Week ending January 7 2012

What an interesting week this has been.  We started the week still on holiday by going to the  concert of the  “Messiah” in Usher Hall with two couples from the mission.  It was a wonderful production.  It was fun reliving Ricks College days when I was in choir and we put on the Messiah.  I wanted to sing along with the choir on some of the songs and then some of them I had never heard.  I  guess the complete score is at least four and a half hours long and so I have never heard all of it.  They had four soloists. I enjoyed three of them but I do not enjoy men singing the high part.

The most unusual thing about the  concert was  the extended intermission. The choir and orchestra left and the audience pulled out their long stemmed glassware, bottles of refreshment, picnic baskets with some of them being very elaborate.  They then enjoyed a picnic lunch right there in the concert hall with sandwiches, crackers and cheese, fruit, etc., with their drink.  We were one of the few who had not brought our lunch and so Bill went out and bought our usual ice cream that we have enjoyed before at plays and concerts.  Ice cream and drink had been a part of all the events we have attended so that was not unusual.

Tuesday’s plans changed again and again. We were to go to the mission home and help Sister Griffiths do a visual tour of the mission home with background information the New President and his wife might enjoy knowing before they arrive in July.  That got cancelled because of their being out of town. So then we thought of going in to the Museum again and see another section.  We decided not to go when the wind was again blowing so hard.  We didn’t realize how hard until mutual was cancelled because of potential  damage to the roof.  When we went to work on Wednesday we learned the winds were well over a 100 M.P.H. and had taken off a big portion of the Archive roof and did a lot of damage to the building.

Wednesday we also learned of one of our colleagues husband having meningitis and being in a coma.  She and her family are from India and they have been in Scotland since 2005.  She quality checks the pictures of the other group that work with us in the room on different records.  Her brother, sister-in-law, and daughter had come up from London to spend the holidays with them.  On the 25^Th they had been celebrating and dancing and on the 26^Th he was delirious and they had admitted him to the hospital.  He has been in a coma since the 26^Th.  She asked us to pray for him.  To make a long story short, she gave me her address, phone number, the room number where her husband is, and desired that Bill and Michael give her husband a Priesthood blessing on Friday after work.  They are not members of the church and I am not sure how much she even knows about us, but she knew we were Christians and desired that we also added our prayers to theirs.   She has taken our phone number and agreed to call us if she needs any help at all.  She doesn’t drive, and her husband was the one who took care of all the financial matters.  Her husbands only living family member is a mother that lives in India.  He is an only child and his father died when he was young.  Hopefully we can continue to be a support to herand help her through this difficult time.  Her daughter is in her third year of dental school and will have to return to London next weekend.

Saturday night we enjoyed having a couple from the branch over for dinner.  They had us to their place a few weeks ago.  It was wonderful getting to know them better and sharing the evening with them.

We love being here and are finding you do share the gospel just by your example.