Today is the end of day light
savings and so we moved back an hour in time.
That means we will now have to find a new best time to try and find you
on skype. Of course I think you change
back the next week or so. Instead of
getting my extra hour of sleep I am up finishing preparations on my talk for
today. This will be the third one since
we started at Falkirk. Today’s topic is righteous
traditions. I wish I had thought of it
sooner and got your ideas of what righteous traditions we have in our family
that you can think of. I thought of all
the holiday ones we do first and then moved on to those associated with the
word righteous. Hopefully you remember
our always attending our meetings on Sunday.
It was never a question of are we going to church today even on vacations. Bill and I always attended the temple each
month and did not miss until we came on our mission. Date night was also a tradition whether just
the two of us or with some or all of the family. Another tradition was never saying no to
callings. I wish we could say it was
always having family prayer and scripture study. Bill and I did that as we went to bed but it
was not as consistent with the whole family as you grew up. It has been an interesting talk to prepare
for knowing I only have ten minutes. We
will see how it goes. I am trying to do
the outline thing and not writing out the whole talk word by word to give.
We have had another full
week. Monday one of our missionaries
slid down a hill and broke his ankle on a p-day activity with ward members and
his companion. He heard it crack and
knew immediately that it was broken and probably in two to three places. His accident changed our week. I had set up appointments to again
go flat hunting in Stirling on Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning President asked Elder
Rasmussen to be the companion of the Elder who was in the
hospital. Plans were changed and we didn’t go to Stirling but spent the day with the "companion". Bill went with him to
Livingston to get needed clothing and supplies for spending more time in
Edinburgh. He also took him to the
hospital to spend time with his companion.
His companion had broken his ankle in three places but it was not as big
of an emergency as many others and so he waited until Wednesday night to have
surgery.
Wednesday we went to the hospital from
2:30 until 5:00 when they made us leave because they were serving dinner. We stayed that long because he was bored, anxious
about what might be happening and where he would recuperate. He had been told it would be 8-12 weeks with
no weight on his foot and then rehab after that. He was hoping he wouldn’t be sent home
because he wanted to finish his mission and knew how hard it would be to come
back out. He is from Washington and his
father is an orthopedic surgeon. He had one physical therapy session yesterday
to teach him how to get around on crutches with no weight on his foot. I think he will probably be going home and hope
he will be able to then finish his mission after he recuperates.
Saturday we went with the Sisters to
see two more National Trust sites that are closing for the season the end of
October. The first one was Kellie Castle
and Garden. They had a Halloween tour
and activities the night before and so the grounds were all decorated for Halloween. We arrive about two hours before the castle
opened and so we explored the garden and had hot chocolate and a biscuit in the
tea shop.
We also bought a souvenir for
our Christmas tree from Scotland. They
are Mr. and Mrs. Claus dressed in Scottish plaid. It was worth waiting for to see the
castle.
Then we traveled about 20
minutes down the road to see Hill of Tarvit Mansion house and garden and that
also was wonderful to see.
With the late
start though we had to hurry to get back to the baptism at 5:00 in
Edinburgh. Oug ( a Mongolian) was taught by two Sisters in our Stake. It was the first baptism for one of them and they were so excited.
We then did our usual shopping
trip with the sisters and took them home and then went back to the Church for
an activity with the youth. Elder and
Sister Hambelton were doing an activity with them about some of the factors in choosing a career that
was fun and then encouraging them to stay in school and do their very best.
Thank you to all of you for finishing school and doing your best and for the
importance of education in your lives.
We came home to popcorn and
working some on my talk and lessons for today.
It has been a good week. I can’t
believe it is the end of October. Time
really is flying by. We love the work,
the country and the people. Winter is
arriving. It is colder and snow was even
predicted to be here today. We will see
if we get it. Hope you all have a great
week and we get to visit with a lot of you later today.
Love you so much,
Mom and Bill, Grandma and Grandpa
