Lovelies .... We Arrived!

We have been in  the United  Kingdom since May 19, 2017, but because of moving and lack of adequate internet service I haven't been able to get this blog up and running, but it all changes today and I will fill in the event holes.

As I said we arrived in England (Gatwick  Airport May 19, 2017) and were met by President Gubler, Sister Gubler and Elder Record. Luggage and all were transported to the mission office, which is on the grounds  of the London  Temple, in New Chapel where we met with President and Sister Gubler and were asked to serve on the Island of Guernsey. We were a little shocked and felt a little like we were voted off one island and voted on another. We knew NOTHING about Guernsey and the original call said that we were going to serve as YSA missionaries, although we knew that could entail member support and younger missionary support as well. We were told there were two YSA members on the Island (actually there were three at the time). A couple were nearly ready to leave and the branch needed a Branch President. I would be dishonest to say we weren't very, very surprised but we were called to serve and ultimately willing to do so. We have never not accepted an assignment willingly, so this would not be any different. How can anyone complain about any mission assignment ... on an island, running water, transportation etc. etc. etc. UPDATE: The people here are beautiful as is the island .... it is an honor to serve these sweet people and we consider them all YSA, some are just a bit older YSA that others.

My mind went to something I wrote in my journal when we were at the MTC. I do not even know who said it, " If you try to call the shots you will get what you want when you could have had so much more - What does he want for you." Elder Bednar, and the previous quote may have been an Elder Bednar quote also,  has said that you are not called to a place, you are called to Serve and serve we will. One of the last mornings in the MTC President and Sister Martino, the MTC President and his wife,  came and sat with us and we talked about our call. I told her that I felt a little selfish going to England to serve when obviously there are so many needs in the world and she told me, "to pray to know why you have been called where yo have been called."

Our flat in East Grinsted. Third floor, but second
the way they number floors here.

The next weekend a Senior Zone Conference had been scheduled in South London so President Gubler told us to go on vacation for a few days, and we took him  up on  that offer. Before leaving we moved into a new flat in East Grinsted, which is only about 10 minutes from the temple
. The town was delightful and our first night we found a wonderful fish and chips " Take Away" not take out.



Elder Hewlett, Elder Josh Howe (to my left), me and Elder
Howe's companion. He is currently serving in Epsom

We also attended Stake Conference Saturday night and Sunday in the Crawley Stake and Surprise! Surprise! when we pulled into the stake parking I saw a familiar face, Elder Josh Howe, who was one of my students at Woods Cross and a grandson of Gary and Sharon Howe, dear friends of ours from the Foothill Stake, and actually Steve's Teacher's Quorum advisor when he was a young man. He was just getting out of his car. Sharon had told me he was serving in this mission and when we arrived I saw his name and picture on the board. Small, small church world! Come to find out when we arrived in Guernsey he was a companion to one of the missionaries here and an MTC companion to one of the others.

Guernsey .... Like the Cow!

We have been on Guernsey about a week and a half and it feels much longer, but we have not as yet seen all of the island. The streets are very narrow and cars get "granite rash." which is due to the fact that there sometimes isn't enough space for two cars on the road and thus the inner side gets a little disease from the granite walls that line the streets, or you also can drive on the sidewalks if there isn't enough room for two cars. For me, sitting in the passenger seat is a little tense and I find myself waiving Elder Hewlett to move more towards the middle of the road, but yesterday he was emailed a ticket for driving over the center of the road in a bus lane, while we were in Devonshire.  The island is much closer to France than it is to England and the roads, the houses and many of the signs are all in French. I can even read most of it. They say that 118 cruise ships come to Guernsey each year with 180,000 visitors.

High Street	 High Street looking  down to the port
 High Street another view	 High Street looking up

To be fair to him, it was our second day driving while we were on "vacation" in Devonshire. We think there may be more tickets to follow as we didn't figure out, and no one told us about the cameras on the side of the road, which take amazing pictures of your car and your license plate. No disputing those tickets! 


La Fontenelle

We have a very, very, very small branch and we meet in the front room of the "Villa" we live in, "La Fontenelle",  with the three (right now) missionaries. They have the fourth floor. It really is a beautiful old, old home, with pretty gardens. It is not what I expected when I signed up for this mission  thing, because everyone had told me it is wonderful to live in a small apartment and to downsize. And we struggled with not being on the mainland, but we have nothing to complain about. So many are in much more difficult circumstances, which may have taught us more, but you serve where you are asked and where you are needed, and the people here are wonderful. Hopefully we can serve them the way the Lord wants us to serve. This house has 6 1/2 bathrooms,  three of which the missionaries take care of, a conservatory, and obviously many bedrooms. One of the missionaries, from St. George, is one  of  eight children and his said that they only had one  bathroom growing up. This is a lot to take care of, but on the high note, I never have to leave the building on Sunday. I can even now walk to church, and what a blessing to be able to take care of a dedicated House of the Lord.  I could probably have walked to church before, but I didn't very often. The faithful saints here love having a building that they can call "their own," and that they can come to at any time, and we encourage that.

