The LDS Mission of Elder and Sister Syme: Norwich

Elder Syme and I have been volunteering a few days a month at the church's Family History center at the British National Archives at Kew. Because we are in the National Archives and need access to the films downstairs, we had to go through the background check and all kinds of forms to get a pass. Now we are official. I can go anywhere in Kew I want to.

We attended the Norwich stake family history fair on Saturday. Because it is a few hours away, we decided to stay over a couple of nights and go to church on Sunday too. It was supposed to be a two and a half hour drive north, but it took us over 4 hours because of road construction and a lot of traffic.

This is going around a round-a-bout. We hate round-a-bouts.

But the drive was beautiful! I passed the time trying to get some good pictures. It's hard to get good ones from the car and the land is kind of flat, so it's hard getting good landscapes which is my favorite kind. Wish I could have gotten a close up picture of this windmill.

Some of the areas are a little dryer up here.

These trees remind me of the forests back home. They were clearing some of these to widen the highway.

I love these trees!

Jerrol was impressed with these fields.

If you look closely you can see a sprinkler in this field.

There are many little villages in the area around Norwich.

This is the bed and breakfast we stayed in about 14 miles south of Norwich. When we got there, they weren't in because they were out walking the dog. They had left a note on the door telling us where the key was and to let ourselves in.

This is a view from the back.

While Elder Syme was getting the key, I took pictures of the sheep right by where we parked the car.

Our room was nice. The beds were softer than a table, but not by much.

This is the sitting room downstairs.

The owner of the B&B recommended this place next door for dinner. But it was closed.

So we went to the next town and had fish and chips.

Yes, the fish and chips here are amazingly good!

The street in town looks typical for England.

And here is a church. Every little village around here has a church. The man and the B&B was telling us that one village has 2 because they had a controversy about who was going to build one.

Norwich has a population of over 376,000 people. Needless to say I didn't get pictures because I was busy navigating through town with garmin. We were in the south part and didn't really see much of the city anyway. This is the stake center.

The fair was a lot of fun. They had games and face painting for the kids, indexing, how-to for scrapbooking, scanning pictures, and research helps. We helped in the research area. It was a good experience meeting and helping members.

On the way home we ate at The Countryman in a small town, which was also suggested by our B&B host. The food was good, the service was very slow.

Our breakfast at the B&B was very good and interesting. We were to place our order the night before from the menu. I had poached eggs, baked beans, bacon, mushrooms (very large and tasty), and hash browns. Jerrol had the same, but his eggs were scrambled. The gentleman talked me into trying some black pudding. It tasted like sausage and had the look and texture of a brownie. It was pretty good, but wouldn't want it very often. I later found out that it was made of blood.

On Sunday we went to church and then we were invited to lunch by Pres. Arbor, a counselor in the stake presidency. He and his wife are in their 30's and have 3 children and live in a small upstairs flat. The two girls, Kitty and Sophia were shy and adorable. Seth, their 4 year old son was so cute. He had glasses and was very cross-eyed, but was a real character. He had to show me all his toys. Pres. Arbor teaches music and works at the museum. They served a rice dish that was very good. For dessert she served a nut cake. They are a wonderful family, really enjoyed their hospitality.

That is the best part of our mission - meeting people.

The drive home went much better. The traffic was much less and being Sunday there was not construction going on. Got a few more fun pictures. Here's one of the fun sites, a hog farm.