Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration

Last night we had the Elders and their investigator John over for dinner. After dinner we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. It had been a long time since I had seen it and it helped me remember how grateful I am for Joseph Smith. He had so many trials in his life and seemed so positive through it all. I cannot even imagine the type of adversity he and his family faced (as well as other early members of the church). My favorite line in the movie is when he is with Emma and they have suffered so much hardship and sorrow and he says "maybe I am meant to swim in deep water." I think that literally swimming in deep water helps us build greater muscle. I think spiritually swimming in deep water can help us become stronger spiritually and help refine us. People outside of the LDS church sometimes think we worship Joseph Smith. We don't. We worship Jesus Christ. We respect and love Joseph Smith because of all of the sacrifices he made to help the church be restored. We respect his faith and admire his determination to do God's will. He is a great reminder to us of how we can live our lives more faithfully.

The spirit was really strong during the movie. I think that we all felt it and felt of God's love. When Elder Gourrat gave the closing prayer he was very emotional. I felt the same and was grateful for the spirit that was brought into our home. If you haven't seen the movie, or haven't watched it recently, I highly recommend you do. I have included the YouTube video and link below.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpz5lIGS85k

Dia de Amor

Valentine's Day is pretty chill for us. Simon had class and a meeting with a professor until after 2:30pm so we met in town around 3pm at this little donut place I have been wanting to try since we got here. Finally after 5.5 months of waiting we went. It was another terrible weather day, so by the time I walked into town from our house I was soaked. We enjoyed ourselves anyway. The donuts were delicious and I may have to eat them once more before I leave. After donuts we went grocery shopping (so romantic I know) and went home. We made BLA's (bacon, lettuce, and avocado... oddly enough neither of us likes tomatoes) sandwiches for dinner and they were scrummy. We then watched some movies and relaxed together. It was a great afternoon and evening.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Thursday Simon and I went to Scotland for the day. We knew it was going to be a long day because we wanted to save some money by not staying the night. However, it was longer than expected because of the bad weather we had the day before (see my post Stormy Weather). It was supposed to be a 4 hour, 3 train ride to Edinburgh, but ended up being a 5 train, 6 hour train ride. All of the trains were delayed in the morning because drivers were stranded the night before in places they weren't supposed to be because of the trains closing down. So the next day, it was a beautiful sunny day, but drivers were late getting places because of the previous day. We even had one train cancelled and had to find another one because the trees had fallen on power lines in one section of the track. It was crazy, but we made it safely to Scotland.

Once in Scotland, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day! We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was definitely cold and windy, but there was no rain... yay! We didn't want to spend a lot while we were there so we walked around quite a bit and went to all the free museums (which were brilliant!). Here are some pictures from the trip:

Simon and I walking along

Jenners- the oldest department store in the World

A nice view by the train station

A metal map of Edinburgh and Simon pointing to our location

Edinburgh Castle (It was 16 pounds per person to get in, so we just walked around the outside)

Snow capped mountains! I haven't seen those since my last Winter in Utah

The side edge of the Castle

The front of the Castle

The stone guard at the Castle

The Royal Mile is a street with tons of shops and is fun to walk down

I saw this red door and really liked it so took a picture with it

The Elephant House- where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book

Inside the Elephant House

A deep fried snickers (sorry it looks gross)

Simon eating the deep fried snickers

I didn't think it was anything special- basically melted chocolate

A beautiful street view

Lots of whisky distilleries here

A bride on her way to her wedding

A little baby unicorn (name that movie)

Museum of Childhood- one of the cool, free museums we went to

Leap frog

Puppets

I think the fisherman has given up on life (or has had too much to drink)

Old school roller skates

We found E.T in Scotland

Scottish Parliment

Parliament (weird building if you ask me)

Doors to the Queen's Palace in Scotland

Queen's Palace in Scotland

Palace

A pretty view

Scottish National Gallery- another free museum

My favorite Monet painting

I also loved this one by Sir Henry Raeburn

On the walk back to the train station to head home, the sky was an amazing blue

Simon and his new friend

Stormy Weather

Wednesday we had terrible weather here in Chester. It reminded me of tropical storm weather in the states. The winds were crazy and it rained pretty much all day. Trains were shut down because trees were down on the tracks and trees were hitting power lines. I went out with the sisters around 3:15pm and when we were in the investigators home for the lesson, I thought the windows were going to break due to the wind. After the lesson I came home for about 20 minutes and then Simon walked me to my bus stop where I go to catch the bus to teach Seminary. Simon suggested I cancel Seminary due to the weather, but I thought it would be too short of notice so I went ahead and got on the bus. The bus ride was one of the scariest in my life. The bus felt like it was going to start rolling because the wind was knocking it back and forth. It was packed because everyone was trying to get home due to the weather. There were people on the phone saying they were cancelling their evening plans to go home because they were afraid buses would stop going. I started getting nervous because I was heading somewhere and wouldn't be traveling home for another 3.5 hours.

