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.