Missionary Work: Me!

As I have had the opportunity to learn about the church history here in England, my thoughts have often been turned to my time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While my mission was not the full 18 months because of health reasons, I am so grateful to have been able to serve my Heavenly Father. I am grateful that, like those early missionaries, I was able to preach what I know to be true to my brothers and sisters who don’t have the truth. My mission taught me a lot of things and the main thing was that everything happens in the Lord’s timing. His timing is better than anything we could ever dream for ourselves and if we are patient, He comes through every time. I may never know every reason why I was sent to Kennewick, Washington or why I had to come home early. I am sure the early missionaries here in Britain never knew the reach of their efforts either. I know though that I did and accomplished what the Lord wanted me to and I did it with my heart, might, mind, and strength. I am grateful to have been able to go to all of these church sites and to have felt of the joyful spirit there. I know that this church is God’s only true church on the earth today and I am grateful eternally for its restoration.

If you wish to learn more about the LDS church, feel free to ask me any questions or visit lds.org or Mormon.org.

 

Missionary Work: Herefordshire and Others

This post is a compilation of the rest of the missionary and early church history sites that I have been able to see while here in England. The first is the London, England temple. It was night when I got out of the temple, so I am not in the picture, but it is still gorgeous.

The temple was dedicated in 1958 by President David O. McKay. It is located about 25 miles outside of London. One interesting fact about this temple is that it was built without an Angel Moroni on top. It was later added by helicopter in 2008 during the celebration of the 50 year-anniversary. 

This lovely pond is where Wilford Woodruff baptized many of the saints in 1840. John Benbow was a local preacher for the United Brethren and allowed Woodruff to preach to his men. It was here that many of his congregation were baptized into the LDS church by Woodruff. “The first thirty days after my arrival in Herefordshire, I had baptized forty-five preachers and one hundred and sixty members of the United Brethren, who put into my hands one chapel and forty-five houses which were licensed according to law to preach in. This opened a wide field for labor, and enabled me to bring into the Church, through the blessings of God, over eighteen hundred souls [this number is given at a lower estimate in other accounts; it is approximate only] during eight months, including all of the six hundred United Brethren except one person.”

The Gadfield Elm Chapel is another location in Herefordshire that is important to the early church members. Wilford Woodruff preached here and it became a church for the LDS people. The United Brethren donated it after many of their members converted. It was here that Woodruff had many interesting experiences. “When I arose to speak at Brother Benbow’s house, a man entered the door and informed me that he was a constable, and had been sent by the rector of the parish with a warrant to arrest me. I asked him, ‘For what crime?’ He said, ‘For preaching to the people.’ I told him that I, as well as the rector, had a license for preaching the gospel to the people, and that if he would take a chair I would wait upon him after the meeting. He took my chair and sat beside me. For an hour and a quarter I preached the first principles of the everlasting gospel. The power of God rested upon me, the spirit filled the house, and the people were convinced. At the close of the meeting I opened the door for baptism, and seven offered themselves. Among the number were four preachers and the constable. The latter arose and said, ‘Mr. Woodruff, I would like to be baptized.’ I told him I would like to baptize him. …

Herefordshire Beacon was where the country of England was dedicated to the spreading of the gospel. It is remarkable to be able to see so much history and so much success in this country. Wilford Woodruff had this to say about his work here, “I brought eighteen hundred into the Church in that mission, and I will say that the power of God rested upon me and upon the people. There was a spirit to convince and a people whose hearts were open and ready to receive the gospel.” England has remained the longest mission in church history and its members are a huge part of that. Those who did not make the journey to America found ways to keep their religion alive and practice the things they had been taught. I have been blessed as I have gone to each of these places to have been able to walk in the shoes of the church leaders before me and to experience what it was like for them in the early days of the church. 

Quotes were taken from various LDS talks and can be found at these sites. 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1987/01/harvest-in-herefordshire?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/09/history-of-the-church-in-great-britain?lang=eng

MIssionary Work: Preston, England

So, many of you know that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so blessed as I have been in England these past few months to be able to have gone to many of the significant church history sites here. For a project I am doing for my institute class, I decided to show some of them here in part of a few blog posts about missionary work in the UK as well as my own mission. This first post covers some of the important church history sites in Preston, England.

