Sundays in England

Today was the first Sunday that I got to attend church since I have been sick ever since I have been here! I was so grateful to go and worship! All the students in the study abroad programs are split up into various wards throughout the stakes of London, and I have been assigned to a ward in Mitcham, which is about 1 hour to 1.5 hours away from the BYU center (depending on when your train gets there).  So bright and early we were at the underground tube station to wait for a tube to Wimbledon, and then from Wimbledon a tram to Mitcham.  Mitcham is your stereotypical small English town, with lots of little flats and town homes, and lots and lots of green foliage. You quite literally walk across the train tracks, up a paved hill and across a the street to a white building, which just happens to be the church!  The ward is VERY small, with only about 30-40 active members (maybe), including the missionaries and little kids/babies.  No one is white besides the BYU students.  Most of the ward is from Ghana, and the rest are Indian or Asian.  So throw all those accents in with a thick British accent and you can hardly understand what anyone was saying the entire three hours, even though it's all English.  Especially the combo african/british accent- they might as well be speaking a different language!!

Something I love about the LDS church is that it is the same everywhere you go, even if there aren't as many members or resources as I am used to in the states, the spirit can be felt anywhere! And I am so LUCKY that I get to go to such a sweet ward every Sunday here.

I've been asked to work in primary, where I will play the piano for singing time, teach sharing time and teach the lesson for the CTR aged kids.  No one has been able to play the piano for primary for a while, so they were SO excited to have someone that could (barely) plunk out the songs.  Who knew people could be so excited about mediocre piano skills! Normally they just stand in a circle with the few kids there is and sing the couple songs they know. There is only a couple kids in primary (maybe around 8? I'll have to count next week), but the children are the sweetest things and so smart!  All are different ages, so the youngest kids have a CTR class and the older kids have their Valient class.   The primary presidency is very hard working and treat the kids like their own. They are so grateful to be in primary and use what they have to teach the children!  You can tell how much they want to teach the kids and share their sweet testimonies with, even though some of the leaders have only been members of the church for 2 months.  It was interesting having adult leaders refer to us for more details on the simplest of scripture stories.  (Thank goodness I woke up at 5am everyday in high school for seminary!) The children are so excited to be in Primary even though there isn't very many of them, or much to do! I can not express how grateful I am to serve in this ward with these people and the opportunity I have to work with these sweet kids.  The next 5 weeks are going to a very special time for me, and I will sorely miss the ward when I go home!

The church is amazing, and I didn't realize how much I have been craving a place to worship and feel the spirit in this busy and very secular city.  God is SO good, and loves his children all over the world!