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.