New Place to Live--Darwen, & Four Westies and a What?

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee:  he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.  Psalm 55:22


Ha, ha, I guess we aren't too righteous since we are being moved.  I am sure King David meant the righteous wouldn't be moved from their faith, but it is a good scripture to use for our upcoming venture further north.

We prayed for help to know where we were supposed to get a new place to live when we were told we could live anywhere between the Chorley and Blackburn area.  Every avenue was exhausted as we endeavored to locate nearer to Chorley, thinking it made the most sense.  One place remained in Darwen that hadn't been taken by yesterday.  It was a spot I had felt strongly was right, but logic had us pushing for other areas.  Finally, we knew that had to be where we needed to be and we took the apartment.  What a great feeling inside to have that decision made and to feel that it is the right one.  We have no idea yet why that particular spot is the right place, but we have faith we will know before the end of our mission.

Our last few days have been hectic.  We have been dealing with getting a missionary flat closed, showing our own flat to prospective renters, getting a new car, coordinating the bike pick up so bikes can be delivered to missionaries, teas with members wishing to say good bye, signing for a new flat for the missionaries, learning a bit about our new assignment, and looking at so many properties we have lost count.  Today, I started researching properties for another missionary flat in Northern Wales.  We also need to visit many people before we move.  We shall move into the new place on 5 February.

We have a shorter address to write and it was posted on this blog, but the address was given to us wrong, and I realized when I was about to correct it that for security issues it probably shouldn't be broadcast all over the world anyway, right?  Anyone wanting the address can email me.  I will have to remember to spell Darwen differently than the Darwins we have in our family.

Below are pictures of our travels (some out of the car window, so quality is not so great):

The old church on the left and new bridge in the back in Runcorn where we had to sign for a missionary flat.  It isn't far from Liverpool as the sea flows into this area.

Cuteness overload.  Oh!  How I wished we hadn't been driving when I snapped this bunch!  Can you believe the tiny one in the middle that looks like a stuffed toy?  Is that a Yorkie?

Runcorn bridge is pretty as we are leaving to go to Chorley

The old on the left and the newer bridge

Skyline leaving Runcorn.  These are not nuclear power plants though they look like cooling towers.

This is a common sight throughout the areas we have been in where they tear down the old housing.  The piles are massive, but this one doesn't look all that big.

The guard cat is coming at me when I was looking for an address of a flat we wanted to see

This doesn't look friendly, but she wanted me to open the door to her home--meow

Young Single Adults (YSA) Family Home Evening with the medical missionaries who also do YSA.  We will receive their assignment when they leave in February.

The man on the right teaches prospective engineers in high school.  Elder Blain looks distressed as he is eating ice cream, which can be a no no for his goofy stomach.  He didn't get sick because it was only a small amount.

 We stayed overnight here so we'd be close to the area to continue looking for flats.  The one in the middle is the doctor and the others are eating banana splits after our Family Home Evening.

A newly married young couple who loves still being with YSA

This man is seen going out of Darwen heading towards Chorley, so I will get a better picture later and find out what he stands for.

Mosques are everywhere in England in certain towns, usually in the central parts.  Blackburn has a huge population of Muslims.  This mosque is across the street from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) chapel in Blackburn.  It is about a 15 minute drive to the church from Darwen where we will be living.  We didn't see Muslims in Darwen or Chorley.  Many Muslims do not like the Mormons, but there are individuals Muslims who are very kind to Christians when they get to know them and are educated enough to know they are not as evil as they've been taught from their youth.  The same can be said of Christians who get to know Muslims.  

The first thing I noticed going into Darwen was this extremely tall tower dominating the landscape.  I took the picture while moving, so I will have to get a better picture and history later.  We ate lunch (called dinner here) in a pub while waiting to secure the property.  The picture below was on the wall with no explanation for what it is called or the significance it has played in the town's history.

India Tower

This is all I could see of the LDS chapel.  It was gated and down in a hole.  It looks like a fairly small building.

As we left the street the church is on, I saw some English spelling.