Week 21 has come and gone

Before I start this blog, you may want to know that if you want to enlarge the pictures to see them more clearly, just push the control key and roll the wheel on the mouse up to enlarge or down to make smaller.

We started this week by having the Petchey family from our ward over for dinner Monday night.  This is such a cute family.  There is so much love in this family that is was a joy to have them to our home.  We had fun with the two boys that are boys all the way and their rambunction was so like the grandsons we left behind.  Amelia can out smile anyone.  She is so very very sweet.  Annie is the other daughter and she is a very "on the ball" young lady.  (yes, there are four of them) We had planned to go swimming with them, but time did not allow this.  We hope to do the swimming thing in the future.

Isaac Petchey

Amelia Petchey




Petchey Family

Tuesday was a looked forward to event for Paul.  The British Society of Genealogists had their yearly meeting that he has never been able to attend.  On top of that the Fellows of this society had their meeting prior to the group meeting.  Paul has had the honor of being a Fellow of this society since the mid 1980s.  It is sort of like the elite of the group.  The fellow's have to be nominated  by six already fellows and then voted on by the group.  There are only 3 Americans that are "Fellows" with a total of about 75 or 76.  He enjoyed rubbing shoulders with some of the top genealogists in the British Isles and renew old friendships with them. 

Friday we took a trip to the doctor's office because Annie had abdominal pain for the previous  few days.  It turns out she has diverticulitis.  We have included a picture of what this looks like for those that have not heard of it before.  She is taking anitbiotics and doing much better.

This is what diverticulitis looks like

Saturday is the first day in quite a while that we could actually sleep in and have a little leisure time.  After cleaning the flat Annie did the grocery shopping while Paul got his hair cut and then he joined her to help get the groceries home per the bus.  We had time to sit out on our deck and enjoy a meal.  It is really beautiful outside right now and the airplanes fly over us about every minute or two.  Annie then made some chocolate chip cookies and Paul had a hey day with a bowl of the cookie dough.

Lunch on the deck

View from our deck

  

One of the many planes that fly over us.

The Goodlets and Paul

 Today (Sunday) we enjoyed having Aaron and Katja Goodlet join us for dinner after church.

One of our favorite parts of each week is teaching the temple prep class.  We enjoy it so very much.  The spirit is strong in our class and we are so honored to be working with such wonderful humble people with  such strong testimonies.  We love our Savior and all what he has done for us.  The gospel is true and this is Christ's Church.  There is nothing that will give anyone more joy and more comfort in life than living the gospel and being part of his kingdom here on earth.

Forgot to mention that Annie is becoming quite a genealogist in her own right.  She has been working hard on the Windows/Windus line.  We have cleared up several incorrect family ties by purchasing certificates and doing some work with microfilms and using the internet.  She has also discovered a distant cousin that lives in St. George and has struck up a budding friendship.  Hopes to be able to do some temple work and continue to straighten things out.  You should all be proud of her.

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

We so enjoy pictures from home.  Here is a recent favorite that was sent this week via email (hint, hint, hint).

Making chocolate smores

  

                                                                                               

Week 20 and Still Going Strong

Wanted to start off by saying that the gospel is true and that we are really enjoying our mission.  We particularly enjoy our Sundays.  We have some of the most special people attending our ward - the Staines Ward.  Some of you will know that we are teaching a temple preparation class.  We are teaching some wonderful people that are really eager to learn and to prepare to attend the temple.  Additionally there are some of the most faithful people we have ever met that are attending our ward.  There are also some really great people that are investigating the Church.



London Temple

Smarts & Powells @ Temple

This past week we have had some neat experiences.  Last Sunday we spoke at the London Temple Visitor's Centre at a fireside about family history.  We had the blessing of returning on Friday and attending a session and then going out to dinner with the Carpenters.  They are from Draper and we have known them for a few years.  They also happen to be the directors of the visitor's centre at the temple.  We also had the opportunity of having the Powells accompany us.  They work with us at The National Archives as we do our digitizing.

