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| East Kilbride Chapel is a nice building |
Week Eleven (11)
December 8, 2013 through
December 14, 2013
December 8, 2013
(Sunday)
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| This couple knew Steve McDonough |
We went to
East Kilbride Ward for church services (From the photo above, it's a smaller building than it looks - as a reference, it's about half the
size of the Maplewood Ward building).
We left our flat early to give
us plenty of time to get lost and to recover. We went through a new part of
town and took one or two wrong turns, but we made it in plenty of time. The GPS said we had arrived when actually we were a couple hundred yards short
of our destination, and we couldn't see the building. Elder Browning was driving down
the street getting ready to find a place to turn around when we saw the
building.
Church in another ward is a good experience and we enjoyed
meeting the YSA that we knew and some missionaries we knew from the zone
meetings.
After the block meeting Elder Browning talked with a man whose parents were taught the gospel by his childhood
friend, Steve McDonough, so they sat and talked about their common connection.
Then Elder and Sister Browning met with the Bishop to discuss how we could help reach out to
those YSA he does not see.
Meanwhile, our YSA
friend, Steve McN., waited patiently to take us to his home for lunch.
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| Steven, his Dad, Mom, family friend, Elder & Sister Browning |
The rest of the family had eaten by the time we arrived, so his Dad fixed
us eggs and sausage – YUM! It was really good. We then sat around and had a wee blether about
a lot of things, both spiritual and personal. Thoroughly enjoyable
experience. Their home had a wonderful kitchen.
December 9, 2013
(Monday)
It's time to get ready for
transfers... The Sister missionaries are not affected, so we took them
shopping. We went to the post office so that Elder Browning could resend his request for a
senior bus pass. The first effort has born no fruit, so he resubmitted an application form.
Monday night is FHE but
only one person showed up :-( It was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed our one-on-one time.
We have a lot of leftover food; thus, we decided to take
it to Institute on Wednesday. The meal was called Perky Turkey. It was really good...and it's fun to say - Perky Turkey!
December 10, 2013
(Tuesday)
Today we did the Pollock Elders' flat
inspection. The flat was OK, nothing that a coat of
paint wouldn't help. Most of the flats just have a lot of normal wear and
tear. No one is abusing their living quarters.
After leaving the flat
we drove by an old dilapidated castle, so we turned around to tour
it.
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| We climbed high - see the railing on the top of the castle |
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| The view from the tower was fabulous |
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| We took these photos... |
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| Excellent views of south-west Glasgow. |
Later in the day we went
on a joint teach with the Springboig Elders, so Elder M_____. could say his farewell
to a member. Then we helped him out on
an excursion to Buchanan Gallery. That
was the easy part. The hard part was
getting them to their next appointment. What a nightmare! I’m still getting used to how the Nuvie directs
our route. It's also dark early; and it is going home traffic out of City Centre. Not fun... The Elders were already late, so they contacted the people to let them
know we were coming, but the problem was exacerbated by Elder Browning's lack of knowledge as
to where we were and how to get around. Traffic was backed-up all over, plus, he
was often in the wrong lane for turning which sent us off in the wrong
direction. It was intense.
Consequently, after dropping off the Elders we tooled around town
spending most of our time in the wrong lane and going back into City Center and
starting all over again. The good news? We did make it home! So, we
got out of our missionary clothes and into our comfort clothes (warm-ups and Hawaii shirt) and relaxed for the
rest of the night. This helped to settle Elder Browning's blood pressure.
December 11, 2013
(Wednesday)
We spent the better part of
the day doing finances and cleaning the flat. We made ourselves available
to help with transfers if needed - but we were not needed.
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| Nativity Video |
The evening was spent at
Institute where the teacher played a video portraying the Nativity with
excerpts thrown in by the First Presidency from prior talks. Sister Browning later
found the video on Mormon Channel. We found it very touching and
encourage you to watch it. (We couldn't find the link, so we can't share it with you. "Saw-ddy" (Sorry). Here is a link to another very good Nativity Video.
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-11-2500-the-nativity?lang=eng
We served up the Perky
Turkey left over from FHE - since we had a lot. It was a huge hit,
together with Italian bread, ice cream and Sister Browning's FAMOUS hot fudge sauce.
December 12, 2013
(Thursday)
Elder Browning had a baptismal
interview to conduct for President Brown who was not available. When a
person has committed certain offenses the Mission President, or his delegate,
is required to conduct the interview rather than the District or Zone Leader.
This was Elder Browning's second opportunity, and it was with a fairly young mother of
three. He found her to be very repentant and a fit candidate for baptism.
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| George Square at Christmas time |
Thursday night we hopped
the bus into Glasgow City Centre to walk around and look at the Christmas
lights. While waiting for the bus a truck went booming by and hit a
puddle, splashing Elder Browning from the waist down while another woman was sprayed on her
upper torso and maybe her face. Interestingly enough, Sister Browning was
standing next to Elder Browning and didn't get any of the spray.
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| Skating Rink |
It was an enjoyable
evening viewing the hustle and bustle of the city and viewing the lights.
St. George's Square was set up with rides, concessions and a small ice
skating rink. Not only was the rink crowded but it was full of novices of
all ages. We enjoyed watching the skaters groping one another trying to
stay upright or grabbing hold of the side rails to get stability.
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| Nativity |
All-in-all, it was a great evening with our eternal companions.
