Elder Humphries 

Elder Humphries was my companion for the first couple months of my stint as district leader he was a personal of a slight build and about a foot shorter than me. He was an extremely helpful companion and took care of most of our area responsibilities well much of my time was spent in district responsibilities. I don't remember much about him other than he had and agreeable personality and he seemed to get along quite well with granny - our landlady. He would occasionally wash our car as it became covered with grime from our travels. He also helped me prepare for and conduct district meetings. He was a genuinely devoted companion and I appreciated him. 

Elder ? 

Replacing elder Humphrys, elder? Came to be my companion for the next couple months. He was about my height and about my build. I remember that he was from the state of Washington and spoke often of hunting geese in the areas surrounding where he lived. He was an agreeable fellow also and rather enthusiastic about the various things we needed to perform for the district. 

Prank

It was about this time that I, as the district leader, decided to involve my district in a local prank. Because I had witnessed a mall fountain while I was being a clown, I had the thought of putting dye in the fountain. My companion endeavor to caution me regarding such Tom foolery. However, I thought the elders of the district needed a little relief from the work they had been performing for quite some time. Having finally decided to apply the dye, I went about casing the fountain to determine the best (least vulnerable) way to apply the dye. I could only assume that surveillance cameras surrounded the area and I didn't want to incur responsibility upon the elders or the church. So I finally decided that we would throw the dye into the fountains from some distance away. By choosing to throw the die, we could much more likely avoid exposure. (the fountain was in the middle of the mall and had a significant amount of space surrounding it.) I then went about obtaining a couple containers of rit dye, composed of packets of thi that would dissolve in water. I figured that dye used to colored clothes would be helpful (and less damaging) in coloring the fountain water. I selected red dye because I thought it would be most observable by shoppers. Upon the morning of a preparation day karma the elders had stayed overnight at our digs and were available in the morning. I got them all up early in the morning and we drove (we had to squish into our car) down a edge bound Rd. To the mall parking. There we clambered out of our car and approached the mall center from a somewhat hidden entryway. We all then commenced to throw the dye into the fountain which was a good 200 feet away. Some of our dye packets fell outside the fountain; but a number of them hit the fountain water and eventually began to color the water of the fountain. To my dismay karma the dye readily deluded in the water of the fountain and only turned the fountain water a slight pink. Nevertheless we elders had performed a prank that we considered to be visible but certainly not damaging. 

Hyde  Park

One day we happened to be in the Hyde Park Chapel for a baptism. Apparently at the same time there was to be an ordination. My companion and I witnessed the baptism and waded in the Chapel 4 the confirmation ordination. As the congregation grew in the Chapel we realized that there were to be a number of ordinances performed for various people. As the meeting got under way, it became clear that the ordinations were to take place at the same time with the same congregation observing. We watched our investigators be confirmed and were delighted to observe it. Shortly thereafter a man was called to the front of the room where he was to be ordained. This circumstance caught me off guard because I observed the man walking forward and he was black. At this time the priesthood had not been extended to all men; and I had experienced the anxiety some men had with the limitation - brother Ford for example. As the man walked forward with several of his brethren accompanying him he arrived at the front and was seated in preparation for his ordination. I sat there dumbfounded at what I was observing happening; and following his ordination I leaned to the elder sitting next to me and asked, “what the heck is going on! They just ordained a black man!” I was informed by the elder that the priesthood had only been restricted to those from a Negro lineage. they're black color had nothing to do with their priesthood limitation. The man having just been ordained was a man from Fiji who had a black complexion; but he was not of Negro ancestry. The explanation helped me a great deal in recognizing the intricacies of the priesthood limitation and I found the experience to be rather instructive for me as an individual! 

Amersham

In early August, I was released as district leader; and transferred to Amersham where I received a companion who had only been in the mission field about six weeks. He had just completed being a ‘greenie’; and so, for me it was quite like receiving a fairly new elder as my companion. He was a young man about a foot and a half shorter than me; and had a similar build for his size. To me he seemed to demonstrate a measure of cockiness that unfortunately accompanied some new elders as they entered the mission field. He had not quite yet arrived at being sufficiently humble to work in the Lord's field. Inasmuch as I was only to be there about three weeks; (I was heading home at the end of the month) I took distinct interest in assuring that I did not get ‘trunky’. (‘Trunky’ was a term that missionaries often used for someone who was too anticipatory of their returning home; and stopped working prior to their release). He and I continued to vigorously tract the area in hopes that our efforts would prove fruitful prior to my release. Sadly, we were not to benefit from a new conversion during my remaining 3 weeks. 