James Edwards ...

St. Mary's Church, Hemyock

Our last day of our southern England "holiday" (I love having holidays again) we spent in Devonshire. We had stayed the night in Taunton and early in the morning drove to Hemyock, which is very close. My great grandparents James and Helen (Ellen, Halland) Broomfield were married at St. Mary's Church in Hemyock and many generation of Broomfields and Coles lived in or near Hemyock. There is not much in Hemyock, except a pub/restaurant. I believe there was a general store there the last time I was in Hemyock about 20 years go. I have always wondered why I could not find any family headstones in Hemyock, but so many of the stones are weathered that I probably would

Sarah Wood Broomfield Burial Record

not have found them anyways. I called the minister whose name was on the sign and he told me that he did not have any old records and that I would need to go to Exeter for the records. I had ordered records from Exeter before, but had never been to the records office before. We had a few hours, but needed to be back in East Grinsted/London area by that night and new we had about a three and a half hour drive. Off to Exeter. I searched the indexes for records and some microfiche. Boom! On the microfiche I found many Broomfield names, including William and Sarah Wood, parents of Sarah Wood Broomfield.

William Broomfield, my gggrandfaher burial record

Hemyock was listed as a residence but below Hemyock it said Culm Davy Chapel. That was it! They lived in Hemyock but their chapel was Culm Davy and that is where they were buried. Where was Culm Davy? That was it. They lived in/near Hemyock but there chapel was Culm Davy and that is where they were buried. Where was Culm Davy? We went back to Hemyock to try and get our bearings and I found a man in the street who told me, "Go down that road and when the houses begin to thin, take the road on the right." Not very exact for a non-local, but down the road we went. We passed one road and I thought it had to be the one, so we turned around in the next lane, which said Tedburrow on it. Tedburrow that was the place that the Broomfields lived according to the death register. We found the tiny, tiny road and began the decent. Maybe a mile or two down the road we came to the chapel ... on a curve, on a very narrow road with NO parking. There was a farmer's house across the street that had a small blacktop parking pad, so I h ad Steve pull in there and intended to get permission from the owner. Steve stayed in the car and I started reading headstones ... NO Broomfield, or Cole, or Wood. Where were they? I had caught a glimpse of the house owner so I went in search of him again. Yes, he had keys to the church, he had been a warden of the church and used to mow the lawns and YES he knew exactly where the Broomfield headstone was, at least one of them. His name was James Edwards and he looked liked a doctor/farmer. He put on his boots and took us over to the chapel and let us in, then he showed us the headstone, which was in front of the church and although very worn I could

distinguish the ....FIELD and the name if Emma Rowland on the bottom, which was the name of William's daughter that I also found in the records. What a find! If we had been an hour or two later or earlier, if James had not been home we would never have found it. Just a few hours of searching and I am now connected to Tedburrow and Culm Davy Chapel. James and I sat on the pews that are in an alcove just outside the church door and talked about the church and family history. The church is a 1500 church and he said there was probably a church on the spot before that. It is a working church associated with the parish church in Hemyock and when the river flooded people would go to this church as they couldn't cross the river.  He has become quite interested in family history and I shared with him a few websites and we exchanged email addresses. He also has a cousin interested in Irish research and I told him I would try and help, although Irish research is difficult as many of the records were destroyed. James Edwards was my miracle today!

Back to Devonshire ... Still My Heart!

When President Gubler told us to go on vacation the first week, we didn't waste any time and I knew where we needed (wanted) to go ... back to Devonshire, where we could see sites on the way that Elder Hewlett had never seen, and where we could do a little family history. Old Sarum, Stonehenge and Bath were all on the itinerary. None disappointed, but all were much more developed that when I had been  there with my mother and aunt twenty years ago.  It was the most beautiful week and really we have only had one day of rain since we arrived in England and that was yesterday, and we really aren't in England. I had never been to Sarum before, which is just outside of Salisbury, but I had read about it in Edward Rutherford's book, London.

They say that the earliest fortification of Sarum was probably built around 400 B.C. (crazy old) and is touted as "one of the most enthralling historic sites in southern England." It is  combination of a royal castle and cathedral. In about 1070 William the Conquerer decided to build a royal castle in the middle of old earthworks.

Stonehenge is a masterful engineering feat. To move the stones and have alignments with the rising  and setting of the sun speaks to the intelligence of early inhabitants of the area. And  Bath, although every time I go I am lost, is also one of those "must see sites." We stayed the night in Bath, and spent some moments as night fell sitting on the side of the River Avon in the shadows of the cathedral.