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| We don't know what it's made of, but it looks like foam rubber!. |
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| Here's the video - Enjoy! |
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| Santa's Grotto |
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| Santa's Boots |
We continued our journey
when a sign "jumped" out at us to come to the Christmas tree farm and
things. Sooooo, we just had to turn in - and we're glad we did.
There was an enclosed
path that led to "Santa's Grotto". We don't know if they have a
Santa on the weekends or not but it was set up like it could.
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| He needs to get stronger, so he can pull Santa's Sleigh! |
It
was a farm that had a deli and a full cafeteria. After
passing through the Grotto you could go see some animals. They had a
Reindeer, a small heifer, some chickens and a couple of piglets. We
think the trees may have been shipped in from Norway. We chose not to get
a tree but we did buy a wreath.
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| Callander |
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| We could watch the chef cook our dinner - very clean kitchen |
We made it to
Callander in time for a late lunch (linner). We wanted to eat in Callander in
remembrance of eating there when we (Nonnny, Elder & Sister Browning) picked Heather up from her
mission. (We toured Heather's mission and then some of Elder Browning's mission area in Scotland.)
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| This is our waitress and a glimpse of the restaurant |
We had a great fish and chip meal.
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| This photo is larger so you could read about the restaurant |
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| Cute photo - can you tell what was used to make the fish? |
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| Church - now Visitor Center |
We went into a wool shop
and found their "sale" department and came away with some nice
sweaters to compliment what we already have.
After
"linner" (late lunch early dinner), we walked the main street of Callander. As we did so we came to
another "Chippy" shop. It was the same one we ate at 20+ years ago with
Nonny, Heather and us. It triggered a memory of a parking lot behind the building,
so we went to the corner and looked in back and lo and behold - the parking lot
was right where Elder Browning remembered it to be. There was a woman standing in the
doorway of a shop, so we had a "wee blether" with her
about what we were remembering.
By the time we finished
we needed to get going to Dundee, since we were at the mercy of our GPS, not
knowing how to get to Dundee.
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| Callendar is a charming little town |
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| Setting sun at Doune Castlel |
We stopped at Doune Castle, but we didn't have time to tour it, so we'll have to go back another day!
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| Doune Castle |
Doune
Castle is where Monty Python's "Holy Grail" was filmed.
Also, this will
be the site or the movie set of "Outlander." Outlander is a book series
by Diana Gabaldon. They were getting it ready for a shoot.
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| Ice House... |
Fortunately, the GPS took us past Stirling Castle where
we could see the castle sitting majestically against the setting sun.
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| Wallace Monument |
Moreover, it took us right past Wallace Monument. We took several
pictures of the monument because the setting sun gave it a beautiful reddish
color. A flood of memories came to Elder Browning. He remembered times of riding his bike to the monument with his companion.
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| Too dark to go to Castle Campbell - so we stopped to take a photo |
We continued on to Dollar and
while traveling Elder Browning couldn't help but see how the whole area had grown.
Where he remembered open fields there were now lots of housing.
That's progress and natural growth...
When they took a break from the ceilidh dancing around 10:30pm, and since our blood was rushing,
we decided to head back to Glasgow while we were awake. As we were getting in the car, some of the YSA from the Dundee area came out to say good bye. They really liked us being there and hoped we would come to the next one. That really made us feel good. (One of the young men was the lad in the stove pipe hat.) We love these young people. We consider them our friends... Here's a link to the church website about friends.
https://www.lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth/friends?lang=eng
The drive back is about 1-1/2 to 2
hours drive. We made it and climbed into bed a little after midnight. We
learned the next day that the two couples that were in Dundee didn't get to bed until after 2am in the morning (the senior missionary couple from Aberdeen were staying with the senior missionary couple at Dundee). That's a late night!
December 14, 2013
(Saturday)
Today was a day to meet
15 other senior missionaries, including the Mission President and his wife,
in Pitlochry to attend "It's a Wonderful Life," the musical. We wanted to take another route to Pitlochry but we got a later start than
anticipated and as we were driving out of town Elder Browning mentioned that he
wasn't sure we could make it in time going this circuitous route so he changed his mind (after searching his feelings and what the Spirit was trying to tell him), and we turned around to use a more direct route, which turned out to be the best choice, because we made it to Pitlochry
with 15 minutes to spare.
The 17 missionaries had
reservations at the restaurant called The Victoria. We shared a Salmon dinner and a
shrimp cocktail. Both were very good. We would go back for the
Salmon again. As we were eating the Salmon, Elder Browning thought of his Mother, who loves
Salmon. She would have loved this one, because it had been prepared very well. For dessert, Sister Browning had
Crème Brûlée, and Elder Browning had a decadent chocolate cake - both were fantastic!
We made it to the
theater as they were seating the people. We weren't sure what to expect, but
it was a charming musical production. They followed the storyline of the movie as
close as possible letting dance and song fill in the story. If in the future we see it being advertised, we would pay
good money to see this musical again. The music was great, as was the choreography
and the staging. Great production. We were told all the actors were
from the UK, but they all sounded very American - Good job!
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| We were on the front row |
Here are a few photos. Unfortunately, our photos didn't turn out so well :-(
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| We could look into the orchestra pit |
Another enjoyable day
even if we had to travel a couple of hours in the rain and dark to get home.
Sure do luv ya,
Guid Cheerio the nou,
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