Classical Spectacular, Canterbury, and 19 Names

I'll tell about the 19 names first, because that's one of the best parts of this month. I finally had a break-through in family search.  We have some days when nothing is scheduled and we work on our FH.  I had been rather frustrated with only finding knots that need to be untied or dead-end searches.  Then one day I had a breakthrough on the Beck line and found 7 names in the Hodson family!  

Then I decided to check out Puzzilla again.  It is a program on familysearch.org that shows descendants so you can find your cousins.  Looking at Edward Thomas (I788) and  his descendants, I could see wide open spaces.  I could see this was a good place to start.  I have found 12 names in 3 days!  And I have only scratched the surface!  No, the work for our family is not yet done.  

Last Friday, Elder Syme and I volunteered at the London Family History Library at Kew.  While there, I had some time to look at some microfilms.  It was very helpful.  We are going next Friday, so I may be able to do some more research there.

I am impressed with the many countries represented here in England.  It truly is multicultural,
especially in the church.  Only about half the people in the wards we have visited speak with a British accent.  After church once, we talked with a man who told us about his family in India. He told us about his family being part Christian and part Hindu.  His patriarchal blessing told him he was from the tribe of Judah, and his DNA test shows roots from India and Lebanon.  Very interesting.  Even the missionaries are from all over.  Four new missionaries were introduced in our ward from California, Hungary, South Africa and Taiwan. 

On the March 21st the senior missionaries had a night out.  There were 10 couples including the mission president and his wife.  We went to dinner at a restaurant, then to the Royal Albert Hall for the Classical Spectacular. The concert really was spectacular!  The hall was impressive.  (This picture isn't very good, but I was trying to keep up and didn't have time to get a better one. You can google for better ones.)

At the end of the 4 flights of stairs, these are the doors to the balcony seats.

It's an amazing hall, and we found out it was built about the same time as the tabernacle in Salt Lake.  The music was classical, but they chose the most popular that almost everyone knows.  The performers were excellent.  Our favorite of the evening was Rhapsody In Blue.  The pianist was amazing! 

We had seats on the balcony below the middle opening to the left of the cannon.   (See the video about 12:40) When the cannons went off during the 1812 Overture, it made me jump even though I expected it.  It sounded like they were blowing holes in the walls.  This is a video from 2012, which is like what we saw, only there were more fireworks this year.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk2ayJD3JVs&feature=share

We went to Canterbury to meet with the Family History leaders there.  It was another wonderful visit with remarkable people who are dedicated and working hard.  They have the same needs we see often, lack of space and needing more family history consultants in the wards.  They also have a large group of young single adults in the area.  While there, we were able to show them how Puzzilla works, and they were so excited!  

Here are some pictures of our trip.  First is Elder Syme on the "wrong side of the car."

Always like seeing the country side.

 This is the Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the Thames.

You have to pay a toll when you cross.

 We aren't very far from the "Chunnel."  Maybe some day we can go there.

 The church house in Canterbury.

 The Canterbury Castle is inside the city walls and there is almost no access by car, only pedestrian traffic. It's too far for me to walk, so these are the best pictures I could get from the road surrounding the area. This is the West Gate.  It is the largest city gate in England.

You can't see them, but there is a couple up by that steeple kissing.  :)

This is Canterbury Cathedral.

 On to Dover.  This is the Dover Castle.

It was getting late in the day and we didn't really know how to get to see more of the "White Cliffs of Dover" besides walking along the cliffs, so here is the best I could do.

On the way home, I found where I would like to live if I had to live in England.

 On the way back to the city, you don't cross the bridge, it's one way.  This way you go through the tunnel.

And there is home up ahead.  Ahh, so nice to get back to the city.  Uh huh.

This has been a good month for growing.  I am closer to the Lord than I have ever been because I need Him so much.  I love Him, love this church, and love the people here.

