Building Dedication and Embassy Party

On Sunday, the Hyde Park building was rededicated for the third time. They added a visitor's center to the building so that's the reason they rededicated the building. It was a nice service with nice music. I found that the sister who sang "How Great Thou Art" is an actress who plays Mary in the church videos and is the female lead in the musical "Chariots of Fire" in London!
Back on focusing on the Sabbath, the Stake president and some other speakers bore their testimonies and gave really great talks. I feel terrible for not remembering their names. The first speaker bore his testimony about how he and his family came to know the gospel and overall it was a simple, but powerful testimony. The second speaker talked about how yesterday was the 175th anniversary of when the first missionaries set sail to serve in England and the great importance of missionary work. The final speaker talked about the power of revelation and how the Lord makes things fall into place when we follow his promptings. He talked about how the first church building in West Berlin was built in a area where there was nothing. but now it's in the middle of two Embassies, museums, and libraries. Just like the Hyde Park Building is right by many museums where people can pass by and see our building. He also talked about how the advancement of technology helps us share the gospel. All the speakers and musical numbers were great. Overall, a wonderful service.

Afterwards, I went back to the Johnson's to get ready for the US Ambassador's 4th of July party. Before we left, Rufus was telling me that he would try to get me in and was giving me the whole story so I'd know what might happen. We came up with an elaborate plan of me being his niece and holding one of the twins to look more like I'm part of the family and such. When we got there, Rufus showed them his invitations and we just went in. That was easy. I was pretty thankful for that.

When we walked into the garden, we said hello to some of Rufus' co-workers. One of them reminded me so much of Jonathan Steele from Tri-Cities. And his name was John. What a coincidence. Before we let the twins free, Rufus, Juilet and I ate a super fat hamburger (so good!) and then let the boys free. Merilyn, Juliet and I went to the kid's section to wait in line for the face painting. What a slow-moving line, but they did a great job and Merilyn was happy. All that matters. I then went to help Rufus watch the boys since they were going all over the place. Aticus and I went an a safari in a jungle (aka the more thick part of the garden) and pretended to be lions off and on. After awhile, Aticus was hungry for food so I took him back to the stroller where he and Hardy were reunited to eat some grapes while Rufus and Juilet got some ice cream. After they came back, I was able to get some ice cream myself.

As I returned back to my group, Merilyn and I talked about our ice cream, ponies, and unicorns. When we finished eating our ice cream, Merilyn started pushing the stroller and the boys wanted to go for a ride. So Juilet kept watch over the boys to make sure they didn't fall while I helped steer as Merilyn pushed. We eventually got to the stage when the musicians started playing a jazzy version of "When the Saints go Marching in." Merilyn and the boys started to dance and the band thought they were so adorable. The guy playing the drums and the guy playing guitar couldn't stop laughing while the other band members kept smiling. The singer copied some of Merilyn's dance moves. Eventually more people came up to the stage and their kids joined in the dance party. It was so adorable^^

On the way back home, Merilyn and I played the Sandwich game where she'd make all kinds of sandwiches as I ate them. The ones she kept making were the wood sandwiches and trash sandwiches. When she started giving me trash sandwiches, I'd give them to Oscar the grouch. As I was doing this with Merilyn, I was playing peek-a-boo with boys and we were having a contest who could make different noises. 

So overall it was a very happy Sunday indeed :)