Less than a week to go . . .and more wanderings.

A walk in the Enchanted Forest

We drive 1 1/2 hrs to Pittlockery t\hen took a bus to the Enchanted Forest. It was the last thing on our Scotland "bucket list."

It was well worth the trip--it took about an hour to walk through the trails. Music playing in the forest (nature sounds) and beautiful light displays everywhere. Along the walk, they had open fires where you could roast marshmallows or just sit awhile by the fire. The whole thing was very cleverly done.

A forest creature - me and my new
companion--Sister Smith

       

Trees lit up from behind.

My final wandering was done yesterday. It was only fitting that I visit the ruins of Melrose Abbey at the end of my mission as that is where I started my wanderings 18 months ago. The abbey was built in the early 1100's and
is matchless in beauty.

OH BOY! fish & chips--I will really miss this!

Goodbye to awesome Ireland views!

Goodbye to beautiful built by hand stone walls!

We saw 63 castles in 18 months - there are 3,000 in Scotland

Goodbye to bagpipers on the street

Goodbye to all the taking missionaries out to eat

Goodbye to helping cook big meals for Zone Conferences in the mission kitchen (my famous garlic bread in the basket)

Goodbye to Harry Potter Memories

                                                    Goodbye to ruins - all shapes all sizes

Goodbye to cobblestone streets and very narrow 

Goodbye to beautiful coastlines all over Scotland & Ireland

Goodbye to Gifford in Scotland!




Goodbye to my wonderful companion of 18 months

Goodbye to Highland cows (coos)

Gifford family in St. Andrews
Goodbye to being the tour guide in Scotland!

Matt & Jennifer - another chance to be a tour guide

Lorre and me - my first visitor and how wonderful that the visit was right at Christmas

Of course, you know, that I could go on and on . . . but I have accepted the sad fact that my mission is coming to a close, my blogging is done and I will return home with more memories & blessings than any one person deserves to have.

My testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has grown by leaps and bounds and is something I can hold deep in my heart forever. I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ. I know that we are children of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our brother. I'm grateful for my testimony of the Book of Mormon and through that testimony, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I'm grateful for our living prophet today; Russell M. Nelson.  I'm more familiar with the scriptures then I have ever been and have learned to love, ponder, and study them. I'm especially grateful for my family; that I could be the mother to 5 wonderful children and love & adore 17 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. I love my 4 siblings and I am so grateful for their love and friendship.  I leave this testimony (my last from Scotland) in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Much love to all, Sister Gifford

Winding down Wanderings . . . me and the village of Gifford

You remember when I found "Gifford Town" well this is just Gifford! The name is fairly common in the UK. It is a lovely little village started up in the early 1700's by Hugh Gifford. He built the castle that still remains there. We had lunch at a quaint Inn and I showed my Gifford badge--nobody offered me a free anything!!

Gifford Castle

We spent all of Saturday wandering, we saw an old mill
that ground oats (built in the 1700's). We also toured a beautiful
private garden. The garden was advertised on the internet, but
when we arrived there was a stone wall around it with a big
wooden door with an even bigger lock. Not being timid at all,
I knocked on the door and this very old gentleman opened the
door. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could see the
garden. He seemed flabbergasted that we had heard about it on
the internet and led us on what ended up being the adventure of
the day. The garden was huge and had many different sections,
fountains, garden sheds, and just beautiful plants and flowers. The house he lived in was built in1602 and he bought it for his wife as a wedding present. It turned out he was a classical bagpipe player and
his lovely wife an artist. Enjoy the pictures below.

Wall designed from shells in one of his potting sheds.

                                                            And a final picture of the Old Mill

Last Wednesday my replacement arrived. Sister Smith from England. She is in her mid-sixties and also a widow. Her husband also passed away from cancer and several years before he was diagnosed with cancer he had an aortic aneurysm-quite a coincidence. I will train her for the month of September. I can already tell she will do just fine and I wonder what I will do for most of the month. The sad part is my companion Sister Call has moved out and is living at the mission home until she leaves next Monday. I really miss her! I'm going to have to move out at the end of October and stay at the mission home my last week. The sister taking Sister Call's place will be arriving and I will give up my room for her. I'm going to try to learn some of Sister Call's job so I can help Sister Astle when she arrives. Lots of changes! I'm excited to soon see my family and friends--very excited!

Sunday I gave my farewell talk--the topic was "How Fasting brings us closer to Jesus Christ" I did an ok job, think I kinda rambled on a bit. I'm still teaching Youth Sunday School and probably will be until I leave. Maybe they will turn the class over to my new companion. They are a good bunch of youth, but it is tough teaching 12 -18 yr. olds the same lesson. The missionaries continue to have baptisms every Wednesday (at least one). I will truly miss that mid-week spiritual refresher. The office stays very busy although we are trying to leave a little earlier (around 5pm) because Sister Smith is a diabetic and has asthma so she gets pretty tired. I've been so blessed, my energy level is better than ever and I can keep up the pace with no problems at all. I turned 77 last week and honestly don't feel a day over 60!