Hyde Park and Exhibition Road

We had a wonderful meeting with the stake president of Hyde Park along with the mission president, institute president, and two couples who are support for the young single adults.  We discussed plans for coming year for the YA which will include family history.  There are some wonderful leaders here and it is exciting to work with them.  We are meeting again in a couple of weeks to formalize some plans. One idea is for Elder Syme and I to teach a summer class at institute on family history.  That should be interesting and humbling.

I took some more pictures along Exhibition Road where the museums and  the Church visitor center/mission office/stake center are.  This is the Science Museum.  They are going to have an exhibit of hundreds of live butterflies on April 3.  I'd like to see that.

This is a part of the Albert and Victoria Museum, aka V&A.

During WWII it was hit during the blitz.  They didn't repair them, but left the marks in the building as a memorial.

It's amazing to see this and realize what they went through during the war.

North of the museum is the Visitor Center/Stake Center/Mission Office.  This history behind this building is amazing.  During the blitz, this part of the block was a bomb crater.  There was a house here and the family was killed.  There is a plaque in the chapel in their honor.  In the 1950's President McKay was looking for a place for the mission headquarters and a chapel.  It was still a crater then. This is the place they chose and built this building in the 1960's.  It's amazing that they have this location.

 

 The chapel is on the left through those doors.  The mission office is on the 3rd floor and the family history center is in the basement.  The family history center isn't very big. There are some who hope they will utilize it more as part of the visitor center.  Staffing is the problem.

They renovated the church a few years ago, so I don't know how much is different from when my sister Karen was a missionary here.

The day I took these pictures they had 2 baptisms.  I love it when we come here.  I'm always tired after the long walk from the train station, so I have to sit and rest a while.  The senior missionary couples are becoming good friends as we visit while I rest..  The sister missionaries are so cute and so enthusiastic.  It's easy to picture Karen here.

I love being here and working with such wonderful people!  My testimony about the gospel and the importance of families is growing every day!  I love the Lord and am so grateful for the opportunities He is giving me to grow and learn and be of service.  I can never give enough to repay Him for what He does. My relationship with Him is deepening, I am more dependant on Him than I have ever been. And I couldn't be happier.

The English Countryside

We went to Ipswich to meet with the family history center staff.  It's about a 2 hour drive to the north east, out in the country.  I was excited to get out and see some good ol' English countryside.  When we left, it was quite foggy and I was worried we wouldn't see much.  But by the time we got out of the city (an hour's drive) it was cleared out.

The freeways are similar to home, just backward.

This is a typical street in Ipswich.  It's a very nice town.

The director of the FH center was young and very enthusiastic!  She had some good ideas, and some frustrations, so we got insights about what directions we may need to take.  It was a very helpful meeting and worth the drive.  I feel like the Lord is sending us to just the right people to help us know what we should do.

After our meeting she gave  us some advice on where to go to see some good country scenery.  So we headed to Kersey and wherever after that we were taken by Garmin to get home.  

I love the hedges along the road.  The road gets so narrow sometimes you have to pull over for on-coming cars.  Luckily there isn't much traffic.

Coming into Kersey:

There is a stream that runs right through the middle of town.

Here are some thatched roofs.  It's amazing to me that they still have these.

 

St.Mary's church in Kersey.  It's a large church for a little village.  You see that a lot, I found out, tiny towns with big churches.

There's a nice old cemetery.  They still use it, there is a newer section.

Some "headstones" are kind of strange.

The church is open so we were able to see inside.

We went through an old village that I didn't get the name of.  (They really need to work on signs over here.) This street had buildings so old the buildings are bowed out and slanted.  I felt like I was in a cartoon part of Disneyland.

Here's another church.

Coming home we were about 45 min from home in heavy traffic and we stopped at a red light. A van pulled up beside us and it was Elder Davis and Elder Larsen from the mission office!  In a city of over 13 million people, what are the odds of randomly seeing someone you know!