Northern England Day 1

Well we’re off to Northern England for the week and I am so happy. I can’t believe that after this week I’ll only have 2 weeks left in London. I’m not happy about this. Not happy at all. It’s really quite tragic in fact. I would stay for another 2 months if I could. We got an early start (7:00am) and headed to our first destination.

First Stop: Chatsworth

So for all of you Pride and Prejudice lovers, this is another place to see. It is Mr. Darcy’s house in the new version with. It is Beautiful! It’s a huge house with over 200 acres of incredible gardens. We were able to spend 2 hours there. The house or rather, mansion, was fabulous and so interesting. But nothing can compare the gardens. BREATHTAKING! We took lots and lots of pictures and enjoyed walking around in nature. Emily, Amanda, and I explored as much as we could with the little time we had. We ran through fields of grass, played in the fountain/stream, and explored the flowers and tunnels, and then headed back to the bus. Why don’t people still build this way? Obviously not the size, but just the beautiful architecture and the lines are so beautiful. And gardens? What happened to them? I’m going to have a garden when I have a house of my own someday.

Amazing entrance!

That violin is painted on. I guess it's very famous because it looks so real! And believe me... I thought it was real until they told us it wasn't. Crazy!

They had a dress up room we all had a great time in! So many fun outfits!

I loved the library.

This was incredible!

Manda and me

Beautiful!

Gardens

Back of the house

Baby ducks were everywhere!

So many gardens to walk through! Acres and acres! I wish I could have walked all of them!

Emily and me

Playing in the fountain

Next Stop: Bronte Sister’s house

We spent about an hour here going through their house. I learned so much about them and their background. It was very interesting. The town they lived in is adorable! I wish I had an entire day to explore and see all of the fun houses and shops. As I was walking to the Bronte house, I passed the most amazing cemetery I have ever seen. The grass and trees were overgrown and wild like which added to the uniqueness of each headstone. The sun was shining so brightly and you could see its rays shining through the tree braches highlighting the graves, while casting interesting shadows on the ground. The fact it had just rained only added to the beauty. The air smelled so fresh and there were dewdrops on the grass and leaves. It was one of the most picturesque scenes I have ever seen. I really enjoy cemeteries. Especially ones like these. I think they are beautiful and peaceful. I always stop when I see a cemetery and look around while pondering. It’s a moment of reflection for me. I wish I could have spent more time there. Another day perhaps....another day.

Third Stop: Preston Temple

Goodness, just walking on the Temple grounds gives you a wonderful feeling of peace. The England MTC is also there so that was really neat to see. I’m still planning on serving a mission. The opportunity seems to come and go but I hope I do whether single or with my husband. I can’t wait! Maybe I will go here and go to this MTC! I would love it.

Forth and Final Stop: Ambleside!!!

This is officially my favorite place. It is in the Lake District and the hostel we’re staying in is right on a lake. It reminds me of Austria. I guess I don’t have to be too jealous that my family is in Mondee because this is pretty close. The lake is gorgeous and the green mountains around are breathtaking. I sat on a bench right on the shore and wrote in my journal while thinking about if I were to ever become an Author, I would come here for inspiration. I don’t know what I want to write about, but all I want to do is start writing a book at this very moment. Is that weird that nature has that effect on me? Maybe I will become a write someday. I’m not a good writer but the thought of writing sounds so wonderful to me. As the sun set I watched the colors ripple on the water as the boats came in. Nothing could have made me happier at that moment. God has given us such a beautiful world to live in. Can’t wait to explore tomorrow! :)

Today I went to my little ward where I taught primary, played the piano for singing time, played the piano for the musical number in sacrament meeting and lead the music, and gave a talk. I spoke on being prepared to meet Christ. I was so grateful to speak in church and to have this specific topic. I learned so much by preparing for it and my own personal testimony grew. We never know when the time will come that we will be taken from this earthly life and we must be ready at all times. Sometimes it scares me, but when I realize that as long as I’m living righteously I have no need to fear the wonderful moment I am reunited with my heavenly father. My main point was to try and work on yourself little by little to better yourself each day. It is overwhelming to think about how many things I need to fix. Which is why we need to take it one step at a time. Fix one problem and work on another. It’s like the story my BYU teacher once told me….Imagine you open a door to a hallway and there is a huge monster in your way. You know there is an amazing reward at the end of the hallway and you know you’ll do anything to get to it. So you fight the monster with courage. Sometimes you get knocked down. But eventually you beat the monster and it leaves. Then you see that there are 2 monsters behind it that are smaller. You fight them until they leave and you see there are 4 smaller monsters behind the 2. You see, there are always more things we can work on but we know that we can beat through each of these bad habits or past sins by moving forward and letting go of these burdens that hinder our progression. The most important thing to remember is that we are never alone in our fight. Christ, our redeemer, is there with us fighting each of out little monsters helping us to return to him and our Heavenly Father. I’m so grateful for Jesus Christ who helps me every single day as I try to be better and kinder and reach for that reward at the end of the hallway.

It was a busy day, but I absolutely loved every minute of it. The members here are so amazing. They are so strong and such good examples. Every Sunday my testimony grows from these strong, wonderful people. I love the kids I teach. Here are a couple pictures of them:

After church my friend Megan and I went to the Imperial War Museum. Gosh, this was a very solemn experience. They have a Holocaust exhibit that just tarred at my heart. So many awful things happened. I must admit I did shed a couple of tears while reading some of the stories and seeing some of the pictures. It amazes me to see what God’s children have done to one another. It is awful. I can’t imagine how Heavenly Father must feel when these awful things are happening to His children by His children. Even though the experience in the museum was not too pleasant I am glad I went. They also have life-size (and life smelling) trenches under the museum you can go through to get a sense of how it was. It stunk so bad I couldn’t breathe. Yuck.

Well today some girls, Clark, and I went to the London Temple and did baptisms. What a great experience. We took a train ride and then a cab ride with a very funny man and when we finally made it to the temple we had a lovely time admiring the temple grounds. I met a very interesting girl from Italy in the waiting room. We talked about Italy, missions, and life in America. It was hard to communicate seeing as she didn’t speak much English, and I don’t speak Italian but we made it work. We had to wait a little bit so the Temple worker came in and suggested that we sing hymns to pass the time. Of course we jumped at the opportunity to do this. It was a wonderful experience to sing hymns in the temple with people from all around the world. Music really does unite people in ways speaking never can.

After baptisms, and walking the temple grounds again, we headed on the trek back to the Center. We spent most of the rest of the day walking around London. My favorite thing to do. Exploring little streets and stores will never get old or boring. We then went to the Opera house and saw the ballet Swan Lake. Of course that was amazing!! I loved it. Somehow the girls really, looked like beautiful, graceful swans. I was amazed. I still wish I was a dancer. That is something I would give anything to do. But alas I am not graceful and I have no talent in that area. Oh well. I guess I should count my blessings. At least I can enjoy ballets like this… in LONDON!