Week 7

 Week 7

We saw our first stop sign this week! There aren't stop signs at every corner here. You just know to yield when you come to an intersection. There are a ton of round abouts which are difficult to navigate at times. Elder Herdt is doing a great job of getting us around. We've had a few close calls but pray for safety every time we get in the car to drive. 

Monday, October 21, 2004

For P-day today we visited St. Fagans National Museum of History with our friends Colin and Christine Summerfield. It's great to have our own tour guides of the area. They were both born in this area and have a been sharing a lot of history with us. 

St. Fagans is a people's museum where you can explore history through buildings that have been relocated to the site to preserve the history of the Welsh people and how they lived. Also on the grounds is St. Fagans Castle, a 16th Century manor house donated to the people of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth in 1948.

I love these walk paths that are covered by the trees on each side.   

These are probably covered in flowers in the spring!


As always, there are beautiful views of God's creations where ever we go. 

The quintessential chocolate box style cottage.

Glad to see there were some people who recognized that God knew and saw them.

This is a Cock fighting pit. I've read about these but never knew they created an actual building for it. 

A pig sty. A nice little home to get out of the weather. 

A barn made from larger stones. It is hard to imagine what it took to lift them up into place.

This is an actual working wool carder. This man takes the wool, dies it, cards it and spins it into yarn. The yarn is then taken and sold or used in making rugs on the loom. 

A very interesting process. 

Gardens

Built in 1580. It is showing a little bit of wear and tear but what wouldn't after over 400yrs. 

The Red Telephone Box

Of course The Red Telephone Box has to be part of a museum of history. There aren't many around anymore but I have seen some turned into defibrillator stations. 

Just around the corner.

It's nice to see people have the skills to restore instead of tear down an old wall. 

More Family History

I got to spend a few hours with these two lovely ladies,  Marilyn and her Daughter Lesley, helping them with family history. Marilyn's mother married a young man in 1943 and he died as a soldier in Tunisia 3 months after they married. I was able to help her find the birth and death dates for him and more information on his family. I was also able to help Julie, another ward member who was baptized 6 months ago.

Fishers of Men

( a couple of fishermen in the River Taff)

We have spent more time this week finding those who have not been back to church in a while. The Lord knows each one of these sweet souls and is always in relentless pursuit of his children. We are just trying to do a small part by finding and reaching out to them. We have also enjoyed visiting with ward members and visiting them in their homes to get to know them better. We love hearing their stories. Everyone has a story!

Friday October 25th

Driving on our way to Pontypridd, 20 minutes from our flat, Elder Herdt saw a man at a bus stop and was prompted to stop, go back and invite him to church. Once we found a place to pull over and park, Elder Herdt walked a 1/4 mile back to the bus stop to talk to the man. The man was from Mongolia. Elder Herdt told him the spirit had prompted him to invite him to church and shared that we had a missionary from Mongolia that served a mission in Las Vegas and that we also knew another senior couple that just went to Mongolia on a mission. Although the man's English was a little broken, Elder Herdt gave him a card with the church address and time for church. Sunday evening missionaries from the Cardiff Ward called to ask us if we had given a Mongolian man a card with the church's address because he had come and brought his wife and child. We are grateful for the Lord's tender mercies in gathering his children back to him.

Later that evening, Elder Herdt was able to join in on an Elder's quorum party at the church. He enjoyed time spent with them and was even roped into playing some UNO! (He doesn't usually play games)ha

 

Hywel Jones from Ponty ward reminds a little of our oldest son Tyler. 

Both big guys, 6'2", bald with beards. 

Saturday, October 26th

We gave the Elders a ride up to an area to give a lesson and track. We were able to look up a few more members in the area while they were teaching. A productive morning.

When we returned we decided to explore the Ponty area. We parked in the Lidl's parking lot and before we left to explore we met a sweet lady who help us figure out how to get to the city center park. She was so sweet and took a picture with us and invited us to her home. 

Hoping to visit Lynette this week sometime:)

Later that evening we went for a stroll with Colin and Christine as they showed us more around the area of our flat. They showed us the area where a canal was previously built that ran from up in the Valleys to Cardiff Bay. This was part of the canal that was left. Most of the canal has been buried.

Week 6 Llandaff Cathedral

Monday October 14th P-day 

We met some new Welsh friends, Colin and Christine, who were walking out behind our flat last week. We have visited in their home and have had many great conversations. We shared some zucchini bread and Christine made us some banana bread which was very tasty. Colin joined the Navy when he was 15 yrs old. I can't imagine my sons leaving home at that age. Today we went on a walk up to the Llandaff Cathedral. It is the oldest Cathedral in Cardiff. It sustained damage from bombings in World War II but was rebuilt. The old churches and buildings here are fascinating. 