These first two pictures are in the center of Preston. This is where the first 7 missionaries that came to England began their preaching. These missionaries included Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards, Joseph Fielding, John Goodson, Isaac Russell, and John Snyder. Missionary work in the church was not like it was today. They often preached to large crowds in town centres like this one in Preston. Elder Heber C. Kimball of the Council of the Twelve later recalled: “On Sunday, the 4th day of June, 1837, the Prophet Joseph came to me, while I was seated in front of the stand [of the Kirtland Temple], and whispering to me, said, ‘Brother Heber, the Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me: “Let my servant Heber go to England and proclaim my Gospel, and open the door of salvation to that nation.”

This was where the missionaries stayed in their initial time in Preston. During their stay here, they began to doubt themselves and the work they were embarking on. If you put yourself in their shoes, you would be hesitant as well. Many of the missionaries recounted a night that dispelled all of their fears. They were praying about the work in Preston and they recounted evil spirits overtaking the house and all of them. It was after this experience that they decided that Satan did not want them there and that Preston was where they needed to be. 

This beautiful park in Preston holds a lot of significance to the members of the church. Within the park, multiple plaques can be found that commemorate the missionary work that has taken place here. The park is on the banks of the River Ribble, where the first members in England were baptized. Below are some of the plaques that I found when I was able to visit. 

This tree is the Missionary Oak that was planted by the young men and women of a local stake to remember and look forward to the past, present, and future missionaries that have or will serve in this country. 

This is the River Ribble. It was amazing to be able to be here and take in the Spirit that is present here. While I was there I had a sense of joy and excitement. I can only imagine as those many members got into the river to be baptized, how excited they were. I know when I was baptized as a member of this church, I did not know how blessed I was. If only I could have known then what I know now, I would have been as overjoyed as I am sure these individuals were.

This was another location where the early missionaries preached in Preston. This was where the first church conference in Britain was held, along with other church meetings and services. It is called The Old Cock Pit because before becoming a gathering place for the Mormons, it was a cock fighting ring. It was abandoned when the missionaries came along, but the space was perfect for the missionaries to use. 

The last stop on our mini-Preston tour, is the Preston temple. The temple is the second to be opened in the United Kingdom and it was announced in 1992. President Hinckley, who was the prophet and president of the church at the time, also served his mission here in the 1930s. It was dedicated in 1998 and has even houses the Preston MTC on the premises. 

It was while I was in the Preston temple that I was able to really feel of the members of the church here today. I was able to speak with a lot of them and feel of their excitement and their gratitude toward the gospel and the blessings that it brings to them. I am so grateful to have been able to visit these early church history sites up here in Preston. It really strengthened my testimony to not only learn about these sites but to be able to visit them as well. Below is a picture I took while on the temple grounds, something I do at every temple I visit. 

Quotes were taken from LDS talks and can be found at these links. 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/09/history-of-the-church-in-great-britain?lang=eng

Top 10!

Ok. I have been bad these past couple weeks at updating the blog! It has been insane! So here you go, a picture and a top ten from the past week to keep you entertained!

Just glory in that picture for a few minutes. Its a great one.

#1. I met Jude Law. It was the best day of my life (to date) and my conversation with him went a little something like this... Me: "Brilliant performance tonight!" Jude: "Thank you for coming dear, glad you enjoyed it!" Ugh... If you read into that at all it basically said, Me: " Hey I am in love with you!" Jude: "Really dear, well then let's run off together!"

#2. I met the amazing Mr. Darcy... Well, Matthew MacFayden... He's amazing. He was so nice, we waited with him while he was waiting for his car after the amazing show Jeeves and Wooster.

#3. I went to Stonehenge. It was great and I am convinced it was made by aliens.

#4. English chocolate is amazing. So much better than American chocolate in every way. American chocolate tastes like plastic. The end. I am now a chocolate snob.

#5. The English don't believe in ranch and it is killing me. Honestly, McDonalds doesn't even have it. I NEED RANCH ASAP. I love ranch.

#6. Chinatown in London is the best! My friend Hillary lived in China for a while and we have been to Chinatown a couple times now exploring. Everytime we have found amazing food and it is great. My new favorite thing.

#7. Primark is crazy. Basically it is the American version of Forever 21. Except on steroids. It is super cheap and everyone and their mom goes there. It is always packed. I have been twice now and I don't think I will be returning in the near future. (I am not good with crowds of people)

#8. I am getting over my fear of birds... One swan at a time! We went to Hampton Court and I made friends with a swan. I named him Herbert.

