Ah the English Countryside: An Adventure to the London Temple (Day 3)

Today was incredible. Rachel, Annalise, Brooke, Sydney and I made a trip to the London England TEMPLE! It was so incredible and gorgeous and I can't get over that we got to go! What an awesome once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (except we are planning to go again so twice-in-a-lifetime I suppose).

We had a travel adventure, that began with the Tube, then the overground, and then a long train ride, and a short Taxi until we arrived at the Temple. It is only about 20 miles from London, but with our travel inexperience, it took us about 2 hours to get there and then an hour and a half back once we knew what we were doing. Here are some pictures of the gorgeous countryside on the way there and then the cutest little train station at Lingfield, where the temple actually is:

Also here is a picture of the Taxi being driven on the left side of the road. Weirdest mind-boggling experience ever:

And some pictures of the Temple and the gorgeous, and HUGE grounds:

(Visitor's Centre)

(Accomodations Office)

For lunch we walked down the most narrow sidewalk I have ever experienced in my life about 10 minutes to this little restaurant. It was literally the only thing there in the middle of the country side. I had Ministroni (no idea if that is even close to spelled right) soup and potato skins.

Also right across from the restaurant, there was this huge field with horses. That gives you a feel for where this restaurant really is, in the middle of nowhere..

Of course we took lots of pictures. Here are just a few of us:

That was just the most fantastic adventure. I loved it so much and it was absolutely 100% worth it. Later in the day, I went through Kensington Park. Home of the... THE Kensington Palace. (Did I mention this is like 2 blocks from where we live?.. uh yeah. Is this even real life?!) And the park is huge! Like 5 Central Parks could fit inside. What? Here are some (OK a lot) of pictures:

They are playing Cricket. In real life. Just casually in the Park. For reals!

SO Gorgeous. It's just incredible, really. I can't get over it. Any of it.    

Ready for my Royal Wedding now (Day 2)

My first full day in London. At last. 

Today's adventure was the Tower of London. So much to see, and there was no possible way to see it all. But we made it to some of the more important places. :)

After a slight detour because we got minorly delayed and then detoured on the way to the Tower, we made it into the site. It is on the Thames (pronounced "Tehms") right by the Tower Bridge. This Tower Bridge:

First, after actually passing through the wall, thanks to some advice by a performer, we went in to see the Crown Jewels when there was no one waiting in line. Ummm.. THE Crown Jewels. Actually IN USE STILL sometimes. WHAT? Those jewels are 100% the REAL DEAL. Pretty much in awe...And where's my Prince of England?? 

This is where the Crown Jewels are housed (sorry no pictures allowed inside):

And here is Mallory and I posing with this building behind us:

Twice because why not?

Then we went through the White Tower, which has had a ridiculous number of functions over the years. Which I don't really remember all of and don't want to misstate so sorry. But here's a picture of the white tower:

Then we saw Beauchamp Tower, where prisoners were held, and carved intricate letters and drawings and amazing stuff into the walls...because what else would you do? And of course there is Bloody Tower, where the two young princes were imprisoned a never seen again, not to mention all the other prisoners held there. Kind of a creepy, haunting place. In between those two places is one of the Royal Residences:

And even though it isn't actually in use, it is one of the four Royal Residences, so it still has a guard around the clock:

Also we saw the green where Anne Bolyen (and lots of other people) were executed. This glass monument is there:

We decided after all that, we wanted to get going somewhere else, so we grabbed a bite to eat and then did a walk out of our textbook. Saw some really cool places!

We got a picture with a Yoman warrior outside the Tower of London:

Classic Tower Bridge picture:

Gift Shop (classic tourists) Do you think I pull it off? ;)

A great example of London combining new and old:

Christchurch-so amazing and beautiful and calm inside:

Some performers we saw outside a huge market:

Part of the old London Wall, just chilling right next to a huge modern business building:

We got back to the Centre and did productive things: homework, journalling, eating dinner. The usual. Then after we planned out our trips for tomorrow and beyond (to keep the suspense I'm not telling) we ventured out to buy some postcards, chocolate and ice cream. Because yolo and ice cream. Second time I have been to this place and SO not disappointed. (Notice second night, second time. This better not be a habit forming...but I mean Caramel Shortcake? Fudge chunk (think caramel chunk really)? How can I resist?!)

Also I am collecting postcards from the places we visit. Here are the ones I have rounded up so far! :)

This is such an incredible adventure already and I can't wait for what more is in store!!! 