New Friends

Colin and Christine Summerfield

We enjoy talking walks. Walks with friends are even better. 

Elder & Sister Herdt in front of

Llandaff Cathedral

Part of the cemetery

It looks like the doors are massive but the actual door is barely tall enough to walk through without hitting you head.

The inside of the Cathedral is awe inspiring. This arch looked a little too modern to me.

I like the more classic style.  

The Bell Tower

I am fascinated with the old trees around the area. 

This one, in the middle of the old part of the cemetery was very interesting.

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is but it grabbed my attention. 

I loved the shape of the tree and color of the leaves. 

Jasper's Tea Room

After visiting the Cathedral Colin & Christine treated us to hot chocolate and scones at Jasper's Tea Room. 

I had a Welsh cake that are kind of like a flattened biscuit with cranberries. Elder Herdt had a piece of Victorian Sponge cake. We somehow got a 2nd order of scones that are popular here. They come with a jam and clotted cream. There is battle among people here whether you put the jam or the cream on first. Collin says jam goes first because you can't spread jam on the clotted cream. It was actually very tasty. 

Tuesday, October 15th. 

Every Tuesday morning we have a Zoom Call with all of the Senior Missionary Couples in the England Bristol mission. We get to visit with everyone to find out what they are all doing in their area. A senior couple is assigned to each Stake in the Mission.  All the Senior Missionaries get together once a quarter.  We have plans to all get together for a Thanksgiving dinner next month. 

I spent the rest of the day putting together a poster about the Bible and Book of Mormon and what each of them teach. The records in the Bible and book of Mormon each talk of God, the creation, the need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, Prophets, Apostles, the teachings of the Savior, Wars, Jews and Gentiles. The records just come from two different continents recorded by prophets who lived in their time. 

I love this quote by John Bytheway. 

Wednesday, October 16th

We took all of the parts to the poster I made and had them laminated at the University of South Wales. We had some time to kill so we stopped by "Stilts" the student cafeteria. We were amazed at the presentation and the quality of food. I think even Mark Peck would be impressed! They have a hospitality program at the University and I think the cafeteria is part of the program. They had food from Jamaica the day we were there. 

We met a student there who is in the Aeronautics program from Florida. Taha Jawed is originally from Pakistan. We gave him information about the church and he was interested in coming to church next week. This week was Stake Conference which was a longer distance. We hope he will be able to make it this coming Sunday. 

We spent the rest of the day visiting a few members at their homes. When we got to the first sister's house she told us that the spirit had told her that we would visit her today. We were glad we followed through with our plans for the day to visit her and a few others. We always enjoy hearing the conversion stories of others. The 3 members we visited we all in their 80's. Sister Button had spent her life as a trapeze artist, riding on the backs of horses, elephants and camels and as a juggler in the circus.  She was in the Bond movie "Octopussy". She had a wonderful conversion story. Sister Bentley another faithful woman in the ward who despite her vision issues, puts together a ward newsletter every month. Brother Fennel was lovely to visit with. He is 89 and has a hard time hearing but after hearing him bearing his testimony on the power of prayer, we felt impressed to visit him. 

Brother Fennel built this clock with out any plans or directions. After finishing it, it wouldn't start for some reason. He worked on it for days to no avail. He finally said a prayer in desperation. Within a short time the clock started working. God is in the details of our lives. He also had a wonderful conversion story that we probably would have never heard had we not visited. Brother Fennel also made all the cabinets in his house. What a talent. Reach out to those around you. 

They all have a story:)

Saturday, Oct. 19th

The Caerphilly Elders asked if we would do a street contacting day with them. They needed a table for their pamphlets. I put together this board and some scriptures from the Book of Mormon and Bible for people to read and guess what book the scriptures came from. We had treats for those who participated. 

Elder Lawrence from South Africa and Elder Sandow from Germany

with Elder Herdt in front of Caerphilly Castle. 

Always a good day to help and serve with the elders. 

A find on our walk. 

I have never seen holly & berries growing in the wild. Lately I have been noticing it ever where. I'm used to seeing the fake variety at Christmas time back home:)

Saturday/Sunday

We had Cardiff Stake Conference this weekend. I had a good time singing with the missionaries in our zone for the Saturday night adult session and I joined the Stake Choir and sang with them on Sunday. It was a great Stake Conference. Our mission president told the members he would like to strengthen the wards and members through missionary work in hopes of having a temple in Wales soon. He also said he focused on 3 things as he listened to our recent conference talks.

1. Invitations

2. Promises

3. Blessings

A great new way to approach studying conference talks. Spragg talk about miracles he has received in the past. He shared some great experiences. 

Cardiff Zone along with President & Sister Spragg from the Cardiff Stake and President & Sister Mayall of the England Bristol Mission. 

A Great Week!