Week ending 13 January 2013

As the time goes on there seems like there is less and less to talk about. It is not that the work gets any less, but how many times can I tell you about leases. Instead of getting less to work with, the number grows and I have more on my desk to deal with. This week I have one tomorrow to get opened and elders moved in here in Edinburgh. So some time tomorrow I will have to go to the letting company and get the keys and get the elders moved out of their old flat and into their new flat. We get to do all of this moving in our little Toyota. It should be interesting to see how many trips it takes to move all of their stuff.

Tuesday, we have the Wilsons from Canada arriving to begin their mission. The Hamblin’s will be moving from Ireland to Scotland to serve since they do not want to spend the money and energy studying for the Driving test for the half of year they have left. They will both come to the mission home to stay and we will prepare something for them to eat since the Mission President and Sister Brown will be gone. Then on Wednesday the Hamblin’s will travel to Galashields and the couple there will spend a few hours orienting them to the area and then The Stapleton’s will come here to spend the night. We will provide the meal for them and the Wilsons. Then the Stapleton’s who are finishing their mission and going home to Ireland will lead the Wilsons to their area in Ireland and continue on to their home.

So it will be another busy week working with Senior Couples in addition to our other work. That offers us a change of pace from the normal week.

Saturday, we sent the other Senior Couples in the van over to Ayr to visit Robert Burns’ home and museum. He is the National Poet of Scotland and it is his birthday this month. We have Robert Burns’ celebrations in the country, wards, and branches around the 25^th of the month where we eat haggis, nips, and tators. Bill and I have been there last month and since the van only has eight seat belts, we stayed behind.

We went to see the Britannia which was the Queen’s Royal Yacht until it was decommissioned in 1997 and is now just a museum where you can see how they lived as they made State visits around the globe and as they used the ship for their holiday home in August of each year.

It was very interesting and I would love it if I could just be me and use it as a holiday cruise. I would not like all the pomp and ceremony that she has. It took the help three hours just to set the royal table for ninety people. They had to use a ruler to make sure that each utensil was in the right place and there were probably 8-10 pieces for each person. People on board working may have to change their attire 8-10 times a day and had 26 uniforms on board each.

I will know more about the Royal life when I return having been on the same field as the Queen at the Highland Games and seeing the different palaces and castles they have lived in. After viewing all of these places and reading about what she has to do, I know it is not the life for me.

We went for an American hamburger, onion rings, and a milk shake after the Yacht experience. It is the first hamburger I have had over here and it was good. The onion rings were cold which wasn't too good, and the milkshake was like cold flavored milk consistency and way overpriced.

Bill had a High Priest meeting last night and I stayed home and prepared my primary lesson. I also got to visit with many family members between yesterday and today which was wonderful.

I still have a devotional to prepare for tomorrow and primary sharing time and lesson to read through for next week to put it in my mind. So I better close for this week.