Collecting Myself

This weekend I had the immense privilege of watching and listening to the words and guidance of prophets, apostles and leaders of the LDS church as they addressed the world, as they do every six months from. Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Plug: if you missed out go here: gc.lds.org) This gave me a lot of time to reflect on many teachings that I have heard over the last few weeks, and brought to mind some new goals that I want to try to implement in my everyday life. 

This week is an exciting one, for those who don't know, I am currently waiting for my mission call...and it is supposed to arrive this Wednesday (we'll see)! I am equal parts nervous and crazy excited. 

Another aspect of my life that seems to have been magnified the last few weeks is the number of close friends I have who are currently serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If you know me well (or at least follow me on Instagram) you likely know that one of my best friends (Elder Cade Kelley) has been out on his mission for almost 12 weeks now, but now that I have finally  settled into my apartment for the Semester I only recently I started getting real, snail-mail letters from him. Turns out that actually makes me miss him a whole lot more than that couple of weeks where I was so busy I forgot to email him. (This is going somewhere, I promise).

Refocusing: The last letter I got, combined with the BYU Devotional given this past week by Dan Clark (speeches.byu.edu) made me think about the bigger picture of my life and purpose here on Earth. 

What I got from Devotional was basically that one moment can change everything, and there are no "ordinary" moments. We can do something good and make a change in any, and every, moment that we have. 

I don't want to waste my time waiting for things to happen in the future. I know that it will be at least 21 months until I see a great number of my friends again, I know that it will be at least 3 days until I have my mission call, I know it will take me a while to figure out what I want to do with my life and even longer to achieve whatever it is that that may be. Everything in life takes time, but I am going to try to make the most of EVERY moment. 

There is so much good to be done in this world and so many opportunities each and every day to be doing it. Why waste time waiting? The time is going to pass one way or the other, so I might as well do something with it. 

Here's to making every moment count and doing good one moment at a time. 

An Island Off the Bigger Island (Day 34)

Today was a semi-early start, followed by two hours of sleeping on the coach to Portsmouth. Then we took a ferry out into the Channel to today's attraction: the Isle of Wight.

Our first stop was Carisbrooke Castle, where Charles I, King of England, was held for a year pre-execution. Naturally we found the dress-up room, but it was also really fun to climb around the walls and explore a bit. I really liked this one a lot, and am also becoming very well versed in English Heritage Sites. (OK probably only fellow Study Abroad-ers will understand the significance of this).

After Carisbrooke, we went to the Osborne House which is where Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their children stayed during Summers and vacations and such. Finally, this was a place that feels like somewhere where someone could theoretically live and maybe even have kids. Not at all like Blenheim or Versailles.

Once we toured the house, we walked down to the beach and ate ice cream and briefly enjoyed a speck of sun before we had to trek back to the bus and head home. For dinner tonight we went out and got some New York Style Pizza and it was fabulous.

Here's some fab photographs:

Portsmouth from the Ferry

History History blah blah..but Kindal's face though

Isn't Matt a cute little human?

Castles are rad

Look at the view from this Castle though

Why is Matt always photobombing my pics?

CASTLES

Matt is clearly enthused

Queen Victoria's Bath Carriage

Chick Flicks Because Matt (Day 33)

Just another day of class and living and loving life at the London center.
After a lunch of leftovers (and alliteration apparently), I was (as usual) seriously planning on just doing homework and getting ahead on some assignments, but (as usual) spent like an hour chatting with Kim and Kindal and Matt and Lady Benfell in the drawing room, and doing mission prep stuff and playing piano, and generally NOT doing homework until dinnertime. Tonight's entree was Salmon and Rice, which was delicious. After dinner, Matt, Kindal and I went to Sainsbury's to buy Magnum bars and other such scrumptious treats before heading up to the Benfell's flat for a movie night. Of course, while waiting for Kim, we got to hear more stories about the childhood of the Benfell boys, and then turned on the Chick Flick because what else would we watch with Matt?

Ward Conference in Wandsworth (Day 32)

Today in another epic tale of traveling to Church, we actually made it without any major delays, caught an earlier train that normal out of Victoria Station and made it to Wandsworth way earlier than normal. Happiest of days.

Today was Ward Conference, so there was a combined Relief Society/Priesthood/Sunday School meeting during the first half of church. The Bishop asked me to play the piano for that meeting, so I wasn't in Primary today, which was sad because my time with those kids (especially my little Sunbeam) is so limited.

It was quite a different experience from any conference I have ever been in before. The Stake President spoke most of the time, and about half of his "talk" or lesson I suppose, was talking about real legit statistics, the kind that you don't normally hear about. Things like how many more sealed couples there are in the ward compared to the number with a current Temple recommend and specific numbers about how many come on average to Sacrament meeting and classes and whatnot. It was kind of almost chastising and saying that other units are doing better and low numbers should not be an excuse. It really just even more solidified in my mind that the Stake Presidency has lots of concerns about the Wandsworth Common ward. And I have this opportunity still, for two more weeks at least, to have an impact and help and do something for the people of the ward. So I should take this chance to do something.

After the first block we had Sacrament meeting (as per usual). To be honest, I kind of secretly love playing the organ (although I guess if I wanted to keep that secret I probably shouldn't be posting about it on my blog). Today the Stake President actually called me out over the pulpit and said how great it is to have an organist top lay during the meeting...so that was pretty cool.

