The Church Abroad

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It was a good thing we had a huge dinner because today was Fast Sunday, and boy was it a long day. We were checking out of our hostel in Grasmere, but we wouldn’t be able to get to the Preston Temple accommodations until 9 pm that night, so we spent to whole day in church or outside.

We went to church at a little branch in Kendal. Their meetings were held in the town hall, and it was an awesome experience. Our group of 28 people doubled the size of the meeting, and I really liked hearing the gospel in a British accent. They picked a lot of hymns that I had never heard of, further confirming my theory that the most sung hymns vary a lot by region. I really also liked the small branch feel—it felt like there was a lot more discussion possible in a smaller group, and people were less worried about keeping up appearances. There were also a lot fewer rhetorical questions asked in Sunday school, which was nice. (Questions like “Did Lehi love his family?” really drive me crazy. No one wants to answer because they’re so painfully obvious, then we have to sit in awkward silence until someone figures out a way to twist it into something intelligent.) There was also a lot more laughing in church—it was impossible to fall asleep because everyone had such a good sense of humor about things.

When we got out of church, it was raining, finally raining! Our first English rain! Don’t worry, the charm soon wore off, seeing as we had no indoor place to stay. We spent a couple hours inside this castle ruin, where we found a nice cave to hide in and do some writing. We walked down the hill to the local church, which was ironically closed although all the shops were open. Just slightly different than Utah.

We eventually made our way over to the local YWCA, where we were doing a break-the-fast and putting on a fireside that evening for the branch. I was signed up to sing in a quartet doing “Come Thou Fount.” Luckily, my sore throat was mostly gone, so I was in shape to do it. Unluckily, we practiced with a piano, and when we got to the YWCA, there was no piano. Luckily, Jordan brought his guitar, so he rigged up some sort of accompaniment for us. Unluckily, it was really hard to tell where to come in on some parts, so there were a few awkward moments in our song, but I think it turned out all right anyway. The break-the-fast was excellent too—a ton of sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and our group’s main staple: digestives! They’re these British cookies that taste a lot like graham crackers. We go those so many of those things a week.

After that, we got on a coach and headed to the Preston temple. Sooo much better than the Grasmere hostel. I’ve never been so grateful for en suite bathrooms!

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