Praise Jesus!

We finally witnessed our first rain storm here in London today! We’ve had beautiful, sunny weather since we arrived, but this afternoon the rain came out of nowhere and hit us hard. It was especially great because not one of us had an umbrella, so we were booking it through the streets, trying to get to the nearest tube station. But other than that today has been fabulous. After classes, we headed out to the British Library for a homework assignment, and I was completely in awe of everything that I saw. The first few items that had me completely giddy were Jane Austen’s writing desk and one of her original notebooks, the original Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and the original Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy—three of my favorite things all in a row! We also saw original works done by Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven, the original Alice in Wonderland, notebooks from Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci, and an entire tribute to the Beatles, complete with the original lyrics to many of their songs, scribbled down on scraps of paper, envelopes, and the backs of birthday cards. I honestly was so happy about it all.

This weekend was jam-packed and crazy, but so much fun. Friday night we ended up going to the YSA stake dance, which to be honest I wasn’t too thrilled about, but in the end I was so glad that I went. It was fun to get out and go dancing with all of the girls, but mostly I loved it because of all the great young church members that we met there. There were so many people there from all over, and they travel so far for these dances each month just so that they can go out and socialize with people with their same standards. One of the girls that we met there, Chloe, traveled five hours on the bus just for the dance! We met so many amazing new people, and I loved everything about it.

Saturday night we went out to dinner at this amazing Thai restaurant right down the street, and then we headed off to a classical concert for a homework assignment. We heard works by Mozart and Bach, and all of the music was so beautiful. But I’ll be honest, after two hours of sitting on a wooden bench in the student section (aka the seats that nobody else will buy because you have absolutely no view of the show), I was ready to be done by the end of it. On our way home we stopped for ice cream, and then stayed up late getting reading done.

St. Martin-in-the-field, where the concert was held.

 But Sunday was probably my very favorite day. I got to go to my new ward, and I was given the calling of a Sunday school teacher for the youth…which is about five kids total. I loved being at church because the people there are all so amazing and have such incredible stories about how the church came into their lives. Their testimonies were so strong and being there listening to them and feeling the Spirit made me feel right at home. It was such a comfort after such a crazy first few days.

Palace Court, the street where we live.

Me and Nikki on  Westminster Bridge

Ok, I am now officially done with the world’s longest blog post. Here are some more pictures from the week for your enjoyment. Cheers!