Week 56 - supplement - HELP

Some of you may be in a position to consider a mission.  There are positions available for almost any kind of mission -- member/leader support, young single adult leaders, mission office staff, temple workers, etc.  This is a plea from our mission president.  If possible, please consider this:

To all Senior Missionaries in the ELSM

It has come to my attention that we are heading into some very difficult times. Elder and Sister Horsley are leaving next month and we have a replacement for them.  Elder and Sister Barker leave late next month, Elder and Sister Bradford and Elder and Sister Ottley are leaving in May, Elder and Sister Powers are leaving in July.  We only have one couple assigned to come to us in July, the Baers who are MLS.  I would ask all of you to inquire through your contacts, ward, and friends if there are any couple that would like to serve in England London South Mission. If they are interested, have them email or call me: rogerclive.millar@ldschurch.org, 1-435-767 0203. In talking with the missionary department in SLC, the number of applicants is drastically down at this time and they are not filling all the requests that are presented to them. They will help direct couples to us if they put in a preference and we also request them.  Thanks for your help and attention to this matter of great urgency.  

Forever Faithful, President Millar

Before

Now

Week 56.....the work moves forward

We have been going, going and going this week   We worked most of the previous week together on an outline of what we both felt should be presented at the missionary zone conferences.  We tried to listen to spiritual direction so that we could spend the 1/2 hour that we were allotted most effectively covering what we felt was of most importance.  Monday, Elder Smart spent most of the day finalizing the power point while Sister Smart took care of the duties around the flat.  Tuesday we set off early to Poole, Dorset for our first Zone conference presentation.

The trip there was a little nerve racking.  We were on unknown roads and the rain kept coming down.  The car was acting up and actually stalled twice on us on the way there.  We arrived only 4 minutes before the conference was supposed to start.  The office managers were very relieved when we arrived because we were the first assigned speakers.  It would not have been such a concern to them except that the Mission President and his wife had not yet arrived and they knew we could start while everyone waited for them.  It all turned out ok, since our leaders arrived just on time and were able to start the meeting themselves.

Zone Conference in Poole

Conference was wonderful. The spirit was strong and all our concerns about if we were teaching what the Lord wanted us to present were calmed. All of the speakers were definitely directed from the same source on high.  It was as if we had all worked together to plan our presentations.  It was obvious that the real organizer of the conference was the Lord.

Poole Chapel

 Birthday song to birthday missionaries

4 Staines friends united in Poole

Same friends in Staines 3 months ago.

   Notice Halo over Elder Smart






We spent the night in Poole and arose for an English breakfast served at the Blue Shutter B & B.  We were waiting at the door of the Dorset Family History Society, The Tree Tops for it to open.  We looked at marriage and death indexes.  We learned from some of their local history books that Robert Major was a city council member and had a business with the city mayor and other prominent men. We learned  about the

The Tree Tops (Dorset Family History Society)

Presbyterian Church on Hill Street, where the Major's attended Church.  We learned that there was a disagreement of doctrine and  another congregation split off from the Hill Street Church.  We don't think that had an impact on the Hill Street Major's.  We learned that there was a gap in records of the Hill Street Church probably due to the lack of a church appointed clergy during this time.  Members of the congregation had to step forward to keep the church going.  These missing records are at the time that Elder Smart's Major ancestors would have been there.

Maps in Poole History Centre

We then went to the Poole History Centre, another repository in the Poole area. We found maps that pinpointed the area that Robert Major had probably had his rope works business. Clues were found that we will follow up on to possibly learn more.

Quaint street in downtown Poole

Boat Dock at Poole

Short People's Door on old Poole Building

 We then traveled to Winchester and the Hampshire Record Office. Time was spent searching wills, marriages and deaths.  For all of the old Beatles fans we visited the Winchester Cathedral. 

Winchester Cathedral

Side View of Winchester Cathedral

Close-up - Side of "old" Cathedral

We made it safely home and Elder Smart set right into preparing power points for the "Who Do You Think You Are Conference."  He was informed on Monday what topics he was to speak about at the conference and had not had any time to prepare the power points.  The conference is one of the biggest family history conferences in Europe. It took place in downtown London on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  We spent all day on Thursday there.  Both of us helped people find their ancestors on the computers and helped teach the attendees about FamilySearch.  Elder Smart gave two class presentations and of course impressed everyone.

