Dear Family and Friends,
I love London in the spring! Since this is the second spring we have lived here, I can say this is the most beautiful season. Here is my evidence:
Walking through Kew on the way to The National Archives
Holland Park
The Classic Spectacular at Royal Albert Hall
We had heard about a wonderful program at the Royal Albert Hall, called the Classic Spectacular, from other missionaries. Last week we had the opportunity to go with the Robertsons. It’s a combination of beautiful classical music, lights, lasers, thundering cannons and indoor fireworks.
It was amazing!
Family History
Some of our patrons at the London Family History Centre at The National Archives are doing amazing work in putting together their family histories. A young man of Jamaican ancestry has compiled a book with stories and photographs of his ancestors. Recently he went up to Scotland to do some research on the owner of the plantation where his ancestors were slaves. He contacted the owner of an estate in Aberdeen originally owned by the plantation owner in Jamaica. He was invited to the estate and shown artifacts of the plantation owner. As he was showing us pictures from his visit I asked if the plantation owner had been a nice person. He replied, “Oh no” and went on to say that the plantation owner had actually fathered many children of the women he owned. Patrons searching their Jamaican ancestry are some of the most regular visitors to our centre. They are always eager to help each other with their research and show the beginners how to search the Jamaican data bases on FamilySearch to identify the microfilms they need to view.
We have a new couple that have come to work with us as family history missionaries. Loa and Leonard Ellis are from Spanish Fork, Utah and will be serving in England for one year. This is their second mission as they served in Japan several years ago. We had the opportunity to take them with us to Surrey to the London Temple last week. We also stopped in at the visitor’s centre.
It was a beautiful warm, spring day and it was fun to get to know the Elder and Sister Ellis.
A bit of interesting news: When the Hyde Park Chapel opens in a couple of weeks there will be a Christus statue in the foyer, just like the one in the visitor’s centre of the London Temple. This will be visible from Exhibition Road. The original of this statue was crafted in 1821 by the Danish Sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen and there are replicas at Temple Square in Salt Lake City and many visitor’s centers all over the world.
When the Hyde Park Chapel reopens, the London Family History Centre will be remaining at The National Archives through the early part of 2013. In the meantime, the London Family History Centre is considering a variety of alternatives for a permanent location.
The first half of our mission we were privileged to serve at the beautiful and historic Hyde Park Chapel. The last half we have been at The National Archives at Kew. We have thoroughly enjoyed our mission in both of these locations.
Congratulations to our grandson, Drew, who won the Pinewood Derby! Brother Nick and Dad helped out.
Our best to all of you from London,
Love, Elder and Sister Fugal (aka Cheryl and Ken, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa)
Hi Fugals! Michael & Lisa Sumner here. We served in the ELM 4/2007 to 10/2008 as senior missionaries under the direction of Pres. & Sister Foulger. Innskeeps, Snows, Ritchins,Scotts, Neus, Taylor, Helms, Telford, Lillinquist and other seniors served during our term. While there we worked with Sharon Hintze in the FHC, decorated the building and put on a Christmas Open House in 2007 and served as proselyting missionaries in the Lea Valley ward for our 18 months. It was the greatest time of our life and we worked as hard as we could. We didn't make a dent!
ReplyDeleteI found your site while searching for pictures of the Hyde Park Chapel remodel. Thank you for posting the old pre-chapel site pictures and giving the history of the chapel. I have touched every square inch of that building while planning and preparing the Christmas Open House. Memories are all we take away from this life and we have many wonderful stories about the people that shared their lives with ours in the ELM. Thank you for sharing yours with us through your blog.
Say "hi ya" to Sharon, Don & Claudia but don't believe the all the stories they may tell! Elder Sumner was (is) a little different but Sister Sumner is a saint!
Cheers to ya mates!