Patriarchal Blessings

If you didn't know, on the church's website you can order your ancestor's Patriarchal Blessings. Go to lds.org, click on "Tools", scroll down to "Patriarchal Blessing request a copy" and click. It will ask you to sign in, if you don't have a user name and password, then you can sign up for one using your membership number. Once you sign in you can request a "copy of own blessing" or "copy of direct-line ancestor's blessing".

You will need to know:

Deceased ancestor name

Deceased ancestor maiden name

Birth date of deceased ancestor (Example: 6 Aug 1968)

Relationship to deceased ancestor

Deceased ancestor's Father's full name, If you do not know it, please enter "unknown"

Deceased ancestor's Mother's full name, If you do not know it, please enter "unknown"

Patriarch who gave blessing

Stake in which blessing was received

Approximate year blessing was given (Example: 1950 or 1950-1960)

Comments

I requested my Grandma Jensen's and it came in the mail today.

If you are not a member of the LDS church, a Patriarchal Blessing is "given to worthy members of the Church by ordained patriarchs. Patriarchal blessings include a declaration of a person's lineage in the house of Israel and contain personal counsel from the Lord. As a person studies his or her patriarchal blessing and follows the counsel it contains, it will provide guidance, comfort, and protection." In the Old Testament, Genesis 48:14, (King James Version, btw, it's the 400th birthday of the KJV of the Bible), Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim’s head. So PB's are not new, but I'm not sure other churches have continued this practice. Some people call PB's their personal scriptures since they are straight from Heavenly Father. Now that I am on this genealogy kick, it's kinda fun to get these to find out what Heavenly Father had in store for my ancestors.

Fire!

About 2pm a fire started in the brown building in Walsall Town Center. We could smell the smoke about 5pm at our flat. As you can see from the picture they are still trying to get the fire out.

They totally blocked off all roads near the fire.

Day Trips 2011 - Friday

Friday

We did one more session in the London Temple.

One of the nicest things about Surrey is that it is really pretty!

I told Dave he had to pick where we were going this day because his Birthday was Sunday. So he picked Oxford.

As you can see, there are lots of old buildings and lots of tourists.

Oxford is really old, it started sometime before 1096.

Like the sign says Roger Bannister was the first to break the 4 minute mile at the Oxford track.

This is the rental van we got. The key was broken to Dave's car, so we got the sweet ride! Yes, that is a cobble stone street.

Dave decided to take the scenic way home and we ended up driving by Blenheim Palace. I looked it up later and found out this is where Winston Churchill's family has lived since the early 18th Century. If I would have known I would have made Dave stop so we could take pictures.

Day Trips 2011 - Thursday

Thursday

Thursday morning we went to the American Embassy in London. I went to turn in my Social Security paperwork and a copy of our marriage license so I can have my name officially changed to McCabe. I figured it would help when we apply for Dave's visa. It's a good thing we went to see the line for visas. It was HUGE! I can't believe that many people still want to come to the US. I didn't take the camera because I couldn't take anything in the Embassy with me except my paperwork.

I ran out of Ina Paarman spices so after the Embassy we went over to the South African store between the Embankment and Charing Cross tube stations. Plus we got P.S. candy bars, YUM!

We then headed back to the Surrey area to go to the London Temple. Dave went to the MTC when it was in London and I've been here after my mission with my Mom.

For dinner we decided to take the scenic route and find Hever Castle.

We couldn't get close enough to get a good picture though.

Taco Bell is located in the Lakeside Shopping Centre.

It was good to have the Grilled Stuft Burrios again!

Day Trips 2011 - Wednesday

Wednesday

I have mentioned that I think I found my 3rd Great Grandfather John Perkins. Well, the 1841 Census says that the registration district he lived in was Shepton Mallet.

So we headed to the Shepton Mallet Visitors Information Center to get info about the area and why John Perkins would leave for Australia sometime between 1841 and 1845. Lorraine was very helpful and full of good info and just as we were leaving Fred the town historian walked in and told me there was a recession during that time period, so many people left for Australia to find a better situation. I told him I have read John's journal, so he would have been educated, which was a rare thing for the son of a laborer, so now I need to find his father in the 1841 Census and find out what his dad did for a living.

Farming was common in this area

Mining was also common

Shepton Mallet has the oldest Prison in England

We drove by it, the walls are VERY tall

In the 1841 Census, the sub-district John Perkins is in is listed as Stoke Lane, but Lorraine said that Stoke Lane is now called Stoke St Micheal.

And on the actual Census, Gurney Slade is listed as where John Perkins lives. This is one of those villages, if you blink you will miss it.

After our adventures in Somerset, we were heading to Surrey.

We happen to drive by Stonehenge

I came to help the dancers at the Surrey Hills Dance Centre because they were nice enough to fill out my surveys

This road by the dance studio looks just like BYUH campus

Day Trips 2011 - Monday

We were suppose to go on a honeymoon to Disneyland Paris last week, but the Council Tax decided to charge us extra money, so honeymoon plans disappeared. (Council Tax is like property tax in the US, except it's more like an occupancy tax AND you have to pay every month. The Council decided to increase Dave's tax in 2007 without telling him or increasing the debit amount taken out of the bank until now. Thank Heavens we are not staying in England!) Instead I made Dave take me around and do day trips again.

Monday

I wanted to see the Lake District, so I checked out the national park website and the picture of Ullswater Lake was prettier than the others so I decided we were going to go there. One of the brochures at the visitors center says Ullswater is the prettiest lake in England. Once we got there we decided to hike up Aria Force, which means waterfalls. Turns out the poet William Wordsworth hiked this area a lot! It was pretty.

This was a good hike, easy and pretty!

This part made me think of the Little Red Riding Hood story ;)

The town at the south end of Ullswater Lake is called Glenridding

We drove to Ullswater and back on the A592 road. The Kirkstone Pass is 1,489 feet, which made me laugh because Provo is 4,551 feet in elevation.

It was foggy in Kirkstone Pass

After hiking we drove to Lancaster to visit my friend Rosie and her husband Dave because it was her Birthday! Then we went home because Dave had to work on Tuesday.

Rosie and Dave's office

When we got to Staveley there was a car on fire on the road.

Happy Birthday Dave!!!

Yep, I forgot to cut the domes off each layer, so there were gaps.

But it still looks yummy!

The Street Where We Live