Marijuana

One day as elder? And myself were tracting in our area, we came upon a circumstance that I was not familiar with; but he was and informed me so. We had been tracking along a row of houses that were attached and had knocked on a door where a number of younger people lived. One of them answered the door and we discussed ever so briefly the gospel and the church with him. He seemed to be mildly taken with our being at his door; and we were mildly encouraged that he might accept a discussion. After a few minutes he excused himself and closed the door. Elder? And myself began to retreat from the door and he explain to me that there had been an unusual smell emanating from that apartment. In fact he explained to me that it was marijuana! I questioned him because I didn't think one could actually smell marijuana. He explained to me what marijuana kind of smell like and he then announced that the smell that had wafted from the apartment we had just talk to had that same kind of smell. Because I had almost no experience with drugs or marijuana, I found it extremely interesting and discomforting that someone would so openly participate in such a  

Last Day

On the day that I was to leave, the district leader and his companion arrived in the morning to escort me and my companion to the nearby rail station with my luggage so that I could take a train to the mission home preparatory to my returning home. I managed to prevail upon the district leader to give me a ride to a station several stops down the line to avoid the cost of transport. To this he agreed (largely because he had decided it would be a good idea just to Get Me Out of his district) we loaded my luggage into the back of the wagon and I and my companion took our places in the back seat. I was directly behind the district leaders companion who was riding ‘shotgun’ with the district leader driving. As we took off through the town of Chesham, the district leaders companion opened the glove compartment and inadvertently revealed that they had a cat pistol that looked very much like a real pistol. Because I saw that karma I asked the district leaders companion if I could see the gun. “no Davis I'm not going to let you have that” he said. I retorted with a further request to see the gun and explained that I was going home and wouldn't be able to create any kind of a problem for them. He looked at the district leader who nodded his head it would be OK and he handed me the gun over his right shoulder. I immediately held it to the driver's head (as he was driving) presenting that I might be kidnapping these two gentlemen by gun. As we went through the town, we drove fairly near the sidewalk and numerous people there stopped and pointed as if to say “hey look!”. The district leader protested and said I should put the gun away. I said I was having too good a time and that he and his companions should ‘chill out’ a little bit. As we preceded through Chesham, we were proceeding along a fairly busy road With a fair amount of traffic; I was still holding the gun to the driver's head. about this time I saw a man in a car heading toward us look seriously at us and as I watched him behind us he quickly made a U-turn and began to follow our car. At the time I thought, " we seem to have a concerned citizen here” as we continued onward, we began to traverse station Rd. Toward an intersection with London Road that would take us to a station in High Wycombe. As we approached the intersection trauma we became the next car 2 proceed once the light changed. We now had the ‘ concerned citizen’ in a car directly behind ours and I decided I had better hide the gun in case someone misinterpreted my actions. I was not particularly concerned with the person behind us because he didn't show any signs of authority. 

Just as the light changed and we were proceeding through the intersection, police cars seemed to come out of the walls. several police cars came down the side of the road bypassing stopped cars as they arrived at the intersection and intercepted us in the middle of the intersection. A couple of seconds later several other police cars came from the opposite direction and screeched to a halt a few yards from our vehicle. The citizen behind us had preceded with us into the intersection and had left his car. He was now proceeding towards our car with an authoritative gait. he came to my window and shouted, “hands on your head”. I and my companions responded immediately by putting our hands on our heads. he then shouted “out of the car”; and I wondered how I was going to accomplish that with my hands on my head. We all climbed out of the vehicle and stood against the side of the vehicle with our hands on the top of the vehicle. I suppose I still thought it was kind of funny because I knew we hadn't done anything wrong. I guess I had a little bit of a smile on my face and the officer who was holding a gun on me said I'd be talking out of the other side of my face if I wasn't careful. The district leader (and driver) looked at me across the top of the vehicle and said “Davis, I'm gonna kill you!” 