Once I get off the bus I have a 10 to 15 minute walk to the chapel from the bus stop. I seriously thought I was going to be blown away. I get to the chapel and no one is there (normally 2 of my students are already there). I called Simon to get a member of the Young Women's presidencies number to see if mutual was cancelled. I called and it was and all meetings were cancelled. No one had called me to let me know so I had travelled to the chapel for no reason. Ha. In their defense someone tried messaging me on facebook, but since I was out with the sisters I didn't see it until after I got home. Luckily, the sister I called was insistent to come and pick me up from the chapel because she did not want me riding the bus home. I was so grateful! I felt bad though that she braved the bad weather for me, but I was relieved I didn't have to ride the bus home. Anyway, we made it back to Chester safe and sound and I was home in time for the missionary lesson with John. The Elders taught the Plan of Salvation. It was another good lesson. John has been reading the Book of Mormon and is progressing really well. They are all coming over for dinner on Sunday and to watch the Restoration dvd.

Southern England  and Coastal Wales haven't faired so well with all the rain and storms. Here are some stats and pictures from the news of the conditions in those places. 24 severe flood warnings were issued last night for England and Wales. 120,000 homes are without power. 32 people were trapped in a restaurant last night and the Army had to get them out. Pray for them!

Ward Conference and Missionary Discussions

Ward Conference
Two Sundays ago we had our ward conference. I always love ward conference because we have a chance to hear from members of the stake presidency. When our stake president spoke, President Ireland, he gave the ward some goals for this coming year. Here are the goals:

1. Study the Book of Mormon, read it by the next ward conference in October 2014
2. Share the gospel with one friend and bring them into the church
3. Reach out to a less active member of the church and bring them back
4. Find someone from the past (family history) and do their temple work

Simon and I have been sporadic about reading the Book of Mormon so we have set a new goal to be more consistent in reading it together. Our goal is to finish it together by October. I am pretty sure we can do it if we are consistent. Overall, it was a great conference and it helped me want to be better.

Missionary Discussion
Yesterday the Elders texted us to see if we could have a lesson with a new investigator in our home tonight. They came over around 7 with a guy named John. He is 23 years old and is originally from Yorkshire. He said he had met with the missionaries about 6 months ago, but then moved to Portugal with his mom for a few months. He just got back in December and went to Mormon.org and put in a referral for himself. It then got sent to the mission office and then to the Elders. He is pretty awesome. He has already read part of the Book of Mormon. The Elders taught the first lesson and did a really good job. They committed John to be baptized on March 8th (of course once he knows what they are teaching is true). It was a really good lesson. He is one of those people missionaries dream of finding. They are coming back next Wednesday to teach the second lesson. I have seminary so sadly I will miss it, but Simon will be here. Anyway, I love being at missionary discussions. It makes me miss being a missionary.

Winter Time Blues

I have been sick for the last week. I blame my sister Rachael because while she was here she starting getting sick and the day she left I got sick. I have pretty much been living in my bed for the past week. You don't even want to know how many showers I have taken. My diet has been that of toast and bananas. Simon tried making me some jello, but English jello is gross and I couldn't eat it. My friends have consisted of Vicks VapoRub, Ricola refreshing lemon mint drops, tissue, water, and the show The Good Wife. Simon has been such a trooper and taught seminary for me last week and primary today. I am so tired of being sick! I slept through the night last night without waking up in a coughing spasm, so I will take that as a sign I am on the way up! I have gotten more sick in England than I have ever remembered during the winter. I blame the cold, rainy, dampness. It doesn't help that our house is so old that it doesn't heat up properly. Ha. Anyway, nothing too exciting has been happening over here. I hope everyone else is faring better on the cold front.

Food for the sick:

Essential remedies:

Entertainment for a week in bed:

On a random side note, props to all the moms out there who get sick and have children. I don't know how you do it!