Week ending December 3

What a week.  It started with Bill being called as First Counselor in the Young Men’s organization on Sunday morning before church and then sustained in Sacrament Meeting.  There are six young men that attend church on a regular basis.

We were invited to Brother and Sister Dickson’s home for Family Home Evening and dinner on Monday along with the other Elders.  What a wonderful dinner it was.  Some of the best lasagna I have ever had with wonderful garlic bread and then a jelly, fruit, and cream dessert.  We gave a lesson on Family History and the Elders on praying for friends to invite to hear about the gospel.  The Dickson’s have only been married since July.  It is a second marriage for both.  Soon after they were married Brother Dickson went in to have his esophagus stretched and all went wrong.  They put a hole in it and the follow up surgery almost killed him.  He had a few near death experiences and then spent nine weeks in the hospital recovering.  He said it was a good experience because he feels nearer to God than he ever had in his life.  We had a great evening there.

Tuesday we went back to Falkirk for mutual.  I went with to attend the Young Women’s in Excellence Program, while Bill met with the young men and shared a lesson on their priesthood duties.

Wednesday, Bill went out with the Elders for a visit and I got Christmas letters and package ready to mail.  In regards to packages, please do not send us any.  It is too expensive as we have learned from sending one and receiving one.  Please write us emails and we will Skype for Christmas.  It will be the best gifts we can get from you.  If you love us please do this.  We have everything we need here and are really not missing any things from home.

Thursday we had the delightful experience of going to the play Beauty and the Beast as a pantomime.  We didn’t know it was a pantomime when we got the tickets or we probably wouldn’t have got them.  We found out that a pantomime is not what we think of.  It is like a melodrama where the audience gets involved booing and cheering.  It is usually a children’s play and done around Christmas.  We loved it and would have liked to take all of you to it.

Friday Bill went out with the missionaries again.

Saturday we went and visited Rosslyn Chapel.  It is the chapel that was mentioned in Dan Brown’s book The Di Vinci Code.  Construction of the Chapel began in 1446.  It was built by Sir William St. Clair for his family to attend and be buried in. 

He wanted it to be a teaching place as well so all the carvings are telling Bible Stories.  The whole building is built of stone and for that reason is still standing and in use today.  There are hundreds of stone carvings throughout the Chapel.  Stories from the Old and New Testament are carved in stone.

This carving represents the birth of Christ.  There are 41 pages of information in one reference alone on the internet and hundreds of books written about this Chapel.  One of the mysteries associated with the chapel was the several images that seemed to be associated with music.  Just recently a father and son team was able to “break the code” and discover the song.   It was fascinating.

Today President Paterson asked us to come early so he could visit with me.  I was called and sustained as First Counselor in Young Women’s.  So all of you who are serving there also, I will appreciate any suggestions, websites, ideas for activities and lessons that you have.  It has been several years since I have worked with young women.

We also had our first snow this morning.  We had about an inch of snow.  Now it is gone on the roads for the most part but when we went out to walk a few minutes ago a man almost slipped and fell right in front of us.  It was enough to scare me and so we came back inside.

We have our tree up and decorated, and stockings hanging in the window. 

We hope you too are getting ready for the holidays and have a great week.