Week ending March 25, 2012

Things were a little different this week. We went in to the office on Monday to learn how to handle transfer procedures since we will be in charge for the next move. The sisters will be on their way home or at least be released by then. We were there Monday through Wednesday.

Bill and I worked with Sister Query on Monday learning all about scheduling planes, and bus and ferry service to and from Ireland. We also learned some on setting up new missionary folders etc. At lunch time we walked along the canal and enjoyed the scenery.

Tuesday was spent with Sister Wallace with referrals, mail, supplies, answering phone, and various other things. She does a little of this , that , and the other. Bill continued to work with Sister Query.

Wednesday was also with her in the morning. Then I helped a little with the new missionary lunch. We then got to eat lunch with the group which was small this time. We had three new missionaries and their trainers, the AP’s, the six (with us) office people, and President and Sister Griffiths. After clean up I worked with Sister Graham, the office secretary, to learn about reimbursements, while Bill worked with Elder Graham, the financial secretary. We also got to go up and see the trainers and trainees matched up and watched what the office staff presented to the new missionaries.

Thursday and Friday we were back at the archives. Thursday was a very busy day with lots of little books to QC. Friday, Bill was back doing individual sheets and I spent the day with emails, listening to the April Ensign online and QC'ing two volumes.

Friday we also found out it is time for the yearly checkup on the car and so of course it will be the next Friday after Adell and Lee have arrived. O well, we figure they will be resting in the morning and hopefully we will have it back quickly.

We went out to dinner at the Spylaw Tavern which had been recommended by Andy from the Archives. I had salmon with a ginger, orange sauce, potatoes, carrots, turnips, and red cabbage. Bill had trout with a delicious citrus sauce. The restaurant was in a beautiful location where you would not expect it and parking was the difficult challenge but worth it.

Saturday we went to Glasgow to see the Riverside Transportation Museum and the tall ship. That area of the river had been a ship building area and the last ship built there had been the Queen Elizabeth II. The museum was filled with all kinds of transportation through the ages from cars, subway, buses, boats, bikes, skateboards, trains, etc. Also told how people had lived from week to week pawning their most valuable items on Monday and getting them back at the end of the week only to be at the pawn shop again on Monday. 

We also visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum which is similar to our Museum but ours is larger and nicer.  Once unique feature of the museum is a beautiful organ that we had the pleasure to hear while we were there.

We also stopped to see Linlithgow Palace to see if that is one to want to take Adell and Lee to. I believe it is if time doesn’t run out. We will see what things they are most interested in doing. We have a fun week in mind for us with lots of options and not enough days to do it all but can’t wait to get started. We, as Lee told us, only have four more sleeps until they are here. So next two weeks will be fun. 

Week ending March 18 2012

Happy Mothering Day to all you Mums .  That’s right it is mums day or Mothering Day in Scotland.  So I am going to start with today and work backward this week.  It has been a wonderful day today.  It was Stake Conference weekend and so we had our Sunday meeting from 11-1 today.  We start later to give all those who are traveling in more time to get here since they do not live just a short distance from the Stake Building.

President Freed started the meeting honoring a few ladies to represent all in the audience.  The first was Sister Wallace from the mission office (she is the one I am going to replace) to represent all the mums that are praying for wayward children.  Sister Flynn was called up to represent mums who didn’t have their children here with them.  Another sister was called for no longer having her mum here on earth. The fourth was for those who still had their children at home.  Each of them received a bouquet of flowers.  It was very nice and made me feel like it was mum’s day here.  Of course Bill bought me a bouquet of pink tulips so I knew it was, it just hadn’t felt like it before. The rest of conference was just as wonderful with the theme being building Zion here.

We had invited Bishop Mitchell and his family over for lunch.  He is the one over us at the archives.  The family came except for Sister Mitchell. She was not feeling up to it today.  We had a wonderful dinner of broiled turkey steaks, potato salad, baked beans, corn, green beans, cantaloupe, banana cream pie, and a chocolate cake that they brought.

After they left, we went out to Fourth Bridge to walk along the shore and get some more shells and beautiful rocks and enjoy this gorgeous sunshiny spring day.

Yesterday was also a wonderful sunshiny day.  We spent it going to Gilmerton Cove.  It is a maze of rooms and passageways that were carved out of the limestone and lie hidden beneath the town of Gilmerton. There are many ideas of what the cove may have been used for but the latest in the 1700’s was a home for George Paterson and his family.  He was a blacksmith and there looks like a forge there but it has never been used.  Many have suggested that it was a secret meeting place for people like Masons, Templars, smugglers, Witches, and many more ideas.  It was fascinating. 

