2008 - United Kingdom - Day 5 - Elm Chapel, Benbow farm, Liverpool, Wales

We left our hotel at 7:30. We drove 2 hours north to a rural area to see the oldest LDS chapel in England called the Elm Chapel. When Wilford Woodruff was on a mission here, he baptized 1,800 people. He baptized a group of people called the United Brethren. This was their chapel and they gave it to the church. We sat inside the chapel and Mike talked a bit to us about the early missionaries there and their success. Then we sang “Oh how lovely was the morning”. It was so beautiful, and there was such a sweet spirit. We left that place and went on to a little town called Ludbury. There we saw where Brigham Young preached. Mainly we stopped to use the restrooms nearby. Oh, on our 2 hour drive this morning, Mike talked to us about William Tyndale. He told us his life story and his contributions of the written bible in English. After Ludbury, we drove another 30 mins to a place formerly known as Benbow’s farm. It was the place Wilford Woodruff stayed for awhile and baptized 600 people. It is now owned by non LDS people, but they still work the farm and let LDS people come see the pond where the baptisms took place. We walked to the pond and Mike talked to us about Wilford Woodruff coming to live there and preaching in that area. Very touching stories. Again there was such a strong spirit in that place. We also sang all the verses of “Because I have been given much”. From there we drove another 2 hours to Liverpool. This was the port where 18,000 LDS people immigrated to the US. Here, Laurie Wilcox read from her ancestors’ journal and told us a very touching story about how it felt to leave England. We then sang “Come Come ye Saints”. All around the people grew quiet and listened to us sing. Then we sat on a bench overlooking the water. It had been a very spiritual day for me so far. When we left Liverpool, we drove on to Wales and our quaint Victorian town on the seashore. Mom and I walked around trying to find a restaurant for a reasonable price, but all we could find was asking $50 per person. So we walked up the street a ways to a McDonalds, grabbed some to go food and sat on a bench by the seashore to eat. We ate and talked and shared our food with the gulls.