As of yesterday, rain was forecast for the next nine days, so it was with some trepidation that I started out from Dave and Deb's flat without an umbrella. It was kind of a free day - not for Dave and Deb, but they encouraged us to walk around London and see some sights. By the time we left, SK said the forecast said no rain until one in the morning.
It was a good thing to leave the umbrella home. It is big and a bit heavy, and it did not rain. We put 1,000 steps on SK's Fitbit, and that would have been obnoxious to tote around. We walked in the area close to the Hyde Park Chapel. We went in and out of a couple of stores. We walked past a lot of little shops. We went into Five Guys for a hamburger, which was excellent, but look at the bill! You kind of have to go with the flow.....that is like everything else here...expensive.
We went into the Victoria and Albert Museum. If you were to walk the entire museum, it would be 8 miles, but we didn't even attempt it. It had an amazing selection of art from all over the world and from all dates in history. It is pretty spectacular. I'll show you a couple of things that caught my interest.
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| The outside wall sustained some damage from WWII bombs. They have not repaired them but have chosen to leave them as is. |
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| This building was the original Victoria and Albert Museum was built in 1851.... about the same time missionaries began teaching in Denmark. |
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| These plaster casts are made directly from the originals all over the world and are quite rare. |
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| These cartoons (preliminary drawings for tapestries) were made by Raphael and are huge. This is the Savior as he teaches his fishermen apostles. Closest to him is Peter, and then his brother Andrew. |
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| The largest art library in the world is here in the Victoria and Albert Museum. |
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| SK with one of the very iconic red phone booths, which kind of looks like it had also had some damage from bullets. |
When we got home, Deb, the two sister missionaries and Sister Hartsviggsen had set the tables with the china and crystal again in preparation for the senior missionary day tomorrow. She set 26 places, and has the dinner all organized and ready to bake tomorrow. We will meet over at the Hyde Park Chapel and receive some training from the APs. Isn't that great? They are two truly good young men who work very hard, and they will be leaders all their lives I am sure. They have prepared a powerpoint for us and will no doubt be excellent.
We had been home a little while when Dave came in from a baptismal interview, and announced that he was going back to the church for a baptism. Deb and I quickly donned skirts and we all headed over. It was a wonderful and tender service. The man who gave the talk about baptism has been a member for all of 2 weeks. A muscular young man in his 20's and quite handsome, he gave a talk that was well thought out and organized. You would have thought he had been an active member all his life.
The lady who was baptized is 83 years old and wheel-chair bound. She is black and has just a touch of an accent, and so I am unsure where exactly she is from, but her friend brought long and colorful dresses for the sister missionaries to wear. They had been hand embroidered and were beautifully detailed. The friend wore one as well, and wore her hair in an equally colorful scarf. She gave the closing prayer. Every talk was so full of joy.
The two young elders who baptized her are both about 6'3" and very strong. She was maybe 5 feet tall. I don't know what the talk was before about how they would lead her into the font and how the baptism would go, but they were both so cute as they supported her down the steps and into the water. It was very slow going, because of her age and her disability. When they got into the water and began the baptism, they soon discovered that it was going to be much more difficult. Her legs locked and they just couldn't lean her back, and then she tried to lean forward, but it didn't work either. The two young elders were so very patient and kind and gently held her while they tried to figure it out. Finally, the woman's bishop hurried back into the dressing room and changed into white clothing and waded into the font. With the three of them, they gently listed her until she was prone and dipped her down into the water. She came up smiling widely.
The rest of the baptism service went quickly, and we hugged and congratulated her. It was so exciting to be a part of that and to see how happy she and her family were.
By then, it was late, but we were all a little hungry, so we found a place called wagamama's - where we had some delicious food. It had teriaki dishes, curry dishes, thai dishes....just a great variety.
Tomorrow is our last day in London. We have loved every minute here, and tomorrow promises to be just as enchanting....more about that tomorrow night.
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