We have spent quite a bit of extra time this past week working on putting together a booklet of family history for one of our less active members that is working on coming back to Church.  Her name is Dee Blything.  She is a special lady who is quite elderly and has had a rough life.  Nevertheless she has a great spirit about her and she oozes with goodness.  Her family is quite disfunctional and has had lots of interesting turns and twists.  Nevertheless, we have been quite successful in succeeding at helping to put her genealogy together.

On Tuesdays we have been letting a couple come from the upstairs of the Archives (they work in the FHC) and do digitizing while we go up and work in the FHC.  This has proved to be a good break and it also allows us to get involved in helping patrons with their family history.  We love it, but we also have a strong testimony that we are digitizing because that is what the Lord has called us to do.  The couple that comes down to try digitizing said they could absolutely not do that type of work every day of their mission.  Another senior couple said that they were not set apart to do that and that is the reason that they could not digitize everyday.  That meant a lot and verified to us that we are okay with digitizing because that is what we have been called to do.  We love our mission!

Swans & Their Remains

Just wanted to mention that the swans still grab our attention to and from our work.  We enjoy our little 12 minute walk to and from work each and marvel at the beautiful flowers and shrubs that we pass.  We start from our flat (apartment) and walk through the gardens that surround us.  We go through a gated area and walk across a parking lot that surrounds a mini mall.  We walk past Marks and Spencer (a combined grocery store and clothing store).  There is a coffee shop, a drug store called Boots (kind of like Walgreens), a T K Max (just like T J Max at home), and a Mothercare (store with baby stuff).  Then comes our favorite bus stop (actually our only bus stop).  We then walk onto the grounds of The National Archives.  It is surrounded by a large garden, a couple of ponds (home of our swans and a few other fouls) and some really nice benches, flowers, etc.  Two or three minutes later we enter our work place, deposit our coats (yes, we still wear jackets at the end of June), and then go to the basement and begin our days work.

We did our usual shopping, flat cleaning and resting on Saturday.  However, we also had a chance to support our friends the Badens.  Paul is the husband, a prospective member of the Church, and an artist in his own right.  We went to see some of his art work and had dinner with the two of them (Paul and Helen) and their son, George.  Had a great time, went to Bushy Park, and then had dinner with them at a Spanish (not Mexican) restaurant.  Good food! Good company!  Good art work!

Well that's it for another week.  We have lots of things to accomplish this week and we trust that you do to.  We want to congratulate Aaron and Audra on their anniversary, Simon on his birthday, and all the rest of you for being such good people.

We want to tell you how much we love you all -- family and friends.  You help us to keep going.  We appreciate your love and prayers and the way you lead your lives.  To our wonderful children we also appreciate what you are doing to raise our wonderful grandchildren in a world of turmoil with a righteous outlook on life..

Thanks -- our love and best wishes,

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

Week 19

Paul once again spent the week doing genealogy for a less active member in our ward and working on his power point for the fireside Sunday.  Annie's top happening  of the week was having her hair highlighted and cut. She tried to do some preliminaries herself.  Check out the eyebrows below.

Annie coloring her eyebrows and roots
before going to have highlights

It is late Sunday evenging and we just arrived home after a long and eventful day.  We left our flat at 8:30 this morning and just returned at 10:00 tonight.  We took the bus to church and enjoyed teaching the temple preparation class.  This has been something we look forward to each week.  We caught the bus after church and went a different direction to a train station to travel to the London Temple Visitor's Center.  The Carpenters invited  us to  dinner at their flat before the fireside.  They are the directors of the Visitor's Center and old friends of Pauls from Draper.  We enjoyed an old favorite of hay stacks for supper.  After the meal we went to the visitor's center to present the fireside on "using family history as a proselyting tool."  Annie did the introduction of the Smart's and introduced the topic of the fireside, afterwhich Paul did his magic and awed everyone.  It was a great experience, but once again we are glad to be back home and we are ready to call it a day. 