Elder Smart Teaches

Friday we started early for the Zone Conference in Staines.  Once again it was a very uplifting conference and Elder Smart did his presentation with Sister Smart adding her testimony.  We left early to be back to the Who Do You Think You Are Conference in London.  We spent the afternoon there; Elder Smart presenting 2 classes again and both of us working with patrons on the computers.

Saturday came and we left early again for the WDYTYA conference.  It was busy.  Elder Smart taught 3 classes and Sister Smart spent the entire day teaching patrons on the computer.  A year ago, Sister Smart was unable to do any more than work as a  greeter at the  reception desk of this same conference.  This year she was much more confident and skilled in her rendering help.  We are both amazed at her growth in her genealogical research skills.  She was able to help just like a professional this year!

FamilySearch booth - Annie at computer

At the end of the Conference we had to catch the bus and train home and quickly drive back to help transport computers and other items from the conference to The London Family History Centre at The National Archives.  It was late before we got home.  We were both exhausted.







Sunday, we once again, enjoyed attending our Staines Ward and teaching the Temple Preparation class.

We love serving the Lord and we love being here in England.  We also love and miss all of you very much.  Our prayers are with you and hope you will keep us in your prayers.

Love you,


Grandpa and Grandpa Smart,  Mom and Dad,  Paul and Annie,  Elder and Sister Smart

ps Thought we might share a couple of pictures sent to us by one of the kids:

ppss  Did we mention how much we love pictures of the kids???

55 Weeks and Busier Than Ever

Lots of things have happened since last week.  We're busier than ever, doing more traveling, and spending more time doing the work.

Arranging Visits

We were going to spend most of the day, last Monday, getting ready for some of the coming weeks presentations.  We ended up doing that, but we also needed some of the time for cleaning and home teaching.  Yes, one of our home teaching families, asked us to come by and have home evening with them.  Their names are Rob and Amanda Carter.  They have 3 children - Grace (5), Ruby (3), and Benjamin (1).  Did we mention that they are Americans and are over here until this fall.  Rob works for HP.  We tried for almost an hour to find where they lived.  When we finally found them, it was getting late so our visit was short.  We had also made cookies for them and we used the cookies as part of our home teaching lesson.  The kids loved it.

Tuesday was spent at The National Archives doing the usual.  Wednesday was also spent at TNA as was Thursday.

Valentine's Day Flowers

 Friday was Valentines Day and Annie received her Valentines Day flowers.  We also spent the day with several of the other senior missionaries from our mission in the "museums" area of London.  We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and some went on to the natural history museum and science museum.  One of the highlights of our visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum was to find the portrait of the rescue that President Monson mentioned in his October Conference talk.  It was painted by Joseph Mallord William Turner and called "Lifeboat and Manby Apparatus going off to a stranded vessel making signal blue lights of distress".  It felt really special to think that we had more fully experienced the talk given by Pres. Monson.  We got home fairly early that evening and went to work on preparing for our Saturday seminar.

Rescue Painting

Tourist Views Rescue Painting

When Saturday came we were ready and headed off early for Romford Stake in northeast London.  It took about an hour and a half to get there.  We have learned to really appreciate GPS devices.  We helped with patrons coming in one by one in the morning hours.  Then in the afternoon we gave three presentations on how to get started, doing European research, and a plain old question and answer session.  There were about 30 people at the conference and we were one of 5 concurrent sessions.  By the way, we were also the only live session.  The other four sessions, each hour, were rebroadcasts from the RootsTech conference held a little over a week ago in Salt Lake City.  We got home about 7:30, just in time to get ready for our two classes on Sunday -- Temple Preparation class and a Teacher Development class (Annie did the Temple Prep class by herself and Paul assisted in giving the Teacher Development class)

Romford Chapel

Romford Family History Centre

Romford Bishop's Daughter (on left)

Romford Lunch

The sabbath is always a wonderful day.  Meeting with the Saints has become very special to us.  We enjoy the members so much.  Our dear friend Helen Baden was there and she is really excited about finding a new home.  She says that her husband is also praying about this home.  We have so many other friends and acquaintances in the ward -- Sister Dee G, Sister Jane, Brother L Evans, Frost family (US), Combrinks (So. Africans), Tangdans (Phillipines), Maythems (So Africans), Russells, Prices, Goughrans, Herrity, Goodlets, Fishers, Petchys, Smiths,Spicers, Wilkinsons (US), Carters (US) and a whole host of others that we need to remember.

