The long walk home

It's my last night here in London, and like all my last nights in England--there was no absence of tears. I woke up and packed up all my clothes and souvenirs to come home. There's two things that I hate... packing and leaving England... and this was both. So you can understand how I could be a little bitter this morning. After we had a pre-checkout, we went and did the last few things that we still wanted to do whilst we were here. My friend and I checked out the Peter Pan statue cause she really wanted to see it; I bought myself enough chocolate-covered hazelnuts that will last me the plane ride over the pond (I'm hoping they last that long); we became dorky tourists and sought out Platform 9 3/4 (from Harry Potter) and took stupid pictures; we did some last minute shopping at Camden Town; and then we rode a double-decker bus home. That sufficed for me.

Then tonight, I went to a Relief Society/Young Women activity at church. It was the coolest, most creative activity. It was basically like speed dating, except you weren't trying to find a date. Basically, the Relief Society woman sat on the inside of the circle and the Young Women sat on the outside and we basically took about 5 minutes talking to one another before we switched seats and began talking to another person. It was such an awesome activity! I learned so much about the older women here (even in 5 minutes) and they were so fun to get to know. Every time they would introduce themselves, they all talked about how long they had been members of the church and how important the gospel was in their lives. And they would go off telling spiritual stories and what a blessing it has been to have been a part of the church. I hope the Young Women gained as much from this activity as I did, because I thought it was ingenious, as well as memorable. I'm truly going to miss the Lea Valley Ward so much. They have made such an impact on my life and to feel their spirit each Sunday was truly a great blessing. I hated saying goodbye because I don't know if I will ever see them again. It's not fun having to make friends, only to have to leave them in a short amount of time. It's so hard.

Walking home from the tube station tonight was probably the slowest I've ever walked home. I reflected on my time here and that's when the tears started to flow. I wish I could explain how much this place feels like home to me. I remember the very first time I came here in 2000 and being at the airport about to fly home. I remember looking at the English sky for what I thought would be the last time, and having my heart just break. I sat in the boarding area of the airport with my mum and just cried my heart out. I've never had anything hurt so much as having to say goodbye to a place that I had barely come to know. But I knew then, that England was a special place for me because only things that are the most important can make your heart ache so much when you have to leave them. My time here has been a very enjoyable one and I'm sad to see it end. I know I will probably come back here yet again... but there is always the foreboding feeling as if it may not happen, which is what scares me the most. It's like Robert Frost's poem, "The Road not Taken," where you have to chose a certain path and "...knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back." I just hope that whatever road I ever end up taking, still has a detour that will lead me back to my home--England.

I'M FINISHED! (mixed emotions)

I am officially finished with my college career.... AAAAAAHAHHHHHAHAHHHAHA! What a relief it was to take my last final and know that I will never have to study for an exam again; I will never have to write another 8 page paper again; I will never have to pull all-nighters for a class again (all-nighters for other purposes may still happen however). I had to seriously refrain myself from skipping down the pavement on my way back to the flat. What a glorious feeling! However, reality sort of came creeping in when I realised that I have no idea what I want to do with my life and now I don't have another semester to fall back on... I actually have to get a life. Weird! Anyway, those thoughts didn't bring me down too much because I'm done with school!

As a reward, I went to St. Paul's Cathedral for tonight's evensong. You know, the multiple times I've been here, I've never once gone to St. Paul's. I recall stopping the coach there on my first trip around, but I was so infatuated with the coach driver, I never even stepped off the bus. Then, on the other occasions, I remember peering at the building from across the Thames as I was going to the Globe Theatre, but never actually walking over to it. I didn't even take the time to at least go up the steps and sing "Tuppins a bag." How pathetic! I now realise how much I've been missing out these past 7 years I've traveled over here. This building is absolutely beautiful! There are gold-platted paintings all over the ceiling and everything is so ornate. One of my favourites was that going into the building, we walked through a revolving door that basically said that this was the entryway to heaven... who knew heaven was so easy to get into? And that it was in London? (actually I knew that latter one already). Aside from that, it actually was a great building and hearing the choral voices echo through the nave was beautiful.

I went to Avenue Q again tonight (just to get some perspective on life--yes, it has a great message for newly college graduates. The first line of the show is, "What do you do with a B.A. in English? What is my life going to be?" Pretty applicable if you asked me).

