March 19, 2012

                So begins the last big trip of my study abroad.  It started off with a bang and a 3-hour bus ride to Iron Bridge, the most boring site in London.  Basically it’s this big…iron bridge.  It’s supposed to be cool or something because of the historical significance and view into the industrial era, but it was just a big boring steel bridge.  We spent one loooong hour there, and to entertain myself I took about a billion pictures of this dumb bridge.  The whole time I was wondering, why am I taking so many pictures?  I hate this bridge.  I’m going to delete about half of these stupid pictures right when I get back on the bus.  And lo and behold, my prediction was correct.  

So...it's a bridge

Don't be fooled by that smile on my face.  It should be replaced by a bored scowl.

                After another 3-hour bus drive we found ourselves in Preston at the British MTC.  Imagine the surprise on the missionary’s faces when a bus-full of 35 girls pulls up in front of their classrooms.  The missionaries literally got up out of their seats (where they had previously been dutifully studying) and pressed their faces against the windows.  It was just about the most entertaining thing I’ve ever seen.  Here were all these fresh little missionaries, who were embarking on a 2-year fast from women, coming face-to-face with a group of 35 girls who were currently on a 4-month man fast (we have been explicitly forbidden to date at all while on the program.  In our interviews we had to promise we’d abstain from dating during the program.  True story).  So here were two groups of lonely desperate souls, forbidden to love one another.  I, being much older than many of those missionaries (3 great years their senior), was spared from the overwhelming lusting and desire that was oozing out of all the girls.  

You can see them smiling out of the windows at the glorious bus full of sweet spirits.
Danger, boys.  Stay away. 

We stopped off at the MTC to use the bathrooms (much needed) and to pick up the mission president and his wife.  The mission president is the uncle of one of the girls on my program and he was going to give us a church tour of the area.  Oh, and his wife is President Hinckley’s daughter!  So awesome!

                We started the tour off at the “Cock Pit” where people used to have cock fights in Preston.  It was taken over by the Temperance Society who turned the area into a respectable area and held alcohol recovery programs and promoted abstinence.  The Society allowed the early missionaries to use their church building as a meeting house.  Next up was the Obelisk in the town square where missionaries would come to preach and sing.  Preston is not a tourist spot at all and our group got lots of funny looks by all the passers-by and many actually meandered into our group until they found out we were a religious group and then quickly departed.  British people are not a religious people and I’ve found talking with them about religion is highly taboo.

Chapel used by the early missionaries thanks to the Temperance Society

The Obelisk 

                Then we made our way over to the River Ribble where the first baptisms in London were held.  In the first week of preaching alone the missionaries baptized 15 people.  An estimated 7,000-9,000 people came to watch those 15 baptisms and to see the strange new missionaries and see what these Mormons were about.  Two men held a foot-race over one of the bridges to see who would be the first man to be baptized.  To the side of the river there is a little park with a plaque commemorating the missionaries and all the baptisms that took place in the river.  They even planted a “Missionary Tree” in the park.  I’m not sure exactly what a”Missionary Tree” is, but I’m sure it’s a very religious tree. 

River Ribble  

The little park (more like an Asian garden) with the commemorative plaque

Mormon plaque!!

The area of the river the first baptisms in London took place

Our last area we visited was 15 Wadham Road where Gordon B. Hinckley stayed during his mission in old England.  While living here President Hinckley wrote his father a letter expressing his discouragement and sadness with the lack of investigators.  In his letter President Hinckley asked his father if this mission was just a waste of his time and money.  His father famously wrote back, “Forget yourself and go to work.”  After that President Hinckley fully committed himself to his mission and dedicated his life to the gospel.  This apartment marked a turning point in President Hinckley’s life and it was amazing to hear the story from his daughter and to see how much this place meant to her.  

Our fantastic tour guides

Outside 15 Wadham

                Overall I LOVED this church tour in Preston.  It was definitely one of the main highlights of this trip.  I’ve been feeling lately that I’ve needed to implement some more church-focused things in my life here in London.  So much of what I do here is focused on history and on experiencing new places and peoples.  While this is great, I’ve felt a real lack of church influences lately and this is exactly what I needed.  I’m planning on lots of trips to the temple when I finally get back to the states!

                We got back to the MTC (the little missionaries were safely busy doing other things and were not in the classrooms any more) and quickly took some pictures outside the Preston Temple.  It’s a smaller temple but still so beautiful.  The day was sunny, warm, and beautiful.  I couldn’t have asked for a better tour of Preston.

The beautiful Preston Temple

Outside the MTC

Maybe someday I'll be training here for my mission!
Just kidding though.  Settle down, dad.

But alas, back on the bus for an hour to the LAKE DISTRICT!!!  “What are men to rocks and mountains?”  The Lake District is AMAZING.  It is like a mini little Ireland (except for the fact that Ireland is way better).  It has stunning countryside views and probably has 2 sheep for every 1 person living in the Lake District (no lie – there are miles and miles of sheep, all with pastel numbers painted on their backs).  It had great lake views, huge mountains, and plenty of countryside to satisfy my appetite.  We checked into our hostel (NEVER stay in hostels), where I was lucky enough to only have 3 other roommates (other girls were not as lucky and had 13 roommates).  This was another place where I made sure my feet were covered at all times.  Oh, and a helpful sign on our room wall informed us on how to make our beds properly which consisted of 1 sheet that regularly gets washed (and has a little pillow cover area you slip the pillow into), a comforter, and a pillow (both the comforter and the pillow do not get washed regularly…if at all).  I don’t even want to think about that bed and who its previous occupants are.  So let’s move on.

The Lake Country

Views of the Lake Country...

misty morning

The class was split into two groups for activities in the Lake District, and the first night my group got to have an authentic dinner at Dove Cottage, where Wordsworth lived for some time and composed many of his poems.  This was a really great experience, because they used real recipes from the Wordsworth family recipe book and only used candles to eat by.  These were both really great and really bad things.  Good, because this was a really cool authentic experience.  Some of the food was great and it was interesting to see which spices they used (much of their diet was based on what was cheap and easy to get).  The candle lighting set a great ambiance and made the cottage very cozy.  Bad, because some of the food was not so delicious (a fish spread for the crackers, which I didn’t touch) and the candle lighting made it very difficult to actually see which foods I wanted to eat and which I needed to stay away from.  But overall it was a fantastic experience and this is only the second time they’ve ever done one of these dinners at the cottage.  We felt very honored indeed.  It was really weird to be allowed to eat sitting around real antiques and be surrounded by Wordsworth’s writing desk, his chairs, his table, etc.  I felt like I was eating in a museum.  Because they don’t do this thing often (or ever really) we ate our dinner on plastic folding chairs with plastic plates, forks, and knives.  That was a really interesting experience too, being encircled by dimly-lit priceless artifacts, using dinky little plastic cutlery trying to see our food through the dim candle-light.  An experience I’ll definitely never forget.

Dove Cottage.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside,
so you'll just have to image my candle-lit dinner.