All this time, the officers were going through my luggage and things to ascertain what kind of trouble I was presenting them with. I remember thinking that this seemed to be a lot of trouble for a simple prank. As we stood there in the intersection, cars were passing us on both sides and looking to see what we must have been up to. I can only imagine what some of our investigators must have thought when they saw ‘spread eagle’ missionaries in the middle of that intersection. Upon investigating my luggage (and finding nothing but clothes); one of the officers said, “Put 'em in the car”. We were then put in a nearby squad car and transported back along Station Road to the nearby police headquarters. Little did we know that we had bypassed the police headquarters which was about two blocks from Station Road.  This explains why the plainclothesman whipped a U-turn and followed us! He was a police officer who’d just ended his shift and was heading home! It also explains why he had a gun when he approached my window! Upon arriving at police headquarters, we were escorted into a room where we were instructed to remove all the contents of our pockets onto a table. Thus we began removing all the pamphlets and ministerial cards along with our wallets and pens into plain view on the top of the table. My companion wisecracked, “If any of you guys want any of these pamphlets, you're welcome to them.” I remember thinking he was a real wiseacre, and he wasn't helping our situation. We sat down and quietly waited to see what was going to happen. As we were sitting there, an officer walked up and said, “Put ‘em in the cells”! I suppose I'll never forget the seriousness that accompanied my hearing that command. We were then instructed to remove any of our clothing that was inappropriate - our ties; our belts; and our shoelaces. This was to avoid us committing suicide while in a cell. I remember thinking that these men really didn't know who they had. I thought it was A bit absurd. 

As I turned from the cell door (where I'd been instructed to stand while the officer closed my cell), I I saw a single bed with a mattress that had been halfway turned up and thought, “this is just like in the movies”. We were each put in our individual cells so that we could not converse with one another. We were also instructed not to converse with one another through the windows on our cell doors. I remember turning down the mattress and lying down to wonder what was going to happen next. I thought to myself, “They can't keep me here, can they?”  

My companion spent his time alone endeavoring to figure a way to ‘break out’ of the jail. He said he was not going to spend his two years in England in jail. 

The district leader spent his time pondering when they were going to ask him for his drivers license. It was difficult to obtain a drivers license in England; and he did not have one as yet! (it turns out that they never asked him for one; and he got off ‘scott-free’.) 

The district leader’s companion was British; and he spent his time alone contemplating what they would do to him. He seemed to know that they wouldn't be able to make anything ‘stick’ against these Americans that he was incarcerated with. But he seemed rather confident that they would find something to hold against him - he would then be in serious trouble! 

After we had spent about an hour in ourselves, the officer came around and explained that each of us would have to report to an investigator what we knew about the events that had taken place. Each of us was to report alone. I remember as I was escorted upper set of stairs and into an interrogation room, that I really didn't have anything to hide and to tell the truth was the very best thing to do! When the investigating officer queried me, I spilled everything I knew about what had taken place and how we had ended up in jail. He did very little to query about details. Rather he just took my report and then sent me back to my cell. I remember hoping that each of the other elders would report the same thing as they were individually escorted from their cells. 

Once we had reported; we again waited in our cells to see what was going to happen. After about 40 minutes we were instructed that we would have to stand before the Chief of Police and explain ourselves. As we reapplied our ties belts and shoelaces, I encouraged the elders to take our circumstance seriously. We didn't know how anyone was going to react to our reports and it would be best if we were appropriately humbled by the preceding events. They agreed and we finished dressing. As we were all being escorted up a flight of stairs karma and through a bullpen of desks we could observe that many of the people sitting there were chuckling to themselves. To this day I don't know whether they were chuckling about the prank we had just completed; or that they were chuckling about the fact that we had been caught. 

As we were escorted into the chief of police office, I remember seeing a somewhat robust overweight man sitting behind a large desk at one end of the office. I thought to myself, “my gosh, he looks just like an English bulldog”. we stood there with two missionaries on either side of his office. Penitently, we appeared rather contrite about the disturbance we had caused in his precinct. He explained that he was somewhat irritated by the behavior we had displayed. He considered us to be much more mature than we had presented ourselves as. Following a brief chastisement, he exclaimed that he was going to keep our gun. To this we all exclaimed that, “certainly, that is to be expected!” he then stated that since we had chosen professions that would be of benefit to society that he was not going to press charges period to this we expressed gratitude. He then really lit into the British shoulder. He said he could understand such tomfoolery from these Americans (referring to us three); but to have a British citizen engage in such foolishness was beyond the pale. I remember thinking that because I had done what I did, that he was actually innocent. But he decided to just take the tongue lashing and let it go for what it was. The chief of police then excused us from his office and the incident was now closed. 

