Ha! I’m finally going to be caught up! Look at me go!
Yesterday we took a bus to Oxford. Visiting Oxford was pretty fun. We visited the Ashmolean Museum, the first public museum in England, and the Eagle & Child pub, where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and other writers frequently visited to write and converse. We also visited two of Oxford University’s colleges: Magdelen and ChristChurch.
Magdelen College (pronounced Maudlin) was founded in the 15th century and has been the birthplace of many a great idea. Among its alumni are C.S. Lewis, Stephen Breyer, P.G. Wodehouse, and Oscar Wilde.
There was exactly one thing I wanted to see at ChristChurch College: the Great Hall. The Great Hall is where the students eat their meals. It also happens to be where they filmed Daniel Radcliffe eating several of his meals as Harry Potter. I took tons of pictures, but the lighting was just horrid. Here are a couple:
After the ChristChurch Hall, I would have to say my favorite spot in Oxford would be the covered market. We found a cake decorating shop where they decorate all the cakes by the shop windows so you can watch! It was soooo cool. My favorite cake would have to be the royal wedding:
Michelle and I were so enthralled that we simply had to go back after lunch and buy chocolate cupcakes – which, by the way, not only looked amazing, but tasted wonderful. J
Today I had art class in the morning and then visited the John Wesley home, chapel, and Methodist Museum on a Religion class assignment. The museum guides offered to show us the house and Emily and I got a private tour! It was so cool. It was a fairly small townhouse, though I’m sure it was very well-to-do in 1780. A couple interesting things I learned about John Wesley:
· He required any travelling preachers or other guests in his home to be in bed by 9 so they could attend his morning service at 6am.
· Off of his bedroom was a five foot square prayer room where he would study and pray every morning. To this day, it is referred to as the Power House of Methodism. As I stood in the room, it really did seem to have a special spirit there.
· John Wesley did not drink tea, as he considered it unhealthy, and encouraged his followers to only drink herbal tea. I thought this was a very interesting link to Mormonism.
· He continued preaching up until a week before his death at the age of 87.
John Wesley was a good, honest man who dedicated his life to God. Latter-day Saints can thank Wesley, Martin Luther, and many other reformers for paving a way for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be restored to the earth.
