Week ending April 22 2012

Last Sunday we had a wonderful evening with Anjali, her son and mother in law. The Lord does guide you in your life and I know now why I didn’t insist that Anjali and her family  come to dinner here but went to her place instead. Her mother in law is a vegetarian in the strictest form.  She does not go out to eat because she is not sure if they would have used eggs or any dairy products in any of their cooking.  We tried many new Indian dishes and loved them all.  We could even understand most of what was spoken.  Her mother in law has been lonely because Anjali is gone all day and most evenings when she goes from work to the hospital.  At home in India her mother in law has many friends and goes out on her own.  Here she will not go places alone except to the nearest grocery store she can walk to.  She has no friends here to visit with and so she kept saying that we must come back at least once a month.  Ravi was moved to another hospital this week where he is getting more services so hopefully he will be able to recover and able to return to his home sooner.  We are glad we have been able to be friends with them.

Monday morning and training began in earnest.  I was glad the spirit was with us that we were able to remember lots of what we learned the previous visit for those three days.  Sister Wallace is having major tooth problems and was in lots of pain and also at different dentists all week and so I was left alone in the office to continue on those things she had taught me.  I did O.K. and was guided by the spirit on more than one occasion to go back and look at something again.  Then I discovered I had left one step of the process out.  Sister Wallace also seemed to come in just when I felt I was at a dead end to get me started again or tell me what to do next.  It was a busy week with lots of new things to learn.  I love some of my jobs and find that answering the phone is one part of the job I find most difficult.  Sometimes it is because I do not know the answers or whom to direct the call to and sometimes it is in not understanding what they are saying. 

Bill has been busy learning how to send letters and packets of information to newly called missionaries, how to prepare going home packets for those leaving, and how to handle travel for the Mission President and his wife and the Assistants between Scotland and Ireland.  He gets to spend a lot more time on the computer which he enjoys.  He’s also spent time with Sister Query going through old files on the computer and deleting them or organizing them in a way that they can more easily be found.  We have both commented on how blessed we have been by the spirit helping us learn these new skills.

Saturday was a rainy forecast and so we decided to do our shopping and then stay home in the morning and prepare for the week.  That was good because it took all morning to do that.  We had a wedding to attend at Falkirk in the afternoon.  The couple had been living together.  They needed to get married so Amanda could be baptized.  Steve is not quite ready for that step.  The Branch members helped with different things like the dress, flowers, luncheon etc. because they couldn’t afford it.  We found out how different weddings here are than back home.  They didn’t play the usual wedding songs but hymns.  They had two speakers talk about the importance of marriage and then another read a love poem.  The Missionary who taught the couple walked Amanda down the aisle since her father wasn’t there.  He also was the wedding planner.  Steve and the two elders were dressed in kilts.  Everyone is invited to the wedding but only some to the reception.  I think we crashed the reception assuming that since we were asked to bring sandwiches that meant we were invited to the reception.  We will know better next time.  I am not sure if all weddings will be exactly like this one or not, but at least we have learned that the custom is all are invited to the wedding but not the reception.

After Sacrament meeting today we received training from a couple from England over the AUF File Project for the United Kingdom.  AUF stands for Address Unknown File, and President Griffiths asked us if we would take that assignment last December.  Today we learned how much more we should be doing with the program.  Hopefully we can get it working well here in this mission now that we are in the office and are in contact with missionaries more often.

After church we stayed for Amanda’s baptism.  It was a nice service.  Amanda was extremely nervous because she does not like water, but everything went great.  Steve is not ready to make that step yet.  Hopefully he will be soon.

It has been a very different week.  We have definitely felt the spirit more in the work we have done this week in helping us remember some of the things we have been taught.  Hopefully this one last week with the sisters will give us the skills necessary to carry on next week when they finish their mission.

Week ending April 15, 2012

Monday, we went back to the area we had lunch on the Hairy Coo tour and got some more statues and some doorstops, thistles, etc. that Lee had seen and we didn’t get enough of because they were out of them. We also had another of those sandwiches we had when Lee and Adell were with us that were so delicious.  Then we went to Doune Castle and got to go in and listen to the audio.  We enjoyed that and know you would have also if they hadn't been closed for the day Adell.  That night we had the missionaries for dinner and set up a regular schedule for them to come every Monday night unless we had to work late at the office.

Tuesday we went back to work but got a call from Sister Griffiths asking if we could act as tour guides for  Elder and Sister Condie from Springville who just had arrived from the states.  They were all tied up in zone and district leaders' training with Elder Carr.  She called about 1:30 and so at 2:00 we left, went home and changed, and took them to the Castle to keep them awake.  From there we rushed home to eat and then on to Falkirk for mutual. 

