Mission Blog #61

Inspection Week

We were assigned six flat inspections and one vehicle inspection this time around. Three were done in-person and the three that were in Ireland we did virtually. We really enjoyed traveling to Dunfermline where we drove to 'David Henderson Court' for one inspection. What made this special is that someone that is very dear to us is the David Henderson. Originally from Mountain View but we know him in Edmonton/Sherwood Park. David ordained me a High Priest (my father had passed so wasn't available) - I remember it like yesterday. In the blessing he gave me it felt as though my father was voicing the words. To this day it is the only blessing I have attempted to record in my journal, and I was able to draft four pages of what I recall he said. I served in a High Council while he was Stake President. I saw his devotion and his many gifts, up close. When we were considering a mission we went up to Sherwood Park and found some reason to drive around with David for a couple of hours. He spoke of his time as Mission President and how he knew we could make a contribution as missionaries. He was very supportive and encouraging to us and that really solidified our resolve to complete our application to serve a full-time mission. It has been a wonderful period of our lives. Thank you David!

Elder Raab and Macfarlane are two consecrated, humble missionaries - from eastern Washington, and Lehi, Utah. We treated for lunch at Smash Burger, something they'd been craving. 

During the inspection, Tina spotted the puzzle on the table and bee-lined for it. Within a minute, she had found the missing edge piece, and corrected one other mis-placed edge piece. The Elders were amazed, and thought that she had some magical powers.

Our inspection forms are now on-line and when we complete them and hit the 'Submit' button, the form goes direct to the Housing or Vehicle Coordinator.

When we were finished the inspection and lunch, we dropped the Elders back at their flat then drove over to Dunfermline Abbey for a bit of a history/family history stop.

Dunfermline Abbey and Palace

Before arriving we had learned a bit about the Abbey and Palace. From the 1100's it had become a mausoleum for Scottish royalty. It was the chosen burial place of Malcolm III and his queen St Margaret, David I, Robert I the Bruce, and many other monarchs. 

On the left, (darker), is the medieval abbey nave, built by David I after 1128. On the right is the new Abbey Church built in 1821.

The remains of the Refectory (dining hall), ruins of what was a magnificent 3-storey building dating from the 1320's when King Robert the Bruce authorized a large rebuild of the site. The Abbey's dining hall was on the third floor with two storeys of storage below.

East view down the ancient Abbey nave.

If you zoom a bit to the top of the tower, you'll see 'KING ROBERT' sculpted.

The New Abbey

The rostrum lies over the remains of Robert the Bruce, 17th great grandfather. His remains had previously been located further back where the ancient abbey was.

 

'The Bruce' was a large man, about 6ft 2in tall. His long sword survives and someone in the family line has it and brings it to the occasional reunion of the clan - close to 6ft in length.

Just a couple of follow-up photos from last weekend's Remembrance Day. Several of our current senior missionaries served in a branch of the U.S. military and took part in Remembrance Day ceremonies in Northern Ireland or Scotland. Elder Colton, shown here in his navy uniform, stood in front of the cenotaph in Omagh as those in service or veterans marched past, and then he later gave a speech which was well-received by all. 

He and his wife served a previous mission in South Korea as 'military relations' missionaries.

Elder Colton was able to learn from the gentleman on his left, that the medals he wore, included his father's medals on one side and his own medals on the other. Pretty cool.

Elder Sylvester, who lives in Greenock, a form U.S. 1st Airborne, participated in ceremonies by laying a wreath at the Greenock cenotaph.

We're grateful to all who have served for the cause of freedom and liberty.

District Council

Our current District will change a bit this week. We're about the last to know of the transfer changes, but we do know our two Sisters in Paisley are moving out and we have two Sister Training Leaders coming in to replace them. Our two Zone Leaders (white shirts), are staying put.

It's a nervous time for everyone, especially the ones who are moving. New companions, new apartments, new District or Zone, new Ward or Branch members, new city or town - learning to adapt is something missionaries have to learn.

This is the group of missionaries that are heading home this week pictured in front of the Preston England Temple. President McCrudden was able to receive permission from the Area President, Elder Boom, to make a trip to the Temple with each group of departing missionaries before they go home. Each month they will bus the group down from the Mission Home in Edinburgh, to Chorley. The 'Preston Temple' as it's called, (even though it's in Chorley), is closing for some maintenance and renovations starting in April to June. There will be a large group of us in March which will include all the home-bound missionaries for March through June. It will be a great way to conclude the 18 or 24 months of missionary service.