#9. I got to see Matilda the play. We had to stand in line for 3 hours to get tickets for 5 pounds and it was SO WORTH it. Such an amazing play, I loved it!

#10. I got to see Let it Be, the Beatles tribute show. It was so good and I am convinced that I should have been born in the 60's so that I could experience everything the 60's-80's had to offer!

Thats all for now folks. Much love from London!
Cheers!
Morgan

I Am In Love

Ah! I love this city! I could never leave and be the happiest girl on this planet! I will do a quick rundown of everything that happened this week and some observations I have made. 

Monday! On Monday I went with Dr. C to the hospital to get my ankle looked at. I agitated the fracture that I had so I have to wear my brace and take it easy while I am here. This does not work as well when all you do is WALK! Haha, it is alright though. I am thoroughly enjoying every minute though. That night I just worked on homework and got some other things to that I needed to get done.

Tuesday! Tuesday after class I went with Hillary, Andrew, and Saren to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was great to be able to walk around and look at everything. All the museums here are free and it is amazing to be able to take in all the history and art that this city has to offer! I have been so grateful every single day that I am able to be here and I am for sure not taking this for granted. . The V&A was to die for. They had different areas of the world represented as well as different time periods. My favorite exhibit probably had to be the fashion one. There were costumes and outfits from all different ages and it was amazing to be able to see original clothing is such great condition. Ah! I am most definitely going to go back to that museum!  

Saren, Hillary, me, and Andrew with the awesome lion we found. 

Wednesday! Wednesday was EXHAUSTING! We boarded the bus that morning at 7:30 and took off for St. Alban’s and the Veralamium Museum. The cathedral was amazing in its architecture and it was gorgeous to be able to go inside and tour. I was not as impressed though with the museum. I liked looking around but it was not my favorite museum. Then we got back on the bus and went to Cambridge where we took a tour and then had a couple hours to run around the town. It was awesome. I went with Hillary and Andrew and we walked around the city and went into The Eagle, the pub where Watson and Crick made their announcement about the discoveries they had made about the structure of DNA. We had fish and chips there and I was really hesitant to eat because of my extreme hatred toward fish. But, I decided that I needed to try it at some point so I took the opportunity. It was actually good! I couldn’t stop too long to think about the fact that I was eating fish otherwise I would have vomited but it didn’t taste terrible like most fish! (probably because it was battered and deep fried) After we left the pub, we just kept wandering until we went to Evensong at King’s College. That was an experience I will never forget. It was really uncomfortable at times because you had to stand and kneel, but it was amazing to be able to see what other churches are about and worship with them. The choir was amazing and very reminiscent of the Gregorian monks that I have heard before. The singing was a nice addition that did not take away from the meaning of the words they were singing. I loved it. I want to be able to go to Evensong again while I am in London! We got back that night exhausted and tired and just wanting to go to sleep!

Fish and chips at The Eagle! I don't always drink water, but when I do its always at a pub! 

Andrew needed some sleep on the bus and Hillary decided to photobomb! 

Andrew, Katie, Abbie, Hillary, Spencer, and I at St. Albans

Thursday! That night I went to see Hamlet. I went with Jenna, Paige, and Christine and it was 4 hours long! Ah! It was overall an alright production. I loved the actor who played Hamlet, he was amazing and he pretty much carried the play. I was not a fan of the costuming or some of the other characters.

Our group after Hamet! 

Friday, we went on another walk around London and visited the Globe Theatre. We got to walk on the south of the Thames and it was absolutely gorgeous. I loved it so much. The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect day for me. We went on a tour of the Globe Theatre and it was amazing to be able to be in the same place where all of these amazing Shakespeare plays are performed. It was amazing, I loved it! We got to walk around the museum afterward and saw all of the costumes and pictures from various plays they have put on over the years. That afternoon Saren, Hillary, Tyler, and I walked around London to run a few errands and went to Trafalgar Square. It was beautiful and I am excited to go back again.

On the banks of the Thames. 

We are having amazing weather here! Be jealous! 

The Globe Theatre! 

Inside of the Globe! 

We look good. 

Selfie with the Millenium Bridge from Harry Potter. 

