Easter time.

Hello.

So Easter was a week ago, which I am finding hard to believe. But it was a very good Easter, because it was General Conference weekend too (which I love). We were able to watch most of the sessions here at the center. On Sunday we had a big brunch and everyone dressed up in their Easter clothes, and then had a short mid-day devotional with music and speakers.
In between sessions on Sunday night, a bunch of us were in the servery and somehow got to telling story after story of gory accidents that have happened to us, our friends, cousins, or other relatives. Most stories were less than a minute long, and this went on for at least twenty or so minutes. Despite the grossness, it was a really entertaining conversation. I only had one or two stories to add. I guess that's a good thing.

This is my favorite song that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings, and I was very happy to hear it. It gave me goosebumps. "This is the Christ" (you have to go to the Sunday morning session and scroll over a bit to hear it)

Monday was a full day of classes, and then I went on a run with Christina before dinner. I got shin splints way bad, so the actual running was a little bit painful, but the run was gorgeous, it was a loop I had never done before.
After dinner, Michelle and I changed quickly and jetted over to Trafalgar Square to get tickets to Handel's Messiah at St. Martins in the field church. We got the cheap seats up on the sides of the church, so we couldn't actually SEE any of the performance, but we certainly could hear it. We had fun watching the people around us bob their heads around to the music. Easter here is a pretty big deal, since everyone is very open about religion, and so it had been fun to see the build-up for Easter, and then celebrate Easter Monday with hearing the full Messiah.



Afterward we went down to Trafalgar Square and took a few pictures at night before heading back.



Tuesday was a very special day, because we went to the London temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was also the 180th birthday of the organization of the church, so that was cool. The temple was beautiful, and the grounds were gorgeous. It also had a visitor center, one of only three outside of the United States, so we went in there for a bit and talked with the couple missionaries.


Roommates: Anna, Leslie, Me, Michelle, Karalyn, Brittany, Kira, Arrin, Laura



...and that sums up a pretty happy, spiritual few days.