We are BUSY again. We met Keith Penfold (our new supervisor) at the Hyde Park chapel on Monday morning. He explained a little about our new calling to work with the stakes in the London Temple district and try to instigate goals and training in Family History. We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead with this assignment, but realize that nothing will happen unless we make it happen. This is the challenge we are pursuing. We have several events already scheduled and hope to meet and plan with each stake high council representative and member of the stake presidency assigned to oversee family history work.
We were sent home from our Monday meeting with a car. We have already put 150 miles on it. We traveled to the temple, to Catford for a family history fayre (British for fair), and to church. I think we can easily get used to a car. Of coarse there are problems with adjusting to a right sided steering wheel and driving on the left side of the road. Elder Smart has done it before on his many visits here. He is doing pretty well. We both marvel at having not driven a car for almost a year and then climbing in one that has everything backward (controls, etc.). Sister Smart navigates with the GPS.
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| Our new car with the chauffeur |
Tuesday and Wednesday we worked at the Family History Centre. Elder Smart has been asked to "mentor" the Senior Missionaries that are assigned to work in the London FHC. While he mentors Sister Smart fills in for the missionaries being mentored at the centre (British spelling). We also worked downstairs in the digitizing area. Annie finished a small project that she started a few weeks ago and Paul continues to analyze projects at the TNA that could possibly be digitized in the future by FamilySearch.
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| Elder Smart with his new transportation |
Thursday Paul continued to analyze records for family search and Annie took the day to clean and cook. We both spent the afternoon and evening doing genealogy in the London FHC.
Friday we traveled on the underground to downtown London for a Senior Missionary outing. We met at an Italian restaurant for lunch and then walked over to the British Library and explored. On the way to the Library we stopped at the King's Cross Station to see Harry Potter's 9 3/4 Station. We left the group early to get home to drive to the London Temple.
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| Issac Newton statue with fan |
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| Garden at the British Library |
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| lunch with the senior missionaries |
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| Elder Smart at the British Library |
After arriving at the temple we both did initiatory work for family names we had researched. We then went to dinner at one of our favorite English Pub's. We stayed in the temple accommodation center Friday night.
Saturday morning many of our Ward members met us at the temple for a session. This was in conjunction with our Ward Conference this week. We watched the 2nd new temple film in our session -- very realistic and insightful. We love attending the temple.
Saturday afternoon, with the help of our GPS, we drove from the temple to Catford (East London) to present at their family history fayre. This is the second time that Catford has sponsored a family history fayre while we have been here. They advertised and set up with refreshments, but the teaching and training was left up to us. It was a fun and enjoyable afternoon. We then enjoyed dinning out with Elder and Sister Bradford, a senior couple serving as MLS (missionary leader support) missionaries in Catford. The drive home was quite an experience. It was dark and we were driving through busy London areas with no idea where we were and how to get home. We followed the GPS, but still got mixed up on a turn or two and had to be rerouted. We finally ended up at our door, but we have no idea where we actually drove. We were surprised when we suddenly saw our street after driving for over an hour. (Have we mentioned how much we love having a GPS?)
We taught our Temple Preparation class today, but most of the class members were not present. We hope to have better attendance next week, or we will look into offering cookies or candy next week to boost attendance......haha. It was still good and worthwhile. We sure have learned to love and enjoy the people in this ward.
We made it home from church by 2:00 p.m. due to our car. That was a first to spend Sunday afternoon at home and not on a train or bus.
Happy Birthday this week to Stephen.
We love serving here. We know that this is Christ's Church. We know that Christ restored his church in these latter days through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Love to all of you,
Grandma and Grandpa Smart, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie, Elder and Sister Smart
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| Elder & Sister Bradford at platform 9 3/4 |
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters (Platform 9¾) is a platform at King's Cross Station in London. Magically concealed behind the barrier between Muggle Platform Nine and Platform Ten, this Platform is where Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry students board the Hogwarts Express on 1 September, in order to attend school
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