Sunday, October 28, 2012

Week ending October 29, 2012


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.
 
Friday night eight of us senior missionaries went out to dinner and then to St. Giles Cathedral for a concert.  Two choirs sang, one from Edinburgh and the other called the Tapestry Choir made up of members from lots of choirs of some churches all across the States.  It was wonderful to hear them in the huge cathedral and the acoustics of that building.  I would love to hear the Tabernacle Choir sing there.

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

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