Sunday Will Come

I have always heard that when missionaries enter the MTC it is really hard the first couple days, but once Sunday hits everything seems so much better. Turns out this is true for study abroad too. I have had a really hard time adjusting to everything, but yesterday was amazing and I have been feeling more peace and confidence. 

My church is about an hour away. We have to change tubes twice and walk about a half hour. I stayed up for a half hour the night before trying to find the best and least expensive way to get there. There are four of us that go to the same ward and everyone else in our group is spread out. We are in the Chatsworth ward. There was about 50 people there and only 4 other white faces. My Bishop is from Ghana which I am SO excited about since I went there last summer and visited the town he grew up in. My calling is to work with the young women and there are a total of three girls. I love going to church around the world because it is always the same and you know the doctrine everywhere you go.

On Friday we got to go to the famous Tower of London. Turns out it wasn't just a prison. The mint was there along with an armoury and the crown jewels. (The Tower of London isn't just one tower, it is made up of multiple buildings). 

My tour group in the Tower right before we started

The King's chambers in the Tower

King's chair in the chapel. Edward the IV was murdered while worshiping here

The White Tower

A short prisoner entrance

If the ravens leave the castle then the monarchy will fall

One of the many statues made for the line of the kings

Just part of the armoury

The biggest and smallest suit of armour

Sitting on a tower toilet

A dragon made of loot from conquering other countries

How they pressed coins at the mint

Where the Crow Jewels are kept. We couldn't take pictures inside

Changing of the Guard outside the Crown Jewels

A tour group gathered at the tower

In the tower of London square

Taking a much needed break at the Tower

My fetish with spiral staircases. They were all over the tower

Prisoner's written inspirational messages on the walls

A list of prisoners that stayed in the same tower

The memorial for dozens of executions

One of the prison rooms. Not much of a prison

A torture device

The rack

The king had many exotic pets: bear, lion, elephant, monkeys

Right after the tower we went on one of our London Walks. It is a one credit class we have to take. Every Friday we follow a book that tells us where to go to see a bunch of different landmarks. This one took forever, but it was really cool to see everything. We were supposedly walking along the old London wall. 

Found a nice park and round swing to start our journey

An old gate to the city of London

Mine and Charles Dickens favorite church. St. Olave's

The inside of St. Olave's church

They were putting a statue back in the church after it was on display for two years

Christ Church

The alter at Christ Church

Inside Christ Church

Remains from the London wall from 40AD

A wall dedicated to ordinary people who did died extraordinarily saving others

That night we obviously were very beat because we had been walking for hours on end. So of course had to have a girls night and watch the first episode of The Bachelor

The next day was Saturday, so we finally got to sleep in a little. Later some of us decided to head to Baker Street because some people are really big Sherlock Holmes fans and that is where he supposedly lives

After that we just sort of roamed around and found random gems 

We ended the night with shopping at a thrift store, Forever 21 and Primark. I got a new shirt. We also got gourmet waffles at the famous Wafflemeister stand. Sooooo delicious. Things are definitely starting to pick up and I am getting used to this London lifestyle.