Our Marathon Trip to England

There are a variety of tasks that FamilySearch Support missionaries can perform. Our main tasks are connected with the FS Indexing projects. We have been involved in training efforts to get people to volunteer to help with indexing. Some of these have targeted members of the church – especially the youth who are good with computers but can't yet handle the research work in doing genealogy. Others target non-members such as those that visit genealogy conferences. There are few of the real researchers who will take time to do indexing tasks, but they can recognize this as an entry-level activity that their friends and family can participate in.
One of the FS display set-ups

For these kinds of conferences, the church has purchased display materials by which we can get the FamilySearch (FS) name recognized, and one of these was recently used in England for the filming of a very popular TV show called “Who do you think you are?” When the show was over, we needed to get the display materials back to Frankfurt.

Another area of work for FS Support missionaries is aimed at helping the hundreds of Family History Centers succeed. We have moved more into this area since December when another missionary couple who had been doing it was released at the end of their time of service. In this activity, we work to be sure the centers have working equipment, including computers, monitors, printers and microfilm readers (i.e. the equipment that people use so they can read the text on the tiny microfilms.

Grant using a microfilm reader.

They are like small projectors with built-in screens. There are thousands of these readers distributed around in the various centers, and they occasionally need maintenance or replacement. About a year ago a bunch of used ones were brought to our Frankfurt area for repair, and one or two at a time we have redistributed them where they were needed.
It recently became necessary to move two of these rebuilt units to England. At the same time we needed to return the FS display units to Frankfurt. We were asked to take care of the job on 20 April to 22 April 2010.

The Mercedes Van our director rented for us to drive.

We had to rent a large van (Mercedes-Benz Sprinter) and load the two Microfilm readers and make our way to England. This meant going North in Germany, then turning West across Belgium and a tiny corner of France to the point of Europe that is closest to England.
Hazy sign into Brussels Belgium. This country had light posts like this all along the freeways.

Many of our pictures in Belgium were hazy because the fallout of ash from the volcano eruption in Iceland seemed to be in the air everywhere in this country. Back when Elder Howlett was returning home from his first mission he boarded a train in Paris that went to this same place called Calais, France. There the train drove onto a ferry boat, and they just stayed inside the train car while the ferry crossed the English Channel. From there the train continued on to London.

Road to Calais and the tunnel under the English Channel.

This time we drove to Calais, and at that point we drove onto a big train, which then went underground through a tunnel across the Channel to England. The ride across the Channel took only 35 minutes this time. We had bought a ticket to make the crossing between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, but the day before we were to leave I felt we should change our departure time from Frankfurt at 7 in the morning to 5. As a result, we had clear roads and a good drive to Calais, getting there more than 2 ½ hours earlier than our appointed time.

Boarding train for the tunnel crossing.

I queried the people at the Tunnel, and they were happy to put us on a much earlier train without any extra fee, so we were in England early enough to take a slow leisurely drive along the coast to Portsmouth where the first delivery was to be made.

View of the English Channel

Occasionally we could see the English Channel, but we saw a lot of the beautiful farms and villages along that route, instead of the “Motorway” (Freeway) that would have taken us much further up toward London, but with little chance of seeing much beyond the roadway.

Here is a little sea-side town. Notice we are driving on the left.

Thus we were able to get a lot of enjoyment out of our first day of the trip. The second day we drove North, mostly on the Motorways, but occasionally on the smaller roads to get to Birmingham where we were to pick up the display materials. While on the motorway we went through Oxford. As you know, Oxford is home to the Oxford University, where all of the LDS English Bibles are printed, and where the Oxford Dictionaries come from.

Passing the city of Oxford.

Because we were then on the motorway, we could hardly see anything of this important city. After picking up our load in Birmingham, which was 7 big boxes instead of the 3 that we at first thought we would be picking up (We could have carried those three in the station wagon we normally drive, but they told us there were now 5 boxes, and they wouldn't all fit in that car. Then when we found there were 7 we were very grateful to have the big van.)

Our big van is a blessing.

After leaving Birmingham we travelled on more open road toward the East to Cambridge, another town famous for its universities. After making our delivery to the Family History Center, we went to the old city center and tried to find a bookstore where we might find something in technical engineering books to read in English. We saw a couple of the universities, and were very negatively impressed. These are famous academic schools, but it was obvious that they were only for academics – no practical things like engineering.

A narrow street of Cambridge.

We failed to find a bookstore where we could buy anything we might want to read. However, it was very nice to be able to talk to anyone and be understood.


To the right is the check-in gate for the ferry.

From Cambridge we continued eastward to the coast on the North Sea,where we drove onto a ferry boat late in the evening. We had a tiny cabin where we could sleep through the night while the boat crossed the sea to Holland. After a much-needed rest through the night, we drove off the ferry at the Hook of Holland.

One of the derricks unloading ships as we drove off of the ferry.

We took a little time to look and learn a little about these lands that had been reclaimed from the sea. There are canals everywhere to collect the water so it can be pumped out away from the land. We didn't see many of the traditional Dutch windmills doing this job like they used to do,

Seen at right is one of the few older windmills seen in Holland.

but we saw a lot of modern tall windmills used to generate electricity which could then be used to do the same job wherever that was needed. We saw acres and acres of greenhouses, and huge fields of the fertile soil found in such deltas, but we were there at the wrong time to see any tulips or in the wrong place of the country.
Some of the many greenhouses in the Netherlands

Aside from this problem, we got a very good impression from what we saw of these Nether (underneath) lands.
Despite the early start from Holland, it was still a long drive to go all the way from the North West of Germany down to Frankfurt. We arrived in time to unload the van into the building where we work, and give a quick report to those we work with here, but we were the last to leave the building when we were finally ready to leave.
It was a hard, fast trip, but we had some very pleasant experiences. We saw and experienced things in four countries that we had not previously experienced. We were grateful for the protection given us throughout the trip. English drivers drive on the “other” side of the road (they don't like being told it is the “wrong” side, even though it is not the “right” side.)

A double-decker bus, a very common sight in England.

We made only one mistake on that issue, and luckily the three cars coming straight at us made their way around us with just angry looks and honks. That nation is obsessed with round-abouts. There are probably too many. And when we got back on the right side of the road in Holland it seemed weird for a while.

One of the many waterways seen in Holland.

Our thanks to all who were concerned about us and made special mention in your prayers for our safety. We didn't stop to take pictures, but we will be able to show a few taken through the windows of the van.