Week 76 - Last Scheduled Presentation

This week was still very busy as we begin to wind down our mission.  We finished last Sunday visiting Sister Blything,  an inactive elderly member.  Elder Smart helped trace her family last year.  Monday was P day and we did somethings around the house. Sister Smart was so glad to not be running around.  She spent some of the day going through the kitchen to clean and discard anything that we did not want to leave for the next missionary couple that will inhabit our flat.  We found ourselves relaxing some of the day and had to quickly get the house work done to host a meal for our friend and neighbor Aaron Goodlet, who has been playing the single role for a week, while his wife and baby are in Austria visiting grandmother.  Tuesday we worked in the London Family History Center and stayed late after our shift to research our own genealogy.

Wednesday Elder Smart was not feeling well and Sister Smart went to the London Family History Center to work our assigned shift.  The other missionaries insisted that they did not really need her help and sent her home to care for her sick spouse.  Thursday, we went to the Doctors office for a blood pressure check and then to the archives to make copies of needed things for our trip to Portsmouth.  Elder Smart went home after running the copies and Sister Smart stayed  for a few hours to  help with the patrons at the LFHC. Thursday afternoon we took off for Portsmouth.  Elder Smart was still not feeling too well, but he braved the trip anyway.

Friday we spent the entire day at the Portsmouth City Archive, in the Portsmouth Central Library. Elder Smart was still not feeling well. We were trying to trace descendants of  Paul's Major family line.  We found addresses and streets where they lived and births marriages and deaths for many.

Portsmouth Central Library

Saturday was a busy day as we helped staff the FamilySearch booth at the Portsmouth Family History Day. We worked with the Stake High Councilman Brother Andy Andrews and Sister Andrews.  This was not run by the Church, as most of the fairs we have attended in England have been.  This was  a community event held at the Portsmouth Central Library. (Still a little under the weather)

Elder and Sister Andrews
at the Portsmouth LDS FHC

Portsmouth Guild Hall
(next to Central Library)

Sunday was fun experience as we attended the Portsmouth Ward.  We ran into Elder Fingerle, a former Staines Ward missionary.  He is one of our favorites, as far as the young missionaries go.  He goes home to Germany on Tuesday.  We also met the brother (Neil Withington) of a Church FamilySearch employee, Keith Withington. Paul has known the Withington's for quite some time, but never met Neal.  It is sure a small world within the Church.   After church we drove to try to find some of the addresses of the ancestors and descendants in Paul's Major family.  The George Henry Major family lived on 32 Radnor Street and we found the street and the house at that address.

He found the street!

We then drove to Kingston Cemetery (the main community cemetery in Portsmouth) and located the head stone of Sidney Major and his wife Annie Eliza. We found the location of the "group grave" where George Henry Major and his wife, Maria Elizabeth Walters Major were buried.  Annie is learning how much fun grave searching really can be.  (Elder Smart's health has improved, but still heavy coughing)

The square on the front  right is the location of George Henry
and Maria Elizabeth Major in a family grave.

The Headstone for Sydney Walter Major
and Annie Eliza Major

We will finish with our search for this family tomorrow before we return to London.

Happy Birthday this week to Velynn.

We are so grateful for all the wonderful opportunities we have had to serve while on this mission.  We are also grateful for the doors that have opened for us in doing our own ancestral research.  We have strong testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We know that blessings come through obedience to the commandments.  We love you all.

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