Merry Christmas!

I have thought all month about "Condescension" . I thought of how our Savior Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby. Our God, our King... a helpless baby, born in the lowliest of places on earth. In a stable with the stink and smells of animals. No heat, no fans, not even a pillow, put in a manger that is generally used as an eating trough. 

He volunteered to do that, so when we are cold and homeless and uncomfortable, He knows how to succor us!

He subjected Himself to ridicule, beatings, hatred, anger, moking, and even death so that He could understand our grief, our sorrow, our tears and humiliation and can perfectly comfort us. 

I am humbled more than I have words to express! 

I've felt a bit (ok-a lot) indignant when I feel like people just don't treat me fairly, or when someone judges me without even knowing me, or when someone who should care-doesn't. Then in my mind comes this voice, "I have suffered more, are you greater than Me?" The answer of course is a resounding, No! I have to bow my head and ask for forgiveness and for help in doing better.

I want to be an ambassador for God! I want to love people like He did even though I run short. 

Joe and I are on vacation in Scotland for Christmas. We have worked so hard every single day, and I just wanted- no, needed a break. We got on a train and I didn't really want to talk to anyone. But this little 6 year old girl from Bahrain sat across from me with her big brown eyes and I had to! I found out she is in the fight for her life fighting a rare blood disease, worse than leukemia! Her mom asked if I would pray for her. Of course I would, and did, and do! By the way her name is Alreem as .

When we got to Scotland, Joe and I went on a 12 hour tour-2 days in a row! We were going to cancel today's, but I thought someone needed to meet us. Sure enough, we met a mom and daughter from China. I know we were supposed to meet. It's like we've known them forever! We are going to meet up and they invited us to visit China! Our hearts are full and we are so grateful to be where our Heavenly Father wants us to be! 

I guess, my message today is to think about our Savior Jesus Christ, what He went through and give it your all to help others, to endure hardships, and to turn the other cheek. And to put Him first, our brothers and sisters next and us after!

We love you so much and hope you have a beautiful Christmas!

All our love!

Elder and Sister Smith 

 Good Morning!

The sun isn't even up yet and in my morning scripture studies, I thought of you all! Have you ever wondered what you are doing here...like on Earth? What is your purpose? Our mission is like a mini Earth-experience. I know that sounds weird, but bear with me please...

We are born (start our mission) and die (end our mission and go "home"). We have experiences and have choices of what we can or won't do. We both learned a lot in the 4 1/2 months that we have been here already. But we know that you don't have to be on a mission, far from home to learn a lot and grow a lot. 

We were assigned a job to get 3 homes ready to rent. When we got the keys and went into the first, I was so overwhelmed. It was dirty and smelly and every single wall needed paint and a lot of repairs needed to be done. I wanted to crawl back to bed and stay there. Joe, on the other hand, just dug in and started working. I decided to gather my grit and went to work as well. I found out that some soap and water took off most of the grime and some paint helped the rest. It wasn't long before the home was beautiful and ready for someone to move in. 

Reflecting on that, I realized that I was yoked to Joe. Together, we could accomplish much with his know how and my willing to take steps to dig in and get it done. 

But how does a person get things done like, change a personality trait? How about becoming....?  What about changing the world? Are those things even possible? 

That reminds me of the scripture, ".. my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt 11:30) Why is it easy and light? It's a burden right? The reason of course is because Jesus Christ takes the brunt of the burden and asks us to walk with Him, which make it easy and light! I am so grateful to be yoked with Joe and most especially with my Savior, Jesus Christ who is capable of carrying all the burdens! When we put our hand in His (“Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work.” ― Gordon B. Hinckley) we can accomplish many things for the kingdom of God and perhaps change ourselves and the world for good.

We love you all and hope you put your hand in God's and know that His yoke is easy!

All our love,

Elder Joseph and Sister Gloria Smith

Here are some pics since last we met...

We finished the patio! Hurray!

One of the farm workers backed into this sign and leveled it. We (Joe) dug it out and put it together (Joe) and painted it (Gloria). Looks better than new!

We were able to go to the Preston Temple. We also saw where the first baptisms were. What a fabulous area!

Our directors, the Marosticas came for about 6 days. We saw the Tower Bridge where the Crown Jewels are, the Tower of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Camden market in London.Then we went to Cambridge, the Warwick castle, saw the Farm, the Cathedral in Ely, Gadfield Elm, past Stratford on Avon, and Bletchley Park. I think they were glad to go home and rest! We had a blast!

This is the Gadfield Elm Chapel. 

Joe preaching about the Book of Mormon at Gadfield Elm to 5 people. Long ago, it was packed.

Then men went out hunting one early morning. This is Elder Gabel Brother Guy and a poor Chinese Water deer. 

We went to the North Sea and found out that the sea rose 12' during a 24 hour period. It was low tide here. The beach was almost entirely shells, including a long muscle shell that we've never seen before!

Gloria learned the joy of blurring a photo! Woot! Woot! These mounds were all over the place. I know why we also saw a ship wreck. Hitting that trying to port wouldn't be great on the ship!