Wednesday Chris Norton from England was here.  He is directly over our supervisor Mike Mitchell.  He brought me flowers and asked if we were sure we didn't want to change our minds and stay. It has been a great experience but we are ready for a change.  Our final count is:

Volumes Paginated  (that means writing page numbers in the books) 74

Pages Paginated    13,729

Volumes Quality Controlled 1,163

Camera Hours    691 hours

Regular Hours 1,013

Volumes Imaged   957

Number of Images   273,396 images

We have had many neat experiences of knowing something was wrong and needed correcting.  We have handled many books wondering if they had our relatives in them and some day we would see that record again.  These were mostly the Cemetery and Poor House records.  Most of the books we did we felt it would be difficult to find names of specific people in them. 

Over all though I think the enjoyment came from the people we met and worked with.  Brenda who asked me so many questions about the church and yet ended up not being at work the last four months because of extended illness.  She doesn’t take my calls and so that door seems closed at the moment.

Anjali who turned to us when her husband was in a coma from spinal meningitis, he has made slight improvement.  I invited her to dinner tonight, but she insisted we come to her house and so we are going there tonight.  I hope we can keep this friendship going.

Then of course there is Bishop Mitchell and his family.  His youngest son, Zach will be leaving on his mission soon and we will be attending his farewell next Sunday.

Andy is the man who delivered the books to us most of the time.  He is a tease and fun to visit with.  He recommended places to eat that we really enjoy and took Adell and Lee to one of them.  He also is a member of a model train club and they were having a meeting in Troon this weekend with their trains set up.  We were going that direction on Saturday and so we stopped in to see him there and met his wife, son, and daughter in law.  It was great to see their setup and I think really impressed Andy that we would stop and see it. 

We also enjoyed the others that worked there also.  They were all much younger, but we showed interest in their lives and hopefully made a positive impression.  Linda brought treats on Friday and the others went out during their lunch hour to buy us flowers and a picture frame when they realized it was our last day.  Maybe we set an example that one day they will want to learn more about the church.  I hope so.

Friday night we went to Elder and Sister Connelly’s to plan a party for the Griffith’s when they leave in July.  We also turned it into a surprise birthday party for Sisters Flynn and Graham.  I know Sister Flynn was surprised but I think word may have leaked out to Sister Graham.

Saturday was flat inspection day again and then seeing Andy’s trains. 

We had fish and chips at our favorite place in that area and then went to Dundonald Castle on our way home.  Again it was one that had been rebuilt many times but something had stood there well before 2000 BC.

It has been a good week with lots of emotional days and times.  Tomorrow begins, as we say, our second mission of working in the Office and learning a lot of new things.  We are looking forward to the experience.

Week ending April 8, 2012

Two weeks since I wrote and a lot has happened in those two weeks and who knows if I will be able to remember all I should write about.

I am going to skip right to March 29^th, Thursday.  We went to work in the morning and then we went to the airport about 12:30 to pick up Adell and Lee.  Man, it was good to see them finally come through the door.  Until then I couldn’t believe they would actually come. Of course they would have to be one of the last ones to come through.  Of course they blamed it on me for the strange stuff I had them bring me.  They think they had to have their bags inspected closely because of the dish soap, Heinz 57, and protein powder that we desired.

We took them over to the Archives to meet the people we work with and see what we have been doing for seven months. They got to see some of the hardest books Bill has had to digitize.  He has only been getting one done a day.

After work we went to our Pound World and Testco and the shopping began.  They found some things that they wanted right off the bat.

That evening was spent eating, playing games, unpacking and visiting.

Then on Friday I stayed home since Bill only had one book for me to Q.C. and then I would sit and wait forever for the next one.  Bill went in and took the car to be serviced.  It would be finished at 10:00 and so he worked until 10:00.  He came home and we headed into Edinburgh on the bus to visit the castle, and the shops on the Royal Mile.  You will have to ask them their impressions as we have already told you ours.

We ate at a restaurant that we had enjoyed before, but they have changed the menu and way things are done and we were disappointed in the changes. We picked that place because of the story of Bobby the Scottish terrier and his devotion and love of his owner.

Saturday, we again took the bus into the same area to catch the tour on the “Hairy Coo”.  It was an Orange bus that had horns, a fringe on the windshield, and a pink tongue on the bumper to look like a hairy highland cow. 

