Oh what a glorious day today was! We woke up early and got ready for church. We initially were going to go to 3 services, but by the end of the day it was down to two. We went to Westminster Abbey first to go to Mass. What an overwhelming building. What an overwhelming atmosphere! Have you ever seen Westminster Abbey in person? It's HUGE!!!!! It's OLD!!! It's BEAUTIFUL!!! Ok, enough with the caps. :) Heather and I got there about an hour early and walked around the building, taking some pictures. The hallways of these old churches are crypts and we walked in the crypts and saw grave-markers of people from the 1300's. There were knights and ladies and inventors. I could feel the history of the place throughout my entire being. It was literally packed with history. Everywhere I looked I wanted to know all the stories of everything that happened there. Wow. I just loved it. I'm definitely going to go back there while I'm in London to get a full tour.
Mass was incredible!!! We walked into the chapel and there were all the graves of the composers they were about to perform. Ralph Vaughan Williams was buried there as was Henry Purcell. Some others include (but they're not composers so they don't really fit into this paragraph): Charles Darwin (1809-82) – naturalist, proponent of evolution, author of The Origin Of Species. Ben Jonson (1572-1637) – dramatist, actor and Poet Laureate. David Livingstone (1813-73) – explorer and medical missionary. Isaac Newton (1643-1727) – physicist and mathematician. Robert Stephenson (1803-59) – civil engineer, designer of railway bridges. What an incredible place huh? Anyway, so we walked in and saw the grave-markings of the composers we were about to hear. They sang Ralph Vaughan Williams Mass in b-minor and also also Birdstow's "I Sat Down". It was so amazing!! Here I was listening to this glorious music by the choir that is honestly just the same sound as all the CD's (except a million times better because it was live in the Cathedral) and I'm looking around at thousands of statues and stained glass windows and ceilings that go up forever. The sermon was nice and all, but the music... the music transcends anything earthly thing I have experienced. I left the service completely overwhelmed. My friend tried to talk to me about what he felt and what he heard, but I couldn't speak. I loved it all. My heart is healed more and more every time I listen to this amazing music.
After we went to Westminster, we went to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I can't say a whole lot about the music... :) but the meeting was warm and wonderful. The testimonies I heard were incredibly strong. I prayed and cried and thanked my Heavenly Father for the experiences I'm having in my life. The Spirit was so strong at Church. I have a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is real and true. I know that we have the fulness of the Gospel on the earth today. What a great meeting. I love it.
While I was at the LDS meeting, I saw my friend Jeff who I haven't seen in about 6 months. He's living in London for about two years working on accounting. It was so fun to see him!! He invited several of us over for dinner and that was a lot of fun. I could totally see myself living in London. I love it here. After dinner, Heather and I came home and then had a good talk with my friend Josh.
I love this place.
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