Helps Celtic Mission

A pair of missionary sisters asked me for bikes. This is a not-unusual but somewhat frustrating request. I would love to give them bikes but I can't. There are bikes in the mission, of course, but I can't send a couple of them to these missionaries because the all the mission bikes are (a) being used already or (b) so far away that transporting them is not feasible or (c) broken. Buying bikes for missionaries is a nice idea but challenging because a decent pair of bikes costs more than £1000.00. With this in mind I was wandering through Costco and saw they were having a bicycle sale! They had bikes for £180.00! Much to my surprise they were decent trail bikes, very lightweight, good construction and good equipment. So I cheerfully bought a couple of bikes and spent a happy few hours in the mission office garage de-boxing and assembling them. There's something very peaceful and Zen-like about working on a bike, and it's doubly satisfying when it's a ne...

We have been in Scotland for a year and a bit. It is cold and dark and damp, just as when we arrived, and last week we attended the delightful Robbie Burns' birthday celebration at the Livingston Ward. It is, we are told, the most attended activity the ward has all year. Attendance was somewhat down from last year, but this was to be expected, as the night was bitterly cold, and many older more frail folk would have preferred to stay safely at home.  The tables were laid out in the gym, just the same as last year. The music was the same or similar. The men wore the same kilts and jackets, the program was almost the same, with the Selkirk Grace, the Ode to the Haggis, one other poem which was a repeat from the last year, and an additional/different poem or two. The menu was the same - we started with a choice between Scotch broth and butternut soup, with little rounds of French bread. This was followed by haggis and neeps and tatties, just the same as last year, only - the food tast...

Christmas started for us on October 25. That was the arbitrary date on which we decided to start recording every package that arrived at the mission office. We (which is to say the person who processes all incoming mail, with tacit support from the rest of the office) developed a system over time. First we printed out a current phone roster for all the missionaries. When a parcel arrived, we marked their name with a green highlighter. Very early in the process, an email was sent to all parents, requesting that if they chose to send Christmas gifts, they send them to the mission office, so that the gifts would reach their offspring despite intervening transfers and any unexpected moves. We also explained this country's curious taxation system. If a package comes in marked "gift" the stated value may be up to 39 pounds before VAT is assessed (usually at a 20% of value rate, but it seems to vary depending on the weather and perhaps what the assessor had for breakfast that da...

Some of the Senior missionaries (SM's) decided that it would be a good idea for as many of the SM's as possible to get together for a Real American Thanksgiving Meal (RATM). It started off being planned for the Chapel Next To The Mission Home (CNTTMH), moved next door to the MH, (guess - you may be right) bounced back to the CNTTMH, and finally, a day or two prior to the event, settled at the MH, which is much nicer than the CNTTMH. All of this was associated with various tweaks to the mission calender. OK, right now you may feel about these acronyms pretty much the way some of us feel about turkey, so we will stop, apart from the occasional leftover. Firstly, there was a sign-up list, so we could each sign up to prepare whatever we would like for the RATM. We signed up for mashed potato and cranberry sauce, partially because we like our version of both, and partially because we had to pick something that required minimal preparation on the morning of the RATM, and partially ...

"The world is too much with us; late and soon" said William Wordsworth, and we felt that way somewhat so we took a local trip to a place of quiet solitude, Holyrood Abbey, almost in our back yard.  Holyrood Abbey and gardens Holyrood Abbey It's a beautiful ruin with gorgeous gardens, and was very peaceful. We wandered around in sheltered and quiet spaces, just a few yards and a tall stone wall away from the hustle and bustle of the touristy Royal Mile and the equally busy Scottish Parliament. Despite the late season the lawns still show green and there is colour in the trees. The paths wind peacefully through shrubberies and leafy groves. We even found a minstrel hiding in the bushes, who reminded us of our musical grandchildren. He has been playing there for many, many years. The poor fellow is not so much worn down from playing on his fiddle for all these years as he is quite literally worn away. Even so, it is easy enough to imagine a time when roy...

