Recently, we traveled to Great Britain and enjoyed some pretty amazing sights. One thing I wanted to be sure to see was Preston, England. Neither my husband nor I have ancestors who come from this area, but this is an important part of Church History and something I always wanted to see for myself.

In the center square of the town of Preston is this obelisk where many missionaries besides Heber C. Kimball and Gordon B. Hinckley have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

On July 30, 1837, about 9000 people gathered to watch Heber C. Kimball baptize 9 people in the River Ribble. It wasn’t long before entire congregations were being converted and preparing to go to Zion.

Along the River Ribble are two beautiful side-by-side parks, Avenham Park and Miller Park. The greenery is just gorgeous. Avenham Park is where we can find commemorative plaques of our church history.

One plaque is next to a tree that was planted in 1999. This plaque commemorates the thousands of converts who traveled to Zion as well as thousands more who have stayed to build up the church in England.

Here are two more plaques that explain more of the importance British converts were to the growth of our church. These plaques are nestled in a fairy-like Japanese garden. I could have spent hours just enjoying the beauty of the trees and flowers and the sound of the trickling stream that runs through.

We also went to church in Preston.

This chapel is obviously fairly new, but inside is another commemorative plaque.

This one reveals a brick from the old Vauxhall chapel that housed the oldest, continuing ward in the church. It was organized in Joseph Smith’s day and continues today.

Finally, we visited the Preston England Temple. The temple is beautiful, but the gardens are spectacular.

We always like to pay special notice of the symbolism on temples. The Preston Temple has

the Sun, the Moon with all its phases, and a Star. We’ve learned that this represents the Abrahamic Covenant when the Lord told Abraham he and his wife would have as many children as there are stars in the sky. My husband joked that the Sun stood for the husband and the different phases of the Moon stood for the multiple wives. I shot back that the phases of the Moon actually stood for the different moods of the ONE wife and that husband better watch out.

Anyway, our trip was wonderful! Out of all the beautiful sights of Great Britain I have fallen in love with Wales. I have always admired the fact that it seems to be a very musical part of the world, but their castles were my absolute favorite and I would live along its coastline and never miss the United States… except for my grandchildren, and cost of living, and American freedoms, and maybe some other things I generally take for granted.