President Gordon B. Hinckley returned to his beloved England and visited the Republic of Ireland during a historic trip Aug. 24-Sept. 2 that included the creation of the Canterbury England Stake, rededication of the Hyde Park Chapel and many member firesides and meetings with missionaries.
His wife, Marjorie P. Hinckley, accompanied the president on the trip and spoke frequently in the meetings. Members of the Europe North Area presidency - Elders Graham W. Doxey, John E. Fowler and Cecil O. Samuelson - also participated.The daily schedule and pace of the prophet was intense, leading to a different hotel each night except for the first two nights of the trip - usually many miles apart with a full schedule of meetings and other appointments in between. As he hurried from an interview with a British commercial radio newscaster into a meeting with some 200 missionaries in the England London Mission Aug. 28 he quipped: "My voice is tired; I think I'll trade it in on a new one."
He then proceeded to speak forcefully for nearly an hour. During the entire trip, it was apparent that both President and Sister Hinckley were strengthened by the Spirit and energized by being among the British and Irish Saints.
Creation of the Canterbury England Stake occurred Sunday, Aug. 27. The new stake was formed from portions of the Maidstone, Wandsworth and Romfrod stakes.
A special conference in the original Wandsworth England Stake was attended that morning by about 950 people at the Wandsworth Stake Center, with another 1,500 people attending an afternoon conference at the Stour Center in Ashford near Maidstone, nearly two hours away.
Following the afternoon meeting, a two-hour trip into the heart of London and to the Hyde Park Chapel was undertaken, where the historic structure was rededicated at a meeting attended by more than 800 people. The Hyde Park facility includes not only a chapel, but classrooms, family history library, institute and stake offices on five levels.
In the dedicatory prayer, President Hinckley expressed thanks for "this exceptional piece of ground in the heart of this great city" and, besides dedicating it as a house of worship, he dedicated it as a "missionary facility, that it may be a place attracting those who may pass through this historic area of London. We pray that they may be touched by Thy Holy Spirit to enter these portals, and here learn of Thine everlasting truths. . . ."
President Hinckley's love of the people in England, where he served as a missionary from 1933-35, was evident and frequently manifest in his remarks and reminiscences throughout his trip. Yet his messages - each a blend of doctrinal declarations, counsel and anecdotes sometimes spiced with humor and all given extemporaneously - were forthright.
"I've been here in England many times since my mission. I always love to come here," he said at an Aug. 26 fireside in Crawley. "I don't like to come here on those long plane rides, but I love being here among these people whose tongue I hope I speak and whose love I have felt for a long time, and whom I have loved for a long time.
"There will always be an England, and there will always be some of us who love it. I guess it's because my ancestral roots are here; perhaps that may be a factor."
During the first day he arrived in England, Friday Aug. 25, and before meetings began in earnest the next day, President and Sister Hinckley visited Canterbury Cathedral and Sandwich in the southeast part of the country. As a university graduate in English, the president referred on occasion to the literary richness of the region and, with a smile, quoted several lines from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Old English.
He noted that Sandwich was once the busiest port in England, and that it was from there that his Hinckley ancestors first sailed to America in April 1635.
"Though that is 360 years ago, a little thread of England is still woven in the tapestry of my life, for which I'm grateful." During most of his dozen or so major addresses in the British Isles and in interviews with media representatives, President Hinckley recounted various experiences from his missionary days. He reminded missionaries along the way how fortunate they were to labor in a land rich in Church history and encouraged them to work hard, love the people, adhere to mission rules and look for the good in their companions.
He added in another meeting: "I'll always be grateful, forever grateful, for the experiences I've had in this good land. My prayers have been answered in this land as a young man. This is where my faith grew and was solidified."
Early in the trip, President Hinckley noted the severe drought that has plagued the region, referring with a smile to the "once green and beautiful land" that is presently brown and, relatively speaking, somewhat barren. He added a promise that relief from the drought would come as the people were faithful, and the land would be blessed with rain in due time in response to the prayers of the Saints. He mentioned that the General Authorities in their temple meeting in Salt Lake City the day he left had prayed for rain in the British Isles. Prior to his visit, no rain had fallen for about two months and temperatures had been uncharacteristically hot. The day President Hinckley arrived in England the weather turned noticeably cooler and within three days of his promise rain had fallen over a significant portion of the country.
"This land is also suffering from a spiritual drought," he said, saying that the solution to the latter is found through obedience to the commandments.
President Hinckley frequently left a blessing over the pulpit upon the people. Wherever he went, he would take time to shake hands with hundreds of missionaries and, when his crowded schedule allowed, with members young and older.
At the Crawley fireside, he said: "I leave my blessing and testimony with you and pray for you that you may continue to be a part of the great unrolling of this work of the Lord. We are strong now, but we haven't seen anything yet. Miracles have come to pass and will yet come to pass to unfold the work here in this choice part of the Lord's vineyard. The Lord is directing this work. My only desire - and I hope your only desire - is to do that which the Lord would have us do.
"May you be blessed, each of you. May there be love and peace and gladness in your homes. I leave my blessing upon you. May there be food on your table, clothing on your backs, shelter over your heads and a sense of security and peace and love among your children, precious children every one of them, even those who may have strayed. I hope you don't lose patience with them; I hope you go on praying for them, and I don't hesitate to promise that if you do so, the Lord will touch their hearts and bring them back to you with love and respect and appreciation.
"We are all in this together, you and I, and everything we have to do is important. There is no small or unimportant responsibility in this Church. Everything is important, and everybody is needed. . . . Please accept the testimony of an old British missionary who came to this land in the dark days of the world Depression in 1933, and here learned to love the people and to love the Lord in a way that I had not known before. I've never forgotten that love and respect and appreciation for the people of Britain."