Armistice Day, 11 November, commemorates the end of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 which all too soon and all too sadly became renamed the "First" World War. Poppies are worn in memory of the poppies that grew all over the fields of Flanders field after the terrible slaughter there. Poppies spring up where the soil has been disturbed, and all the shells and the burials in Flanders disturbed the earth quite thoroughly. The picture of that awful springtime beauty has been immortalised in John McCrae's poem, "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row," For a week or two before the 11th, street corner collectors accept donations and hand out simple poppy badges. Donations to the poppy fund support veterans of wars. This year, 2018 is 100 years since the end of the "War to end all wars" that, tragically, wasn't. Memorial parades and services happened all over the UK and elsewhere in the world. The Edinburgh Ward hosted a mu...

As we have travelled in the Stirling area we kept seeing signs for Bo'ness. This seemed an odd name on a sign, although not as odd as the Native American names  on street signs in Vancouver, Canada, which use the digit 7 as a indicator for a glottal stop.  This didn't seem that weird, but we did wonder  what Bo'ness was, or what it was an abbreviation for. So we went to have a look. Bo'ness from the harbou The name, ( quite obviously, don't you know ) is an abbreviation for Borrowstounness, or the town (toun) near Beornweard's farmstead, which is near the headland (ness). Well, that seems perfectly reasonable, and also a good reason to just put Bo'ness on roadsigns, after all they would have to raise taxes to pay for all the signs saying "Near Beornweard's farmstead-toun-ness", and there would be safety hazards from distracted motorists trying to read all that while driving by, so Bo'ness it is. Puddleglum On visiting it Bo...

About half an hour ago - today is Saturday - I made some popcorn, a great big bowl of popcorn, of which Richard and I quickly ate every scrap. We inherited two great big Costco-sized containers of popcorn kernels when we moved into our original flat. I prepared some of the popcorn, only to realise that it was pretty dreadful stuff. The kernels had tough, tough centers even after they had popped. So we gave it away to some senior missionaries who feed a lot of YSA, hoping that the YSA would be much less fussy than we are. Then we trotted off to our local Costco, hoping that they would keep our beloved Orville Redenbacher's. Not only did they not have Orville Redenbacher's, but we soon discovered that they were actually the source of the popcorn we so disliked. We eventually settled for buying a small packet of popcorn kernels from Sainsbury's and said packet has sat in our grocery cupboard for nine months now, staring at me reproachfully every time I choose something else. S...

So we will have been in Scotland for nine months this coming Wednesday. Our mission actually started on January 1st when we presented ourselves at the Provo MTC, so we reached our halfway mark at the end of September. This seems a good time to write about some of the things that have been joyful for us, some of the things that have been hard, and some of the things we hope to accomplish. 1. Homesickness. I (Louise) am generally a happy soul, but I get miserably depressed every time I move. It takes a little while to put down roots, and then I am just fine again. I also get homesick when we are on holiday, btw. I was very much aware of this and hoped this depression would not be part of the mission experience, and for the first couple of weeks I thought we would get away with it this time. There was so much to learn and do, one would think there was no time to be miserable, but I have a special talent--I found the time! I think this was all exacerbated by the constant darkness and ce...

Some people collect castles, some collect tartan ties and some collect restaurants. We collect seaside villages. Exploring castles and noble houses is a great way to explore Britain and Ireland's history and glory, and we enjoy, have done and will do more of it. We do find, however, that when you have visited a few castles, both decorated and ruined, and a few ancient palaces and mansions and realized that Mary Queen of Scots or Robert the Bruce or one of the King James' lived in or visited them, well, then they do start to blur together a little. On the other hand, coming from Utah, we have not yet come close to getting tired of seeing, smelling, and walking along the seaside. So instead of collecting castles, which others have done, we have decided to collect seaside towns and villages. we are not doing this systematically or with any intent of writing a book, or drawing up a catalog, but just casually, either intentionally or by 'thistling'. 'Thistling'...