is not fast.   He is having an MRI tomorrow. When the nurse asked him what she should call him he said "Elder".  She said 'no what is your first name' and again he said "Elder".  His fever was 103 and he told her that he is a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that they can call him Elder ....  It made us cry to see him so sick and still testifying of the Savior. Our faith is strengthened by these wonderful and strong Elders.

 Another missionary has been told that he is losing his eye sight but he refuses to go home.  He is so humble and sweet.  Your prayers for these two sweet Elders is appreciated.

     We actually taught two discussions last week.  One man that we hope will come to church with us this week and a sister that lives about an hour south of here that we sent as a referral to the Elders in New Brighton.  This is so exciting!

     Elder Blunck is doing such a great job driving on the wrong side of the road that I'm not scared at all.  (Karl wrote that falsehood)

We hope to get the internet this Wednesday.  We can't wait to be able to facetime or skype with you.  Love you all so much!

We are so happy that grandma Brinkerfhoff is getting better.  Thanks for your prayers and fasting.

Love you all,

Elder and Sister Blunck

England is Unique

England is unique in many ways.  The houses are close together with the road right at the front door, double decker buses are the norm as well as gorgeous estates down a winding wooded road.  If you have seen the Harry Potter movies you will recognize the uniqueness of this enchanted place.  We love it here and appreciate the blessings we have been given to be here. 

Preston England Temple and MTC

 Dad was so excited to see the England MTC that he wanted to go right in the front door and say "hello" to everyone".

We loved the Preston Temple!  It is so beautiful inside.  Everyone was very helpful and kind as we wandered in the hallways to find where we needed to go.  As we were driving to the temple a car in front of us, which looked just like ours, was driving very confidently to the temple parking lot.  When we got out of the car they immediately say 'hi' to us and wanted to know where we were serving.  We found out that he is the area representative for all of Europe. Their names were Elder and Sister Jones and we were able to go through the session with them.  Afterwards we met another missionary couple who we found out are the legal representatives for  our mission.  We had lunch with both couples.  It was a very interesting and positive experience.

Week 2

Hi Everyone,

We are doing great here in Preston.  Our bungalow is so cute and comfortable.  We have everything we could possible need and then some.  We have been very well cared for.  The Elders and Sisters are so fun!  They are all so kind and welcoming.  We have 12 missionaries here besides ourselves which means that every activity and class is full of missionaries. We have had many of them over for dinner and we can tell that the previous mission couple had a lot of parties and provided a lot of food for every get together. I am cooking way more for church activities then I ever did for the YSA.  We drive a lot taking Elders and Sisters to their new areas, on doctor appointments ( 3 hour drive and 3 hours waiting for the Elder), and home from activities.  We have been to Liverpool, Wigan, Blackpool, Manchester as well as many other wards in our area here in Preston. We are looking forward to going to Kendal because the branch is very small and the Bishop is away having surgery to treat cancer.  We have a fireside in Manchester on Sunday where all the new converts bear their testimonies.  

We feel like the missionaries fight over us for a ride because in order to get there you have to take an hour ride on the train.  It is very funny to listen to them talk they just say, "Well, we got you first so they will have to find their own way there." 

We have been volunteering to sell poppies to raise money for the veterans.  We sit in the front of a grocery store and ask for donations.  People are very generous.  

We have talked with people about the church while we are out shopping and plan to visit with some less actives members this afternoon.  We have been to members houses for dinner and love the quaint, lovely homes with beautiful gardens and mossy roofs. 

The mission president said that he is going to transfer us in nine months which is next July. We are excited about that because we will have more experiences with new people and environment.

We love you all and miss you.  Keep smiling and reading your scriptures every day!

Love you so much!

We had a very warm reception from people at the supermarket while we were collecting donations for the veterans who fought in World War I.  They call it the "Poppy Appeal".  People here are very generous in support of family and friends who have served in the military.

Dinner with Bishop Grubb and Jo

We had a delicious dinner at Bishop Grubbs house.  His wife Jo made a yummy Indian meal.  Elders Ramsey and Candland joined us for dinner and afterwards we drove the Elders home.  I think they were a nervous wreck by the time we made it to their flat. The front left tire is getting a lot of abuse but Elder Blunck has had to learn quickly how to drive here.  It is not easy!  You should try it! 

Drivning in England

Driving is so stressful here!  Elder Bluncks hands literally go numb from gripping the steering wheel so tight.  Reasons why it is so stressful-
       1: we are on the opposite side of the road 
       2: very tiny streets
       3: cars parked on both sides of the street
       4: speed cameras are everywhere.  They just send you a ticket in the mail.
       5: crazy road signs that we don't know what they mean
       6: people go when they have a red light and we have a green one
       7: yield to the right.  No matter what!
       8: Traffic backed up everywhere
       9: Tiny, tiny numbers indicating a road, but no street signs or names.
      10: Roundabouts!  Ugh!
                           

