Tales of Wales Day 2- Castle and Church History

Friday February 26th- After a fun night of playing M*A*S*H* with my roommate Allyson, we woke up early to a yummy breakfast at the hotel and then boarded the coach once more for a trip to the Welsh Castle Caerphilly. This castle was built by the English when they were trying to conquer Wales. It was the greatest castle of it's time standing 300 years of constant attacks and not receiving a scratch, it wasn't until the cannon was invented that the castle suffered at all. What the cannon did to the castle was significant though, one of the towers leans to the side more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa does. But the rest of the castle is simply beautiful! Enjoy some pictures of it :)



A princess and a castle :] lovely








Roomie love at the castle! Me, Reesa, Mary, Margret, and Sarah.








"Westley: Fezzik, the portcullis!" I am not as strong as Fezzik and there was no one to rip his arms off to get the key, so I just climbed the portcullis to take over the castle and stop the marriage of my true love... O wait, didn't stop a wedding, just climbed the portcullis and stormed the castle :]









At the banquet hall acting royal and regal.









After the amazing castle (this is my favorite castle so far, it perfectly fits the image I have in my head when I hear the word 'castle') We hopped back on the coach and slept more. I did wake up long enough to take these pictures though:

This is us on the coach (coach is the British word for tour bus)







I thought England had the greenest grass I've ever seen. That is until I came to Wales and the grass here is Emerald City worthy green. It's true then, the grass really is greener on the other side, the other side of the pond that is.







Cute little village by the road with pretty hills in the back ground.







The rest of the trip was for early Mormon Church History. This was absolutely amazing and so spiritually uplifting. All the history of the Gospel was overwhelming but I never wanted to leave. Being perfectly honest, I sometimes think about ditching the religion class to go play outside or see a show or go to a museum but now I won't because I don't want to miss learning about my heritage. We were joined by Peter Fags who is the head of Church History in the UK. He took us all around to see amazing places and taught us the events and told stories about what happened at these places.


The first historical site was at the Hill Farm. This place was the home of the John Benbow family in 1840 and where ELder Wilford Woodruff was first brought after his time in the Potteries (a cluster of small towns south of Liverpool, England.) He had great success here and baptized 131 towns members in this little pond that I am standing in front of. Mind you, we were there only a few days before the anniversary of the first baptism in Wales and it was nipping cold. The wind was so strong it was difficult to walk in a straight line. Imagine them being excited to enter this frigid puddle of water even when they know doing so would mean they were ridiculed and driven out of their homes? Imagine how much courage and faith they had to have. They are my heroes.








This little church is at the base of Hill Farm. It is a Church of the Brethren church which lost many of it's congregation to the Mormon missionaries but, surprisingly, had friendly relations with the LDS church even today. They had a pamphlet about the Mormons that had come from their mists and even have photos of olden day missionary activities of the Mormons.






This is Herefordshire Beacon. Wilfred Woodruff, Heber C. Kimbell, Brigham Young and other missionaries climbed this hill on more than one occasion to receive revelation and discuss what was to be done on their missions. Each also recorded coming here for personal meditation. Standing on grounds where future prophets received inspiration from the Lord was indescribable. Peter held a little devotional here as well. The devotional wasn't at the very top but in a place he called 'Missionary Gorge' which was a place where the rock of the hill had been cut away to form a wind break. The missionaries would have met where we spoke together. It was so windy at the very top, no wonder they used the windbreak! This is me falling over because a huge gust of wind hit me. I was being blown all around the place. You think this wouldn't happen with all the chocolate I've been eating, but i still was blown off my footing multiple times, once even made me fall over, luckily Sarah was there to break my fall. :]



This is the Gadfield Elm Chapel, the first official Later Day Saint Chapel in Wales. Brigham Young preached, stopped murderous mobs, and said his good byes from this pulpit (not this exact one but from this exact spot, this is Peter Fags giving us a spiritual message from that spot): After his message, all the program members felt the Holy Spirit and started singing the song "The Spirit of God." By the time we got to the word 'of' in the song, I was overcome with the Spirit and started tearing up because of it. I tried by best to finish the song but was overcome with such a sense of gratitude that all I could do was offer a silent prayer of thanks for all those who had come before me and had borne the burden of suffering the truth to be brought back to the Earth. They all are an inspiration for me and I hope somehow, someday, I can be like them. I have had an amazing two days in Wales, I hope you all have a great day where ever you are! :]