We were then escorted from the building and to our car (which had been placed in a parking lot). The plainclothesman escorted us and stated to me that if he had had his gun ready, he would have shot me! Such an announcement placed a significant amount of seriousness on the prank we had just performed. On our way to release me to a train into the mission home, we all talked in the car about what had just taken place. I explained that I was going to have to meet with the mission president the next day and would have to report on my mission. I did not want to have to report this experience to him and asked the remaining elders if they would agree to keep the proceedings to themselves until I was on the plane home. They all agreed; And I had them put their hands in and we all unitedly committed to keep the incident to ourselves until I was gone. 

 

Memories

Buses

Because time was short and we had little time to spare, elder Hansen introduced me to the buses the next day. Our digs were not very far from downtown Shirley; And it was there that I was introduced to the two Decker bus that one often sees in England. It was a dark red two deck bus that seemed to be almost everywhere. What I didn't know was that buses were an extremely viable form of transportation in the cities of England. In highly populated areas one seldom had to wait more than 15 more minutes for a bus to come along. We caught a double Decker bus that would take us to an appointment (I think it was the Fords). The driver of the bus was in the front of course and virtually beyond contact from passengers. There was also a conductor that went up and down the aisles of the bus collecting bus fares. My first experience with bus transportation was when elder Hanson and I boarded a bus and sat down to await the conductor. The rear of the bus was open with a post that one could grab as the bus was moving. The platform of this bus was only about 6 or so inches above the pavement and was thus rather easy to bored or disembark. As we got more familiar with the buses, it was not uncommon to leave the platform just as the bus was coming to a halt. The conductor came along and with his changemaker accepted the throw pants (3 penny bit - coin) that would be required for our transportation. I always considered bus transportation to be a very inexpensive way of getting to and from somewhere. With the number of passengers that were getting on and off the bus, it became readily apparent that the people of Southampton use the bus transportation system rather extensively. I'll never forget the buses nor are there easy on and off platforms! 

Church of England

Because our landlord’s mother lived for it with us for a very short time (she was rather old) we got to know her a little bit. Unfortunately, she died while we were in Shirley; and we were invited to her funeral. We felt that we could not or should not ignore this; so we decided to attend her Church of England funeral. It was quite an experience because there were not more than 20 people in attendance. It was a rather large stone cathedral type church; and I was a bit intimidated by the pomp and circumstance that was evidenced. While we didn't necessarily take in too much of what the service presented, we were certainly aware of the kneeling platform in front of us; the hymnbooks and prayer books attached to f the bench in front of us. We participated by kneeling on the kneeling platform and praying when the minister called for it. We also stood and sang when he called for that. I remember there being quite a bit of kneeling, standing and sitting at the hour and a half funeral. There was a brief celebration following the funeral at our home; which neither Elder Hansen nor I attended; but we're certainly aware of it. 

Dusting

One evening as Elder Corbett and I were tracting a given area, it had grown a little bit dark; and we knew that we were approaching the end of the time that we could interrupt people amidst their evening at home. Nevertheless, we continued on for a couple of houses. When we knocked on a certain home, a man came to the door and began berating us rather significantly. He seemed vehement in finding fault with our activity and our church. We stood at the bottom of his step and took his castigation without hardly any response. Finally, as he finished his tirade, he slammed the door. Elder Corbett expressed to me his irritation with the man's unwillingness to even listen to a greeting. The man had been rather rude and extremely unwelcoming to us in any form. As Elder Corbett expressed himself, he became a little bit agitated with the man's lack of any respect; and he told me he was going to ‘dust his feet’. I thought to myself, the man was not a whole lot worse than many of the people we had dealt with that day. Nevertheless, I considered it inappropriate to interfere in what elder Corbett considered was an available ordinance to missionaries. He then mounted the man's steps and scuffed his feet just in front of his door. We both then went on and decided to head home. 

France 

The day following my arrest, elder Lindsey and myself had arranged to go to France for a day. (elder Lindsay was the fellow I I was in the Salt Lake mission home with and he was going home at the same time I was.) because we were so close to France and would not likely ever get there again, we had arranged to take a short one day cruise across the channel into France. I don't remember much of the experience because I was so busy with the conclusion of my mission. What I remember most is being in the French countryside sitting down and having lunch with elder Lindsey in the beautiful sunshiny afternoon. I also remember the train rides to Dover and back. It was truly relaxing to experience the train ride and cruise and lunch without having to worry about missionary work. 