We had a very entertaining and educational tour /bus driver to show us some of the sights of Scotland and share the history of the country as well.  We stopped at Forth Bridge,

the William Wallace Monument,

the outside of Stirling Castle,

Lake of Menteith,

the lakeside village of Aberfoyle where we ate lunch, and then on to Trossaches National Park ,

Loch Katrina,

and a hotel that had two “Hairy Coos” and a new one just born the night before. 

We finished up at Doune Castle, the backdrop for the movie “Monte Python and the Search for the Holy Grail”. 

Their motto is that you spent more time off the bus than on the bus and they lived up to their motto.  We didn’t get to see each place for long but got to visit lots of places.  Lochs are lakes, coos are cows, and lunch was at a bakery with wonderful sandwiches at a bench outside.  We were having our summer weather these days.  We saw heather but not in bloom, we will go back in August to see that.  We fed the coos bread at one stop and then the next stop we met the oldest highland coo who has been on T.V. and at the grand openings of stores, etc.  He is a celebrity named Hamish.

Sunday, the men went into the Stake Center for Priesthood and Adell and I watched some of the Saturday morning session over the internet until the men came and got us to go in for Saturday afternoon session at the Stake Center.  Lee commented on how not many Stake centers only have 31 parking spots in the parking lot and how small the building is for a Stake Center.

We went to the Mission Home for lunch with the Missionaries in this area between that session and the Sunday Morning Session at 5:00.  They got to see where we will be working and meet all of the missionaries in this area and President and Sister Griffiths.

Monday we got ready and headed on our trip north.  We stopped at Dumferline and hit some stores.  After that stop, we had to turn around and come home to drop off our purchases so we would have room to travel.  Mission cars are not very large.  Then we headed out again after lunch.  We stopped along the way to see the sights and special waterfall called the Hermitage. 

We arrived in Inverness about 7:00 and spent a half hour at least looking for our B&B.  In comments left by guests we knew it was a hard place to find, but when the GPS led us to a church, we knew we were in trouble.  When we finally found it, it was a nice place to stay.  It had two rooms, one with a double bed and the other with two single beds.  We stayed here two nights.  They served us a nice breakfast and Adell and Led learned which breakfast foods they liked best.

Tuesday we woke up to twelve inches of snow on our car.  So Adell and Lee not only got to enjoy the summer weather, but also the winter weather all in four days.  It was the most snow we had experienced over here. 

We waited around to let them clear the roads, changed the direction we had planned on going and took off for a delightful day of exploring the countryside and seashores.  Many a shell and rocks were picked up.  We had a wonderful fish and chip lunch, and the snow disappeared the further we traveled.

Wednesday we then headed to the Isle of Skye with many more stops for shells and rocks and pictures of beautiful scenery.  Time didn’t permit us getting to do all we desired, or stay as long as we would have liked to stay. 

As it was, we didn’t get home until after 11:00.  Thanks to prayer for a safe journey, the roads were not icy and Elder Rasmussen was able to barely miss the one deer we saw.

Thursday, we visited Roslyn Chapel where part of the Da Vinci Code was filmed and take them to our favorite tavern for lunch.  We attended the musical South Pacific with the other missionaries from the office that evening.

Friday was spent at our favorite castle which is Stirling.  Then we went to Falkirk to see the wheel.  We actually saw it in action, moving a barge from one canal to another. 

While we were there we also saw one of the coolest toys—a big ball that you get inside of and roll around in the water. 

We also took them to see the church we attend. Then it was time for the last minute shopping that had to be done including the purchase of another suitcase to handle all they were taking back of my things and their purchases.  Packing was a sad experience because that signaled the end of a wonderful visit for us.  They were able to get all in they had to take home much to my surprise. 

We are so thankful to Zane, Corinne, Colby and Lee for making it so Adell could come.  I wouldn’t have wanted her to come by herself and Zane was so good to share her with us.  Thanks Corinne and Colby for staying with Zane, and Adell for giving up your Spring break, Lee for choosing here to spend your vacation days.  You will never know how much we enjoyed the week.  Who knows if a new Mission President will let us take that much time off if others come over, but we want to invite all who can come to see us.

Now back to work on Tuesday for our last week at the Archives.  Last Friday the Archives was closed for Good Friday and Monday for Easter and so that only leaves four days.  We leave with mixed feelings, sad to leave the people we have worked with and the time I had to study and grow between books, and glad to try a new experience that will be varied and with more light than our dark room.

Today has been a beautiful Sunday with all the talks about the Atonement, and now to watch the Sunday Afternoon session of Conference.  We love you all.  Thanks again for coming Lee and Adell.