Since it was such a beautiful day you had to do something outdoors and so we visited the Edinburgh Botanical Garden’s and even wandered upon a wedding party as well as many beautiful gardens.

The gardens will be even more beautiful come May and June and the rest of the summer. They even had a tree wrapped in pink for breast cancer awareness. 

They also have glass greenhouses but we didn’t go in there because there was a cost for that and we didn’t have the time to see it because we had Saturday evening conference to get to.  We will go back many times I am sure.

It is daffodil haven here right now.  I have never in my life seen so many of them.  They are everywhere, in the normal places, along roadsides, in fields, parks, and everywhere.  Trees are getting more leaves and flowers each day now.

At work we have encountered some interesting books we are working on.  They are records of deed that are on huge sheets of paper to preserve what is left of them.  They may have one, two, three, or four separate images put on in all directions.  It is taking Bill about a minute a page to capture them and therefore he is only getting two books done a day.  Again I have lots of time, for reading, listening to the Book of Mormon, Ensign, planning our time with Adell and Lee, and other things.  Thank goodness he has only had two days of these so far or the day would get boring.

It has been a great week.  We have visited with a few of you and are trying to reach more of you.  Hope you have had a good week.  May God be with you.  We love you so much.

Love, Sister and Elder Rasmussen

Week ending March 11, 2012

I can’t believe another week has already gone by.  We attended our first baptism in the Falkirk Branch.  They held it after our meeting block on Sunday.  It was for a child who turned eight and so most of the branch stayed for it.  Almost all 80 chairs in the Chapel were full.  It lasted almost an hour.

We had a lunch invitation to Elder and Sister Grahams at four and so we were the first to leave the meeting after the baptism and we were still about five minutes late for dinner.  Dinners here are all like this one.  We had Mediterranean Chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, bread, and drinks first.  Then we had the dessert part which was cut up fresh fruit, raspberry cheesecake, and two kinds of ice cream.  Fruit is never served with the main meal and they almost always serve three vegetables.  We had a delightful  evening there.  Sisters Wallace and Quary were there also and so it will be the ones who train us for the office and then the sisters leave.

There is a chance we may move into that flat when the Grahams go home the end of July.  We are not getting our hopes up though.  It is a 5 star flat and the Grahams are hoping they do not raise the rent when they move out and so it would be out of our range.

Tuesday was mutual night and we took the Hambiltons with us.  They did a result night for those who took the test on employment  interests for the youth 14 and up.  We painted fingernails while they did their part and the Branch President called out girls one at a time to interview for the temple trip.

We went into the office on Thursday to turn in flat inspection papers and ended up getting a little training at the office also.  I now know a little about entering baptisms into the system.

Friday we ate at a local pub that was just ok and watched a movie on the computer.

Saturday,  we were invited to the Sisters for breakfast and had a traditional Scottish breakfast with their sausage, haggis, back bacon,  potatoes, Spanish omelet , their kind of scone, blood pudding and fruit pudding.  We also had orange juice and toast. It was good.

From there we went to Regional day for the youth from all over Scotland.  It started with breakfast sandwiches and drink and registration.  We didn’t have to do either of these.  Then they had a Seminary lesson in the chapel. 

We were then divided into two groups for two service projects.  Bill and I stayed in the Chapel and tried to learn to sign our names and a song.  It was taught by a man who does that for a living and a young lady who is deaf.  That was fun and the young lady got to be in the lime light.

The other group was making banners to send to Kenya to an orphanage I think.

Lunch was served after that  and then  different activities from football, badminton, learning about strange wild animals like spiders, etc., zumba  class, a beauty class, and a visit to the Scotland Parliament Building. The visit to the Parliament Building is what we wanted to do, but they could only take 25 there and so we couldn’t go.  So at that point we decided to leave.  They had plenty of leaders and we were not needed for anything.

They finished the day with dinner, changing into very dressy clothes for a testimony meeting  followed by a dance.  We had all the youth 14 and up from our branch there which was 2 girls, and 5 boys.

It has been a good week and today is Branch Conference followed by a munch and mingle.  We have a family moving from the branch this week and we are telling them goodbye.  They will be missed.  They were strong members.