So this is my next to last night here before I go home and I have mixed feelings about it. Yes, I'm excited to see my family again, but this place honestly feels like home and I hate having to face the homesickness when I head back to the States. Each time I come, it's a completely new experience and I learn so much about life and about myself. I make new friends which I hate having to say goodbye to, but I guess that's part of life... a season, a reason, and a lifetime.

One down, one more to go

So I took my Shakespeare final today and that was a relief to get over with. Actual, the best part about it was that we had a take home essay that we had to write and turn in before the exam, so turning in my last paper of my college career was one of the best feelings ever. When I clicked the 'send' button, I was all like, "Yahoooooooo! No more papers!!!!" It was quite the happy dance that followed afterwards. But I still have one more final to go (that will basically last 12 minutes... literally. We are given a topic, have 6 minutes to prepare our presentation, and then we present our argument to our teacher in 6 minutes. How's that for getting a final over and done with. I'm just not looking forward to preparing for it--thus, why I'm writing my blog instead of studying). Don't worry, the teacher loves me, and if I've learned anything from university, it would be the art of B.S.ing (yes Dad, that is what your hard earned money has helped me to learn these past 6 years). So let's just say I've honed in and mastered this technique very well in order to get passing grades... and I don't see myself losing this art any time soon (*she says now... but lets see if she actually passes the final tomorrow). Anyway, I probably should get back to studying but just one more thing;

So as a fitting requiem to my Shakespeare class, I went to go see The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged, by the Reduced Shakespearean Company. I have seen this show a couple of times before and it never ceases to make me laugh and have a constant smile on my face. It's basically these three guys who take all of Shakespeare's 37 plays and perform them in about an hour and a half. I can't even paint the hilarity of it all. Now granted I knew most of the jokes already (but they're hilarious jokes which always make me laugh), but their improve was outstanding. There was a part in the play where they cut off Macbeth's head (which is basically a ball in a canvas sack with a little happy face drawn on it), and Macduff ends up hitting the head out into the audience with a golf club (cause it's a Scottish play and all). Anyway, it goes flying out into the audience, which was funny in and of itself. But then the dumb British audience member threw it back onstage and one of the guys yelled out, "See, this is why you don't win the world cup... you're supposed to keep the ball!" That had the audience roaring with laughter, myself and Ashleigh being the loudest ones in the bunch. Speaking of Ashleigh's laughter, there was a part where it went completely silent and Ashleigh had been laughing so hard before, that she was trying to catch back her breath and basically she let out a squeak. It was so funny, because the guys in the show, just looked up from what they were doing and gave us a confused look saying, "What the crap was that? Do you have a balloon out there?" which basically made Ashleigh and I laugh even harder. We had a difficult time composing ourselves after that, but it was so funny. I love nights where I just have a smile on my face and I can enjoy a good show... until I come back to my flat and realise I have a final tomorrow at 10 am and then my night is shattered with the dread of studying. The only glistening item of hope is knowing that in less that 10 hours, I will never have to take a university exam again and I will officially be a college "gradimicate!"

As promised

Which one is the real falconer?

The importance of good seats

So I went to see Wicked again tonight, except tonight we had okay/horrible seats. We were on the second row, but totally on the right side of the theatre. Which meant that most of the time the chorus members were standing right in our line of vision, so there were a couple of scenes that I couldn't see at all. A little bitter about it all, but I was mostly bitter because it didn't have the same effect on me as it did before. And I realised it was because of where I was sitting. I was right in front of the speaker and the show just didn't capture me at all...probably because I kept getting removed from all the spectacle. That doesn't mean I don't like the show anymore, it just means that I'm not flabbergasted with it like I was before (I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing). The one highlight of the show though was the Scottish actor who played Boq. He was so fun to watch and listen to, and he was often at the side of the stage where we were sitting, so that made me watching him that much more easy to do. So I guess that is at least one redeeming quality of tonight. But this is just my plug for theatre in general--if you want a great experience, make sure you pay up the bucks to get the good seats... it makes all the difference in the world!

I totally forgot

So I realised when I woke up this morning that I totally forgot to blog it up last night. It's not that nothing happened yesterday (cause it did), but I just got off the phone with my family and then went off to bed because I was tired. And then when I woke up, I checked my e-mail and didn't have any comments on my blog... which is when I realised my mistake. Oh well, I'm sure you didn't go through too many withdrawals.

