Mission Blog #59

For our District Council this week, we had a Hallowe'en theme - my great contribution was to carve this puking pumpkin. Tina was the art director!  Finding salad dressings like we have at home has been a challenge in Ireland and Scotland, but we have finally found some ranch (Newman's Own).

The spiders over here are about the size of an egg, it seems. Black olives sliced to look like spiders, made for an interesting addition to the deviled eggs. Sister Sylvester's creation.

Scotland Poppy Drive

A member of the church holds a senior position on the organizing committee for the annual 'Poppy Scotland' campaign. Each year he invites the mission to provide missionaries as volunteer canvassers in several cities - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness. It was our turn on Wednesday to help out in Glasgow. The group of 35 or so missionaries from the area met at the Virgin Money bank offices in Glasgow city centre  at 10am.  We were given brief instruction, a specific location assignment, our identifying bibs, poppy box, and collection recepticle. Some also had an electronic card reader for non-cash contributions.

The previous several days were nice clear autumn days but our volunteer day in Glasgow was cold and raining for almost all of our 10am to 4pm shift.

Our assigned location was at the corner of Buchanan and St Vincent - a major pedestrian walk and shop area near a train station.

Fifty yards from our spot was the 'Official Merchandise' store for the poppy fund - staffed by volunteers and veterans.

A young busker set up where I'm standing to take this photo, but his bagpipes would not operate properly - too much water in the pipes perhaps? 

This man approached and thanked us for helping with the drive. He introduced himself as a veteran, and also a member of the church in Falkirk. He gave us a donation. We gave him some encouragement to fight an addiction that he said he struggles with.

We met alot of nice folks, in between the bursts of driving rain. At the end of the day, we felt like the demographic of the 'givers' was very diverse; from 16 to 80 in age, across all races, women and men, Christian and non-Christian. Most people seem to understand how important it is to support the veterans.

We met with the Sylvesters, another senior missionary couple, to go for lunch at 'Five Guys'. It was nice to remove some of the layers of clothing and be somewhere warm for an hour. The Sylvesters are from Utah and serve in the Greenock Branch. Rod is a retired architect and project manager for the Church. He has designed and supervised the building of temples, meeting houses, seminary and institute of religion buildings, all over the world. I always enjoy listening to their adventures in the different places they've lived - Germany, Guam, Philipines, Texas.... When he first met Elder Mauclair who is from Toulouse, France, he remarked - 'I designed and built that first chapel in Toulouse.' 

The heaviest rain of the day was at 4pm when we were walking to catch a bus. In the good old days of my first mission, 1977-79, each missionary companionship would have just researched and planned our own way to get there by the appointed time - be it by bus, or train, or whatever.  But, the mission travel here is all planned by the Zone Leaders, and then we are just told what the plan was. All I can say is, 'having a plan is good, but having a good plan is better.'

It's good to consult with the older generation more - they've been through many of life's storms and challenges before, and a few wars.

The Broadfoots are great people. George is on the Stake High Council and Christine is in the Stake Relief Society Presidency - they both have responsibility for Missionary Work in the Stake. They invited us out to their home in Irvine for a meal and discussion. It was a great time. It feels like we've known them for years.

The day after our poppy drive day in Glasgow was, of course, a beautiful fall day - no rain at all.

Finding 'lost sheep' involves wide use of computer, telephone, social media, and door-knocking. So far, our efforts have uncovered 10 individuals who have passed on and about 30 that have moved outside of the Paisley Ward boundaries. Out of 628 records to begin with, we've made a small dent, but it's a dent. We'll keep at it. We are visiting one of these families tomorrow night, a mother and adult daughter who live together. The daughter was in a serious car accident awhile back and we hope a visit will be encouraging for her as she continues to heal.

Dumbarton Castle

There are 2,000 castles in Scotland. This is our third to visit, Dumbarton Castle. It is located at the confluence of the River Leven with the River Clyde, about a 25 minute drive west and north from Paisley. Dumbarton Rock, the volcanic plug of basalt on which it stands has a history of occupation going back to the 5th century. In the middle ages it became an important royal castle. Robert the Bruce died within its shadow, and the young sovereigns David II and Queen Mary both sheltered there until ships could take them to France and safety during Scotland's struggles with England. 

It last saw military action as recently as WWII, and therefore, has a longer documented history as a stronghold than any other place in Scotland.

There is little evidence of any Dark Age buildings and defences although recent excavations have revealed some. Most of what is there now are The Governor's House, Guard House, French Prison and a powder magazine and artillery defences dating from 17th and 18th centuries.

The Guard House is the first structure of note, on our way up the 500 or so steps to the twin peaks of Dumbarton Rock, 74 metres above the water.

 

 

One of the few medieval structures still standing, the Portcullis Arch.