London Temple 

The day following our French crews, elder Lindsey and I both decided to take in a session at the London temple. We were staying in the mission home nearby and knew we would not likely have a chance to visit the temple again in our lives. So we went to a session in the London temple that day. I don't remember anything spectacular about that visit but I do remember that as we arrived in the celestial room; we happened upon a missionary that had been on our mission which had come back to England to marry a British girl. I remember thinking that was rather unusual. And I remember thinking that yes American missionaries often marry British women. (I don't remember their names; just that they were there in the celestial room.) 

Flying Home 

The following day I would pack up all my things, sell my bike; (I'd always envisioned throwing it into the Thames at the end of my mission.) a,nd travel to Heathrow to catch my plane home. I don't remember much except that I was to travel home to New York in a 747. (which I'd never flown in before.) As we were starting our run down the runway; we suddenly began to slow down (which unnerved many of my fellow passengers). The British fellow sitting next to me said, “I knew this thing couldn't fly”. I found his comment to be extremely funny and very representative of British wry humor. (I'd miss it!) the pilot came over the intercom and calmly explained that we had not taken off because one of the windows in their cockpit had come loose and opened up as they were beginning their takeoff. (This even further unnerved my fellow passengers because they thought having left a window open that they may not be in the best of hands.) we returned to the beginning of the runway and took off without any further incident. Because I had a window seat karma I thought I'd get to see a lot. I was wrong all I got to see was a number of hours of the Atlantic Ocean as we traveled from England to New York. 

Kennedy Airport

Upon arrival at Kennedy airport in New York, I knew I'd have to go through customs in order to enter the country. This seemed to take a long time as I stood in line and watched the minutes click by. I was very nervous because I knew I had to catch a connecting flight to Seattle and time was running out before it was to take off. Having made it through customs, I quickly asked for directions on how to get to the proper terminal for my connecting flight; and hurried to the outside where a shuttle bus was to take me around the airport (which seemed to be in 1/2 circle) to the furthest terminal allowing my connecting flight. As I rushed into the terminal carrying my baggage I went to a desk and asked regarding my flight. The agent explained that my connecting flight was in its final stages of boarding and that I would not likely be able to make the plane. I explained that I didn't have any choice and she hurriedly checked me in and told me to run for the plane. This idea did with all my luggage. I made the plane (just in time) and they closed the cabin door immediately behind me. I had made the connecting flight to Seattle and would not have to stay in New York for an undetermined amount of time. Also my parents would be waiting for me as our plane arrived at SeaTac. (I guess I thought my days of rushing about we're at an end. I was wrong!) 

SeaTac

as our plane arrived in seatac I watched carefully to see if I could see my family in the terminal ; but I could not. As I mounted the skyway to the terminal, I immerged to the terminal and saw my father my mother Tammy and Rick waiting for me. I approached them and got a big hug from my mother and father. I got a real good hug from my brother Rick. And I got a big hug from my sister Tammy. (in the two years that I had been gone Tammy had grown into a young woman and displayed many of the accoutrements that a young woman would have! I was extremely nervous about hugging a young girl [because such had been forbidden for two years]. I guess I expressed a little anxiety at hugging my sister; and she shied away from me toward my mother. I suppose my mother understood and comforted Tammy who recovered rather quickly.) I was finally home in the bosom of my family; and I relished the opportunity to be with them. As we were traveling home to Everett, my father was driving; my mother was in the middle; and I was to the right of her. My brother and sister were in the back seat. My father nonchalantly asked, “What have you been doing the last couple days?” To this I responded, “Well, I spent the day in jail a few days ago!” my father's swerved; regain the lane; And leaned forward to see around my mother and said, “what?” I then explained what had taken place; and I could never get my family to recognized that I had spent 99.99% of my mission as a good missionary! They seemed only to remember that I spent the last day in jail. Upon arriving home, I put my things away in our Everett apartment and prevailed upon Rick to take me with him as he was going to get Reed who worked at an eighth salt fish and chips place in Everett. I remember seeing Reed come walking out of the restaurant and being especially proud of him as he had grown into a young man and had taken the responsibility of working for himself.