Once Sacrament was over, the ward had a Mix and Mingle kind of event which they invited us to stay for... so of course we did. First of all: the food. It was a full delicious meal pretty much. Also, Rachel and I talked to an older lad in the ward who told us about how great it is to have us there, and also how much time we still have to live our lives and experience more of the world. It was really sweet and a nice moment for us to have.

Market Day and Nicolas Cage (Day 31)

Today was one of those "wake up at 6 am for absolutely no reason" mornings (does that happen to anyone else?) But it was a great Saturday.

Kinda land I got TESCO breakfast and went to Camden Market, which was SO cool. We actually only spent like 30 minutes there, and over an hour riding the Tube, but it was totally worth it.

We did "homework" with Kim and went to Pizza Hut for dinner (yeah we're Americans...but gotta love that Pizza). It's entirely possible that we also slept for a while in the Drawing Room.

Tonight Sydney opened her mission call (Lima Peru North) and it was super spiritual and I cried a little bit. I am going to be a mess when I get my call.

To finish out our Saturday adventures, we spent a disturbing amount of time tweeting pictures of Nicolas Cage at Matt until he came down to hang out with us, and then we ended up going up to his flat and watching Ghost Rider (one of the best worst movies I have ever seen).

FaceTime-ception

I Stood In Two Hemispheres At Once (Day 30)

Today was a LARGE improvement on yesterday's boring-ness. :)

We left around 9:30 as a group for our day trip to Greenwich (pronounced "Gren-itch"). We traveled by a different means than normal today and took the ferry from Westminster Pier down the Thames to Greenwich. It was hot out, but the ride was way cool.

Tower of London from the Ferry

Tower Bridge from the Ferry

Ferry pictures Ferry pictures

For those of you who are uneducated and uncivilized and don't know anything about Greenwich, here is a crash course: Greenwich is actually a part of London, but it is kind of isolated and a bit away from the main section of the city. There are a lot of cool historical things there and also a lot of really well-known movies have been filmed there. (Examples: Les Miserables, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sense and Sensibility, The Avengers, National Treasure 2, Sherlock Holmes AND MORE).

Watch Les Mis and understand

Yeah they filmed Les Mis here.. I died <3

We had a huge chunk of the day in Greenwich to explore on our own, so Kindal, Kim and I did a whirlwind walking tour to see if we could find exciting things to do. We succeeded.

First we went to the Royal Naval College..Discovery Center. Like for children. But we played with all the interactive things and dressed up in child-size costumes (because let's be honest they totally fit Kindal and I anyway).

Then we did historical things like visited the Painted Hall and the Queen's House (which actually had this terrifying, dark room with baby dolls that felt a tiny bit like a sacrificial room and I am still not totally sure what that was about..)

Painted Hall

Kim and the Queen's House

I bought a cute folding accordion book with the London Royal Palaces because it was cute and don't judge me.

Then we made a stop at the National Maritime Museum because we were starving and they had a cafe... so no, we didn't actually see any of the exhibits... but DANG those Chips (again Americans, remember, FRIES) were good.

Maritime Museum

In the middle of our lunch break, it started dumping rain outside, so naturally we thought that that would be the best time to make the hike uphill to the Royal Observatory. And based on the rules of nature, we got soaked to the bone, but laughed so hard we had to stop and remember how to breathe.

The Queen's House during the storm

I love Kindal. And this picture.

The Royal Observatory was super cool and science-y and all that rad stuff. Kim did blind a snail (and we will never let her live that down) but we learned a lot of fun facts and saw lots of really neat astronomy things..

Oh, and we STOOD ON THE PRIME MERIDIAN. No big deal. Just chilled in two hemispheres at once.

Two Hemispheres. Whoop

Isn't Kim the cutest?

The ride back we had yet another new experience, riding the DLR (Direct light rail or something, I don't really remember what it stands for) which was basically like the overground, and then the Tube ride with a disgusting amount of people. I have never felt so claustrophobic in my life: there were about 4 different languages being spoken by people within a foot of my body, and I don't even want to think about the number of sweaty bodies that came into contact with mine. LESSON: Do NOT take the Central Line on a Friday evening in the middle of July. You WILL regret your decision.

Matt NOT doing a push-up like he was supposed to

But hey, two hemispheres..so I can't really complain :)

I Was Boring Today (Day 29)

Really I was. Of all the days in Europe, this is the one where I did no exciting things. But it was Pioneer Day back in Utah so that's cool.

I woke up, did homework, went to class, wrote a letter, fell asleep until 4 pm (I had some kind of terrifying dreams, which I can't remember but they were trippy). Then Kindal, Matt and I just sat around and talked about life and stuff.

Dinner was pork, green beans and creamed corn and then we (the Fab 4) went out for treats (Oreos and Cadbury McFlurries), watched the second half of National Treasure (beginning our Nicolas Cage obsession) and all of 10 Things I Hate About You and then we talked until almost Midnight (Matt is still not an adult so he has to go to bed early ;P).

And there you have it folks. A boring day in London (well I wasn't bored but it doesn't make for a very exciting blog post. does it?)