Monday, February 26, 2018

This week is apparently supposed to be FREEZING.  There is an arctic vortex that is supposed to go straight over Scotland.  That means lots of snow this week and the highs will be below freezing.  So PRAY FOR THE MISSIONARIES WHO WILL BE OUTSIDE IN THAT WEATHER FOR 11 HOURS EVERY DAY.  Other than that this should be a really good week. 

In Oban and Dumbarton we usually just GQ during the day and chap at night.  We do that because there aren't enough people out and about at night.  In Oban sometimes we don't have to chap, but it depends on the night.  

This past week in Oban we found two new investigators!  That is HUGE for the area and we were super excited.  One we met and asked "What makes you happy?"  He said "would you like to hear about the last 6 weeks of my life?"  YIKES.  Generally that is a very bad sign.  He told us all of the horrible things that have happened to him in the last six weeks.  We invited him to learn more about the gospel and he accepted.  We sat down with him right then and taught him.  He was extremely grateful that we prayed for him at the start of the lesson.  That stuck with him.  He expressed his gratitude to us during the lesson and later that night he texted us about it.  It was amazing to watch this man's heart soften as we were able to talk with him.  We are excited to meet with him again and help him find healing through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  

The members here are awesome and they feed us every night.  We challenged the members to come up with a family mission plan for how they can do member missionary work, so hopefully referrals will start coming in.  They are always willing to help us teach and they invite our friends to Sunday dinners!  It's great.   

It is definitely not as diverse here as Ireland.  Maybe that's because we aren't in cities.  We mostly talk to Scottish people, but we have two appointments scheduled for this week with people from Spain.  

I'm a little bummed out that I won't be in Ireland on Saint Patrick's day, but fun fact:  St. Patrick was Scottish and was apparently born somewhere around Dumbarton!  Also the missionaries probably aren't allowed to work that night anyway, so I think I got the better end of the deal!

Sicknesses have come and gone, so all is well.  I was able to keep down food on Monday and my stomach was back to normal on Tuesday.  I got the package and BEST.GIFT.EVER.  I love it.  I love having a blanket again.  Nothing better than coming home and wrapping yourself in your blanket instead of your duvet!  Also I opened it at District Meeting (that's where is was given to me) and all the missionaries were super jealous. 

Sisters Conference/Feeling Rocky

Sisters' Conference [in Edinburgh] was super fun.  We had instruction, some workshops, yoga, lunch, every sister introduced herself, and we closed with a message from President Donaldson.  I think one of the best parts of conference was getting to drive to and from Edinburgh with Sister Gregson.  She is the best.  It was so fun to get to see all the sisters (about 60) together as well. 

We drive through Loch Lomond National Forest to get to Oban.  It was really beautiful from what I could see from the drive.  Sister Davis said that President had to put a ban on missionaries in other areas visiting Loch Lomond because they were spending too much money to get there.  So we are probably some of the lucky few missionaries who will actually get to see it/visit it.  

So I still don't know much about my two areas.  We have only been to Oban once so far.  We live in an old Victorian home where the senior couple stays.  They also have two areas, so we are there when they are not.  In Dumbarton we just have a little flat (about 3904285902720x nicer than the Dublin flat).    I did buy a new waterproof coat so I won't freeze.

This was a rough week health wise.  On Wednesday we went out and worked until lunch, then I was dying and we had to stay in.  Friday we had exchanges with the STLs in Glasgow, which was super fun.  It was nice to be back in a big city for a day!  On Saturday Sister Davis woke up sick and so we had to stay in.  Saturday night I spent throwing up all through the night.  I tried to get ready for church yesterday morning and threw up again.  No fun.  I'm feeling pretty rocky today but not as bad as Saturday. I haven't had anything to eat in the last 40 hours or so, so we'll see how eating goes hahhaaha.

Report on first week in Scotland

MOVES:  I don't really know why, but for some reason I have a 6th sense about moves call.  I really felt that I would be going to Glasgow zone, so I was not surprised at all when we got the call.  

ACCENT:  I have to actively listen to every person I talk to because the accent is so thick and I just got used to the Irish accent.  Very different.  They also don't use the same lingo, so I'm trying to adjust to that.  I miss some of the Irish sayings.   

CURRENCY:  Still not really sure how much a pound is.  Don't really know how much money I'm actually spending when I buy something.

