Light---more or less

With all the deciduous trees, the various warm colors draw us in as it gets colder. 

Sorry to all you in Utah, we've barely reached freezing temps, it's been a very pleasant and gradual transition into Fall.

The light on the square where we help serve the homeless each Sunday is fading fast. 

It was dark when we finished today and soon we'll be in the dark from the start (3:00)

Couldn't have taken this picture as young missionaries. 

I enjoy reminding the young missionaries that the white handbook does not apply.

But we love walking this road together.

These awesome friends invited us over to their place to celebrate our birthdays. 

Though a month or two late, it was so kind of them.

She prepared a great traditional meal here for us to share in their living room/dining room/weight room/office/master bedroom. 

Halloween is fun, the dressing up, the pumpkins, the gatherings. 

Jean hosted a great party for our English class at the "chapel" and she and the missionaries gave them a good sampling of how we Americans behave on Oct 31. (I hid out in another room)

Their tradition, like others in Europe, centers around Nov 1---All Saints Day.

We were lucky to go with a young member and her mother to the grave of her grandfather. They lit candles, we each said a private prayer remembering the light we've received from those who have crossed through the veil.

I hope you can see how the lighted graves go on through the trees, seemingly forever.

Another day we celebrated with a small meal together on the beach after the sun set on a wonderful, but very cold baptism in the sea. 

Our small group feeling the warmth of the small light we share amid the darkness.

We sometimes feel small, we sometimes feel overwhelmed. Darkness can seem impenetrable.

Candles, whether in jack-o-lanterns or on graves, get our attention only when it's dark.

"And again Enoch wept and cried unto the Lord, saying: When shall the earth rest?

 And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live...the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth;

And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; ...to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth."

That's the light we're trying to reflect in our small way.