After the Fireside



Smarts and Carpenters at the visitors center



walking around temple grounds



temple grounds flowers





Beautiful!

We want to recognize all fathers and potential fathers and wish them the best on this father's day.

We love you all!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie



Week 18 and Still Riding (Writing) in the Saddle

We say riding in the saddle because we're still working hard and making lots of progress with the digitizing.  One new thing happened -- we spent our first real day in the Family History Centre as missionaries.  They asked us to change places with a couple that was working in the Centre.  That means they came down into the basement to digitize and we went up to the second floor (called the first floor here due to the fact that the main floor is called the "ground" floor) and we helped patrons with their family history research.  We enjoyed the change and Annie really kept her husband running from patron to patron.

Perhaps the highlight of the week is still Church.  We love going to Church on Sunday and mingling with the Saints.  Today we taught our second Temple Preparation Class.  We discussed the "Plan of Salvation".  We were going to do the whole thing today and split the lesson so that Annie taught half of it and Paul taught the other half.  Annie just barely got through her half and the time was over.  So, Paul will have to finish it next week.

Even the bus ride was fun.  By the time we got to Church the whole front of the bus was filled with members of our ward.  There must have been about 8 or 10 of us.

Society of Genealogists Library

Saturday was also a great day.  We spent the morning cleaning the flat.  Then we ran some errands in Richmond.  We're trying to get our bank straightened out so we can both be on the account and so that we can get some "old" money from a previous account that Paul had, added to our newer account.  We are also trying to find some good ice cube trays for our freezer.  After those errands we made our way to downtown London where we visited the Society of Genealogist's library.  Obviously we did some family history research.

To culminate a great Saturday we decided to go to South Kensington and eat.  We had crepes (pronounced kreps over here).  We probably said it before but it's kind of like a large pocket sandwich with whatever you want inside.  Paul had eggs, ham and cheese.  Annie had pepperoni, chicken, peppers and cheese.  We again enjoyed it very much.  However, dinner at South Kensington is never complete unless we finish it with Gelatto (Italian Ice Cream) at Oddono's.  Obviously that's what we did.

All was not totally well this week.  Our English cell phone, which has never worked right since we got it, fell into the toilet.  Obviously it didn't work after that -- at all.  If anyone wants the details of the fall and retrieval of the phone, you will have to request that info from Annie. :o)

Before we close this one, we wanted to mention one other event from our trip to Herefordshire - the conversion and healing of one Mary Pitt.

Dymock Parish Church

As we wandered in and out of small communities in the area where Wilford Woodruff preached in 1840, we stopped at the village of Dymock.  Here we sat in the Anglican Church grounds and the guide related the story to us. William Pitt was from the village of Dymock and you would only be aware of him if you knew that he was the leader of the band in Nauvoo.  What is more miraculous is that William had a sister by the name of Mary who had been crippled for her whole life.  After she was carried down to the water to be baptized, Brigham Young, who happened to be in Dymock at this time, gave Mary a blessing and she is said to have got up and walked through the streets of Dymock proclaiming the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In case you're wondering, we're loving our mission, missing you all something fierce, and appreciating our testimonies of the gospel daily.

May the Lord's choicest blessings be with you,

Grandma and grandpa, mom and dad, Annie and Paul

ps  We want to congratulate Keslee on giving her hair to Locks of Love.  We understand that there are others in the family that have done this including Harlie, Austyn, and Kaiden.  If there are more of you that have given your hair, just let us know and we will add you to this recognition list.

Keslee - After Hair Donation

Speaking of a recognition list, we failed (can you believe it?) to mention our birthdays for last week -- Emma, Adelyn, Mickell.

A Full Week - #17

We started this week with a "bank holiday".  This is what they call many national holidays.  Monday we were off work and it was Annie's first day up (partly so) after being sick for several days.  We went grocery shopping and Paul got a haircut.  The rest of the day was spent cleaning and washing and ironing.

