Welcome to Scotland
Welcome to Scotland
We arrived!
We stumbled into Edinburgh airport about 8 a.m. on Saturday January 13. Our flight had left Newark an hour-an-a-half late, to the tune of profuse apologies from the pilot and assurances that he would do his level best to make up the time. (The weather was bad in the Eastern US and many flights had been delayed. We spent an hour sitting in the plane waiting for passengers from delayed connecting flights) Anyway, the pilot kept his promise and we landed in Edinburgh only 30 minutes late. We had an interesting time getting through border control. (Lengthy explanation follows; skip if you like – Louise has tried on several occasions to set up touch ID on her Apple phone. The system recognizes her fingerprints for one, or at most two days, and then claims that it has never met her before. This would be great for her embarking on a life of crime, but is a bit of a nuisance for a normal, law-abiding existence.) Our fingerprints were recorded as part of our visa application process. Then they were checked when we attempted to enter the UK. Richard’s were fine. Louise’s didn’t match. Not even a hint of a match. The border control agent wanted to consult his boss, but it was early in the morning and his boss wasn’t there yet. Eventually he said he was pretty convinced that Louise was actually Louise, and why don’t we just trot along into the country and not blow anything up? Okay he didn’t actually say that last bit, but it improves the story, doesn’t it? He did warn us that if we left the country we would have the same problem when we tried to re-enter.
So we wheeled our six pieces of luggage and carried our two back packs through customs – we went through “nothing to declare” hoping that we would not have to explain some of the interesting though perfectly legal items we were carrying (we had enough of a problem with Louise’s ophthalmoscope handle at Salt Lake International, where the x-ray image suggested that it was a cross between a gun and a death ray. However the word "ophthalmoscope" intimidated TSA, plus they could see, after they unpacked the case, that it was just a battery) We boldly walked through “Nothing to declare” customs portal but it was an extremely lonely place – not a person in sight – so we trundled through and into the warm welcome of our mission president and his wife. They are delightful people, especially Sister Donaldson. Not that there is anything wrong with her husband, but she is a darling, who believes in feeding people good things on all possible and any impossible occasions that may come up.
They helped us haul our luggage into their great-and-spacious vehicle, designed for hauling missionaries and luggage, and took us to the mission home, where we chatted for a few minutes and we met the Winters, the missionaries we are replacing. They very kindly introduced us to the office for several hours, which was very kind of them – the missionaries basically gave us their entire P-day, giving us an overview of what we would be doing, taking us to the flat which they had vacated for us, in which they had left loads of groceries and supplies, taking us shopping for some more groceries (mostly fresh stuff and bread and cheese,) and then taking us out to dinner (really nice Indian restaurant) that night. Some time amongst all of this Sister Donaldson provided lunch – most excellent home-made leek and potato soup, with assorted breads and dessert if we wanted it.
By the time we finally got to bed that night, we had been awake for about 33 hours barring a couple of micro-naps on the plane. We were so tired, and thought we would sleep through the night and entirely escape the dreaded jetlag. Alas, we were ever optimists. We went to sleep at about 8:30 p.m. expecting to sleep through the night, but our body clocks said, “ah yes, 1:30 in the afternoon, a good time for a short nap” and after an hour or two we awoke semi-refreshed-but-mostly-zonked and ready for the (Utah) afternoon. We rebelled and each downed an antihistamine which sort of knocked us out for the rest of the night.
You might be wondering where are our exuberant discussions of the beauties of Scotland—with photos, but the truth is that we have seen very little of it so far. It’s dark when we leave for the office and dark when we head home. We expect this busyness to continue for a couple of days but this weekend we plan to see some of the scenery. Also the days are growing longer by a few minutes each day, so we will soon see more of the world.
Sunday we attended Dalkeith Ward, small enough for us to learn the names of all the adults and about one third of the children on our very first Sunday, and warm and friendly enough to make an indelible impression on our hearts. They held a “munch and mingle” after church, to say farewell to the Winters and hello to us. Tons of food, much conversation and we think they liked our helping to clean up afterwards. We have already been asked to help with Primary sharing time, (we are not allowed to have callings, but can help anywhere on an ad hoc basis) and will both be speaking in Sacrament meeting next Sunday. The ward members are passionate about their families, the gospel and Scotland, and if we listen carefully we can understand what they are saying. The Gospel Doctrine teacher is Spanish. He speaks English well but worries about his spelling. He also teaches Seminary.
Monday we started work in earnest. It is a little like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. There is a great deal to do – and we need to get it right – and it would be fine if the phone didn’t ring constantly while one is in the middle of doing something, with something else that needs to be done immediately. Then when you have finished dealing with the emergency, you carry on with the important thing you were doing, only to be interrupted again, ad infinitum. We are going to love it, as soon as we have finished being overwhelmed and exhausted. We can see that the work we are doing is making a real difference in inviting people to come to Christ, but we have our heads down learning as much as we possibly can from the Winters before they leave on Thursday.
We arrived!
