Week Number 8 (but who's counting)

This week has been another great week.  We've enjoyed our image capturing and all our other activities.

We have waited in anticipation for a table to eat at.  It arrived on Tuesday and we spent the evening putting it together.  Prior to Tuesday we either ate at the kitchen counter or we sat on the couch and used the coffee table.  Now we have four new chairs and a regular table.  It's just like being home (well, almost like home).

New Table & Chairs - Happy Missionary

Tuesday also started us off with the ability to get some medical help.  Annie had been having challenges with her toe.  Somehow one of her nails became infected and we had nothing to get it fixed or to put on it.  You can't buy alcohol or even something like Neosporan over here.  Anyway Tuesday was our "induction" into the medical  system over here.  Didn't cost us a thing and now we can go to the Doctor whenever we need to at no cost.  So, we made an appointment for Thursday.  She went in on Thursday and he prescribed a couple of medications and when she went to pick it up -- no charge.

They do holidays over here in a big way.  For Easter, most of the country was (especially the public offices) were closed on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  That means that we could not go to work on Friday, we couldn't use the Family History Centre on Saturday and we cannot go to work on Monday (tomorrow).  Had we planned properly we should be off doing something fun and seeing some of the country.  However, we both volunteered to teach classes at Church today and that put an end to anything other than local things.

Friday we committed to each other that we would find Costco and see what we could learn about it here in England.  It ended up being a real adventure and we enjoyed the experience. We took a bus then a train and transferred to another train and then we took another bus and walked a block to arrive at Costco.  They had lots of good stuff and much of it was somewhat American.  It was a real treat to see them handing out samples and being able to buy large quantities of things that we are used to having.  Of course we're on public transportation so we took a suit case to put the stuff in and ended up leaving quite a bit there since we couldn't get it all in.  The mission had also mentioned a place nearby Costco where we could also purchase A&W Root Beer.  Again we had no space so that will have to be for another trip.

We are thinking this other trip might be this coming week.  We are getting another couple over here to help with records preservation.  They will work in the same office as us and we will enjoy having another missionary couple here in the area.  Apparently the mission office wants us to help them get set up as well.  By that we mean that they are not replacing any other missionaries and we need to start from scratch in helping them to set up their apartment (flat) and purchase bedding, utensils, and all that goes into living over here.  The mission will bring them here via Costco.  Then they will be ours for helping.  One good thing is that we will likely meet them at Costco so we can get the other items that we could not get on Friday.

On Saturday, we cleaned our flat and had one of the members come over and have a look at our washer/dryer.  We were able to open up the front of it and determined that all that was wrong is that the knob was broken.  Temporarily we took another knob off and are now controlling the drying with it.  The landlady that lives in New York will pay for a new knob and we will be one more step closer to having our flat fixed like we would like it.

Saturday afternoon we started out for Hampton Court Palace to see where Henry VIII lived for a while.  We have complimentary entrance to it because we work at The National Archives.  We really wanted to get there and were well on our way when we received a call from the Elders asking for help.  We struggled a little and then decided that what we are really here for is to do missionary work.  So we got off of one bus and got back on another and headed back to where we could meet the Elders.  We ended up going to the home of a less active member and helping with a discussion on prayer.  It was a great experience.

We love the experience with the members and less actives and even part members.  We are working with a part member family.  The man is quite interested in family history and we enjoy talking and answering questions and fellowshipping.  We are also working with some of the other missionaries and helping them with their family history.  Some of you will know Vic Perez at American Tire Centers in Riverton.  We have dealt with Vic for a lot of years in purchasing tires.  His in-laws are here (Elder and Sister Damron).  We rang them up and said hi for Vic.  Sister Damron really enjoys family history and needed to find a will.  We found it for her on Thursday before The National Archives closed.  She is really excited to see it.  Now all we need to do is get it to her.

One of the other exciting things that we did (at least exciting for Annie) was purchase a new purse.  Here old one was falling apart -- literally.  So we bought a new one at TK Max (yes, just like TJ Max).
 

old purse

new purse

Well that's enough for this week.  Before we close we'll just tell you that we are excited to serve.  We have a real testimony of what it is that we are doing.  Easter has meant a lot to us.  We really appreciate what the Savior did for us that makes Easter more special.  We have taught the atonement for a couple of weeks now and have an even greater appreciation of its real meaning.

One last thing we will mention is how proud we are of Mikaela and her recent baptism.  Way to go Mikaela!!

We also have heard that Racquelle is recovering nicely from her appendectomy.  We also are pleased to mention our March birthdays -- Mikaela, Kaiden, Spencer, Becky and Aaron (the Smart Aaron)

Love to you all,

Elder and Sister Smart, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa.

Paul writing this blog

Week 6 and 7

It felt just like Christmas this week when we finally got the internet hooked up in our flat.  We felt so isolated from everyone during that time of no communication.  We should be able to regularly post blogs for all of you to know what we are up to in England. 