Week ending March 4, 2011

What a wonderful week I am having.  Last Sunday I gave my lesson on Homemaking that I have been going to give forever.  The first time I was to give it, the Branch President and counselors came in and spoke to the girls.  The next time we were called to an assignment by the Branch President and were not there.  I had spent a lot of time on it and was excited about it in the beginning.  It went over OK but seemed anti climatic.  I ended by having a girl open a beautifully wrapped gift to find nothing on the inside and compared that with how beautiful they are on the outside, but if they are not learning homemaking skills it is like giving their family and future husbands a gift like that.  Then we had them list some  skills they would like to be learning for mutual activities. We will see how it went.  They have just wanted to play most mutual nights.

In the evening we had invited all the Senior Missionaries over for a potluck and visit.  We had a delightful evening crowed in our living room with sixteen people  eating and talking.  Elder and Sister Neeley’s were here also because they were finishing their mission, staying at the President and Sister Griffiths overnight and flying back to Salt Lake the next morning.  They were so glad we had an evening where they could say goodbye to so many.  Also many commented on how relaxed President and Sister Griffiths seemed to be and how unusual that was they could enjoy an evening just hanging out.

We also finished our Teacher Development class and so this week will be back in the regular Sunday School  class until the Branch President wants to start another one.

Monday we went in and Mike was back after a week of being gone for his daughter’s wedding.  He only stayed half a day and then went home to take care of the grandchildren while his daughter went off on a honeymoon.  He was out until Friday.  We had about  eight books left of the series Record of Deed books that they have been working on for years.  At least we thought we were finished until Mike announced that in the beginning they had not started at the first of the series but about 200 years into the series because they didn’t know if the books were in good enough condition to digitize.  Now that they have seen our work, we will go back and pick them up.  So until we get them the men were working on cemetery records.  They are always harder to do because of the difference in condition of the books and the various sizes of the books that they have to keep  changing their focus. We got through most of them though.  Friday Bill worked on one that  you removed each page of this almost nine hundred page book.  Some of the pages were missing and we had to locate them if we could in other books.  The pages were torn and crumpled especially at the beginning and ending of the book.  So Bill took one out, placed it on the cradle, tried to iron and unbend the page, shoot the picture, turn it over and do the other side.  It literally took him all day to shoot the one book.  I was finding the pages and making sure they were all in the right order.  Also making sheets to be filmed of missing or unused pages to be digitized so every page is accounted for.  Then I quality checked three of Mike’s books which were each under 50 pages.  With much time on my hand I went to lds.org and listened to the February Liahona Magazine and got all the way through it.  I will have another day just like it on Monday as we still have three of  those  records to go through.

We are nearing the end of the work that Mike knows of and he was distressed Friday.  He had e-mailed the Archive liason who is over telling us what to digitize next.  She had not responded back to him yet.  He knows the church will not pay him to sit and twiddle his thumbs waiting and he doesn’t want to be sent here and there to work for the week .  So he was making a few phone calls.  I am sure he hates to see us leave and yet is releaved because we are running out of work that we know of.

Tuesday was standards night in Edinburgh.  Bill took me in and then went home to work on a project for the President in collecting data from all the missionaries on results of searching addresses of address unknown file for members.  The missionaries are to go to that address to see if the person is there still or if we can get an address for that person and then knock ten doors on each side of that address and give us the results of that visit.  He worked on the chart for me to be able to call the ones that had not yet responded with information.

I got to Standard’s night and was asked to talk on Choice and Accountability as the person assigned was not able to come at the last moment.  Thank goodness it was that one.  We had our New Beginnings night the week before and I had that part of the skit.

Wednesday and Thursday morning I spent trying to find a corner in the Archive Building where I could call the missionaries on the AUF files and get their information.

Friday we had the Hambelton’s over for takeout Chinese and learning to play canasta with us.  It was a very fun night. We will do it again.

Saturday was flat inspection day.  We got up our usual time and headed for the west coast.  We visited the four flats--3 sets of elders and 1 set of sisters.  We ended up in Ayr which is on the coast.  We asked the missionaries about their favorite  seafood place and the Bishop had just taken them to one two nights before.  So we had them take us to it and they were right.  The fish had been caught that morning and the fish and chips were incredible.  We also saw a seal swimming around while we were eating.  We walked along the beach and I picked up some sea shells.  It was a wonderful day.

I hope you have all had a wonderful week. I look forward to the adventures this next week and hope you do also.

Reflections on the first 6 months

Well it is reflection time.  We have reached the quarter mark of our mission. Is a mission what I thought it would be?  I would have to say no to that question for the most part.  Am I sorry I am on a mission? That would be a resounding no.  Turning a flat into a home has been fun and it really feels like home after purchases from the thrift and pound stores. Learning different ways of doing things from as simple a thing as flushing a toilet, to taking a shower, to shopping for items with different names and looks than you are used to and driving on the wrong side of the road.