We stumbled into Edinburgh airport about 8 a.m. on Saturday January 13. Our flight had left Newark an hour-an-a-half late, to the tune of profuse apologies from the pilot and assurances that he would do his level best to make up the time. (The weather was bad in the Eastern US and many flights had been delayed. We spent an hour sitting in the plane waiting for passengers from delayed connecting flights) Anyway, the pilot kept his promise and we landed in Edinburgh only 30 minutes late. We had an interesting time getting through border control. (Lengthy explanation follows; skip if you like – Louise has tried on several occasions to set up touch ID on her Apple phone. The system recognizes her fingerprints for one, or at most two days, and then claims that it has never met her before. This would be great for her embarking on a life of crime, but is a bit of a nuisance for a normal, law-abiding existence.) Our fingerprints were recorded as part of our visa application process. Then they were checked when we attempted to enter the UK. Richard’s were fine. Louise’s didn’t match. Not even a hint of a match. The border control agent wanted to consult his boss, but it was early in the morning and his boss wasn’t there yet. Eventually he said he was pretty convinced that Louise was actually Louise, and why don’t we just trot along into the country and not blow anything up? Okay he didn’t actually say that last bit, but it improves the story, doesn’t it? He did warn us that if we left the country we would have the same problem when we tried to re-enter.
So we wheeled our six pieces of luggage and carried our two back packs through customs – we went through “nothing to declare” hoping that we would not have to explain some of the interesting though perfectly legal items we were carrying (we had enough of a problem with Louise’s ophthalmoscope handle at Salt Lake International, where the x-ray image suggested that it was a cross between a gun and a death ray. However the word "ophthalmoscope" intimidated TSA, plus they could see, after they unpacked the case, that it was just a battery) We boldly walked through “Nothing to declare” customs portal but it was an extremely lonely place – not a person in sight – so we trundled through and into the warm welcome of our mission president and his wife. They are delightful people, especially Sister Donaldson. Not that there is anything wrong with her husband, but she is a darling, who believes in feeding people good things on all possible and any impossible occasions that may come up.
They helped us haul our luggage into their great-and-spacious vehicle, designed for hauling missionaries and luggage, and took us to the mission home, where we chatted for a few minutes and we met the Winters, the missionaries we are replacing. They very kindly introduced us to the office for several hours, which was very kind of them – the missionaries basically gave us their entire P-day, giving us an overview of what we would be doing, taking us to the flat which they had vacated for us, in which they had left loads of groceries and supplies, taking us shopping for some more groceries (mostly fresh stuff and bread and cheese,) and then taking us out to dinner (really nice Indian restaurant) that night. Some time amongst all of this Sister Donaldson provided lunch – most excellent home-made leek and potato soup, with assorted breads and dessert if we wanted it.
By the time we finally got to bed that night, we had been awake for about 33 hours barring a couple of micro-naps on the plane. We were so tired, and thought we would sleep through the night and entirely escape the dreaded jetlag. Alas, we were ever optimists. We went to sleep at about 8:30 p.m. expecting to sleep through the night, but our body clocks said, “ah yes, 1:30 in the afternoon, a good time for a short nap” and after an hour or two we awoke semi-refreshed-but-mostly-zonked and ready for the (Utah) afternoon. We rebelled and each downed an antihistamine which sort of knocked us out for the rest of the night.
You might be wondering where are our exuberant discussions of the beauties of Scotland—with photos, but the truth is that we have seen very little of it so far. It’s dark when we leave for the office and dark when we head home. We expect this busyness to continue for a couple of days but this weekend we plan to see some of the scenery. Also the days are growing longer by a few minutes each day, so we will soon see more of the world.
Sunday we attended Dalkeith Ward, small enough for us to learn the names of all the adults and about one third of the children on our very first Sunday, and warm and friendly enough to make an indelible impression on our hearts. They held a “munch and mingle” after church, to say farewell to the Winters and hello to us. Tons of food, much conversation and we think they liked our helping to clean up afterwards. We have already been asked to help with Primary sharing time, (we are not allowed to have callings, but can help anywhere on an ad hoc basis) and will both be speaking in Sacrament meeting next Sunday. The ward members are passionate about their families, the gospel and Scotland, and if we listen carefully we can understand what they are saying. The Gospel Doctrine teacher is Spanish. He speaks English well but worries about his spelling. He also teaches Seminary.
Monday we started work in earnest. It is a little like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. There is a great deal to do – and we need to get it right – and it would be fine if the phone didn’t ring constantly while one is in the middle of doing something, with something else that needs to be done immediately. Then when you have finished dealing with the emergency, you carry on with the important thing you were doing, only to be interrupted again, ad infinitum. We are going to love it, as soon as we have finished being overwhelmed and exhausted. We can see that the work we are doing is making a real difference in inviting people to come to Christ, but we have our heads down learning as much as we possibly can from the Winters before they leave on Thursday.
The busyness in offices never quite stops, I think! If it's anything like my time there, then by the end of it, you will likely be on a first name basis with a handful of people whom you will never meet, because they live in Salt Lake City. I sort of learned the trick of being very polite and helpful, writing down whatever the urgent thing was that needs doing, and then *not doing it right now* because I'm actually doing something else urgent at the moment, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAdam, did you serve in Scotland as well?
DeleteJuggling a million responsibilities while learning a million (different) new things? I think you're right in your element. You're going to be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteI am loving your blog (I might have already said that), AND I enjoy all the details. Like "apostolic interregnum", I had to look up what an ophthalmoscope was. Please keep it coming!
ReplyDeleteI love that Mom can get through fingerprint-less, no problem. I'd let Mom through, too!
ReplyDelete