We left the MTC on the afternoon of
Wednesday, 9 October 2013. We spent the afternoon and evening at Bill and JR’s
packing and repacking!
We left Salt Lake City on the
morning of Thursday 10 October 2013. Our trip from SLC to Minneapolis St. Paul
was uneventful. We had a plane change in Minneapolis. What a high tech airport!
At various locations they have IPads for you to use and places to recharge your
electronics. The IPads are also used to order your food. This is the one at our
table.
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| This is the IPad we used to place an order for our food. |
We made all of our connections and
made it without any problems.
Our seats from
Minneapolis St. Paul to Amsterdam were in the last row of the plane. Actually,
they weren't bad...and we were close to the bathrooms, which came in handy. Also,
we boarded in the second group, so we found spots for our entire carry-on
luggage. That was a blessing. Even though the flight was an all-night flight, we
couldn't sleep…
.
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| Sunset reflection on the wing of the airplane |
By the time we boarded the plane from Amsterdam to Edinburgh, I was sooooooo tired, that I slept the whole flight (about 1 1/2 hours).
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| Edinburgh, Scotland |
We were met at the airport by the Mission President and his wife.
President and Sister Brown are
wonderful. They took us to the mission home, talked to us for a while, showed
us around the mission home, and fed us some lunch.
A senior couple serving in the
Mission Home drove us to Glasgow. I was tired very hard to stay awake for the drive from Edinburgh to Glasgow, I think I did, but Ron dozed in and out of sleep on the the drive.
We are staying in the flat
(apartment) for a few days with Elders and Sister Whitney. They’re being
transferred to Limerick, Ireland. When they leave, we’ll live in that flat.
Well, once we had a minute, I
started unpacking and discovered that I was missing one of my large suitcases.
Panic! We spent over an hour trying to find the correct number and person to
talk with. We finally connected with the correct person. They confirmed they
had my suitcase, so Elder and Sister Whitney drove us back to the Edinburgh Airport.
It was an hour drive one way. Everything worked out, and I picked up my
suitcase.
On Saturday, 11 October 2013, the
Whitneys drove us around and showed us some points of interest (grocery store,
the bank and the church).
In the evening, we attended a
baptism.
Note: Since we’re all part of a
heavenly family, and since we consider everyone our brothers and sisters, we call
everyone either a brother or sister. I mention this for future clarification…
After the baptism, we talked with
two brothers (men from the Glasgow Ward) that shared a lot and were very
entertaining. They had a Scottish brogue, which was difficult to understand all
the time, but I think I understood most of the conversation! One of them was on
a football team (Scotland) and also played some American Football. The team
that he was on played an exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders. His claim
to fame was his fantastic tackle he made on Jim Plunkett. He was very proud of
the fact that he played against the Oakland Raiders…He isn’t very large, but he
sure is tough!
Everyone has been so kind and
friendly.
On Sunday, we attended two wards. We
started at 10am and got out at 3pm. It was Fast Sunday, so we
listened to a lot of testimonies. There are good strong saints here in Glasgow.
We had to chuckle at one sister's when she mentioned that, "Glasgow is
cold, wet and miserable." Boy, doesn’t that sound like Portland’s weather;
thus, we feel right at home J
We also went to a "Patsy's
dinner." Patsy and Scott are members of the Springboig Ward. Every fast
Sunday she puts on a dinner for the YSA and a few other special people. Their
home has a small kitchen and only one oven, but the spread she provided was
unbelievable. She prepared a very large pan of potatoes, a corn dish, a broccoli
and cauliflower dish with a cheese sauce, green beans, cooked carrots, couscous,
pork loins wrapped in bacon, apple sauce, some other dishes and homemade bread.
There was so much food. She also had three desserts (gingerbread with a custard
sauce, a chocolate gooey cake, and a banana/caramel/whipped layered dessert
that was to die for). There were about 25 - 30 people. It was wonderful. I
can't believe she does this every Fast Sunday, which means she does it once a
month. It was amazing.
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| Wonderful Dinner |
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| Scott & Patsy |
On Monday we met with a person to
look at a flat. It’s closer to the church, so the location would be great, but
we won’t move if the flat isn’t a good one.
We then took the Sister missionaries
grocery shopping and then to the Library. We now have a Glasgow library card.
When we received information from
the Mission Home, we were told to bring a GPS. Actually, we were told three
times in the letter to bring a GPS with us. So we purchased one in the United
States, but returned it prior to leaving the states. (Not a good move!) The
first day we were here, we realized the error we had made. There was no way we
could find our way around Glasgow without a GPS. Thus, while we were out with
the sister missionaries, we purchased a Garmin. The letter was correct; we
needed a GPS to find our way around here. The roads are so confusing. There are
a lot of roundabouts, no straight roads, no direct routes, no shortcuts and no
visible street names. Thus, these are great conditions for a GPS!
On Monday afternoon, Sister Whitney
and I prepared and light dinner for FHE (family home evening) and for the YSA
(Young Single Adults – 18 to 30 year olds). That will be one thing Ron and I
will continue doing - every Monday we will prepare a light supper for FHE. Since
FHE is held at the church, we’ll transport the supper to and from the church building,
which is also the Glasgow Stake building and is about three miles away.
