Hyde Park and Exhibition Road

We had a wonderful meeting with the stake president of Hyde Park along with the mission president, institute president, and two couples who are support for the young single adults.  We discussed plans for coming year for the YA which will include family history.  There are some wonderful leaders here and it is exciting to work with them.  We are meeting again in a couple of weeks to formalize some plans. One idea is for Elder Syme and I to teach a summer class at institute on family history.  That should be interesting and humbling.

I took some more pictures along Exhibition Road where the museums and  the Church visitor center/mission office/stake center are.  This is the Science Museum.  They are going to have an exhibit of hundreds of live butterflies on April 3.  I'd like to see that.

This is a part of the Albert and Victoria Museum, aka V&A.

During WWII it was hit during the blitz.  They didn't repair them, but left the marks in the building as a memorial.

It's amazing to see this and realize what they went through during the war.

North of the museum is the Visitor Center/Stake Center/Mission Office.  This history behind this building is amazing.  During the blitz, this part of the block was a bomb crater.  There was a house here and the family was killed.  There is a plaque in the chapel in their honor.  In the 1950's President McKay was looking for a place for the mission headquarters and a chapel.  It was still a crater then. This is the place they chose and built this building in the 1960's.  It's amazing that they have this location.

 

 The chapel is on the left through those doors.  The mission office is on the 3rd floor and the family history center is in the basement.  The family history center isn't very big. There are some who hope they will utilize it more as part of the visitor center.  Staffing is the problem.

They renovated the church a few years ago, so I don't know how much is different from when my sister Karen was a missionary here.

The day I took these pictures they had 2 baptisms.  I love it when we come here.  I'm always tired after the long walk from the train station, so I have to sit and rest a while.  The senior missionary couples are becoming good friends as we visit while I rest..  The sister missionaries are so cute and so enthusiastic.  It's easy to picture Karen here.

I love being here and working with such wonderful people!  My testimony about the gospel and the importance of families is growing every day!  I love the Lord and am so grateful for the opportunities He is giving me to grow and learn and be of service.  I can never give enough to repay Him for what He does. My relationship with Him is deepening, I am more dependant on Him than I have ever been. And I couldn't be happier.