welcome to wales

It only took a few moments for me to fall in love with Wales. I loved the green hills and the cute village lifestyle. I loved the unique language and the friendly people. I love that the early church members from Wales greatly strengthened the newly formed church. I love the people from Wales. I love Wales!

Wales has never been a place that I was dying to see, but I am so happy that I was able to visit. What if I had never discovered that wonderful place?! That would have been a terrible lose because wales contains much to love.
It was also neat to visit where some of my ancestors are from.

First, we visited Tinturn Abbey. Wordsworth wrote famous poetry there, and Susan had us "become one with nature" at the abbey for an assignment.





Next stop....


Coal mine and Wales Life Museum. The coal mine was sweet because we got to wear the hard hats and head lights. Our welsh tour guide was very lively, and he even made fun of my cool boots! He called them "passion killers". Who knows what that's supposed to mean??? How can these boots possibly be passion killers? He also made fun of me because I was wearing a rose headband. Here's a fun fact...apparently the Welsh don't like roses because it's the english sign- the Welsh sign is a dragon or a leek. He wanted me to put one of those on a headband instead.




At the museum, there were a bunch of cute old houses and stores that we walked through. We had yummy fudge and then we found the beautiful gardens and a little pond. Those have been some of my favorite places here in England. Just the simple gardens, ponds, and beautifully green scenery.





That night was amazing because of two reasons
1) we ate yummy spanish food called tapas.
and even better...
2) we got our own beds at the hotel, and there was even a tv! It has been months since I have flipped through the channels.
It didn't last for long though- I stayed up chatting with my lovely roommate, Karalyn. She is so sweet, and we both share a love for gilmore girls and grey's anatomy.

The next day was completely wonderful. It couldn't have been any better.
I was in a fairy tale at this amazing castle and then I saw great church history sites.
We went to Caerphilly Castle, and it has been probably my favorite site so far. It was this amazing medieval-like castle with a moat surrounding it. (don't mind my greasy hair and thrown together look- mine and karalyn's wake up call forgot to wake us up!)





I never wanted to leave because I loved it so much! I even sat on top of one of the towers overlooking the village and wrote in my journal.







After saying goodbye to the beautiful castle, we jumped back on the bus and an LDS tour guide jumped on too. He took us to Benbow Farm, Herefordshire Beacon, Gadfield Elm Chapel, and a few other church history sites.
Benbow Farm-Wilfred Woodruff baptized lots of people in a small lake
Herefordshire Beacon- Willard Richards, Wilfred Woodruff, Brigham Young all prayed on the hill together and received revelation. Wilfred would ponder and meditate there
Gadfield Elm Chapel- first LDS meeting house.







windiest hill ever

We ended at Gadfield Elm Chapel where the tour guide finished up his tour. We then sang "The Spirit of God" and Prof Macfarlane gave an awesome prayer, followed by me crying my eyes out. I love my church, and I know it's true. My ancestors sacrificed so much, and they were very courageous, loyal, and true.




Then we drove home while I listened to coldplay and talked to Karalyn.
What a wonderful little trip-all in two days also! whew. It was crazy. talk about a crazy two days!

Now I'm home in the wonderful london town, and I'm so happy to be back. Nothing says home quite like palace court 27 just off nottinghill gate.
I will blog about today's adventures tomorrow because I have stayed up too late (as usual). This time it was for a good reason though... I had a wonderful heart to heart with laura, and we enjoyed chocolate while talking about enjoying life. love you laura!