FOOD:  Pretty much the same, but no Boojum :(

WARD:  We had Stake Conference yesterday, so I don't really know how the ward is. From what I have seen they're great.  They have fed us every day we've been in Dumbarton.  We had a proper Sunday dinner yesterday with about 15 people in this one family.  It was great.  They are really willing to help us.  

WEATHER:  It's a lot colder here.  Today we are going to Glasgow to buy a new *waterproof* coat because it pretty much rains/snows everyday here.  I will probably also buy boots because they get soaked through, so I'll need to alternate them. 

COMPANION:  Sister Davis is from Provo.  We were in the same group, but in different districts in the MTC so we didn't really know each other.  She also went to BYU last year.  She's super fun.

DRIVING:  We drive loads.  It's super fun.  It's not too weird driving on the other side.  Roundabouts are weird though.  I don't need an international license yet.  I can drive on my American one for a year and then I have to take a UK test to be able to drive after that.  My comp doesn't have an American license, so I'm the only one driving!  It's fun.  It actually feels pretty natural to drive on the other side (because you are driving in the other side of the car).  We've been doing a lot of driving too.  It's a 2 hour drive to Oban.  Drove back from Oban.  Drove to Glasgow (30 minutes) for Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday.  Driving to Glasgow today to buy a new coat.  Driving to Edinburgh tomorrow for sister's conference.

MISSIONARY WORK:  We have one investigator right now.  His name is ____.  Sis Davis found him two transfers ago and they could never figure out a time to meet with him.  When they did, they found out that he had read the Book of Mormon before.  He studied theology and has studied pretty much every religious book known to man. After they taught the first lesson he was like "oh so I just have to pray about it to know if it's true?"  Before the second lesson he had read the Book of Mormon again and prayed about it.  He received a witness and is now getting baptised on Saturday.  We are super excited for him.  I am grateful to just be walking into his baptism.  He is quite literally the definition of golden.  It also made me feel a little better about leaving ____ (our golden investigator) in Dublin.   

Other than that we don't really have any investigators yet.  We will be working very hard in the next couple of weeks to find new people to teach.  It's definitely different than Dublin - a lot smaller and we have to chapp houses at night.  

Good bye Emerald Isle ... Hello Scotland

Dublin:

This past week I had a really cool experience.  Sister Yu stopped a man from Mexico while I was talking to someone else.  When I finished my conversation I heard her say, "My friend speaks Spanish!"  I was like uhhhhhh no I don't.  I tried to speak to him the best I could.  Then I told him that it was easier for me to understand Spanish than to speak it.  He said the same thing about English.  After that I was speaking in English and he was speaking in Spanish.  We understood each other completely.  We set up a time to meet with him and then he didn't show up hahah, still cool though.

SATURDAY MOVES CALL:  The worst.

Okay not the worst, just slightly annoying.  All of the elders got their moves call in the afternoon.  We had to wait *patiently* until 8:45 to get it.  We were on the bus and Sister Yu was told she would be going to Tralee.  She handed the phone to me and I was told that I would be leaving the Emerald Isle and going to Dumbarton in Glasgow zone to be with Sister Davis.  

Sunday was emotional.  I kept it together until so many people in the ward were coming up to me and telling me how much they would miss me.  Dublin took good care of me.  I will miss so many of the people there.  Also had to pack everything, yikes.  We had to leave so many notes and make sure the area book was up to date as much as possible since we were whitewashing out and the sisters coming in were new and 3 months.  

Monday:  The night before our STLs told us that they would pick us up to go to the bus station in the morning so I didn't have to take my luggage that far.  They said they would be there at 6:15.  They called us at 6:30 and said we just woke up...My bus was supposed to leave at 7 and it was a good 20 minute walk.  Sis Yu and I had to book it to bus station and got there in the knick of time.  We were so tired when we got there.  After that I was the only sister leaving the Republic, so I was companions with about 12 or so elders.  We took a bus to Belfast, from Belfast to the ferry, the ferry ride to Scotland, wherever we were in Scotland to Glasgow, and then drove from Glasgow to Dumbarton.  Got to my area at about 6:30.

At the bus station in Glasgow I was told that I would be covering two areas.  News to me.  So apparently we go up to a place called Oban on Monday and come back on Thursday.  The rest of the week is spent in Dumbarton.  I'm not really sure how it will work, but it will.

Oh also we get a car!  My companion doesn't have a license, so I will be driving the whole time.  On the wrong side of the road...on the wrong side of the car hhahaha.  It was so fun driving last night.

Last week is pretty much a blur because so much has happened in the past few days.