Day 27

Today we drove and drove. Our first stop was the England MTC in Chorley. We knew the church was true when we saw that there were trash cans and drinking fountains as soon as we walked in. We were met by the first counselor in the mission presidency. His wife is President Hinckley's daughter, and they were the nicest couple. They told us all about the MTC. The MTC is for all english speaking missionaries in Europe and for all German speaking missionaries. It is near Preston because of all the people who were baptized there when the missionaries first came. In 1850 there were more members in England than in the United States. The members who came over were a great strength to the church. The River Ribble is about a 15 minute drive from the MTC where the first members were baptized and the Preston temple is about a 5 minute walk. We got to tour the MTC which was really neat because I have definitely never seen the inside of the Provo MTC. We ran into a few missionaries who I think were overwhelmed to see 30 girls all at once. There are missionaries from 18 different countries at the MTC. Right now there are 7 couples and 61 missionaries. After the MTC we walked up to the temple and then drove to the River Ribble. At the River Ribble I ran into the first people I knew from the States. I ran into the Harknesses from our home ward in Mapleton. I really wanted to run into somebody I knew while I was in Europe, but I didn't actually think I would! It was so fun! I told them to say Hi to my family and we took a picture together.

Later we drove to Ambleside. Ambleside is beautiful! It is so green. It is in the Lake district and has mountains. I missed mountains so much! They have building codes here so that everything looks uniform. They all remind me of beautiful little cottages, and most are in the tudor style. I even saw a movie theater today that looks like it might have once been an old church. It was kind of crazy to see a movie theater as a three or four hundred year old building. We went on a hike today around some waterfalls in Ambleside. Here a waterfall is still called a force. We hiked and walked around Ambleside for five or six hours and had a wonderful time. It was a nice to take a day to explore and see old churches and gardens and waterfalls. I am so excited for all of the hikes we will be doing this week. I know I said Paris was my favorite, but I think Northern England and Scotland are going to definitely beat it. More things to come! Tomorrow we are eating in Wordworth's cottage. So excited!

"There is no easter bunny, there is no tooth fairy, and there is no queen of England."