Celebrating the Season

The Hyde Park Chapel Visitors' Centre is decorated for this special time of year. We had fun decorating the tree and putting lights and garland along the railings. There are fifty poinsettias scattered around the base of the Christus statue and through the VC. The big monitor which is viewed from the street has pictures from the new Church Christmas initiative titled "A Savior is Born". We show the new short cinemas (videos) in our theater. If you haven't seen both of the videos be sure to do so. They are beautifully done.

Front of the Hyde Park Chapel

 We are especially excited for the live Nativity outside the Hyde Park Chapel on Exhibition Road. We have people dressed as Mary and Joseph from 5 to 7 p.m. each night with missionaries out on the street talking to people as they go by and inviting them to come in a view the new videos.

The star over the manger has a story all it's own. It was prelit and when it arrived we discovered that the lights flashed in a very commercial way and they couldn't be turned to be on all the time. We had to cut off the old lights and string a new set to the star frame to get the look we wanted. It doesn't look quite this blue in real life.

Savannaha Stevenson who plays Glinda in the London performance of the musical Wicked is Mary in some of the Church Bible videos and is pictured on the poster next to the manger in the image above. She was a member of the Britannia Young Single Adult ward that meets here at the Hyde Park Chapel until she got married.

Sister Hannig is dressed as Mary and Elder Cook as Joseph

President Stevens has given permission for a Sister missionary and an Elder to portray Mary and Joseph while their companions are nearby on Exhibition Road greeting and talking to passerby's. Other shifts in the live Nativity are covered by members of the England London Stake. The costumes for the Nativity come from Salt Lake and are some of the ones used in the Church's productions of Bible videos. Those that have been in the Nativity have mentioned that it has been a very special privilege to be in these cloths and representing Mary and Joseph in this most important event.

Missionaries sing on the steps of the Hyde Park Chapel, Sister Ashby conducting

We are so grateful for this time of year when we can remember and celebrate the birth, life, and mission of our Savior, Jesus Christ! We feel privileged to be serving as missionaries, teaching the glorious message of the restored gospel to all who will listen.

Linda and Pat at Wicked

This week we had a chance to attend the London performance of Wicked starring Church member Savannah Stevenson as Glinda.

We are having an unusually mild winter in London. On the above screenshot from Pat's phone London was the warmest of any of the places our family lives including Las Vegas and San Mateo (granted we were mid-day and the other places were early morning).