Anyway, yesterday was a very poignant day for me. It was my last day at church and it was so hard to say goodbye. It's amazing how close you can get with people in only 6 weeks. The two men on the left were always enjoyable faces to see every week(Cliff and Joe). Cliff was the usher who greeted us on our first day and always made sure that he shook every one of our hands at least 3 times every Sunday. He was also quite the stickler with time, making sure every one was in class and not lolly-gagging out in the foyer. He also made sure classes ended on time and we kept everything on schedule. Joe was our token Irish comedian, always cracking jokes and making church enjoyable. He would also give us math puzzles for us to figure out each week. I'll miss them greatly--both the math puzzles and the guys. But, everyone was so kind when we were leaving. They gave us gifts and exchanged e-mail addresses with us. One of the primary girls said that if any of us got married, she would be a bride's maid. How cute is that?

It was especially hard to say goodbye to the Young Women of the ward. They are such wonderful spirits and I am glad I got to be a part of their lives for a short period of time. Granted, they may have thought my teaching skills were a little extreme (well anything I did was pretty extreme for the reserved Brits), but they just smiled at me and figured it was just because I was an American. But they were wonderful to work with and I wish them all the best in their lives.

After church, we went to Evensong at Westminster Abbey. I love the voices of the young men sing the psalms and hymns in such a beautiful structure. It is quite overpowering. Plus, the sermon was great, teaching us to go out and help our fellow men, rather than only be concerned for our own welfare and spiritual safety. It was a nice service and I'm glad I was able to go.

P.S. Thank you for all the birthday messages yesterday, you made my day very special from 5000 miles away (even at 4 am in the morning too ;)!

Too much information for one blog

So, I realise that if I were to write down everything that happened in the past 4 days, your eyes would go buggy from looking at the screen. So I'll just show pictures and only explain the really cool parts of the trip.










On Wednesday, we went to Coventry Cathedral... a cathedral that was bombed in WWII and then was rebuilt. I did a report on it before we came here, so it was cool to actually see all the stuff that I was researching.




Then we popped over to these castle ruins know as Kenilworth Castle. We mostly had fun screwing around the place, pretending that we were raiding the castle.


Then we went to Warwick Castle, which I remember being a lot cooler 7 years ago. It still was fun though. The coolest part was we watched this bird of prey presentation, and we had eagles, vultures and a bunch of other freaky birds flying right over our heads. It was awesome!!

That night, we arrived in Stratford-Upon-Avon and went to see The Seagull at the Royal Shakespearean Company. There are two things you can't mix with me when I see a show--little amount of sleep and Chekhov--this show had both. Needless to say, I tried my darnedest to pay attention, but to no avail. Thus, I don't really remember the show or if I liked it or not.

The next morning (Thursday), we went to Shakespeare's birthplace, which was pretty, but I had been there before, so it wasn't as inspirational... but I still liked being there. We also went to these other important Shakespearean landmarks, but there not really worth mentioning. We basically learned the same thing from the tour guides at each house. There's only so much you can say on the biography of Shakespeare before it starts getting redundant.

That night, we saw King Lear, with the magnificent Sir Ian McKellen. I didn't much care for the direction of the show, but the production design was spectacular--and it's Sir Ian, who can complain about that. The one interesting part of the play... not only did I see Sir Ian... I saw ALL of Sir Ian. (Insert whatever jokes you want here)

On Friday, we went to Anne Hathaway's House and sat on the courting bench and walked the unicursal maze in the backyard (very anti-climatic). We also went to Mary Arden's House (Shakespeare's mother) and we got to see farm animals, as well as talk with one of the tour guides about the church. He was a very nice gentleman and he even tried to take the mick, saying that he was a twin (cheeky monkey). But the coolest part of the house was that they had a falconer there (the same kind of thing at Warwick with the birds of prey thing), and we got to hold chick guts and have a buzzard land on our arm. (I'll post the picture when I get it). It was AWESOME!!!! We also went to Oxford that day, but I didn't know anything there so we just ended up walking around... kind of boring.

When we got home, I went to go see The Drowsy Chaperone with Elaine Paige (a real big wig over here). It was pretty entertaining and the narrator guy was hysterical. I actually found myself watching him most of the time.

Last thing I want to mention: today I went to the London Temple with my ward which was amazing. I think London Temple is now one of my favourite temples, up there with Mount Timp. Anyway, if there is any other info you are dying to know about... too bad... I'm too tired to write about it!