When we got home from Church and had our lunch/dinner.  Annie decided to check out the river.  We're only about 1/4 mile from the River Thames.  With all the flooding in England we thought we'd check it out.

Looking across Thames from Our Trail

Walking the Trail next to River

Just want to say that no matter how many wonderful people there are here, there are still a lot of wonderful people we have left back home.  So to you back home, we express our love and fondest desires that life will be good for you.  We still have strong testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel.  It is true beyond any doubt.  May your testimonies grow and develop to be even stronger than our's.

Love to you all,

Grandma and grandpa, Mom and dad, Elder and Sister Smart, Annie and Paul

ps  Have you all heard about our floods?  Thought we'd share.

Flooding in England - 2014 (Not in Our Area)

Flooding - Our Area

Week 54 -- Take a Deep Breath

We vaguely remember wanting more to do.  As we look at the next few weeks, we will have to remind ourselves to take a deep breath once in a while.  Our schedule is full and we will share it all with you as it transpires.

Monday we spent the morning at home, making powerpoints and doing genealogy.  The afternoon we hopped the underground and met 3 other senior missionary couples from the London Mission.  The couples work in the London Family History Centre.  We visited the Guildhall Library and went to China Town and had dinner. We then walked to Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. The last stop was at Hagan Daz ice cream.  Most got an ice cream cone, but the Smarts were so stuffed from dinner that we just watched and walked.  Can you believe we didn't indulge?  Are we being good or what?

St. Paul's Cathedral

 

Square at Guild Hall Library

                                                 

                                                        China Town

The next few days were full of helping and preparing.  Elder Smart has used any free minutes he can find between answering the London Family History Centre email requests from patrons, helping patrons and friends do their genealogy, mentoring the family history centre missionaries, home teaching and working on the Sunday Temple Preparation class lesson and other Sunday School needs, doing the power points for our presentations scheduled for the next two weeks.  Annie has been very busy helping to make outlines for some of the power point presentations, filling in for missionaries at the London Family History Centre and helping friends and patrons with their genealogy.

Wednesday was Annie's birthday.  We went to work at the family history centre and were surprised with a carrot cake (Annie's favorite).  One of the sister missionaries made a luscious birthday cake which we all enjoyed.  We had plans for a dinner out that evening.  We had second thoughts when the underground drivers went on strike.  This made travel anywhere, difficult. The roads were overloaded with cars and going into London was impossible.  We decided to order Pizza Hut delivery. After pizza Paul quietly endured watching 2 "chick flicks," Annie's choice.   Annie loved the movies along with her 2 new pair of shoes.

Opening birthday greetings on the computer

Saturday morning Annie decided to try driving.  *%*&#  Not only has it been a year since she has driven anything, but she has never driven on the left hand side of the road.  The roads are so narrow that she had a hard time keeping off the curb as she tried to stay left of the center line (not possible without hitting the curb or a side mirror on a parked car).  Paul's fear was clearly emphasized when he almost bit through his bottom lip not to mention checking his "drawers".  ha! ha!

Frost family

One of the high lights of the week was helping the Frost family kids search their family.  Cate and Tyler are 13 year old twins that have a strong desire to do their family history.  They want to learn how.  We helped them get started when we had dinner at their home last Sunday.  They visited us at the London Family History Centre on Saturday.  They were quick to pick things up and left with a lot of new information, names and dates of their ancestral family.  They were so on a high from it all, that they shared it with their Sunday School class and friends today at Church.  We learned some fun things about their family line as well.  Both Brother and Sister Frost have family ties to Tooele.  Paul remembers Elliot and Agnes Black the grandparents of Sister Frost.  He also went to school with her uncle, Edward Black.

