Preston: Home of the British Mormons

28 July 2012

Today, we didn’t have to be ready until noon, so I actually got to sleep in! That is the one and only time since I’ve been out here that I’ve gotten to do that, and it was absolutely fantastic!

After we checked out of our hotel, we still had a couple of hours until we had to leave for Preston, so we just wandered for a while. When we actually got to Preston, we just checked into our hotel before going to a neighboring town, Blackpool. It’s right next to the ocean and it has a lot of carnival rides and booths and stuff. It’s kind of like Coney Island. It was pretty fun. We didn’t go on any rides because it was really expensive, but it was fun to walk around the pier and on the shore.

We also talked to some people from Birmingham while we were there. A couple of them seemed pretty drunk, so we didn’t talk to them for very long, but it was still fun. Plus, it gave me something to write about for my homework assignment.

That was basically my entire day. I went to bed almost as soon as I got home.

29 July 2012

This morning, we went to church in Preston, and that was pretty cool. My group sang a musical number for the ward there, and they really liked it. After Sacrament meeting, a man from Zimbabwe, Stanley, came up and told us that it sounded like the Tabernacle Choir. Haha. He was really awesome. I loved talking to him.

After church, we went to the Preston Temple (which is actually in the neighboring town of Chorley). The grounds weren’t open, so we couldn’t go in, but it was still cool.

We also went on a church history tour with the architect of the temple. That was really cool. He took us to President Hinckley’s flat that he stayed in as a missionary (the same one where he read the letter from his dad about forgetting himself). So that was really neat.

Our guide also told us about how miraculous it was getting the temple built. There was a lot of opposition among the city council, but thanks to a stake-wide fast and some hard-working members, the temple was approved and built.

Another place he took us to was the river where the first Preston members were baptized, so that was pretty cool.

After our tour, we got back on the coach and drove to the Ambleside in the Lake District. It is SO pretty here! Absolutely gorgeous. It looks a lot different from the other parts of England that I’ve seen (not that those parts aren’t pretty…haha).

After we checked into our rooms, we went to the center of town to get some dinner. We ate it on some rocks by the lake and then went out onto the dock for a little while. It was a really great night. :)

We didn’t do much else. We just went to bed after that.