Flowers to welcome us

When we arrived in Preston we were met at our bungalow by the zone leaders and Sister Carter and her  daughter Hannah.  Sister Carter gave us these beautiful roses which she put in our kitchen window while Elder Blunck and I talked with President and Sister Ulrich.  The cute little pansy was in our front yard hidden in the grass.  When I spotted it I felt that it was welcoming us to England.  We were very careful to not step on it.

1st letter

Hi Family!

We are at the library taking a minute to email.  We have been very jet lagged and trying to keep up with our days.  We feel very comfortable here.  Our bungalow is so cute.  We sleep well at night for the most part except when it rains and the wind blows.  Our house moans when the wind is crazy outside.  We went for a walk the other morning and we were soaked by the time we got home, not from the rain but from the drizzle.  

On our first Sunday here went to two wards.  We met people from Scotland, Germany, Romania, Africa, Switzerland, Finland, Philippines, Madagascar, Ecuador, USA, China and of course England. It is definitely a multi-cultural place. We will be teaching a Book of Mormon class on Wednesday nights and YSA Family Home Evening on Monday nights.  There is a pretty big group of YSA here because there have so many universities.  We were able to go to two baptisms this week, which were very special. 

Elder Blunck and I are slow moving but our hearts are full of desire to serve the Lord. We have only gotten lost once (PER day) and hope we can figure out the roundabouts soon because they are causing some crazy driving experiences for us.  The Elders and Sisters laugh at us and think we are so funny but seriously the roundabouts are causing some problems.  We end up an hour away from our destination and late.  Not good for brand new missionaries.  Oh well, we are happy, healthy and terrific.

We love you all!  Heavenly Father knows our every need and is blessing us.  Trust in Him.

Love, Elder and Sister Blunck

The Bungalow

We love our little bungalow here in Preston England.  It looks like a little hobbit house but inside it is roomy and comfortable.  It has a bedroom, bathroom, office, living room and kitchen.

The back yard is quite big considering we are in England.  Most homes do not have yards.  We also have a garage but there is no way we can fit our car down the driveway to park our car in the garage.

Arrival in England

 We have the most wonderful mission president ever!  President and Sister Ulrich picked us up at the airport at 9am after an all night flight.  They were so kind to us. They drove us to the mission home in separate cars because we could not all fit in the same car. We went to the mission home and took care of  a few things then they drove us to Preston to our new Bungalow. 

President Ulrich is so kind and loving.  We love him and appreciate all he and his sweet wife do for the missionaries here in the England Manchester Mission.

England here we come!

 We so much appreciated Kendal and Kristen taking us to the airport early in the morning so we could board our flight to Atlanta Georgia and then on to Preston England to begin our mission.  We were full of anticipation, fear and excitement.  Actually going to the airport and getting on that airplane was one of the hardest things we have ever done yet we know that it was what Heavenly Father wanted us to do.  We have been looking forward to going on a mission for the last 36 years.  The day finally arrived.

The Night Before England

We had some hyper kids by the end of the evening.  Thank you Kristen for wrestling the little ones.

Thank you Kendal and Alissa

 The night before we flew to England Kendal and his family came over to help us with the last minute things.  Thank you so much Kendal and Alissa!

 We got lots and lots of hugs from our sweet grandchildren, Hallie, Savanna and Braxton.  We wish we could have gone to California and Alabama to give hugs and kisses to Joshua, Emma, Rachel, Jakob, Joel, Amelia and Lucy before we left for England.

We loved the MTC!

Here we are at the MTC.  We had the best teachers!  Our District was amazing and they helped us so much as we prepared to head off to England.  Mom got the flu and missed group pictures but what can you do?  It happens.

Farewell

We are going into the MTC tomorrow!  We are excited, scared, numb and happy that we are going on a mission to the England Preston Mission.  We have been looking forward to this day for 36 years. When we first met we sat on the lawn at the BYU Harris Fine Arts Center and talked about our future together and how we wanted to serve a mission as soon as we could.  It is hard to believe that this day is finally here. Behind us is the official English flag which Bishop and Chris Money gave us just before our farewell. Thank you everyone for all your love and support.

Ogden Temple

 We had a wonderful day with the Swenson's going up to Ogden to see the Temple before it was dedicated.  We rode the front funner from Provo to Ogden.  It was so much fun!

Elder and Sister Blunck

Elder and Sister Blunck are ready to serve.  Can't wait to get our name tags!

Why a Mission?

We are excited to serve our Heavenly Father and to follow as we have been prompted to do.  We know that it is Heavenly Father's will that we serve a mission at this time to Manchester England. This beautiful family of ours is the reason we have chosen to serve a mission also.  We know that Heavenly Father will bless all of them because of our choice to serve.  We pray that their testimonies will be strengthened by our sacrifice.  We are so blessed to have this wonderful family!  We love you all so much!