Cate & Tyler Frost - budding genealogists

Happy Birthday this week to Raquel.
Happy Valentines Day to everyone!!!!    

We know this is Christ's Church.  We know he loves each of you.  We know that love, forgiveness and service is what brings joy to our lives.  We miss you all so very much, but are so happy to be serving this mission. 

All our love,

Grandpa and Grandma, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie, Elder and Sister Smart.

Busy is Better -- Week 53

The title of this post is so important to us.  We certainly feel that we have a little more purpose to our mission.

We met the Family History Area Advisors to the Area Presidency this week.  We touched base with them about a week ago and they asked that we meet them this week at the temple.  That seemed like a good idea, so we made arrangements to meet them Wednesday evening at the temple.  We thought that it would be quite doable, especially since we simply hop in our recently obtained car, plug in the coordinates in our GPS, and drive about an hour down the motorway (freeway for you US readers).  So, we spent Wednesday morning at the Family History Centre in London helping in the centre and training some of the staff on doing family history.  We went dressed in our suit and dress, so we could leave immediately for the temple and get in a session prior to our meeting with the Cottrell's (the area advisors).

The meeting went well and we particularly enjoyed meeting during dinner at our favorite temple restaurant, The Peacock.  We learned that the Cottrell's wanted us to work the area in and around London since they lived in Bournemouth (a way west of London).  They were also happy to line us up with a speaking engagement in Romford, Essex on Feb 16.

Temple Experience - Sister Leah Smith - Center; Sister Divina Sapaden - Left

When we decided to meet the Cottrell's at the temple, we realized that the next day, Thursday, one of our temple preparation class members, from the Staines Ward, was scheduled to take out her endowments on Thursday.  So we stayed overnight at the temple and got up to next day to do another endowment session and go through the temple with Sister Leah Smith.  She had requested that she have headphones so she could hear the session in Tagalog, but the temple workers forgot, so she had to do it in English.  As all things seem to work out, even when there is a mistake, so it was here.  She managed just fine with the English language.

Since we didn't get a p-day last week (we spent Saturday at Catford doing a family history presentation), we took Monday to do our shopping and run errands.  We still ended up going to the family history centre to try to catch up with some of our paper work and other items.

Tuesday, we spent at the FHC with Annie filling in for a missionary while Paul took the missionary and did some training/mentoring with that person.  We started a little later, but worked until almost 7 that night.  Friday was another day just like Tuesday, only we started getting ready for some of our ward and stake visits and the presentations we have to give.

Today was another marvelous Sunday.  Absolutely love Church.  Both of us were so touched by the testimonies that we absolutely had to bear our testimonies. A couple of those that bore testimony were from our temple preparation classes.  They had such sweet and yet powerful testimonies!  We taught our usual temple preparation class.  We have several that are so humble and yet so vibrant about wanting to attend the temple.  Three of the young men in the class will probably serve missions.  One is black and is such a fine young man.  He is so ready and so prepared to serve.

Anyway, following Church we went to the home of an American family by the name of Frost (Shawn and Alyson).  They and their two older children (12 year old twins) wanted to be taught how to find some family names for temple work.  They are a great family and since there are powerful Church connections all over the world, Sister Frost is a granddaughter of Elliot and Agnes Black from Tooele.  Anyway we had a nice afternoon, good meal and time well spent with the Frost's.

Guess that's about enough for this week.  We want to recognize our family members who have special days to celebrate this week:  Kaeson - 1 year old on the 5th;  Eli & Mickell - anniversary on the 4th; and one other birthday on the 5th, that we're not allowed to mention.

We would like you all to know that the gospel is TRUE!  Although we have had some real challenges here, our faith has never waivered.  We are so happy to serve (even though we miss you all more than you will ever know).  Please be assured of our love and best wishes.  We pray every day for our family and friends.

Love,

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Annie and Paul, Elder and Sister Smart

ps  If any of you see our camera let us know.  We fear we may have lost it.  Good thing we back up our pictures and have a tablet that takes wonderful pictures as well.

Elder Smart @ Temple - Still Doing Family History