Helps Celtic Mission

We had an All-Scotland Zone Conference on Thursday, with a visiting GA. There was a dinner for senior missionaries afterwards and we were asked to give a 20 minute presentation on our impressions of Scotland. The following is what we prepared, with a few additions as we are no longer limited to 20 minutes. We cut the presentation down a little/lot on the fly, as time was short. Preparing it was fun, so it would have been worthwhile even had we not presented it at all.. L: Climate. When we first arrived in Scotland, in the middle of January, it was dark when we drove to the office in the morning, and dark when we left the office in the evening. Most of the time it was both dark and damp, and on occasion the sidewalks were icy. After a few weeks of this we turned to each other and said, "why would anyone live in a place like this?" Last weekend we took a much anticipated trip northward, to visit the villages and towns where my ancestors lived according to 18th cen...

As our remaining weeks in Scotland start to thin out, we find ourselves more interested in castles again. We joke about having renewed our Historic Scotland membership, and visiting more ancient sites so we can get the most out of it, but at the time we renewed we already viewed our payment as a donation to a cause that we support. We think preserving and sharing this country's historical heritage is a worthwhile occupation. However, since we renewed our membership just a few weeks ago we have visited abbeys in the borders, a palace in Lothian, and a couple of castles in the Kingdom of Fife, and enjoyed it all. We even managed to find and admire another beach or two while we were exploring. Linlithgow Palace is famous for being a place that James V liked to show off - and he did like to show off. He was one of those super-wealthy people who is only happy when people realize and are amazed at how wealthy and powerful he is. He was responsible for the building of the ornate fountai...