The work we do is very routine but I have adjusted to that with what I do while waiting for the next book and paperwork to arrive. Therefore I have had the time to do what I never have done in the past.  I have read the Book of Mormon clear through and am about half way on my second time on my own.  Bill and I are in Book of Mormon reading it together and we also read it as a morning devotional at the archives. I have listened to the New Testament once and General Conference, both April and October sessions, at least three times as I check the books.  I have also read my Relief Society and Sunday School lessons so I would be prepared or at least know what they were on if I couldn’t understand all that was being talked about.  Yes, it is like being in a foreign country with a different language.  Their speaking speed and way some speak make it difficult to understand sometimes.  They like to leave out a lot of their vowel sounds.  I have also worked on my lessons that I gave. I have sent more birthday, anniversary, valentine, and Christmas cards than I ever have thanks to card service on the internet.

I hadn’t planned on serving as a counselor in Young Women or teaching with Bill the Teacher Development class.  I have learned to love the Young Women in the branch.  I have shared with them the advantage of going to BYUI so they can spend holidays with our family when they can’t go home.  I am feeding the missionaries as well as having others feed me as a missionary.

We have touched the lives of those we work with and shared the gospel as much as you can in the work place. We have a collegue at work whose husband is in a coma. She is Hindu but asked us to pray for him and also allowed us to give him a blessing.  We have helped her with seeking a full time job. She wanted help with her skills of searching for a job.  I asked her if she would be interested in visiting with our senior couple who are the Employment Specialists.  She wanted to do that. So far she hasn’t got a job though.

Bill has digitized 701 volumes, which is 203,919 images.  I have paginated 71 books, or 11,859 pages and quality checked 907 books.

I wish I could say I have got lots done on our Family History but that hasn’t happened.  I have done some work on it though. I know that will be my one regret that I didn’t do more while we were here if I don’t get busy with that. Missions do not change you over night.

I miss my family but am not overwhelmed with sadness.  I probably speak to them as much as I did at home and since all but Amy were away from us it is only the holidays, births, and special events that bring the sadness.  Then we get together with the other couples and celebrate together and it is ok.  Other couples are wonderful and we have sure enjoyed many choice experiences with them sightseeing, visiting, pot lucking, attending conferences, and sharing family news.

We love the elders and sisters.  Flat inspections are fun to do and bring a perspective of the differences between elders and sisters and even companionships.  This last weekend brought the assignment of accompanying an elder home to Tennessee for medical reasons. How sad that was to experience with him and his parents his returning before his mission was over.  We also were so close and yet so far from family and had Eric leaving on his mission and family gathered for his farewell. Scott and Natalie were going through the trauma of their daughter Emilee having just been born and not eating so she was in NICU. We would have loved to be there for those events.  We were actually in the states but only there over night and then back on the plane to Scotland.

We love our Mission President and Sister Griffiths.  They are such kind, wonderful, thoughtful and considerate leaders. We will truly miss them when they return home the first of July.  Our new Mission President and his wife, Alan H. and Sylvia D. Brown, are natives of Scotland as announced last Friday.  They are parents of six children, and currently attend the Kirkcaldy Ward, Dundee Scotland Stake. Brother Brown serves as an assistant area auditor, a ward mission leader, temple sealer, and temple ordinance worker. He is a former patriarch and bishop. He is a retired owner of Denholm & Brown, a financial advising firm. He was born in Methil, Fife, Scotland, to Henry and Sally Rae Brown. Sister Brown serves as an assistant area auditor, temple ordinance worker, and public affairs specialist. She is a former Relief Society president, Young Women president, and ward magazine editor and producer. She was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, to James Andrew Denholm and Frances Amy Roberts Leishman. President and Sister Brown will commence their missionary service in early July 2012.

Sister Wallace and Sister Query who are the office sisters will be going home the first part of May and so we will be moving into the office to replace them.  We will leave the archives the middle of April so we can be trained by the sisters before they leave.  I am excited for this assignment but know I will be giving up my time that I have been able to spend with my own personal growth.  My testimony has grown.  I feel more confident in trying new things, in telling others about the church, in praying sincerely, in seeking the influence of the Holy Ghost, in loving to read the scriptures and understand them, in loving other people, in knowing my Savior, and in loving my family and companion even more. I truly love being a member of this church and wish that everyone would come to know that it is the only true church upon the earth today.  I have always had a strong testimony of eternal families and desired that for myself, but that knowledge and desire has grown even stronger. I truly love every member of my family and that extends on to aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and beyond. I am so grateful to have been placed in this family that I have.

