Mission Blog #65

 Christmas in Paisley

On Friday the Elders Quorum held a Victorian Christmas... which meant we heard about some of the traditions of celebrating Christmas in the 19th century. 

The young Elders stayed for part of the evening.

Sandy is a long-time convert in the Church here in Paisley, and a great example to me. He has had a few physical set-backs in his life and yet he is the most cheerful, kind person you could imagine. 

Billy in the hat, was our master of the evening - guiding us through some games. The one being played here is 'pass the package'. It's like 'musical chairs' - music is played and we pass the package. When the music stops, whoever holds the package is bumped out of the game. The winner, Alan, in the spirit of Christmas, gave the prize to the second place opponent, Damian.

The Ward Christmas Party was last night - there were about 100 or so who came. The food was good - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, turnips, carrots, peas, sausages, fried plantaines, etc. 

I think orange is more my color.... 

We all assembled little figurines while we waited for our table's turn at the food trough...

Damian, our newest Ward member, was there with his wife and 5 month old daughter. We sat with them and learned alot about their home-country in Ghana; the different tribes, languages, and Christmas traditions and foods.

It was a pretty good spread.

The hi-lite for the children of course, was a visit by a special guest...

Santa Claus made his entrance with bells jingling, and the children singing.

There is always some drama between the children and Santa, like: 'Santa, you have bad breath,' or, 'how come your beard isn't real?'  But last night the best comment from one of the children was, 'Hi grandpa!'     Busted!

A Visit to Stranraer Branch

We were hoping for a nice sunny day for our travels today to speak in the Stranraer Branch. Rather, it has been raining constantly, and heavily all day. Standing water in places made it challenging, but we made it fine.

An ancient abbey ruin - not uncommon.

From Paisley, we drove on a divided 4-lane motorway for 40 minutes or so, then it became a 2-lane drive the rest of the way; about 2 hours in total to get there. At times the Firth of Clyde was right next to the road. Of course, on a blue sky day, it would have been quite spectacular.

Stranraer (stran - rawer), is a small waterside port town on loch ryan, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is a wee town of 13,000 or so. Locals call it 'The Toon'.

Fun fact: On the night of June 25, 1942, Winston Churchill departed from Stranraer in a Boeing Flying Boat to make his second visit of the war to the United States. He also spent time at nearby Knockinaam Lodge during war years.

In places where the church membership is small, a Branch may be organized but public buildings are rented for services rather than building a church. In Stranraer, the local 'academy' or high school, is where meetings are held.

The classroom that we used for classes and Sacrament Meeting is in the art department of the school. I took this picture before we began just to show how humble the circumstances are in Stranraer. We met a young man who was there for the first time; his name Alexander (the Great) he said. There were about 20 of us in total.

After our talks were done and the meeting closed, we went to the next room/kitchen and had a Munch 'n Mingle where we could get to know each other over some food.

We really enjoyed our time with the people in Stranraer Branch and hopefully we gave them a bit of a lift. 

Any Curlers Know Why This Island is Famous?

The Alisa Craig is a small island about 8 nautical miles off the coast in the Firth of Clyde. It is no longer occupied, and has been a bird sanctuary for huge numbers of gannets and puffins.

Microgranite has long since been quarried there, to make the best curling stones in the world.

In our talks in Church today, among other things, we both reminisced on traditions that helped us feel the spirit of Christmas, and brought peace to our hearts. I am grateful to my parents who were welcoming and inviting - we always had a house full of people on Christmas Eve; family yes, but also uncle, or cousins, or friends or friends of friends, and always the full-time missionaries. Sometimes we would eat, then we'd bundle up in all our winter garb, drive over to the seniors' nursing home where my sister, Shauna, worked and we'd go around singing carols and giving out some of mom's homemade chocolates.  Those seniors just loved it.  And I remember caroling in the neighborhood as well. All these memories warm our hearts, but we know that it is the gift of a Savior being born in Bethlehem many many years ago that we humbly celebrate. May we all take time this week to ponder on that blessed event and find ways to express to our families and friends, what it truly means to us.

Merry Christmas,

Elder Eric & Sister Tina McMurray

Member & Leader Support Missionaries

Scotland-Ireland Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

www.churchofjesuschrist.org