England Day 2: Priesthood Program, A Surprise Graduation, and Aliases

Okay,

So Sunday was a good day. I always love Sundays. I will let you know that I was able to get ready for church, shower, blow dry, straighten my hair, AND put all my makeup on in UNDER 30 MINUTES!!! I think Lindz was shocked out of her mind. She had told me the previous night that church was at 10-1. Me, in BYU mode, thinking that there were messed up time schedules because of the amount of wards using the building, thought she meant 12:50 ( ten minutes to one). Yeah, I'm a dork! Well, I am all reading my scriptures around 9:15, and Lindz comes in a little surprised. She asked me when I would be getting ready. That is when it all clicked in my head and I immediately went into panic mode! I jumped in the shower and got ready as fast as I could. Granted, I didn't look my best, but I did get ready in under 30 minutes. Funny thing is: I wasn't the last one out the door, either. In fact, I was the first one!

Church in Oxford was really great. They have a fantastic group of women there, and I was very comfortable with them. The lessons were all very well taught and kept my attention well! They have the reverse schedule, so RS is first, then Sunday School, and then Sacrament. I liked the change. Sacrament meeting was done by the Priesthood brethren because it was the anniversary of the priesthood being restored to the earth. I had a blast listening to the Young Men speak (short, concise, read right off the paper!), and then all the brethren went up to sing a number. I'm not sure a few of them knew that would be the case, because it was like watching the Primary kids sing! Some were singing VERY loudly and were shoving to the front so they could be seen and heard, some men refused to sing at all, and there were hardly any parts being sung. They had two conductors that were quite funny too. It was a father and son combo, and they were both very jaunty and ostentatious. The father lead the first verse, and when it was done, stopped, and extended his hand out to his son as if to hand over the reigns of the choir. As I watched, his son gave him a half bow! I almost started laughing right there!!!! Lindz and I ducked our heads so people couldn't see we were laughing. Thankfully we were in the back, so I don't think anyone noticed.

After lunch we took a quick nap and headed up to Institute graduation in Reading. Lindz and a few other girls were slated to sing on the program, so we went up with a friend. After a few practices, we decided to sit and wait for the program to start, and Lidnz and I flipped open the program to look at it. Up top, in bold blue CAPS, was Lindz's name as one of only two graduates from the Institute program. She didn't even know she had finished her Institute requirements!

The musical number turned out really well, and the whole graduation turned out the be "The Lindsay Show!". She sang, graduated, and spoke in the program. I kept teasing her about stealing the show.

Afterwards they had a great menu of desserts for the students. And they had a chocolate fountain! Woo hoo! (And no, I didn't explode the fountain all over anyone this time!) It was during this time that I started meeting a whole bunch of Lindz's friends, and I couldn't keep them all straight! At one point, a guy named James asked me my name, and automatically, without thinking, I said, "Lindsay". I had to stop him and actually tell him that I had made a mistake, and I gave him my correct name. He laughed and said, "I didn't think I was ugly enough for you to give me a fake name!" We both just laughed about the whole thing, but he teased me about giving him a fake name for the rest of the time I was in England! Why do these things always happen to me?! Oh well. It was a funny end to a great day!