Saturday! Fast forward to Saturday. I went with Andrew and Hillary to Portobello Road. Um, can I just say? DREAM COME TRUE. If I left London now, I would be an elated child. I had the song in my head basically the whole entire time. I loved being able to walk around the markets, the food vendors, and the antique shops. Ah! We took lots of pictures and I was a happy happy girl! I loved it. I had an amazing conversation about old records and bands with these two old guys. I wanted one of them to adopt me and take me home with him. They were impressed at how much I knew about music and I was keeping up with them in the conversation. Ah! I loved it! Hillary and I got tired though and came back to the flat and after a while we went grocery shopping. It was a pretty uneventful day.

Today I had church at 9:20 and it was pretty good. I got pulled into Primary to sit with a class in sharing time and I was just reminded how much I love children. Then after church we came over to Katie’s family’s house and have done laundry and ate and have been able to do homework together. It has been a fantastic week and I am just so grateful to be here and to experience all of this. 

Till next week! 

Cheers! 

Morgan 

 

Go!

Really though, that has been the constant word of this whole week... Go Go Go!

London is amazing! I am so grateful to be here in this beautiful city and to learn about all the history behind it. I'm a nerd, I know. So I guess I will just go through the past few days and update y'all.

Tuesday we mainly just got settled into the apartments and fought off jet lag. I was able to stay up until around 11 o’clock and the next couple days I got a bit tired but I think that I successfully prevented jet lag! We had to get towels and groceries and I just unpacked that day. 

Wednesday classes started and after class we had to go to the library to get our library cards. Afterward Jenna, Lauren, Kaylee, Maddi, and I got on the double decker and just rode around London. We saw mainly the suburbs but it was gorgeous and such a cool experience. We sat up on top so we were able to see out without any obstruction! I also took the tube for the first time and it was amazing! I love the public transportation here! Ah! 

Thursday we had class and in the afternoon we had institute so we didn’t do much that day. I went with the girls again that night and we went to see Big Ben and the London Eye all lit up at night. It was so gorgeous. It finally hit me that I’M HERE! 

Friday was such a long day but so amazing. We went to the Tower of London. I think it is my new favorite place. I LOVED it. We had a tour with a Beefeater and they are the queen’s bodyguards and they protect the crown jewels at the Tower. Andy, the Beefeater, was saying that you have to be retired military to be considered for the job and that their families live with them at the Tower. It was so neat to be able to learn about the history and make connections to what I have been learning about in my classes. I think that it will stick with me a lot better and that I will be able to retain so much more. It was so interesting to learn about Henry VIII and the wives that he had killed along with the two boy princes that were killed there. Afterward we went on one of our walks around London. This walk was around Londinium, the city that the Romans first built. We were able to see the Roman walls from 400 AD along with where the prisoners at the Tower were executed. I think that it is so amazing that the English keep their history alive. Instead of tearing down the old, they have preserved it and built around it. I feel like if we had Roman walls in America they would be long gone because we are constantly trying to tear down the old and make everything newer and better. On our walk we were also able to go inside two churches. They were so gorgeous. It was great to see how they had modernized over the years through the architecture. You could see that they started out pretty simple and as other influences came in they became more ornate and decorated.

After our walk on Friday I went with Spencer and Ryan to see The Mousetrap! It is based off an Agatha Christie novel and is a murder mystery. It was similar to Clue in the plotline and it was SOOOOOOO good! It is the longest running show and has been playing for over 60 years! Crazy! It was so good though that it was obvious why it is still around! (That picture is currently being dumb so perhaps I will upload it later) 

Saturday was a pretty chill day. I got homework done and went for a stroll through Hyde Park. There is just so much history there and it is so gorgeous. I could spend all my time there! On my walk I saw Kensington Palace (where William and Kate reside) and the Italian Gardens that King Albert had commissioned as a present for Victoria. I just had the best time thinking about all the history! Queen played one of their legendary concerts there and I LOVE Queen! Afterward I went with Hillary and Jarom to go sit on the bus some more and we went and got kebabs at a Lebanese place. It was so embarrassing! Jarom made us look like complete idiots and the whole thing was embarrassing. The guy behind me started singing the Star Spangled Banner and afterward Jarom told us we needed to tone down our Americanness… whatever that means. But it was a good day overall and I am so excited to experience and do everything that this great city has to offer! 

Anyway, I am so grateful to be here and to take everything in. I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of this trip! 

Cheers! 

Morgan