The French Prison

A stronghold of the Britons since the 5th century, it was sacked by the Vikings in 870 AD, led by Olaf 'the White', king of Dublin and Ivar Beinlaus 'the Crippled'. They beseiged the Rock for 4 months cutting it off from food or water until the inhabitants were starving.

Not all of the steps were this steep, but steep enough. One step at a time - don't get distracted by the views...

It would have been fun to just light it up and see how far a cannon ball would go, and watch the splash it would make on this mirror still water.

From the peak of the highest rock outcropping, down to the other.... The town of Dumbarton lies below.

Looking up the Clyde to Greenock.

The only ripples on this windless day were caused by a lone fishing boat.

Dumbarton harbor, town and football grounds

The drive was beautiful. From Dumbarton we decided to drive further west, to Helensburgh for a lunch and walk. 

We enjoyed our walk out on the pier and looking back to the sunlit waterfront shops.

You don't see this back home! Probably on his way to a wedding celebration...

Paisley Thread Museum

Back to Paisley.... For about 200 years or so, weaving then thread-making were the key industries of Paisley. Two local families - of James Coats and James Clark - took things to another level.

Upwards of 65,000 workers were employed in the mills of Paisley at its peak. The Clark's Mill End Mill, at the end of this street, survives from the 1890's. Mill owners built up these streets for workers' homes, built schools, hospitals, and churches. They donated to build the town hall and parks and to other worthy community causes.

Most of the mill buildings were torn down in the 1960's to 1980's with only a few surviving. The Mill End Mill building stands but is now occupied by various commercial offices. At one corner of the first floor they have created a museum. It's only open two days a week for a few hours but we finally made it there.

This drawing is of the vast Ferguslie Mills, dated 1960. There were acres of mill buildings, which were torn down after Ferguslie closed its mills here in 1983. The Royal Alexander Hospital is now on part of that property.

A building at Ferguslie was converted to a canteen and dance hall. The canteen's kitchen could provide 1,000 meals at any one sitting.

One worker would monitor three sets of these (so 18 spools) to ensure no tangling or breaking of the line. There is a counter on each pick-up spool machine that would determine the worker's pay as it was pay by piece-work.

Cotton threads, silk threads, linen threads...crochet, embroidery, finishing... 

Isaac Singer manufactured the first straight stitch sewing machine at a small machine shop in Boston in 1850. The first machines produced were sold at $100 each. At that time, it would take 14 hrs to sew a man's shirt by hand, while the Singer could do it in 1hr 16 minutes. By 1863 it started to sell 20,000 sewing machines annually. 

In 1867 Singer began to be manufactured in Glasgow, Scotland (Clydebank). This made Singer the first overseas company in the world. Another distinction was that it was the first to use, a 'jingle' - the song being "Merry Singer".

We were shown alot about the spinning, dyeing, quality control, health & safety (or lack of it), and how many of the workers in early times were just 10 to 13 year olds. The mill owners created 'half-time schools' on the mill property, for these young girls that would give school classes for half the day and allow them to work the other half.

Norma and Mary were our tour guides, two great volunteers who could spin a yarn all day....har har. Norma has a family member who lives in Calgary and others who live in the Toronto area.

If you've ever had any kind of thread in your hands, there is a high likelihood that it was from J&P Coats, or Clark & Co.

On the left of this drawing of the Anchor Mills, is the Clark Domestic Finishing Mill - that we now live in. Almost everything else in this drawing has been torn down.

A Work In Progres

We met this young man in the middle of the picture, back in May in Cork. Elder Truman and his then companion, Elder Caswell, had connected with Carlito and begun to meet with him and teach him about Jesus Christ. Elder Truman and Morgan (two of our favorite missionaries of all time) continued to meet with Carlito (originally from near Hong Kong) and on Saturday Carlito was baptized and began a new life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It's just the beginning for him but we know that the Cork Branch will continue to put their arms around him as he grows in the gospel.

Our week had alot of variety, and in many ways it was very fulfilling.  Connecting with people and inviting them to come unto the Savior is the best part of our day or week. We look forward to our planned visits, and also the all-Scotland Zone Conference where we'll see many of the missionaries we've known in Ireland who have transferred to Scotland, as well as the Office Missionaries who we rarely see in person. And we look forward to our Ward Fireside where we'll be talking about Senior Missions. It has been a great blessing to us and we just need more to join us.

Through technology we've been able to wish our granddaughter, Brynlee, a happy 14th birthday, and talk to others in the family. We love and miss them but we know this is where we need to be. 

God bless you all as you strive to find the peace and joy you seek.

Elder Eric & Sister Tina McMurray

Member & Leader Support Missionaries

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

www.churchofjesuschrist.org