Proud to be an American!  I love that Lee Greenwood song...it plays in my head whenever I think of what being an American means.   It is also more poignant to me while we are in a foreign country ---and a bit ironic it is the country our founding fathers left to find freedom.

We celebrated the last Saturday in June at the Lakenheath Liberty Fest.   It was a large event that brought a carnival and food trucks and fireworks to the community on base and invited friends that were off-base and British citizens also.   

We also have another big event we celebrate in July

We celebrated our 4oth anniversary by going to the London Temple and doing family sealings.   The temple was a beautiful place to be and a great reminder of our covenants made to the Lord and to each other. 

What a blessing to live close enough that we can attend the temple.  Although the London Temple is not in our Mission boundaries, we did request and receive permission from our Mission President to attend...thank you President, it meant the world to us to be there.  I don't know if you can see, but the temple sits in a direct path of the Heathrow airport and you can see one of the many large jets flying over the temple.

Speaking of temples.... our Temple prep class is over.  We had such a great experience teaching this class.   The manual is a tad bit old, but the truths of what are taught are still true.   These young members are such a great example of the good in the world.

We also were able to go back to London on our p-day to meet up with some very good friends -- Ed and Susan Flemming.  We met the Fleeming's when we were stationed in Frankfurt Germany in 1993.  Susan was the Primary President, and I had the wonderful opportunity to serve with her.  These two are so generous and are such travelers, we felt so thankful we could spend the day with them, and they took a day out of their busy schedule to meet us at the British Museum. 

In all honesty, Susan and I just talked the whole time ---so much fun to reminisce.   While we were standing at a point, a young mother and her daughter approached us.  Yup, she saw the badges and said they were visiting from Ramstein Germany and wanted to say Hi to the Missionary's. Come to find out, Susan's and Ed's daughter Monica was going to be visiting a family that was in this couple's ward in Ramstein.   I love those small miracles of the badge.   Ed and Susan also "feed" the missionary's and we enjoyed a good little Greek restaurant nearby.   It really boosted my spirits, and I am so grateful for the Army and the people we have met and grown to love because of it.  Thank you, dear friends. 

So that wraps up the 1st part of July for us.  The 12th of July marked the 5 months mark we have been on a mission.  I would like to say it has gone fast, but there are times I struggle with some of the repetitive activity's we do....and yet that is when we are most happy when we are out serving. 

Our Mission President, Pres. West gave us a challenge on the 10th of July to read the Book of Mormon before the next transfers.  That gives us 6 weeks.  We were to start a new book and highlight the doctrines of the gospel.  Faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, the Atonement of Jesus Christ and obedience.    I started marking any time there was a reference to our Savior in yellow.  It has really been a wonderful reminder and visual of how this wonderful book testifies of Jesus Christ. I also am underlining the opposition of Satan towards the great plan of happiness for man...also an extreme visual of all the more reasons we need this book. 

We are so grateful for your prayers on our behalf.  We also accept letters.... we can only receive items that are 1lb or less (hitting that brick wall of the SOFA agreement), a nice letter makes our day.

Elder and Sister Gurr

PSC 41 Box 1062

APO AE 09464

God is good!   

Elder and Sister Gurr