Week ending April 14

This week we welcomed our first group of missionaries with more sisters than elders on Wednesday.  We had 14 sisters and 6 elders.  This is also our only group that comes from the Provo MTC and so they come very tired.  We sent them to the castle for the afternoon to keep them awake.  It mostly works although some were caught sleeping in the café at the castle where they had gone in to get a drink.

Thursday was a busy day. Trainers arrived, doubling our numbers. The President interviews all the new ones to get acquainted with them and at 15 minutes for each it takes several hours.  They also go up Pratt’s hill to set their goals for their mission.  We each take a turn visiting with them about our area we deal with.  My responsibility is to visit with them about their flat and keeping it clean and what they can be reimbursed for.

 At about 6:00 the decisions have been made and the President announces the companionship and where they will be serving.  They receive their ties, scarves, and CD with the mission song on it.  Pictures are then taken of them with their companion, with the Mission President and Sister Brown, and as a whole group. They are given a sack lunch and those that are near enough are sent to their areas.  The others stay the night at the mission home.  We finish up about 7:30 and were able to come home.

 Friday was then the day we have lots to do.  We send letters to the Bishops, and Stake Presidents introducing the ones that will be serving in their area.  We update all of our records moving people around and lots of other things.  It was 8:00 before we got away Friday Night.

 Saturday was fun though.  Sister Price and Bill and I took off for Scone Palace which is the place where Kings of Scotland have been crowned.  At least 42 Kings have walked on that ground and many of them crowned there. 

 

 

Scone breathes history like nowhere else in Scotland.  It is the family home of the Earls of Mansfield.  It was the capital of Pictavia in the 5^th Century onwards.  Medieval Parliaments were held at Scone and it was immortalized in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. We sat on the stone that is a replica of the one they still use today to crown their kings and queens. I ate a scone at Scone Palace.

 

From there we traveled further north to Blair Castle which is another beautiful castle.  It is still in use today with the family living in one wing of it.  There was a wedding scheduled there and so we got to see the bride and some of the bridal party, the dining room decorated for the wedding and the area they were using to serve the luncheon after the wedding.  We also explored Hercules garden that would be really beautiful in summer.

 

We stopped at the Hermitage on the way home.  You are in a building with an outside ledge that looks out over the waterfall and is so beautiful. 

 

There are also Douglas Firs which seeds were brought over from America and planted and they are now some of the largest trees in Scotland.  They had a unique "bed" you could lie on and look up at the trees.