Baptisms - a Highlight of Missionary Service

Bamedele and his daughter Bridget were baptised Saturday afternoon. They are the first convert baptisms in over one year in Paisley. Bamedele has a great knowledge of the scriptures and a testimony of his Savior. He is also a dedicated disciple, having been a pastor in his former faith, in his home country.

Damian is a wonderful young man. Married, with a small baby, Damian first learned of the restored church back in his home country of Nigeria. When he moved to Glasgow he found the church and met with the missionaries many times and was attending church there. He moved to Paisley when he was preparing for baptism. It was the good fortune of Elder Tewes and Mauclair to continue Damian's preparations and to perform his baptism and confirmation this weekend. 

After the baptismal service we all stayed and got to know these new members better. Damian was very excited, and at one point asked me if he could be a missionary. He just wants to share what he has learned so much. I spoke to him about how he'll be able to serve once he receives the Priesthood, and in so many different ways within his family and within the Ward, and when he is 'very, very old like Elder McMurray' as one member chimed in, he should hope to be able to serve a mission with his wife assuming that at some point she will make the choice to be baptised as well. It will be great to watch Damian grow in the gospel for these next few months.

Member Visits/Dinner

Lorna and Larry Hale invited we and the Sister missionaries for dinner tonight. They live out in the country ending on a treacherous single lane dirt (mud) road. Final direction was, 'turn left at the barn'. We found it and were treated to an amazing pre- U.S. Thanksgiving meal. Larry is American, having met Lorna when he served in the Glasgow Mission back in 1976 or so. Larry loves rodeo and the first time we met we talked about his dream to come to the Calgary Stampede. Their daughter Nevada, second from my left, spent some time this summer in Banff and Lake Louise. It was fun to talk to her about the natural beauties back in Alberta.

During conversation it came up that Nevada is an illustrator and has just completed her first published work, 'Book of Mormon Timeline'. It provides a narrative written by another writer partner she has, and gives summaries of the events along with a timeline, of the Book of Mormon. The release date for the book is December 5th but we were able to see her 1st copy. She is quite camera shy. She'll need to get over that when she starts going on talk shows, and promoting her future work.

For anyone with children of any age, I highly recommend 'The Book of Mormon Timeline'. Yes, I am promoting her - I promised her I would and I'm not taking any royalties...

You can see samples of her work at FB/Instagram 'joy nevada hale'.  She is very talented. Some of her art has been utilized in General Conference talks, when speakers requested accompanying art to a certain scripture or thought. She is a talented up-and-comer and we look forward to one day saying that we knew her before she became famous!

Nevada's cousin, Kelsey, was at the dinner tonight. She lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah but attends college in Glasgow taking Museum Studies, a one year program. It was fun to talk about the amazing museums she has been able to explore and what it's like for her to be living in a foreign country and traveling around Europe a bit. The Hales are wonderful people and we look forward to getting to know them more.

The three newly baptized members of the church were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands today. It was a real special Sabbath meeting. Following that, the young children of the Primary organisation did their annual presentation and it was pretty special too. 

Tonight in our 'All-Mission' Zoom, we had a guest speaker, Sister Hummel. She was a missionary who had served in the Washington Tacoma Mission simultaneous to our Mission President, President McCrudden in the late 70's. She has become a successful business woman and lives currently in Vietnam. The theme of her remarks were about the different things that she has learned from failures. She also cited influential people, such as Ed Sheeran. An interviewer recently asked about his successes and whether that came easily to him. His response was, 'Success comes after thousands of failures'. She also recounted some of the wisdom taught by Elder Stanfill of the Seventy from his General Conference talk, 'The Imperfect Harvest'. It is one of my favorite talks as it reminds me that if we do our best, even if imperfect, it is enough and it will be accepted by our Father in Heaven. So, the bottom line is we all will have failures of some sort. Sister Hummel reminded us that failures can help us to understand and be compassionate to other people, and to be more forgiving. 

The one quote she used, that I liked the best was from the Prophet of my childhood, David O. McKay. We all know the quote that he's most famous for. I used it in a Commencement speech for Grant MacEwan University some years ago. I reminded the graduates that they may one day excel in their chosen careers, but 'No other success in life can compensate for failure in the home'.  But tonight, I learned a follow-up from Sister Hummel that I wish I had known so I could have passed it along to those students as well. She said that someone asked President McKay, 'What is failure in the home?' His response was, 'Failure in the home is when you give up!'

We are grateful for all the great moments here, but we do have some failures too. We don't publish those, but we'll try and learn what we can from them, and to never give up.

God bless,

Elder Eric & Sister Tina McMurray

Member & Leader Support Missionaries

Scotland-Ireland Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

www.churchofjesuschrist.org