My Scotland Mission: Full weeks and Full weekends & some Wandering

Sister Call & Me enjoying the evening!

Wednesday evening we had 5 baptisms--yes, five! One right after another. Pretty special evening. I'm posting a picture of those that were baptized and the missionaries that taught them. It is wonderful to watch Nicholas & Bahadir (newly baptized) pass the Sacrament they are both wonderful and it is such a joy to know that we helped teach them. They are both French and doing well at learning English. Our other friend, Nicky, who was recently baptized is coming to church every week and is really strong in the Gospel. Sister Call and myself have been assigned to be her Visiting Teachers. Oh yes, with everything else we are doing we have to find time to do our Visiting--we have 5 sisters assigned to us. My Sunday school class is going well. I taught Self-Reliance through Education & used my sweetheart husband as the example of someone who succeeded through education. I cried, but just a little!

Sister Call and I were asked to decorate the church foyer for the Building's 50th-anniversary celebration. We did the best we could with the time we had, which wasn't much! It was a pretty big deal and several members of Parliament attended. We shopped for decorations and ran to one store or another every day last week and then decorated on Thursday night. Friday was the big event and almost 200 people attended from all over Scotland. Did I mention that this was also exchange week for missionaries coming and going (Doesn't that seem to roll around fast?) It's every 6 weeks, but sure seems like the weeks just roll into one another. After taking the decorations down we readied ourselves for some wandering. Off to the National Miner's Museum. Now, this may sound boring, but it was actually one of my favorite things we have done. An actual miner was our tour guide and took us down to the mining shaft. A little freaky. Sister Call & I both have miners in our ancestry so this was an interesting adventure. I found out that the pasties the miners took down with them for their lunch were made with one side pudding (dessert) and the other half savory with meat.
I had never heard that before. I learned to make pasties from my husband's grandmother, Grandma Hansen.

Because it was exchange week, we spent lots of extra hours at the mission office. We had 7 missionaries leave to go home and 13 new ones arrived. We usually help our mission president's
wife with some of the cooking, but this week the housekeeper/cook was not able to be there so we each sort of took a day of cooking & organized it. I planned dinner for 40 missionaries. I made Andy's (my son) Italian Sauce, cheated and bought the meatballs, had salad and my now famous garlic bread. Brownies and ice cream for dessert. I have posted some pictures of that fun day. Boy was I pooped! Well maybe I'll post some pictures, I'm having trouble with the computer & phone working together. Will have to post the mining pictures and the Italian dinner pictures some other time.

Of course, Scotland does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so the office staff will be in the office and cooking up a Thanksgiving dinner at the same time. Our President & Sister Donaldson are from England, so we are treating them to an "old-fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner." I am making baked corn, cranberry fluff, and pumpkin bread. I wish all of my American friends & family a very Happy Thanksgiving. To all my children, I love you and I will surely miss you.

PS: Turkeys are hard to find when the country doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving LOL

NOTE: Well, hello mother! how are you doing? Can you believe that I have been on my mission 7 months? My goodness, how time flies. It is fairly cold here now and lots of cold rain. Hoods & umbrellas are very useful. Hoods are easier, but really mess my hair up! I'm starting to calendar plans for Christmas while Lorre is here. We are going to see a stage play, Aladdin and, of course, to my favorite castle. It will be just the two of us for Christmas because my companion will have family here and they will be traveling during Christmas to Ireland. I have 2 days after Christmas off from the office. The day after Christmas is Boxer Day here, which is a national holiday. Lorre and I will be spending that day on the Royal Mile which is the mile between Edinburgh Castle and Holywood Palace, where the Queen of England stays while she is in Edinburgh. They fly a special flag when she is staying at the palace. So anyway it will be a fun time. Take care and stay well. Lots of love from your daughter.

NOTE: Hello Grayson. Sure was fun to talk with you and seeing the special things you brought back from Disney World. I loved that sword, but just remember not to hit the dogs with it because then you can't play with it. I think you will be making lots of interesting art-work at school for Thanksgiving and Christmas. you'll be able to bring it all home and decorate the house. If you can, take a ride around your neighborhood in your car on Thanksgiving day and pretend I'm with you. Then you can tell me all we saw together on the ride next time we talk on the phone. Well, I sure do love you. Be good and help mommy and daddy all you can. Love ggma