I'm going to sign off for now. My thoughts and prayers are with all my friends in North Carolina that are living with the hurricane damage. I'm so proud of my church ward and all they have been doing to help everyone in need. Bless all of you.

Love to all,

Sister Gifford

Wanderings . . .and one of the last big adventures

The scenery on the drive around the Ring of Kerry

The Cliffs of Moire

A pretty Irish cotta

Blarney Castle in Cork Ireland 

Ross Castle in  Ireland --where Harry Potter learned to fly his broom.

Last week on Thursday my companion and I along with the Millers flew to Ireland. Can you believe the ticket was 36 pounds round trip??!! The Millers are also senior missionaries (married) and serving as YSA (young single adults) leaders in the Edinburgh ward. The four of us have become fast friends and enjoy "wandering" together. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                    We flew into Dublin and spent the night at a quaint B&B and then left for Waterford the next morning. I have always wanted to visit the Waterford Crystal factory to buy a crystal vase.  Which I did buy and had shipped to NC---Happy Birthday, Sister Gifford!

The Cliffs of Moire--stunning beauty & used in the Harry Potter
movie with Harry flying around on his broom.

We saw Blarney Castle and all but me kissed the Blarney Stone. I climbed the first 100+ steps and then decided that the next steps were just too steep, so I turned around and came down--I truly had a defeated feeling :-)  We drove the Ring of Kerry (111-mile) circular tourist route in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. Elder Miller had served his mission in Cork 50 years ago, so we looked up his flat and took pictures of him standing by a boarded-up building. Kinda sad for him, but we toured around the area that he served in and he was a happy camper. We visited Galaway and  Limerick, enjoyed several wonderful B&B's met with missionaries in the various cities and ended our trip by meeting the Walkers (a senior couple serving in Galaway) for shopping and dinner. We missed our early morning return flight and that's a whole other story for another time! I've been to Ireland 3 times on my mission and I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity.

And now, let me take you to another one of those "pinch me I must be dreaming" experiences. This week Elder Massimo Defeo a General Authority Seventy made an official visit to our Mission. He spent two days in Ireland with our President & Sister Macdonald hosting and then they all flew back to Scotland for 2 days. I hope I can put into words the events over the last couple of days. We held Zone Conferences in both Ireland and Scotland so all the missionaries could participate in the meetings with Elder Defeo. On Thursday we closed the office and all senior missionaries were able to participate in the Zone Conference. Because this is Sister Call and my last zone conference along with 3 of the young missionaries we all had to bare our testimonies. As I was walking from the mission office to the church I had the most extraordinary thing happen--I felt the mantle of the spirit come over me and by the time I reached the church I was in tears. Right after the opening song & prayer, we were asked to come up to the podium and bare our testimonies. First Sister Call and then me. I had not stopped shedding tears so when I started to speak my voice was a little wobbly. I won't go into what my testimony was about, but I did mention how I had felt the mantle of the spirit. Both Sister Call and I mentioned that we were widows and spoke briefly about our husbands and what amazing examples they were to us. I was so honored when Elder Defeo got up to speak he said he didn't know either of us but felt a great deal of love for us. Then he gave this amazing talk and mentioned my testimony three times. I'm not wanting to boast, but believe me having a general authority mention my testimony was such a thrill. What a wonderful way to bring my mission to a close.

NOTE: Most of you probably know that my hometown was hit hard by hurricane Francis. My house is safe and sound--I've been so blessed. I appreciate so much those friends in New Bern that took the time to inspect my house and calm my fears. My prayers go out to all those who have so drastically been affected by the storm.

Wanderings . . . and picking up the pieces

THE TATOO  

2018 Tatoo - makes me realize just how long I have been here. This was my 2nd Tatoo performance and it was a fantastic performance. Military groups from all over the world performing their specialties. My favorites are the bagpipers--absolutely outstanding. At the end, they turn off all the lights and just one bagpiper stands atop the castle wall and plays "Amazing Grace." Goosebump time!                                                                                             

At the right side of the picture is the Edinburgh Castle --light shows
play off it all night.

The Tatoo doesn't start until 9 pm and is two hours long, so it is a late night. We taxi to and from the castle and always get caught by at least a little rain. Nobody seems to mind, they just don their ponchos and keep on enjoying. There are people from all over the world in attendance. Maybe I will come back to visit someday and see the Tatoo again, but then who knows, there are lots of places to see.

These are all bagpipers and drummers

My companion will be with me just one more month, so we are trying to see every little thing we haven't seen--so much of our travels are "bits and pieces."  We have seen over 60 Castles and still have more to go. We have seen palaces, estates, gardens and the Royal Mile at least a couple dozen times. The Royal  Mile is the mile between the Edinburgh Castle and the Holywood Palace (where the Queen resides in the summer). The mile is filled with shops, souvenir shops, and restaurants as well as interesting alleys and nooks and crannies. I couldn't even begin to tell you all the places we have seen and explored. We both enjoy the Castle ruins the most, especially if you can climb around inside. Oh, I forgot to mention that my new companion will arrive on September 23 so I will have several weeks to train her. She is a single sister in her late 50's from England. Sister Call will return home on October the 8th and I will leave on November the 8th.