PS My luggage arrived this evening and it's pretty wonderful to have my own clothes now!!

My Nightmare that ended in a Dream (Day 1)

This post may be a day late, but that's because I was exhausted beyond functioning yesterday. It has been a journey to say the least. I flew safely out of Salt Lake City to Minneapolis, but in Minneapolis our flight (at this point there were 6 of us) got delayed three hours and then cancelled altogether. So they had to reroute the entire plane full of people going to London. What a disaster. 

This is us right after finding out the flight was Cancelled:

And here we are after we had been waiting in line to get our new boarding passes for an hour (did I mention it was after 1 am at this point?):

We slept in the airport Food Court for a grand total of 2 hours, and then began to split ways. I got rerouted on my own to JFK so after spending the entire day in the airport killing time and awkwardly napping outside my departure gate, I found out my flight to JFK would be delayed enough that I would miss my connection to London...and have to wait another whole day (or at least another long night) in New York. (There were lots of distraught tears and frantic calling to my dad). Fortunately, thanks to my dad's advice, and the help of some friendly customer service ladies NOT working in the terminal where all these awful delays were happening, I got rebooked on a flight leaving in an hour to Detroit, and then a flight an hour and a half later from there to London. Thanks to many prayers and a whole lot of blessings, both of those flights went safely and with no further delays. In fact I got into London 30 minutes ahead of schedule (almost 24 hours later than planned however. Made it through customs (I'm not carrying illegal substances friends) to find out that my luggage had gone to New York on the flight that I rebooked. So it was still there. But at least I wasn't. And I only had my backpack to traverse London alone with. So there were definitely some plusses in that situation. 

THis is me before braving the Tube 100% alone:

But you know what...? 

I AM HERE!!! I have arrived in "the flower of cities all!" I never want to leave. It's amazing. 

Don't you think?

Because Three Hour Flight Delays are Rough

Almost 12 hours ago I was getting ready to pull out of Provo to begin this incredible journey to Europe... And here I am... In the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Still.

Note: I love this airport. It's known as the mall airport, so it can't be too bad, right? Except when everything closes right after you land. We barely made it in time to get something to eat from La Brea.

The last 48 hours have been so crazy. And uh admittedly some of that craziness maybe could have been avoided if I had done things differently, although it certainly could have been crazier for the same reason. So. Because I have at least another hour before we fly out, let me share the wisdom I have gleaned. 

THINGS I DID WRONG

Due purely to forgetful oversight on my part, I forgot to select a seat when I booked my tickets and when I got on last week it said that there were none available... Uh what? Turns out it's just some weird thing and they assigned me one when I checked it, but that was an unnecessarily stressful and terrifying experience. 

Didn't get US cash out before getting to the airport.. And as a result ended up wandering around the MSP airport looking for a Wells Fargo ATM for at least 15 minutes. 

Got to the airport over 3 hours early. OK, being early is never bad. But that was excessive. Two and a half hours would have been more than enough time, and instead I was sitting around forEVER.

Maybe more than 4 hours of sleep would be a good idea... Just in case your flight gets delayed for OVER THREE HOURS (oh did I already mention that..?...hmph)

Temporarily forgot where the safe place I stashed my passport was... Major 1 am panic attack during which I called my mom because I was afraid I left it in Rexburg (she didn't answer and I found it right where i put it like a minute later)

THINGS I DID RIGHT

Only checked one bag and only have one carry-on, both with space and weight to spare. Normally I am terrible about overpacking, but I am ridiculously proud of how light I packed this time around... Plus, plenty of room for souvenirs!! :) 

Checked in and printed my boarding pass plenty early- 24 hours in advance... Which is the soonest you can. Relieved so much stress.

Brought things to do in the airport.. Like writing letters and reading the Ensign and blogging. Also brought food to eat while I sat around. 

Met up with other study abroad friends! Like seriously I would be dying if I was alone right now. 

Also... I'm going to London... So I mean I really can't do anything better than that ;)

Peace Out Provo

In case anyone somehow missed the memo (despite my incessant and repetitive posting and talking about and general obsessiveness about this) I am ditching the U.S. of A. in THREE DAYS for the next 9 (ish) weeks!!

In three days I will be living here:

BYU London Centre. Be jealous...Very jealous.

So I am just a teeny tiny bit excited. It's only LONDON after all.

