Note to readers: I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A.K.A. the Mormon Church. If you are unfamiliar with the LDS church, it will help you to know that an LDS "ward" is similar to a Catholic parish and an LDS "stake" is similar to a Catholic diocese. A "calling" is a position in your ward that the Bishop (head of your ward) asks to you assume.
So today, we were split up in two groups, about 20 students for each London stake. Half of the group went to South London (the Wadsworth stake) and the other half of us went to the Hyde stake. I was assigned to Hyde- which is good because that means I can get there just on the tube (subway) rather than having to switch from tube to train to tram. The Wadsworth kids got their ward assignments right away and got callings as soon as they got there. But the Hyde stake presidency wanted to meet with us today before we went out so we had to go to the Hyde Park ward all together to get our assignments.
I was assigned to Stratford ward- which the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency described as "very ethnically diverse." It starts at 9:30 am and it will take us an hour and 15 minutes to get there. We'll also have to pay for a tube extension because it is outside of the travel card that the Centre buys for us. It shouldn't be too bad- about 3 pounds, or $4.50 each Sunday.
I'm sad that I don't get to meet my ward until next Sunday. Also, they're having ward conference next Sunday which means we might not get our callings until two Sundays from now. I am so impatient. I really want a calling to work on. I talked to four Wadsworth students who are back and they were assigned to Young Men's, Young Single Adult Sunday School teacher, Primary teacher for ages 4-7, and one girl is the Sacrament, Primary, and Ward Choir Pianist!! Crazy. I hope the north stake needs BYU students as much as the south stake does. I want to be useful.
About the ward we attended today: The Hyde Park Ward is the most central London ward- which means it is about one third American, one third English, and one third everything else, with the whole ward representing about 70 nationalities! Someone told me that their chapel cost about as much as some temples (with location contributing alot of the cost). The Hyde Park Chapel kind of serves as a Church Visitor's Center. The organ is huge and beautiful- they hold lunchtime concerts there every Thursday. In the foyer there is a large mural with descriptions of the plan of salvation and a plaque commemorating the beginning of missionary service in Great Britain. When entering sacrament meeting, everyone gets a name badge- black ink if you're a member of the ward and red if you're a visitor. The 2nd counselor in the stake presidency told us that it's kind of stressful to have such a well-known ward because General Authorities and public affairs people always want to visit. We'll be having our religion class there on Thursdays so I will add better pics later!
I was assigned to Stratford ward- which the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency described as "very ethnically diverse." It starts at 9:30 am and it will take us an hour and 15 minutes to get there. We'll also have to pay for a tube extension because it is outside of the travel card that the Centre buys for us. It shouldn't be too bad- about 3 pounds, or $4.50 each Sunday.
I'm sad that I don't get to meet my ward until next Sunday. Also, they're having ward conference next Sunday which means we might not get our callings until two Sundays from now. I am so impatient. I really want a calling to work on. I talked to four Wadsworth students who are back and they were assigned to Young Men's, Young Single Adult Sunday School teacher, Primary teacher for ages 4-7, and one girl is the Sacrament, Primary, and Ward Choir Pianist!! Crazy. I hope the north stake needs BYU students as much as the south stake does. I want to be useful.
About the ward we attended today: The Hyde Park Ward is the most central London ward- which means it is about one third American, one third English, and one third everything else, with the whole ward representing about 70 nationalities! Someone told me that their chapel cost about as much as some temples (with location contributing alot of the cost). The Hyde Park Chapel kind of serves as a Church Visitor's Center. The organ is huge and beautiful- they hold lunchtime concerts there every Thursday. In the foyer there is a large mural with descriptions of the plan of salvation and a plaque commemorating the beginning of missionary service in Great Britain. When entering sacrament meeting, everyone gets a name badge- black ink if you're a member of the ward and red if you're a visitor. The 2nd counselor in the stake presidency told us that it's kind of stressful to have such a well-known ward because General Authorities and public affairs people always want to visit. We'll be having our religion class there on Thursdays so I will add better pics later!