No blogs for a couple days

I'm heading off to Stratford-Upon-Avon in about 15 minutes and I just wanted to inform you that there will be no posts until Friday (Saturday if I'm exhausted). But I'll tell you all about it when I get back!

Oh happy day... everybody's smiling!

I have just had the most fab-tab-ulous day!!! My mind is just reeling in excitement and news that I don't even know where to begin (I apologise now because this blog may get a little lengthy). In any case, because I don't know where to start, I guess I'll just do everything chronologically.

So I woke up this morning and it was a gorgeous day outside, so I thought I would peruse Kensington Gardens since I really haven't done that this trip yet. I walked over to Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain and decided to write a couple of postcards/letters to friends and family. As I was sitting there, a cute little 5 year old boy kept running around and around the fountain (I swear he probably did about 6 laps... I felt bad for his mum trying to keep up with him) and every time he passed by me, he would stop and sit on the side of the fountain next to me and stick his feet in the water and say in a cute little British accent, "Izz freezin'!" I was so close to asking his mum if I could take him home with me as a souvenir. Anyway, I finished my postcards, but then the wind picked up and blew one of them in the fountain (sorry Carly). So I went running down the fountain trying to catch it, jumping from one side of the fountain to the other. I probably looked like an idiot, but I least I got my postcard back... even if it was a little water-logged.

After I finished my letters, I walked around the gardens some more, just enjoying the outdoors and watching people during their leisure time. It's amazing how many people have dogs, kids, and significant others in this country... the park was full of them! As I walked, I stopped by the Peter Pan statue and took a couple of photos for some of the tourists who were also visiting. I also stopped by the Italian fountains and pretended like I was in Italy (remember, I've already been to Little Venice). Then I just meandered through the park, people watching, and hoping to catch a glimpse of the royal family by Kensington Palace... no such luck this time around.

This evening before our performance, we went to a lecture with the director of the show and he seemed like an amazing man to work with. His name was Declan Donnellan and he was very humorous and had some amazing things to say about directing. The only thing that frustrated me was that he is the type of director to change things after the press night of a show. This, to a stage manager's mind, is not a fun thing to work with (Can anyone say Hamlet at BYU?). Other than that, he seemed like a very nice gentleman. (Oh, by the way, my flatmates just informed me that the woman who was facilitating the lecture, was the same woman who played Lady Fairfax from the movie, Emma. I was in the presence of notoriety and I didn't even notice it... probably because I don't like the movie Emma.)

Then, one of the greatest things happened-- as I was walking out of the lecture hall, I noticed someone who I hadn't seen for almost 5 years. It was one of my old theatre teachers at University of Essex. It was the craziest things ever! I stopped her in the hallway and said, "Anne?" and she just looked at me and she knew she recognised me, but from where, eluded her. I told her who I was and reminded her of how she knew me from my study abroad programme over here and how I was one of her students. Then it clicked with her and she totally remembered who I was (5 years and she still remembers the shy little American girl... it's fate... but I'll get to that a little later). Anyway, we hugged and chatted for a little bit reminiscing of our old times chatting in the hidden doorway where she would make her entrance as the fairy princess , but then we had to get to our seats for the performance. Here's the crazy thing though: I was actually thinking about her when I first arrived over here. My mum had asked me in a telephone conversation whether or not I would visit Colchester(where the University of Essex is). I told her probably not because all of my mates have graduated and moved on from there. But I did say that if I were to go and visit, the only reason would be to visit my old teacher, Anne, just to get back in contact with her. But "Somebody" upstairs was looking out for me and made us cross paths anyway. It's a sign... but more on that in a little bit.