We were asked to prepare two homes for rentals. We had a lot of painting to do. The paint is either as thick as frosting or runny as milk. Joe made this box to cover an unsightly utility meter. I had to be careful how I puttied, primed and painted it!

Joe putting in a baseboard

Gloria taught a painting class to the Senior Primary class. These are mostly the kids in our class. They did a great job and are quite lovely!

House is ready to move in! That was a lot of work!

We went to Liverpool and stopped at the statue dedicated to the migration of the Latter-day Saints that came to America when they heard about the Gospel!

Still in Liverpool. It was a very blustery day but we loved Liverpool and wouldn't mind going back again. It is pretty popular to put a lock on the chains by the water. I believe it signifies that someone's heart is tied to another's and that is their promise of return.

 A little inlet and shopping area in Liverpool

Had some fun walking around where the Beatles first were heard.

The Cavern was their first "gig" and they played there often.

There was also a Titanic, Maritime, Slavery Museum. Very interesting. We found out that the builder of the Titanic was from Liverpool

Off to Manchester. They advertised the Christmas Market (which is very popular throughout England). Unfortunately, we didn't see a lot of Christmasy things, just amazing food!

Crazy weird buildings and a cute guy!

This is supposed to say Merry Christmas...

Eating another Bratwurst in England...yum!

 Hello!

Just dropping in to let you know we are still here in "jolly ol' " (a British saying) England! The weather has turned cooler and wetter. We are still mowing and doing some lawn care because the grasses (mostly weeds) have rebounded from the heat and are flourishing! We are also feeling the need to speed along some outdoor projects like this patio that we are expanding. Not having installed a patio before, it has been a bit of a learning curve. With the help of Google, YouTube and some experts, we are almost done and it is turning out "lovely". (a British word) Each tile is quite heavy as it is stone. 

We had a tractor come in and dig out the area, which was a sidewalk, the back of an existing patio and the side of the patio. Then, we spread this coarse material consisting of large and small rocks and sand-ish. It was hard moving!

Next, we formed up where we were going to be working.

We rented a tamper (?) and crushed the rocks and smoothed off the top. Sounds easier than done!

We bought the pavers slabs and had them delivered. Each weighed up to 80 lbs! We laid them out to where they would go.

We cemented with this old mixer and formed each spot by hand and put the pavers level-ish.

Then grouted and cleaned it. We need to still take care of some misplaced yard and haul off the rocks, but- YAY! We're done! -ish

Joseph and Mariesa came to visit and we had a brillant (another British word) time. 

We went to Cambridge, London and also Warner Brother's studio and saw the set of Harry Potter. It was fascinating and mesmerised. (S's replace Z's here- like organise instead of organize). 

We also got Covid and were laid up for a couple of weeks. We basically just had a very mild case of a head cold but Joe tested positive for about 10 days so we had to steer clear of everyone for a while.

I used my time to update this coffee table in our living room. It has some water stains and was in need of some sanding and varnishing. Once sanded, I decide to paint it. We now have our living room as the Peacock Room!

We had the once in a lifetime experience of witnessing the death of a Queen. All of the UK was in mourning and many people stood in long lines just to put flowers at local cathedrals. We found out that they have to replace the money, the mail boxes, and many other things because of the change from a Queen to a King! We also sang "God Save the King" in Church for the first time. (I didn't know it was in the hymnal!)

We were able to get back to the mowing after the patio was finished, which took about 3 weeks. I never thought I'd be glad to mowing again, but I was good to have the change!

Joe spends a lot of his free time droning, editing his drone videos, playing with his trail cam, and hunting and scouting with a Ward member. He is in heaven here and I doubt he ever wants to go home except that we both miss our family and friends so much. 

I am amazed at how much I am personally learning. A lot of emotional learning, that is. I am finding out what is truly important and how to stay centered even when things aren't going quite as expected. I firmly believe that God, our Heavenly Father is more interested in our growth than our comfort. I heard this quote, " There is no growth in comfort, and no comfort in growth." I can attest to that. This has been a pretty painful 3 months but it's getting better. I do believe that I am a different person than when I came out, even than last week. I'm grateful for the changes and I think that God is more interested in our BECOMING who we need to be. 

We love you all and pray that you will find that peace that passeth all understanding as well!

All our love!

Elder Joseph and Sister Gloria Smith

More pics....

We went to Ely about 45 minutes away and visited the Oliver Cromwell house. He is a hero that deposed a wicked King. 

...I'm glad he's not Oliver Cromwell. (OC died a terrible death!)

Stairs up to the stain glass museum. The stairs are worn...so is the missionary! LOL!

This is the marker that people put in around the 1800's. It was completely buried with muddy swamp land. After draining it, this area is now 20' lower and compacted with a mossy ground.

Yet, another old church...

We missed my grandson's baptism, but we got to see it via Zoom. 

We had a beautiful grandson born. He is our 17th! Yay for babies. Mom and baby are well and recovering.

This was yesterday. The rainbow was so incredibly vibrant! I especially loved the sheep in the foreground! 

Try to look for the rainbows!