Tuesday, we left the digitizing early and went upstairs to do family history research with our friends from the Staines Ward.  Helen and Paul Baden have the spirit of Elijah in full swing.  They both love doing genealogy.  Sister Helen Baden is a member and her husband, Paul Baden is not a member.  We love spending time with this family.  After time at the London Family History Centre we came to our flat and had dinner together.  We pray that Brother Paul Baden will accept the gospel and be baptized.  He is truely a dry Mormon.

Paul and Helen Baden

Paul teaching family history to Helen Baden

Wednesday we hopped on the bus after work and headed to our Staines Ward House to teach the young men and young women how to index.  We left early so that we could get set up before everyone arrived.  We caught the first bus and then waited for our second bus that comes every 20 minutes.  We had a 15 minute wait until the scheduled bus was to arrive.  We waited and waited and that bus never came.  We waited and waited and the next scheduled bus did not come.  Finally the 3rd bus showed up and we got there just as it was time to start.  All was well because the young men's leader that was to go early was at the next bus stop.  He too was waiting for the buses that did not arrive. 

View from the bus

Saturday we had the opportunity to go with the young single adults on a church historical tour in the Herefordshire area.  Getting away from London and into the country was so beautiful.  The green country side was an awesome view.

English countryside

More countryside

Ledbury, Herefordshire

Baptist Church in Ledbury.

 We first stopped at Ledbury for lunch and saw the Baptist Church that Wilford Woodruff was allowed to preach in and baptized members there in 1840.



 We drove a few more miles to the Hill Farm (Benbow Farm).  It was here that Wilford Woodruff came into contact with a group who had left the Methodist Church and organized their own religious group called the United Brethren.  He arrived at the home of John Benbow on the 4th of March 1840.  Elder Woodruff arrived their after being referred by William Benbow, the brother of John Benbow, and spiritual promptings.   Two days after his arrival, he baptized the Benbows and 3 of their friends.  During the next 6 months he baptized all of the United Brethern ministers and most of their congretations. 

Benbow Farm House

In front of the Pond

Wilford Woodruff dug a pond on the Benbow farm to baptize in.  We were able to see that pond and feel the spirit there.  The missionary efforts of Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young and Willard Richards brought more than 1800 people in to the Church.




Our next stop was in Castle Frome, the local parish church just below the Benbow Farm.  At first Wilford Woodruff was invited to preach here, but soon wore out his welcome.  The minister soon began to complain and sent a constable up the hill to stop Wilford from preaching.  The constable listed for a short time and after the meeting asked to be baptized.  The minister later sent two of his churchwardens up to find out what was going on.  These two were also baptized following the meeting that they attended. We entered the Castle Frome 0church building where Wilford Woodruff taught the gospel.

The Castle Frome Parish Church

Tour group listens to the tour guide

Annie preaching from the pulpit of the chapel

Inside the Castle
Frome chapel

Our last stop was the Gadfield Elm Chapel which also happens to be the oldest LDS chapel in the world.  This church building was built about 1836 by the United Brethern.  Since all of the United Brethren joined the LDS Church, they no longer needed a chapel and gave the building to the LDS Church.  As most members left Herefordshire to emigrate to America, the chapel was abandoned and used by local farmers for equipment storage.  Most of the roof was gone and one wall was mostly gone.  Some local business men and members of the Church bought it and restored it and gave the title to the Church.  It is now used as a visitors center

Gadfield Elm Chapel

 

Annie in the Gadfield Elm Chapel

The old people's bus

We sat in the back of the bus

We both learned a lot about Church  history in England  It was fun, educational and spiritual.


Today, Sunday, we taught our first temple prep class.  All went well and we are looking forward to next week.

We love and miss all of you.  We know the gospel is true and we are serving where the Lord wants us right now.

Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie

The 4 cygnets and mom