Then we went into the theatre to watch Cymbeline, which was absolutely amazing!!! It was performed by a performing group called "Cheek by Jowl," who were so passionate about their characters, I couldn't help but become so emotionally involved. Basically, it is one of Shakespeare's romances about two lovers who are split apart and then through the play, the lovers think the other is unfaithful and then false deaths occur... but in the end, everyone is reunited and all is well. When I first read the text for class, I wasn't that impressed by it. I just couldn't connect with the story or anything. But when I saw it performed tonight, it just came to life for me. There was one man who played two characters (the lover, Posthumus; and the wicked betrothed, Cloton) and the way he made the transition from one character to the other was phenomenal! He would stand onstage as Cloton, speaking his lines in a smarmy manner, and then Posthumus' man-servant would come in and help him put on his overcoat, whilst the light would change from a cool blue to an impassioned amber-red. Then the actor would don some spectacles and all of the sudden he truly became Posthumus. It was amazing to see the transition on stage because, honestly, it was like seeing two different characters completely. He was that talented at changing between his parts! I was quite impressed. Overall, the entire performance was phenomenal. I gained so much more insight to the show than I probably ever would have got from just reading it. I was a mess of tears by the end of the show, just because it was so poignant and added a whole nother layer to the show rather than it just being a frivolous romance. In fact there was a line delivered at the very end of the show which just totally struck a cord with me. There were many accusations that occurred throughout the show, and people were going to be put to death because of them, but Posthumus told the King to spare their lives. And at the end of the play, he delivered this line to the audience: "Live.... and deal with others better." It was just a beautiful remark about society, not to be so quick to conclusions, not to be so rash in our decisions and our actions, and to always forgive. Tears were just streaming down my face at that point. My friend Ashleigh, sitting next to me, just turned to me and smiled... and then made fun of me... but that's just her way. It was a very moving piece for me and I will have to rank it on one of my favourites of this trip.

Afterwards, as I was wiping the mascara from under my eyes and trying to blink away all the redness, I found my teach Anne again, just to tell her goodbye. As we were walking out, I asked her if she had any connections with anyone, or anything that could help me get into theatre over here and she started spouting off people that she knew and places that I could maybe get involved with. She gave me her e-mail address and told me to e-mail her so that she could send me information and help me with my life goal. "Ironic" that I think of her when I first come over here, debate on whether or not to get in touch with her... then I "randomly" run into her in London (cause it's a small place and all) and then she says she has some people she could hook me up with...hmmmmm, if that's not destiny, I don't know what is. So we'll see what happens with that. I already sent her an e-mail tonight, cause hey, I don't want to waste my time when my dream is on the line. Who knows, my pipe dream may turn out to be a reality.

Last of all (I swear this it the last paragraph), I ended my fabulous night talking to my fabulous friend Ian online. I promised him I would post a better picture of him, since he was upset that I posted a "heinous" one earlier (but it was the only one I had). Here is what he really looks like now and oh, how he makes me happy! Anyway, we had a nice little chat and it was fun to talk to him again. I'm hoping I will have another day where I can visit him... but sadly, my days are mostly all filled up and I don't know if that will happen. But hey... if I get a job over here... it's one step closer to seeing him sooner!

See, wasn't that a fab-tab-ulous day? (this is not a paragraph, just a statement... so I didn't lie)

Sadism turned pretty

So today could be considered a day of pampering to some-- and there were moments which were highly enjoyable (of which I will get to in a moment), but first... an introduction and the painful moments.

So I had a photo shoot today which was part of a big package deal that I got when I purchased my haircut (refer to May 18th blog when crazy lady came to sell us something... I neglected to inform you that I purchased the item she was hocking). Anyway, after class we headed to this place called Urban Slink where we had a day of pretending we were famous magazine models. They did our hair and make-up and then we had this massive photo shoot. The upsetting parts: they tweezed my eyebrows (Yowsza!); they promised facials and manicures, which ended up just being them wiping our faces with a cotton ball full of lotion and a 15 second application of nail varnish on our fingernails; and there was a total lack of free drinks that were supposed to come our way. But other than that, my make-up looked fab; my hair did what it was supposed to; our photographer was hot and very helpful to make us look gorgeous; and we all just ended up have a really fun time for the 8 hours we were there. It was tough to narrow down the 158 pictures that were taken to just 2. What a shame it was 200 quid to purchase all of them! Curse the exchange rate!!! But man... how hot do I look?!

Incoherence

I'm not sure how coherent this entry is going to be because it's 1:30 in the morning and I've just spent the past 3 hours writing a couple of papers, so my intellectual lexicon has been completely exhausted and all that I have remaining in my brain is, 'bleh.' So I apologize beforehand if this starts to sound like the 'Jabberwocky.'

This was an interesting day to say the least. I went to church, where it was stake conference and Elder Eyring spoke as well as President Hinckly (over the satellite transmission of course). I was somewhat tired, so I wasn't as attentive as I should have been, but I do know that they were just raving at how cool the UK was. Who could argue with that?

