It was with much anticipation and a bit of trepidation that we had prepared for our trip to the UK and Denmark. We had previously visited Scotland and had meant to touch ground in England but because of the unexpected demise of my uncle Terry (my father’s brother) that our trip was cut short, and we had to take Dad home early.
I had revealed my apprehension a few too many times, in fact, so much that it became quite a joke between my children and grandchildren. We had made sure that our living will and trust were in order and made well known in case of our untimely demise due to airplane dysfunction, our physical limitations, or questionable culinary overindulgences.
And then, here it was, the year of our 50th wedding anniversary and we decided it was time to try again. We traded our valuable timeshare points at Tahiti Village in Las Vegas for a place in Denmark and we also arranged with our previous missionary (Hesikaia Hingano Fakatou and his wife Sela who served with us in the Tonga Nuku’alofa Mission from 1989-1992) for us to stay in the temple apartments at the Preston and London Temples. Because of this, the cost for accommodation was minimal. The Fakatous went way beyond anything that was expected to make us feel comfortable and well taken care of.
Our sturdy son, Jacob delivered us and several luggage at the massive newly renovated Salt Lake City Airport. Our first flight was on Monday, April 25th at 4:00 pm on SkyWest destined for United headed for Chicago O’Hare International. The airport was huge, and we had reserved special assistance and were taken on wheelchairs from one point to another to help our achey joints. This included getting pushed on and off of a train (kind of scarey). We arrived around 8:00 pm without major incidence and contemplated the rest of the night sleeping some 35,000 feet above the ground as we made our way to Copenhagen which was an 8-hour 15-minute stretch. The Copenhagen Airport seemed a bit redundant in their checkpoints since we had to have our passports checked twice at the same place by the same guy.
We were taken around on a golf cart by a guy who promised we would be gathered once it was time to board. Finally, safely on the next plane with a destination of Heathrow London Airport, I took all my usual pills plus one diazepam which I knew would help put me to sleep for most of the trip. I woke up intermittently to observe that Isi was up watching movie after movie. I asked him why he was not sleeping, and he replied that he didn’t want to bother others with his snoring since he couldn’t wear his c-pap machine. That was not a good sign since I knew he wouldn’t be worth much to me the next day. I also use a c-pap, but it was not as urgent as his.
We had one more short stint to London which was the real start of our journey (because the tickets were cheaper that way) taking only an hour on Scandinavian Airlines. We were greeted warmly by Hekesi Hingano Fakatou. We had served our mission in Tonga from 1989 to 1992 and part of that time Elder Fakatou had served with us. We were so excited to see him again. His wife Sela was very sweet and greeted us as though we were long-time friends. They suggested that we drive the added hour or so to Birmington to stay the night there, so we traveled on to avoid early morning traffic to catch the morning endowment session in the Preston Temple.
I showed Hesi and Sela the information I had gleaned from familysearch.org of persons who had lived and died in King’s Norton (Thursday 28 Apr) and surroundings areas. Afterwards, Hesi and Sela took us to a place called Home of the Roast where you could choose slices of all different kinds of meat and then choose your vegetables and gravy. It was very yummy and filling. The reason Hesi was living in England was because he had been recruited to play rugby any years ago and he stayed on and is now doing construction. He has four wonderful children and loves living in England.
We were able to enter the Preston Temple on Thursday and met several MTC missionaries. Since I had slept some on the airplane, I was ready to go to the Preston, England Temple and I had brought a name of one of my ancestors to do her work which made it much more meaningful for me. As we were getting up, I tried on the new shoes I had purchased to go with my new dress and found that they were slipping (with my nylons on) so I just took off the shoes and ran to the temple so we wouldn’t be late. We just barely made it to the session on time! I hope the sister I did the work for understood the condition I was in and that it was still done with sincerity.
I couldn’t help but notice the beautifully groomed hedges of the grounds at the Preston Temple. It reminded me somewhat of New Zealand and the fauna there. We walked around the back of the temple and there was a pond and beautiful flowers. We met some very friendly MTC Missionaries.
Later that day, Hesi took us to an enchanted place called Ribblesdale where the first Latter-day Saints in Great Britain were baptized by Heber C. Kimball. The first baptisms in England occurred on July 30, 1837 where nine individuals were baptized in the Ribble River in the presence of approximately eight-thousand onlookers. By August 6, nearly fifty individuals had been converted and Elder Heber C. Kimball organized a branch in Preston. There was a Japanese garden where a commemoration rock announces the occasion of the first Latter-day Saints in Great Britain. Some lilac trees were nearby and I just had to get pictures of them.
Then we traveled to Liverpool where 45,000 saints from the British Isles eventually migrated to Zion (Salt Lake City). In 1837 the Prophet Joseph Smith sent Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde and several others on a mission to Great Britain. This mission produced some 1500 converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It wasn’t long until a migration of converts began, lasting for more than a half century. In most cases, the point of embarkation was Liverpool, Lancashire on the banks of the Mersey River which then ran into the Irish Sea. Following that first mission, the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were called by revelation to labor in Great Britain (see Doctrine and Covenants 118). Thousands more were converted to the Church during the period of this mission.
The Legacy sculpture can be seen overlooking the River Mersey, outside the Piermaster’s House at the Royal Albert Dock. This statue of a young family commemorates migration from Liverpool to the new world.
