Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Come, Come Ye Saints . . . Across the Universe

We spent the night of 7 October in Liverpool, just a couple of blocks from Albert Docks. It was late enough when we got in that we just had time to eat dinner and then we headed to the docks, everything was closed but we did find a few friends.
This is a statue of a emigrant family donated by the LDS Church. It looks out to the open sea, towards a new home. Lindsey, Megan, Sabrina, Talyn, Tracy, and Rebecca.
I also found my new boyfriend, Billy Fury! (Okay, so we had no idea who he was, he looks like the Elvis of England). He and I hit it off right away.
The next morning we had a little time for ourselves to explore before we had to meet the group. Most of us headed to the Beatles Museum . . . I didn't go in because it cost 8 pounds, or $16 dollars to get in and I'm not a huge Beatles fan in the first place. We did stop by the gift shop and snapped a couple pictures though. HELP! Me, Emilee, Kaitlyn, and Kayla.
We met the rest of the group at Albert Dock, the place where most of our ancestors left their homeland and came to America. Even though it was a chilly day we took a group picture by the Mormon Family statue and then had a little devotional. At the close of our devotional we sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" and there were very few dry eyes at the end of the song, including our coach driver. We all realized the significance of the place and the sacrifice of our ancestors which has blessed our lives so much.

Looking towards the open sea on Albert Dock. After our devotional we visited the Maritime Museum's exhibit on emigration. My favorite part was the life-sized example of a ships living quarters. The bunks didn't look comfortable at all . . . being stuffed in there with a bunch of people, on those hard bunks, in the heaving sea sounds miserable! Overall the gallery was great and I was reminded of the difficulties of the journey across the ocean.

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