On Tuesday morning, Ron and I
attended the District Meeting. This is a meeting held every Tuesday for the full-time
missionaries. (Either a District Meeting or a Zone Meeting is held on Tuesday.)
The Whitneys stayed home, so they
could pack. On Tuesday afternoon, we took Elder and Sister Whitney to the
Edinburgh Airport. They are being transferred to Limerick Ireland. They had a
weight limit, so we took one of our large suitcases in case the Whitneys needed
to transfer items into it, so that they wouldn’t go over their weight limit.
The plan was to leave the extra items at the Mission Home. (Sound familiar? Yes,
the Whitneys over packed. They did what we did to Bill and JR... When we left
SLT, we had to leave some items with Bill and JR, which they graciously agreed
to store for us for the next two years.) After we left the Whitneys at the
airport, we drove to the Mission Home and transferred all of their items into a
large box, which will be left at the Mission Home until arrangements are made to
get the box to the Whitneys in Ireland.
Our large suitcase was empty once
again, so we took it back to our flat. Needless to say, we'll need it in
the future…
We’re very busy with all the
teaching appointments that we have with the younger missionaries. We are also
very busy with all the fun activities and work that goes along with working
with the young single adults (YSA). Serving a mission in Scotland has been a
wonderful experience.
Here are some photos of our flat
(apartment). That’s our washer. It’s in the kitchen.
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| Washer and dryer as one unit. |
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| Since the dryer doesn't work real well, we use drying racks to dry our clothes. |
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| Drying racks are also made for the heaters. There is a heater in the bathroom. Thus, we heat our towels so that they are nice and warm after a shower... |
Here's another drying rack, which
is in our bedroom. It’s the heater with a wire drying rack attachment. The
flats are decorated/furnished by the landlords.
We love it here in Glasgow,
Scotland.
Wednesday evening we attended an
Institute Class. We were in charge of the refreshments. We had no idea of how
many students would show up. We were expecting maybe 10 people. Well, thirty
showed up. Needless to say, we didn't have enough food. Next week we’ll do
better.
Talk about dedicated YSA. Some YSA
don’t have cars, so they ride the train and busses to get to Institute. Some
travel two hours to get hear. A group live 50 miles away, which means they
travel 100 miles every Wednesday night to attend Institute.
The first week we were here, Ron and
I attended one class. I did pretty well in understanding most of what was going
on, but one guy must have been speaking a foreign language, because I don't
know what he said. Oh, he was speaking English with a real Scottish brogue and
some slang too...
There are two Institute Classes
being taught this year – Book of Mormon and Teachings of the Living Prophets
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| Photo of the Institute Classes |
On Thursday we
drove to downtown Glasgow to the Apple Store. My IPhone gets very hot and
rapidly loses its charge. It’s fully charged in the evening, and by 3am, it’s
in the red zone. We talked to someone at the Apple Store. They suggested my
phone could be losing power because it's trying to run a program and can't.
They suggested I run the updates, which I did; and it's still not working well…
L
When we arrived in Scotland, my clock
never changed, so I went into settings and set it for Scotland time... It’s now
keeping time better J
– but it’s still not holding its charge. I’ll keep working until I solve this
problem. We don’t have cell service here in Scotland yet.
Photos of downtown Glasgow and the
store with all the old sewing machines.
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| Yes, what you are seeing are old sewing machines. They are being used as their store window display. |
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| On all three sides of the store windows. |
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| It's really cool! |
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| Rain or shine - lots of people in City Center. (That's what they call downtown Glasgow.) |
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| Beautiful old buildings. Also, great public transportation. That's how everyone gets around. |
Also on Thursday, we helped the
Zone Leaders out. They took their car in for some repairs, so we met them
and took them to the repair shop after the car was ready to be picked up. The Zone leaders are the only ones with a car. All the other missionaries take public transportation and/or the walk everywhere.
After dinner on Thursday evening, we
met two other Elders and joined them for a teaching appointment. After the
appointment, we drove them to their flat.
Driving here is sooooooo confusing. It's not just the fact that you're on the
left side of the road, but you have roundabouts. Even with the GPS, we get
lost. Well, we did Thursday evening; and it took us a long time to get home;
but we made it! I'm so glad Ron is a good driver and enjoys driving. Being a passenger is very stressful!
Glasgow is made up of old buildings, small shops and very narrow winding roads, which makes it very interesting.
Friday we picked a Sister up at her flat
in the Village in East Kilbride and took her to the Mission Home in Edinburgh,
which is an hour away. She isn't well and is going home to get better. I don't
know the details. After she gets better, she would like to finish her mission
and would like to come back to Scotland. I hope everything works out for her.
The people here are so interesting.
I love it.
Jill, I have seen more red heads in
the first three weeks than I have in two years in Portland. I know how much you
love red heads, which means you would love it here!
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| Calum has 5 other brothers. Three of them are red heads and three are not. |
Sure do luv ya. Lots of love from us to you ... Take
care.
Cheerio the nou!
~Tracey
p.s. Ron sends his love too.
Love you and like you, sweet dreams, have a good night’s rest. See you again when we FaceTime! Love you lots.
