Week Thirteen (13) December22 through December 28, 2013

Christmas wreath we purchased at the tree farm

Week 13

December 22, 2013 (Sunday)

We attended two Christmas program Sacrament meetings, so we should be ready for the coming week. 

Springboig Ward YSA Sunday School Class was a service project – we decorated cupcakes to hand out after class to ward members. Patsy Roy baked the cupcakes and had prepared gift packages.

Choir Director

December 23, 2013 (Monday)

Glasgow and Paisley missionary choir

District Meeting combined all of the Glasgow and Paisley Zones to practice caroling the next day at the posh Princess Square Mall off of Buchanan Street on behalf of a charity. 

Elder Browning really enjoyed practice as he was by a strong tenor who kept him on key.

Mairi and Rachel's flat

FHE was held at the flat of Mairi and Rachel but Rachel had gone home for the holidays. Mari has had a tradition of sponsoring FHE the Monday before Christmas at her flat. She prepared a meat loaf in the shape of a boars head. Really cool.

Mairi

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Meatloaf in the shape of a bore's head

 




Elders Moser & McKhann had an investigator lined up but they bailed at the last minute leaving them to “drown their sorrows at FHE. Because it is the Christmas season Mairi entertained the Elders and us. We provided poppers and between the poppers and the meatloaf it was a festive night.

 

Wonderful dinner!

Elder Moser recently returned to Glasgow from Edinburgh, and he was in Glasgow last Christmas for Mairi’s Christmas FHE, so this was a return engagement for him.

We didn't have the tripod, so we set it on this heater...

Sister Browning and Mairi

December 24, 2013 (Tuesday - Christmas Eve)

Gathering at the assigned room prior to singing

We left our flat in plenty of time to get to Princess Square Mall, but the 11:18 AM bus never showed. There was a bus inspector standing with us who was visibly agitated, so I assumed something happened to the bus. Ah, the Holidays!

Glasgow and Paisley Zone Missionaries

Lots of us are taking photos

Today is a good time to be in the mall since outside was rainy, blustery and cold, but the shoppers were in good spirits. We did two 50 minute sets of performances. For the first set Elder Browning was at the end of the tenor line in front of the basses, so he’s not sure if he was on tune or not. We sang carols from the hymn book as well as some popular children’s songs. It’s fun to watch how children will just get in and dance to the music.

The second set after our break did not go as well as the first set. There seemed to be a lot of down time between songs. Best thing Elder Browning did was to reposition himself next to a strong tenor at the other end of the tenor line. Mother did not raise no dummy :-)

During our performance a man had requested a non-Christmas song that Elder Sewel and Sister Ricks sang. As it turned out while the song was being sung, the man proposed to his girlfriend - she accepted. There were a couple of professional photographers taking our picture and that of the crowd when they picked up on the proposal and turned their attention to the couple. That was a cool experience. By the way, Elder Sewel said the man gave him a £50 note, which Elder Sewel donated to the charity that sponsored the choir.

Brother Yates, the MC, constantly reminded the audience that the choir was from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Who knows, maybe the plug will help these young missionaries down the road.

On our way back to the flat, we walked by the "Gents Barbers." The Shop was very decorative, and the barbers were dressed in their Santa Suits. The photos didn't turn out great, but we had to include the photos...

Barbers dressed inn their Santa outfits

Soooooo festive :-)

In the evening Elders Farnsworth and Carter came and we played Hand and Foot until we had to get them to their flat before 9:30 PM. Elder Carter is a big fan of Hand and Foot, so he sort of invited the companionship to our flat. This was Elder Farnsworth's first foray into the game. It made for an enjoyable evening.

December 25, 2013 (Wednesday - Christmas Day)

We invited the YSA, Elders, and investigators over for Christmas day. We told them to drop in any time. We told them we would have breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. After we made the invite, we found out that the public transit system was closed and didn’t run on Christmas Day. Whe had never heard of this. There were no buses and/or trains running on Christmas Day. Thus, we didn’t expect very many people…We were pleasantly surprised at the turnout.

Simple Christmas decorations in our flat

We got a late start - running behind. Oh, Oh, Elders McKhann and Moser are here with three Chinese investigators, Tan Tan, Echo and Rick.

We think we have already informed you that all the Chinese students pick English names. However, Tan Tan didn't; we assume it's because Tan Tan is so easy to say and remember.

Love the Christmas socks

Funny, all doing the same pose...

Elder Browning made his custard pancake and Sister Browning made her egg dish and potato casserole. The cinnamon and Parker-house rolls are still baking. There was a lot of conversation and then Mairi and Jessica arrived. FYI, Jessica graduated from high school at age 13 and moved quickly through college. She applied for a graduate school and was rejected, even though she fully qualified. It was recommended that she apply to the University of Glasgow. It was a long shot, because the time for applying was past, but she wrote the department, and three weeks later she was in Glasgow.

We did the poppers...

Sister Browning: Love the poppers, the party hats, and my honey...

We put on Polar Express and shortly into the movie the Chinatown Elders and their investigators had to go. We should mention that Rick left earlier, because he had to go to work. We hope our environment was conducive to the Elders being able to follow up and teaching the gospel to these Chinese investigators. We enjoyed our association with them very much.