Sister Call's replacement is from the states (Utah) also in her 50's. OK enough talk about "replacements"--its bringing tears to my eyes.

Dunoor Castle
I loved this castle ruins. I can understand why they would want their
castle built right on the cliff overlooking the sea, but what I don't
understand is "how" they build it on a cliff, who does it and where does
all that rock come from and how do they get it to the site. It is just amazing.
Did I tell you that there are over 3,000 Castles in Scotland?

These structures are often found with Castles-- It's where they kept their doves (birds)

My trip home is as follows: Nov. 8th I leave Scotland for Michigan (to see my siblings), then to NY (Lewis family), then to Vermont (grandaughters & their families), then to Ohio (Boyer-Gifford family), then to Maryland (Gifford family), then to Virginia Beach (grandaughter and her family), Dec. 12th leave for North Carolina. I'm so excited about this trip. I have two new great-grandchildren to see and many grandchildren that I miss (not to mention my own children . . .I miss them too).

NOTE:  As most of you know I usually close my blog with a message to my mom, but my mom passed away last week and her funeral was just this past Friday. So I dedicate this blog to her . . .she loved to have my sister, Kay, read my blogs. I'll miss you mom and I love you so much.

Hindu Prayer Tree - each ribbon is a prayer sent to a deceased

Winding Down Wanderings

Dunbar--a fishing village

Pretty little fishing village



Dunbar fishing village, a sandstone statue of a fisherman
and wife with their basket of fish.

My first selflie . . .hope I really look better than this picture!!
I really wanted you to see the background--beautiful Scotland scenery

We wandered all over Last Saturday. We drove through the area referred to as the borders (Scotland & England) until we were about 16 miles from the England border. We pulled off the road many times to take pictures as the scenery was some of the best we've seen.

Lush green, rolling land for miles and miles of driving.

We saw a castle and a couple of statues that turned out to be quite a hike back into some woods and then out in nowhere land this beautiful statue of William Wallace (for those who have seen the movie Braveheart). The Scots don't like that movie because they say it is far from the truth!

William Wallace - a statue so tall we had to stand
way downhill from it just to get the top part of the statue
in the picture.

Tantalon Castle

You'll notice I captioned this blog as the "winding" down wandering--it has suddenly occurred to me that the time on my mission is getting very precious. My release date is November 8, so basically I have less than 3 months. It makes me tear up just to type the words. I have grown to love this country and the people. But mostly I have seen such progress in my spiritual growth. I'm grateful for the fact that every Wednesday evening is spent at church attending at least one baptism, sometimes as many as three. I will probably never experience such as this again in my lifetime. I've grown to love my companion and to appreciate her as a real example in my life of someone who absolutely loves the scriptures. I'm so grateful for the little things, like being able to cook sometimes in the enormous kitchen at the mission home! Our kitchen in our flat leaves a lot to be desired and the oven is still a mystery. I love climbing into a taxi; makes me feel like a celebrity. I always use the taxi ride as an opportunity to teach the gospel to the driver. On one occasion, when I started to pay the driver, he said, "no charge-- this one is on me."  By the way, I use the light approach--I ask, "what brings you joy in your life?" I love walking to the bus stop from my flat and hopping on a bus that zooms me into the city. I can't drive anymore because my license was no good after a year. Probably a good thing--the roads are safer without me LOL!  So that's life and I'm enjoying every minute of it! I'll see you all in November. Love, Sister Gifford

NOTE:  Hi mom, well here you go with my message to you--I'm so sorry you have had such a rough couple of months, but so glad you are doing so much better. You are truly an inspiration to all of us. I only hope I can grow up to be just like you LOL! I've been very busy--I never knew serving a mission would be such hard work. I go to bed early every night and am just so glad to hit that mattress. Of course, I try to keep up with my missionary companion who is Lorre's age. For the most part, I can outlast her, except for bedtime--she is a late night person. I think I told you that I have two new great-grandsons. Holly and Julia both have darling little guys and I can't wait to see them. All the grandchildren are growing up and even the great-grandchildren are doing the same. I was trying to figure out how many great-grandkids you have, but couldn't figure it out. How many?? And how many great, great, grandkids?? I'm really looking forward to seeing you in November and we'll have to do a selfie LOL!

NOTE:  Hi Grayson, how are you? just want you to know I am so proud of you for attending your Primary class and learning about your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I'm also very impressed with the fact that you are working on school work getting ready for your new adventure in Kindergarten. You are such a smart boy and I wish you could give me some of your "smarts" LOL Enjoy the rest of your summer and I'll see you November. I'll be coming to your house for a visit when I'm done with my mission. I sure hope someday I will be writing a letter to you on your very own mission. Wouldn't that be something if you went to Scotland on your mission too!!? I love you lots & will talk to you soon, ggma