I know that Heavenly Father knows me and loves me and gives me the challenges that I need for my growth.  It is amazing how we seem not to recognize the talents we have been given and are desirous of the talents of others.  Things that seem easy for us we do not look on as talents we have been given and yet those same things are hard for others.

I am grateful for being born in America and having the privileges that I have.  I have taken having a Church Distribution Center so close for granted.  When I want something, I go get it for a lesson.  That doesn’t happen here and the libraries are poorly equipped.  I miss a drinking fountain in the hall of the church to stop and get a drink. That is unheard of here in any building I have been in.  Why, I do not know?  I appreciate the wealth we enjoy.  I never realized how difficult some have it to have transportation to church.  Lots can’t afford cars, and although they have a good bus system, they too cost money and cut services on Sundays.  I miss attending the temple monthly. Little did I appreciate how wonderful a blessing that was in my life.  Even though the temple is not that far away, they can’t afford to go often. One blessing they have though is that of taking the youth on a week trip to the temple.  They leave on Monday. They do baptisms Tuesday-Saturday in the mornings and then there are activities for them in the afternoon and evenings.  This will be the third summer they have done this.  As a missionary, I will not get the opportunity of doing this with the youth this summer.

I love Scotland and its people, scenery, even its weather.  I am looking forward to the next year and six months and the experiences and challenges that come.

Week ending February 26, 2012

February 12 - 26, 2012
I am going to begin today with a sad but funny story. One of the young women brought her gerbil to church. She had a scarf around her neck and the gerbil was tucked in the loop. She was crying and many were going up to comfort her including me. She said her gerbil was sick. Many tried to console her. This was at the beginning of the day before Sacrament meeting. The next time I saw her was in Young Women’s and the gerbil was missing and she was still very sad. The gerbil had died. I am not sure what happened to him and I didn’t ask. This happened last week. On Tuesday she announced that she had a new puppy.

Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. I received a lovely bouquet for the day.

Tonight we again practiced for New Beginnings and then we decorated biscuits (cookies) with icing sugar and sweeties. Any guesses on what we did. I’ll try to remember to tell you next week.

Friday at noon President Griffiths called and asked if I could be available to take a missionary to the states if he needed us to.  At 9:30 that evening he called with the travel plans.  We left the next morning about 9:00.  So we had breakfast in Edinburgh, lunch in Amsterdam, a couple of dinners over the Atlantic, and got to our hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee about 11:00 P.M. their time.  On Sunday we had breakfast in Knoxville, lunch in the Chicago Airport,  dinner over the Atlantic, and breakfast also in the air.  Then for lunch we were back home.  We were gone about 50 hours, and of that time we spent about 24 hours in an airplane. It was a tiring weekend but we were glad to be of service to the Mission President and the missionary who had medical issues.

Tuesday was a tiring day that ended with New Beginnings.  It went well.  The girls were all there and the parents for all but Sarah were there also.  We had two from the Stake Young Womens Presidency.  It meant getting home later than usual and so that meant we were tired for Wednesday and Thursday also.  By Friday, we were starting to feel somewhat normal.

Castle Ruins

Saturday was a fun day.  We went to St. Andrews where golf was started.  We didn’t golf though, we went and saw the Cathedral, and Castle.  They are both in ruins but in their time the Cathedral was the largest building in Scotland and was very beautiful. 

St. Andrews Cathedral Ruins

We ate lunch in a college student hangout.  It was called Northpoint and is where Kate met Prince William for coffee.  We loved the atmosphere and the food.  I had the best raspberry hot chocolate that I have ever had.

Northpoint Coffee House

Snowdrop flower

From there we went to the Snowdrop Festival. You ask what that is. It is the celebration of the beginning of Spring when the snowdrop flowers are in blossom everywhere even in the lawns.  There are over 350 varieties and some of them remind me of Lilly of the Valleys.  Some are white, yellow, purple, and other colors.  We were at a manor house that was by the North Sea.  I was totally in my element I had the country setting, animals, and the beach surrounded by trees.

We signed up for a pewter class.  There were three couples and the sisters from the office there and we all designed our own mold and then the instructor filled it with pewter.  It was so much fun and I would love to do it again.  It was a delightful day.

On Sunday night we had the senior couples and senior sisters over for a potluck munch and mingle.  It was fun to get together.