Jessica

Mairi

Carlos

After the movie and more eating we started setting up to play Hand and Foot. We had to teach everyone how to play. We started with Mairi and Sister Browning as companions and Jessica and Elder Browning were the other team. After going through a practice round, Dovile and Remo arrived. ( So sad - :-( We forgot to get their pictures). They are both from Lithuania. Dovile is a member and Remo is being taught by Elders Farnsworth and Carter. Remo is training to be a chef. After some chit chat, we set up to play three teams of Hand and Foot. As we began to move forward, Carlos Luna arrived. He’s a member of the Church of about one month. Thus, we integrated Carlos into the game, which was easy enough because Mairi left the table to talk to family.
 

Elder Farnsworth

And just when we were ready to really get going into the game, Elders van de Bron, Sewel, Farnsworth and Carter, showed up. They had gone to a members home to Skype with their families, but they couldn’t get the computers to work. Thus, they came to our flat hoping we could help them. They came in cyclone mode and to settle them down we offered up our two laptops and two iPads for communicating with their families. 

Elder van den Brown

For privacy in talking with family, they all took separate rooms (master bedroom, 2nd bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom) with Elder Carter, the low man on the totem pole, ending up in the bathroom. They talked to their families for anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. In the meantime, since it gets dark early this time of year, all the other guests found reasons to excuse themselves and to head home, so they too could communicate with their families.

Elder Sewell

Elder Carter - when he contacted his family, the only room left was the "toilet"- which he sequestered himself in

2nd bedroom decorations

Side window of flat. This is what it looks like from the outside

As part of the cleanup we had used the “boot” [trunk] of our car as a refrigerator – it’s cold enough.

Our little nativity

In our prayers we thanked Father-in-Heaven for everyone that came to our flat on Christmas Day and for being available to all those who came to the flat. It has left a smile on our faces as we truly enjoy being around these young people. They bless our lives in so many ways. 

Moreover, Elder Browning said, "I thank Heavenly Father for Sister Browning, for her devotion and commitment to bring a little happiness into the lives of our young friends who are far away from home - just like us. (Sister Browning says, "Back at you Elder Browning. :-) - Sure do luv ya.")

It was a great day, and we did get to talk to Elder Browning's Mother (Nonny), Leigh and his family, and that made the day even better.  


Unfortunately, we called Heather just as she was waiting to receive her call from Jessica. We'll try to catch up with she and her family later.

Reflection by Elder Browning:

"One good moment for me came when I read the Christmas story from Luke, Chapter 2. I was able to read it prior to Rick leaving to go to work. As I was reading, I came to the verse where Mary gives birth to Christ; and the Spirit touched me and tears came easily to my eyes as the Spirit witnessed to me of the reality of what I was reading was true. I thank my Father-in-Heaven for these special moments. I know Jesus is the Christ. I know that he came to earth. I know He is our Savior. I do hope our friends felt the Spirit."

December 26, 2013 (Thursday -Boxing Day)

We received Christmas Cards from our Scottish friends...

Boxing Day is a holiday and used for returns and sales. Elder Farnsworth used the day to buy a couple of new suits. Unfortunately, Elder Carter got a Hogwarts' "Screamer" from his parents for spending too much money, and he has only been out since September. We had a good laugh over his "Screamer".

We went to inspect the remodeling progress of the Dumbarton (now Clydebank) flat. The living room has new faux blond wood floors making the room a lot brighter, but there is much more to be done.

The Savior is very important to us

 In the early afternoon Elders Farnsworth and Carter dropped by, so Elder Farnsworth could pick up his man-purse that he left, and to fix Elder Browning's laptop after creating a Skype account that has locked Elder Browning out of his computer. We then took them over to the church to meet up with the other missionaries.They were watching the Lion King when we arrived, so we stayed and watched the remainder of the movie.

Sister Browning has been working on de-boning the turkey and creating a stew while Elder Browning made some Parkerhouse roll dough. We put it all in the refrigerator to be dealt with tomorrow. It’s late, we’re tired, and Elder Browning has now caught up with his journal writing - he probably left some good stuff out.

Love to all who may read this - the Gospel in its fullness has been restored, and that is the good news.

Christmas decorations around our kitchen sink

December 27, 2013 (Friday)

Stayed around the flat, and Elder Browning baked some bread.

December 28, 2013 (Saturday)

Sister Browning began the day ok but then she did some Yoga and started getting vertigo to the point she went back to bed after breakfast and slept for a couple more hours. She woke feeling somewhat better. In the meantime, Elders Farnsworth called to ask us to help them with a teaching appointment later that night and the Sister Missionaries asked if we could meet them at the church, so they could have some time with Carlos doing an activity. Normally, the Chinatown Elders are there teaching an English class, but they cancelled due to the holidays. We went to the church and the five of us played games. However, running around the tennis table caused Sister Browning’s nausea to return, so she dropped out.

By the time the teaching appointment came around, she was feeling better. 

The appointment was with three teenage girls. They’re from Brazil and speak very little English. Their mother wasn’t home, but their uncle was there who did some translating for us. We took our iPads, so Elder Carter used Google Translator, to help with our communication. It wasn't the best way to teach, but it was better than nothing. 


Sure do luv ya,

Guid cheerio the nou! (Good bye!)