Anyway. I'm not just going to London, although that's where most of my time will be... I am also going to be in Edinburgh, Scotland; Paris, France; Germany; Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; and who knows... I might end up in any one of the many other BEAUTIFUL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES in that area.

Although most of the time I am there I will just be trying to soak up as much culture and European-ness as possible, while simultaneously taking enough pictures that I can sufficiently remember my adventures... I will also be trying to post as much as possible about the amazing adventures that I am so blessed to have the opportunity to experience. (Plus I really just want to share all my pictures and stories with everyone who is back in the States so that they can be jealous of my new-found, cultured, European identity (; )

So that's all. I can't wait to begin yet another adventure abroad!

What I Believe

There are a lot of things going around the internet right now that are critical of various aspects of the LDS Church. Part of me (a very loud part of me) really wants to address some of these claims and respond to the things I have read. However, I realize that this will probably not help anything. Instead I would like to share what I believe and what I know about Jesus Christ and His Gospel on the Earth. And also the fact that I have come to believe and know these things on my own. 

I know that we have a Heavenly Father who is watching out for us and guiding us. He has a plan for each and every single one of us and that individual plan is the one that will bring us the most happiness and joy in our lives. The closer we stick to His plan for us, the better we will be. However, we are all human and we all make mistakes, so Heavenly Father created for us an Atonement, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, through which we can be forgiven of our sins. Through repentance we can be redeemed of our sins and return even if we stray from the path God has laid out for us. 

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is so very real. I have experienced it in my own life in many powerful ways and cannot deny its truthfulness. Without the Atonement we would have no hope for salvation, however because Christ was willing to suffer for our sins, and make the ultimate sacrifice we can repent. Not only does the Atonement provide us a means of repentance, but also of comfort, for we can know that Jesus Christ knows what each of us is going through and knows how to help us overcome all of our trials and tribulations in these days. 

The power of the Holy Ghost is real. His presence can be felt by anyone, but as a baptized member of the Church I have the capacity and the opportunity to have the Spirit's guidance with me at all times and in all places, so long as I remain worthy and allow the Spirit to be a part of my life. 

The power of Heaven truly can be worked on Earth through Priesthood authority. The worthy priesthood holders in my life have blessed me countless times and helped me through important and difficult struggles. This past year, one of the most helpful things for me as I struggled through many difficult trials, was having friends who were worthy Priesthood holders, who were willing and able to give me blessings of comfort to help guide me as I made my way through a difficult time. The Priesthood authority of my Bishop and Stake President also helped me as I counseled with them and felt of their deep and profound love for me. 

I sustain the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ. Thomas S. Monson, the propher, seer and revelator, the First Presidency, Quorom of the Twelve Apostles, Presiding Bishopric, Quoroms of the Seventy, General authorities over all other branches of the church, as well as area and local leaders of my individual stakes and wards. They are ALL called of God to do his sacred work here on earth.

I know that the blessing of the temple can be matched by nothing. The ordinances that are performed there are vital to our eternal salvation and it is only through these ordinances that we can return again to our Father in Heaven.

I know that the Plan of Salvation is a reality. I have had many close family members pass through the veil and end their mortal journeys on this earth, however I can still feel their presence as I continue my own. I feel these presences very strongly in the temple, however as I live worthily day by day, I can feel them guiding me when I need them most. I can especially feel the influence of my mother who passed away when I was four years old, and know that she has been a very real and very important part of my life as I have grown up. 

I know that families are ordained of God. Fathers and Mothers are charged with the responsibility to raise their children in righteousness, and that duty is the most sacred of all. It was in my own home that I came to know and love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the blessings that have come because I had a righteous family cannot be described. Each member of a family has their own divine roles to play, and those cannot be replaced by anything of the world. Families are critical in the eternal Plan of Salvation.

I also know that Satan knows that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true Church. I know that he knows that if we live righteously we will inherit the Kingdom of God, something he can never attain. I know that he knows the Church is true because he fights at every turn to tear it apart. He continues to devise new methods of attacking the Church and tries to discredit it using any means he can. However, the only power that Satan has is the power that we give him over ourselves. If we refuse to allow him any influence over us we can know the truth of the Gospel and know that Satan is merely trying to take away our happiness so that we are miserable as he is. 

Of course, this is not a comprehensive list of all the gospel teachings, however I can say with real intent that I know that EVERY aspect of the Gospel is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church on the earth and He is the head. I know it is true and I know that the teachings therein are true and pure doctrine. I know it. And there is nothing I would not do for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.