What a week it has been again.  We have had ups and downs.  The two sisters are learning their positions and I am still learning mine.  The Grahams come in tomorrow, and then leave Tuesday morning.  Then we are on our own. 

On Friday, about  10:00, President Brown called us all in to tell us that he had received a phone call about 11:30 the night before telling him that one of our missionaries family had been in a very bad wreck.  Mom, three daughters, and a son were on their way to Salt Lake City to pick up another daughter who was finishing her mission in Salt Lake.  The car in front of them had a tire that burst and mom swerved to avoid it and lost control of the car and I think the back of the car hit a pole.  One daughter died at the scene, another died at the hospital, and the third is in critical condition.  Father was in Pennsylvania with work.  So they lost two daughters and have another in critical condition on a day that was supposed to be a happy one welcoming a daughter home from her mission.  President then had to let their son who is serving his mission in Ireland know.  He and Sister Brown missed the party to go up and be with him and support him in the decision of whether to go home or stay here.  We have no update on the sister or his decision at this time.  This is when working in the office is not so fun.

Yesterday we had a farewell party for the Grahams.  We had a wonderful meal of lots of appetizers, while we mingled and waited for people to come.  The main course was grilled turkey like we do at home and have now introduced them to it.  We had funeral potatoes, spinach/strawberry salad, and vegies.  We served lemon water for the main drink.

For the program Elder Hambelton had taken some of Elder Graham’s emails and poetry and sent them in to a writer/poetry group and he received back a Certificate from them honoring Elder Graham as a writer and poet.  His emails are priceless and I will share one with you. 

 

Dear Everybody,

 

Cars, again . . . .

Over the last few weeks I have noticed that there have been a lot of tyres replaced on cars which had the same tyre swapped out just three or four months ago. This is a sign of bad driving, bad cornering and hitting the kerb, high speeds and heavy braking, and incorrect tyre pressures. New tyres should be good for at least fifteen thousand miles and, hopefully, a bit more.

 On the same subject, lots of the cars were inspected at the recent Zone Conferences and copies of the report were given to the drivers. Have all the items marked up as “Fix It” been taken care of yet?

 Most of the faults involved tyres being under the recommended pressure and one in particular being above 50 pounds pressure (the gauge went off the scale) when the tyre’s limit is 60 pounds. We had to spend a few minutes letting air out and getting it down to the proper level.   There were a few with low oil levels and low radiator coolant levels. Have they been checked and filled up yet ?  Please don’t let the next inspection show the same faults.

I’m attaching the already issued Weekly Car Check report.  Add it to your daily planner; it will take all of five minutes to do what it asks and may save you some grief.

Always remember :  If you get stopped by the police, or have to run through a census point, no water in the screen wash or worn tyres or bulbs burned out, can get you into trouble and in some cases fined.  And that is your problem, not the Mission’s.

 

You have been warned !   (Again. . . .)

I hope you appreciate his sense of humor, and the way they spell tyre (tire). 

Then Elder Hambelton took a poem from the poet they had compared him to and changed some of the words to fit Elder Graham.  This was followed by opening the gifts we gave them—the place mats.  We had all sent in our favorite picture and had them made into placemats of scenes and people from the mission. 

 I had also made them a scrapbook that looked like a kilt and some of the elders and sisters and couples had written a letter to the Grahams to go in the scrapbook.

 This was followed by a dessert bar and more visiting.  It was a fun day.

 On Sunday Elder Graham is going to baptize Ross the person that walked into the office about a couple of months ago wanting to speak to a priest or minister.  Elder Graham spoke with him at least a couple of hours that night and then he and the other Elders taught him another time before Elder Graham turned him over to the Elders to teach.  Ross has given up marijuana and smoking for the most part.  I think he is down to one a week.  His countenance has totally changed.  It has been fun to see the change that has come over him from that first visit.  We are going to leave from Falkirk immediately to make it back for the baptism.

 Well that is the highlights from this week.  Next week will be interesting as well as we say goodbye to the Grahams, try to run the office with four novices, go to one of Edinburghs’ big social events—the military Tattoo, and all the normal things that make up our week.

Have a wonderful week.  We love you and pray for you several times a day.

Love,

Mom and Bill