A Little Bit of Heaven

We went to the temple in Preston. This area is where Pres. Hinckley served his mission, and where so many English folks joined the Church in the mid 1800's leaving their homes to come to America.

Notice the handsome man and beautiful flowers. In the background are the red roses growing in a hedge. I wish we could take pictures inside for it was a lovely experience. We changed into our white clothing and were ushered into the baptistry. Imagine in your mind a room with a glass wall; everyone was dressed in white. On the other side of the glass was a marble pool set on the back of twelve life-sized marble oxen. There was a man baptizing a youth. The sound was muffled.  As I stood watching, I felt like I was someone who had died who was watching my baptism. It was a very profound experience. When Jesus said, "Except a man be born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven", He meant it. Our group was short on youth so I volunteered to be baptized.  It had been a years since I had had the opportunity-and Dad performed the baptisms.

Here are the great youth of Hartlepool who were able to go. The bus comes by the chapel at 7:15 A.M. (It goes by four chapels to pick up. So few members have cars. It costs 12 pounds-converted 1.6 dollars per pound-which is quite a bit of money for these folks.)  We arrived about 10:45 and spent the day. Arrived home by 8:30 P.M.