Bedroom    You can see that the footboard is
used to hand the clothes on for drying..

We moved into our new flat on March 1st.  Since then we have been trying to get it clean and to have repairs made on it.  All the repairs have not been completed, but headway is being made.  It is very small, but nice and in a nice neighborhood, and small as it is, we are comfortable calling it home.



Bathroom    Extra towel is on floor to catch
water that drips from the shower



Reception room (front room) of our flat







 

Kitchen

Two weeks ago, we had a real treat when we were able to share time with Donna and Marv (Paul's sister and brother-in-law). They spent the week in London with their son who was here on business.  We were able to take 1 and 1/2 days off and visit some sights in London with them.   We went to the Hyde Park chapel.


Hyde Paark Chapel








 We took a bus tour of downtown London. Saw lots of things.....Westminister Abbey,  Houses of Parliament, The Royal Albert Hall,











changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace,and much more

Buckingham Palace

 On one afternoon we all visited the Tower of London.  That was so interesting.  We saw where Henry VIII beheaded his wives.  We saw the torture chamber and some of the torture aparatuses.  We observed the mote around the castle and got to see the Crown Jewels.  Very interesting.

Tower of London

 

 

 London Bridge at the Tower of London

We visited Harrods Dept Store again with  them. The children's section is so much fun.

 

                                                                                                 Made out of Legos

  

We found the best fish and chips at an out of the way little restaurant and shared a meal there with Donna and family.

It has been very very cold here.  They tell us it is the coldest  March they can remember.  Way up north the news is that snow is higher than cars.  However, here in London the snow falls but is gone nearly before it hits the ground.

We have a short beautiful walk to work each day.  We get to visit with some pretty foul friends on our way.
 

We got some exciting news from our supervisor this week.  In May there is camera trainging that takes place in Germany.  That means that we will be flying to Germany for this training and then taking a few extra days to tour after the training is over.

We both spoke in our Ward today.  It is an hour or more bus trip each Sunday to our Ward.  We left early today to make sure we got there on time.  Our church starts at 10:00 and we left at 8:10.  We did arrive 1/2 hour early but you never know about  the buses schedules,at least we were not late.  Best news of all is that Annie got her bus pass which means that we can travel by bus or underground nearly anywhere we need to go at no cost. 

Life is busy but good.  We love the Lord and are happy to serve in his vineyard.  We are also very excited to hear of all the good things happening with our families back in America.  Way to go Raquel -- we know that you were blessed in your appendectomy!

Grandma and Grandpa Smart



week 5

Still no internet.  We are staying at the church house after meetings to post this.  It has been a busy week.  We finally had an afternoon yesterday to visit a few things in London.  We took the tube to Hyde Park chapel.  It was interesting to watch video clips about the church in England.  Paul was most interested in what they had to say about the immigration ship that his ancesters were on.  They had a painting of Charles Dickens on the ship writing about the mormon immigrants being the best of the English people.We also went to Herrods, the largest dept. store in the world.  We have pictures from the toy dept. that we will post as soon as we get our wifi hooked up. 

We had dinner with a neat part member family on Wednesday night.  Great experience!


We love you all.

Week Four

Week number four is a most intersting one.  Perhaps one of the bigest reasons is our move.

We moved flats on Friday afternoon and now live about 10 minutes walk from our work at The National Archives.  Our flat is quite nice but has its own set of problems.  Carpets are spotted and stained; garbage disposal smells and is plugged and doesn't work; 15 lights burned out; cabinet hinges loose and cabinet doors drag on the ground; and we could go on and on.  Nevetheless, its's in a very nice area and we feel quite safe and secure here.  One other thing about our flat is that we have to start from scratch on setting it up.  We need to set up our own phone, internet, tv, and furnish our personal items such as pots, pans, utensils, cups, plates, garbage cans (rubbish bins), hair rollers, clothes hangers, etc., etc..  

It appears the landlord will get the place cleaned today and hopefully get the repair person over to fix everything else.

The lighter side of all this is our Annie who continues to make a very nice home and keeps things light and easy going. One morning we started out for our work and Annie looked down to find that she had two different shoes on.  Mind you, they were close in appearance, but nevertheless, two different shoes.  She felt so bad that she had to return to the flat to change them.  The very next morning we headed out to work and shortly after leaving our flat, she started to put on her gloves only to come to the conclusion that she had one glove and one pair of socks.  Needless to say the socks would not suffice for keeping her other hand warm and again we returned to the flat to get the glove and drop off the socks.  Never a dull moment in our lives! 

One of our biggest accomplishements was the return evaluation of our first batches of images that we sent to Salt Lake City.  We heard back that we both passed - meaning the images that were sent were reviewed by an evaluator and that all was well.  We were quite excited and felt rather accomplished on our first efforts.

We are using computers at The National Archives to post this and so until we get our own internet in 2 weeks, we will not be able to add pictures.

Love you all and rest assured, the gospel is still true!

Elder and Sister Smart