I am privileged to have friends all over the world. I am blessed in particular by the friendship of Jared and Elna Smith in the United Kingdom. I’ve never met them, but because of the world wide web, we have listened to Bro. Smith’s sermons, read their blog posts, and my husband has even chatted with Bro. Smith on the phone. Through that friendship, we made the acquaintance of Bro. Adam Nixon, a British preacher living in Italy. We had the great honor of meeting him in person when he came to America to preach for us in January of 2015. I look forward to one day meeting the Smiths in person as well.

Elna has a very interesting blog where she shares her “views and reviews”. She was able to visit the home of Jane Austen, the famous British author, and wrote about it. In a conversation regarding  that blog post, Elna was a bit surprised to hear I’d never read an Austen novel. I have tried many times to read Pride and Prejudice, but just couldn’t get into it. Love stories are not my favorite type of novel, and like most older literature, Austen’s books seem to be slow starters. Elna suggested that I try reading Emma, the Austen classic that she likes best. It just so happened that I had started reading that very book some months back, but it was a free Kindle version that was not very well done,  so I forgot about it. I did recall finding the main character, Emma Woodhouse, to be quite humorous and relatable. On my birthday, I picked up a real copy of Emma and promised myself I would finally read a Jane Austen novel.

I found this book to be very entertaining. While Ms. Austen does use the old style of saying things in a rather round-about way, I quickly fell in pace with her writing. Emma Woodhouse is a young lady who lives with her widowed father. Her favorite hobby is that of a matchmaker, but, she seems to be slightly askew in her thoughts as to who is interested in whom. She befriends a young woman of lower social status in an effort to help her in life and love. Emma’s attempts at helping her friends find love will ultimately lead her to finding it herself, but not without some bumps along the way.  I would love to share more, but I do not want to spoil it for anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading Emma.

I am very happy with myself for achieving this particular goal this summer. I am glad I have become acquainted the regal Jane Austen and I do believe I will pick up another one of her books in the near future.

Elna said jokingly that I could not visit England until I had read at least one Jane Austen novel. Well, I suppose I should get my passport and pack my bags! Mission accomplished!

And what a delightful mission it was.

With love,