What an exciting week this has been. We flew out of Salt Lake City on Monday and arrived in London Tuesday morning. It really felt like we lost a day there somewhere but we trudged ahead anyway. We were met at the airport by another senior missionary couple (Elder & Sister Gale) who were waiting with a van to take us and our luggage to our flat. Fortunately, they knew the way very well (they live in the same building as us) and navigated the London traffic quite well. We spent an hour or two unpacking and then Elder Gale met us at our flat and walked with us over to the Hyde Park Chapel.

There we met many of the missionaries that we will be working with at the Visitors’ Centre (VC). All were very friendly and welcoming. We also met with President & Sister Stevens who were also very welcoming. They shared with us many things about the mission and about London. It is an honor to serve with them.

We proceeded to work in the VC that very afternoon and have worked several shifts since. Welcoming visitors and giving tours of the VC have been amazing experiences. In just our first few days here we have had visitors from Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Uganda, Dubai, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Poland, China, Taiwan, and of course, many from the United States and United Kingdom. Their backgrounds and interests are very diverse. It is exciting to talk with them and share information about our church with them.

We have also begun to settle into living in London. Dealing with jet lag and settling in have been the biggest challenges thus far. Our flat is small but comfortable. We have managed to buy a few groceries so we can eat at home. We don’t yet have internet at our flat but that is scheduled for next week. We learned after arriving here that Verizon email doesn’t work in London so we are still trying to figure out how to get our emails. We manage to find our way from our flat to the VC quite well now but still need to explore a lot more to be comfortable on the streets of London. We have explored some and have walked past Kensington Palace, Royal Prince Albert Hall, and the Queens Tower. Our flat is on Palace Gate (a street) where many foreign embassies are located. The street is lined with stately, old residential buildings with incredible architecture. We definitely are in the city with pedestrian and vehicular traffic all around us most hours of the day and night. It is exciting to be here.