After then, I went to an art exhibition/market in East London. The boyfriend of a friend of mine is an artists and he was exhibiting/selling some of his artwork at this market. I thought I would go and support my friend and her beau... plus I was curious to see what his artwork was like. After wandering through countless art exhibits trying to find them, I finally ended up calling her mobile and finding out where they were located (Interesting story: Whilst I was wandering trying to find a phone box to call her, a man who I think worked in the Indian restaurant across the street, beckoned me to cross the street. I was a little hesitant at first because I was afraid he wanted me to buy some Indian food, but I crossed anyway. He asked me what I was looking for and I told him a phone box. He directed me to a nearby store and said there was a phone in there. Very nice and helpful gentleman. However, after I used the phone and came back out on the street, he caught my eye again and asked if I found it alright. I said yes and thanked him for his help. He then held out his hand and I shook it to tell him thanks, but then he asked if he could have a hug. RANDOM! But I hugged him anyway... maybe he was desperate for affection just like I am. However, that didn't stop me from avoiding any eye contact with him as I left the market later on... one hug is enough for me, thank you!)

Back to the story, I finally found my friend and checked out her boyfriend's artwork. It was on the disturbing side of things, but I'm sure there was a reason for why he did it... I just didn't want to know. However, I did buy a key chain in order to support his art... it was the only one that didn't have buggy-eyed men devouring flesh. I wandered around some other exhibits afterwards, which was pretty fun. There was one building that was showing the artwork from Middlesex University's art students. It contained all types of art from fashion, to interior design, to giant sculpture-like items (i.e. a giant wooden butcher character chopping up children's dolls, as well as a disturbing merry-go-round with creepy stuffed animals riding it). I came across one exhibit that contained sonic art (art made with sounds). It was pretty fascinating--they had a playground set up, where the see-saw had accordions strapped to each side so that music would be created whilst a child played; they also had bells attached to swings, accomplishing the same effect that the see-saw did. There was one artist who set up a tent to look like a living room, with a make-shift fireplace with the crackling sounds of a fire coming from it--great ambiance I thought. It was quite a hands on art exhibit, which was fun for inquisitive minds such as myself. I think my favourite piece though, was a chair made out of grass because on the rims of the back of the chair, he placed little plastic cows and fences and created this whole farm-like scene on the chair. "Green acres is the place to be..."

He has my hat...

...Okay, this guy doesn't have my hat, but the other characters in the show had a Fedora just like me... and I was about to wear my hat to the performance. Wouldn't have that been just a fashion blunder...people may have thought I was in the play. Anyway, I just came home from seeing Merchant of Venice at the Globe and the costuming was like a Shakespearean take on the 40's pin-stripe outfits (thus the mention of the Fedora). It was a superbly acted show, but I'm just not a fan of the text. This is not one of my favourite Shakespearean plays and I was hoping that by seeing it in performance, it would elevate my regard for it--no such luck. I enjoyed the show and I found myself laughing hysterically at the end, but the rest of the time, I felt so bad for Shylock the Jew because they treated him so unkindly. I don't know what the critics were thinking when they classified this play as a comedy. I think there are humorous parts, but most of the thematic issues (namely the anti-Semetism) are too overpowering to make it laughable. But nonetheless, I still enjoyed the show (didn't have as much eye candy to look at, but you win some, you lose some), and there was a guy dressed in drag that probably made it all the worthwhile--only outside of Utah can you see a man in Elizabethan drag, two men kissing, AND have someone spit out water all over the groundling audience members. Oh how I love London theatre!

I'm writing so my mum won't think I'm dead

It's been a very long day (most of which has been spent on a bus), so I really don't know how long this blog is going to be. Let's just say, aside from the long ride home, I had a beautiful day. But before we get to that, I just have to mention one thing about riding up to the temple yesterday. We drove through a town called Birmingham and this was the first sight we really saw as we entered the town center:


What are your reactions to the building seen above? I never would have thought to see a giant armadillo in an English town. Not only that, I never would have thought such an abstract piece of architecture would have made it into a quaint little English village. Anyway, I thought I would just share this interesting picture with you so you can get the full effect of what we saw from the coach windows going up to Preston.

As for the temple, it was wonderful!!! Everyone was so nice and I hugged about 8 people whilst I was there. They just make you feel like you are at home. We walked around the grounds last night and took pictures. Then I woke up early this morning, did a session, and then got my friend and we did baptisms with a family from Canada. It was such a beautiful experience and it was such a beautiful temple. I'm sooooo glad I finally got my opportunity to go!