Last Post

With the best intentions on the world we stopped posting on our blog several weeks before the end of our mission.  Since this is a sort-of journal of our mission here is a final blog post to wrap up the story of our adventures.

The Mallaig Train trip AKA the Jacobite Express AKA the Harry Potter train
Our last weekend travel expedition was to ride the train from Fort William to Mallaig on the Western coast.

Trossach mountains, or hunchback trolls and goblins--you choose

This is one of the notable Scottish tourist things to do because the scenery is beautiful, the train is a steam train (kept in immaculate working order). The Harry Potter movies made it famous, both for the train itself and also for the breathtaking shot of the train crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct.
So we launched off one weekend with the weather predictions for constant rain, and rain is what we drove through pretty much all the way. It was a Sunday so we stopped for church in Perth and briefly visited with the Edwards, the senior missionary couple assigned to that branch. Perth appears to be thriving and the Edwards have an influence on that. We also lucked into a “munch and mingle” after church, hosted by a local family who wanted to share their Romanian cuisine with the branch. We stayed in a very nice B&B in Corran. We had an upstairs apartment with a full view of Loch Linnhe and the Ardgour Ferry. The B&B had warned us well in advance that they would not be providing breakfast the day we would be there; however the fridge was well stocked with yoghurt, drinks, fruit and snacks, all included with the room  so we did not feel hard done by. The suite had a TV, so we watched a little broadcast TV for the first time in our mission. The advertising was mostly incomprehensible to us, with in-jokes and cultural references to things we had never heard of, which only goes to show that we weren't as integrated into the British culture as we thought we were.
We arrived early enough to stroll down to the ferry and realized it was taking a very short trip across the neck of the loch. The ferry didn't even stop its engines. It just lowered the ramp onto the loading dock and idled the propeller to keep it all stable while pedestrians and vehicles drove off and then boarded, then lifted the ramp a foot or two and started backing out. It's a very brief trip, perhaps ten minutes, and then they lower the ramp on the far side for off-loading. Early the next morning we rode the ferry across and back just for the fun of it, because, as Louise says, “I never saw a ferry that I didn't want to ride on.”
The weather continued rainy until shortly before the train ride, then it cleared up beautifully just long enough for us to wander around Fort William for a few minutes and enjoy the ride to Mallaig and for us to wander around another glorious harbour and buy some souvenirs and then ride back to Fort William again. Then the skies closed in and rained for our drive home. The clear weather was a nice blessing and we were very grateful.

Jacobite Express

The train ride itself was delightful. Several children had come in full Harry Potter outfits. The gift shop had lots of Harry Potter themed stuff. It also caters to steam train enthusiasts. Richard got into a conversation with one of them, who spends much of his free time travelling on all the steam train rides in  Britain. There are lots.

 Our carriage was very comfortable and included tea and biscuits.

On the way back to Edinburgh we stopped at a chippie in Callander, which had been recommended to us as the 'best fish and chips in Britain'. We ambled around the town square, admiring the local cenotaph while we munched our meal, and then headed for home. We have eaten at several chippies laying claim to be the 'Best in Britain', some of them complete with a certificate on the wall. All of them have been excellent, although the one nearest our Edinburgh flat did not have a certificate on the wall and was as good as any of the others.

Finishing up in the office
For our last few weeks in the office our emphasis was on documenting all the jobs we do and creating instructions for our replacements. We had a teleconference with the President and the Cammacks a few weeks before they arrived, from which the President decided on the office assignments for each of Elder and Sister Cammack, so we were able to target our training appropriately. We also spent a fair amount of time discarding old files (both paper and electronic) on the grounds that we would have a much better guess at what should be chucked and what should be kept than the Cammacks would. Our last few weeks were thus as frantic as any, because, of course, we were also dealing with all the stuff that we usually deal with, in addition to preparing training and cleaning out. One of our goals had been to try and make our jobs easier to do for our replacements. In many ways I believe we succeeded, however we have also realized that a major purpose of the senior office missionaries is to deal with whatever comes up. So automating and simplifying our regular tasks was certainly worthwhile; however in another sense it just frees up the office staff to expand their efforts in other areas.

Saying goodbye
The Cammacks arrived on schedule on the Saturday and we picked them up at the airport and dropped their luggage at the flat. We moved them directly into our old flat, which we vacated the day before they arrived.  We then took them to the mission home. We had lunch together with as many of the other senior missionaries as were within reach, and President and Sister Macdonald welcomed them to the mission. The rest of the weekend was just some low-key touring, grocery shopping, showing them their flat and bragging about our beloved Holyrood Park and taking them to church and introducing them to the Dalkeith Ward and as many of the members as possible. We had another 'munch and mingle' after the sacrament meeting as a combined farewell and welcome. We also gave them as much time as they wanted to just rest and recover from the jet lag.

Lochend, and a view of Arthur's Seat

As an interesting side-note, we had wanted to leave as soon after they arrived as we could manage. It took us a little while to realize why we were anxious to leave a town we loved. We really did not relish the idea of spending a week in a hotel and eating in restaurants for every meal. Once we located a “self-service” short rental flat which we rented for eight days we were much happier about staying a full week or more to train them and help them come up to speed. Actually our self-stay flat was interesting. It seemed to have been designed, fitted and furnished as a luxury flat, and then left to take care of itself. It was spotlessly clean, but was not otherwise well maintained. It was every bit as large as the one we vacated (2 bed, 2 bath and a generous lounge and kitchen), and it had a fabulous view of Arthur's Seat. There was even a lovely park with a small loch immediately over the road.

Lochend Park

As a curiosity the Lochend flat had a fenced garden with lions and plaster figures and fake and real greenery. The garden was almost always locked. We never did find out what it was about, but with a beautiful park literally across the road we didn't worry about it much either. 

Garden in a cage

Leaving office for the last time

The last week flew by with farewells and good wishes all round, and surprisingly soon the president was at our door early on Saturday morning helping us load our luggage and head for the airport. Thanks to multiple repacking and re-weighing episodes we had discarded much clothing and quite a few other items we thought we would no longer need, and filled the resulting baggage space with treats and souvenirs for the family back home. We wanted to be able to remember British chocolate for as long as possible--not to mention more durable clothing and souvenirs.

Our luggage was pretty heavy - two of the cases were spot on the limit and two were a few grams over, but the airport worker just smiled and wished us a pleasant journey. After a final hug and handshake - we love and will miss the Macdonalds - we were through security and on our way.

Home!
The journey home was was peaceful and poignant. We watched a movie or two, tried to read, ate airline food and I (Richard) found myself getting misty-eyed when the digital map said the ground under us was Bangor Maine (not Bangor Ireland), We were over our own country again and very glad  of it too.

Our arrival at SLC was all we could hope for; a clamorous and exuberant group of family welcomed us with hugs and rejoicing. Our luggage was too much for a single car, so we split into two groups and each had non-stop conversations all the way home to Provo.  Shana and Clarissa had cleaned the house beautifully and we had nothing to do but take a bath in our beautiful and much beloved bathroom and collapse into bed. We are home indeed. Our accents are not American and never will be, but our hearts are. Provo truly has become home.

Next day was Sunday, and we attended our Oak Hills 2nd Ward. Now we loved the wards we attended in Scotland. We loved the people; we loved the services. But when we walked into our dear, familiar home ward chapel, it felt as if we had never been away.