Trains in England

 Joe bought a drone which he is now calling, "Drone II-The One that Shouldn't Get Stuck in the Tree"

Gloria calls it, "Expense II"

Anyway, Joe is enjoying droning (is that a word???). He videoed a lot of different things which we'll post hopefully! This is his first publishable (word???) video. Enjoy!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7mosz5jtqo8stfv/UK%20Train%20Video%20Final.mp4?dl=0

 Hello!

It's been a couple of weeks since I wrote last. Just thought I'd update a bit.

We celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. The Gabels took over for us and we got away for the day. We decided to go the beach and to Sandringham Estates (the Queen's summer palace!) and just mosey along touring. It was such a great break. We are finding great comic relief in each other and have become closer than ever in our lives!

The water was actually not too cold!

This was sooooo beautiful! We walked around some of the gardens and that evening went to a play, "Pride and Prejudice" (not the best acting but we were in the Queen's back yard!)😏

After the break-in, we were instructed to beef up security. So the guys put on some heavy duty locks and bolts. I can't wait for the day when we won't need locks anymore. It will be a blessed day!

We've been here about a month now! Joe is getting pretty comfortable driving. He was trying to keep up with the other missionary and cut a corner too close and accidentally side swiped a yellow bollard going into the store and it left quite a mark on the van that we were driving.

Joe felt badly so he texted Ben, the Farm Manager and told him what happened. Ben who is in the Bishopric, said, "Well, you can make it up to me by speaking in Church on Sunday!" LOL!

We are still mowing, strimming, hedging and spraying weeds although there really isn't much difference in the before and after because there is such a huge drought here that nothing is growing. Actually, nothing is growing but the noxious weeds! Here are some of the thorns that regularly pop our tires! Joe is expert at plugging the holes. (I never knew that was a thing!)

Yesterday, (Saturday), we had the Birmingham Senior Missionaries over for a BBQ and Joe did a great job. He even grilled up some venison. Everyone ranted and raved about it.  

Our gigantic yard...

We even took the Sr Missionaries to get wild blackberries. They are everywhere and amazingly delicious! I froze some.

Last night, while we were getting ready for bed we heard a series of explosions and thought the transformer for the electrical blew, but it was some large trees that were touching high voltage wires. It was an exciting night. The fire department came and put out a small fire and made sure everything was ok and the electrical company came and trimmed trees and restored the electric. Yay, since it was pretty hot!

Joe and I just got called to serve in the Senior Primary. There are around 8 children who come. We are excited to serve anywhere we can. 

We are making a lot of new friends. There are a lot of differences from the US, but we are loving the culture, the accents, and the ways of the British! This is an amazing country in which to spend a year. We feel like the Lord has blessed us so greatly!  I mean...who wouldn't love to go explore this town?

Sometimes, it's nice to know that you can look up and see the same beautiful, full, super moon that we can!

 

Love you all! 

 Hello Everyone!

I still can't figure out how to finagle these pictures, so they are going to be weird...again. Sorry! 

We had an exciting week. Monday-Friday, Sister Gabel gives us the work schedule. We meet either at our apartment or the Gabel's upstairs and start with a devotional. Each person takes turns and the spouse says the prayer. 

Work is generally, going to the shop and picking up the tractor-mowers, strimmers (weed wackers), and anything else we might need. Then we head out to one of 8 different locations to mow, hedge, strim, collect garbage etc, to clean up the area. It's on a rotation and we haven't gotten to all of the properties yet. Each location will have multiple grounds, lawns, hedges, etc to take care of. We also do minor repair, paint, etc for the 40 or so different rentals. 

After work and weekends are ours to do what we want. The Gabels haven't really wanted to do anything together in the evenings but on Saturday, we've gone to some castles, museums and visited Cambridge! (Wow! Cambridge was awesome! Loads of vendors and things to see and history.)

The other day, we were working and got a flat on one of the mowers. The guys fixed it and as we were heading home and we got a flat on the trailer too! The tire store guys came out and put on brand new tires!

This morning we got to the shop bright and early and found that someone had stolen our trailer and 2 of our tractor-lawnmowers! Fortunately we still had one more mower and strimmers to finish the jobs today, but it took a long time! We went into our weekly meeting and poor Elder Gabel looked like he was going to throw up. We were waiting for Ben to come in and talked to an employee in the parking lot by his trailer. We felt like kids getting ready for the punishment. Ben walked by us and the employee and said, "Don't let them borrow the trailer whatever you do!" It was a bit of comic relief. Ben said that there were a lot of robberies in the area. Apparently there are gypsies (yup, GYPSIES! here. They vandalize and rob and murder :0  Now we are on the lookout for new-to-us equipment.

I started taking some Glucosamine and chondroitin and for the first time completely out of pain! It's such a relief to not hurt! I'm so grateful for the relief.

Well, this is long enough. So much going on, but I hope you are all doing well and know that we love  you so much!

Love,

Elder and Sister Smith

Joe and Gloria

Dad and Mom

Grandpa and Grandma

This is at a Harry Potter store in Cambridge. I really wanted a picture of Joe taking off on a Nimbus 2000! Oh well!

When we went to Cambridge, there were loads (and English word for lots) of venders in the market. I picked an egg plant sandwich and potato chunks with some yummy white mystery cheese and not hot- hot sauce!

We went to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge as well. It was amazing. I found some artifacts that dated about 3000 AD!

This is the Gabels that we serve with

.

Elder Smith painting Ben's window trim (the Farm Manager and our Boss!)

                     At a castle....                                                    Flat tire

At the British Auto Museum                                                                At Bletchley

                                                    Home Sweet Home!