Mission Blog #74

The Sun Doesn't Always Shine, But When It Does....

Our flat is shown in this photo, the Anchor Mills Apartment. We've always seen this hill across the road in Saucelhill Park but had never made the climb to see the 360 degree views of Paisley, Glasgow, and out to the Firth of Clyde. On this sunny day we were glad we did.

Fountain Gardens Park was laid out in 1797 and is Paisley's oldest public park. The Grand Fountain is an ornate cast-iron fountain at the centre of the park which contains statues of herons, dolphins and walruses.

The town of Renfrew is just a few miles from us. We knew that Renfrew was linked to Scotland's former royal house, and was known as 'Cradle of the Royal Stewarts'. It gained its royal burgh status in 1397. In 1164 Renfrew was the site of the Battle of Renfrew, a decisive victory for the Scottish crown over Somerled, Lord of the Isles. The heir to the British throne holds the title, Baron Renfrew and Lord of the Isles. 

Engineering and shipbuilding have been the historic industries for Renfrew, taking advantage of its location on the River Clyde and River Cart.

This town hall was built in 1873 in a French Gothic style. The first town hall on the site was built in 1670. There is a small museum on the main level that we really enjoyed.

Our weekly Ward Missionary Coordination Meeting is held via use of technology; attended by full-time missionaries, Ward missionaries, Ward Mission Leader, representatives from Elders Quorum, Relief Society...no representatives from the young men or young women attended this time. When a Ward member is needed to attend a teaching appointment, or new friends who are being taught require a ride to church, or for any other needs, the Missionary Coordination team works together to make that happen. It has been very effective in Paisley Ward.

It's All About Family

My sister Tamara and husband Grant Palsky of Sherwood Park, made the great effort to drop their busy lives and come over for a short visit. We picked them up at the Glasgow Airport, and then took a leisurely walk in the drizzle to enjoy a wonderful seafood dinner at a new Italian restaurant.

We caught up on everything, and talked about the jam-packed itinerary beginning 9am the next morning.

From time to time in my life, I've known enough of the lyrics of the song, 'Loch Lomond' to hum or sing it; 

"O you take the high road, and I'll take the low road, And I'll be in Scotland afore ye". It goes on, "Where me and my true love will never meet again, On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond". - and here we are, with our true loves, standing on the shores of Loch Lomond...a wet, grey day, but still eerily beautiful.

Just north of Loch Lomond are the Falls of Falloch which we made a short hike to. They remind us of Elbow Falls back home.

Some of the incredible Scottish highlands scenery in Glen Coe. 

We had some liquid sunshine during our time in Glen Coe. This area is a world-famous film location featured in Harry Potter, Outlaw King, The 39 Steps, Braveheart, Rob Roy, and Skyfall.

We stopped at the Glencoe National Nature Reserve and found great information on how the highlanders of the 17th century would have lived.

This re-creation of a typical highlander home of that era is made with turf and creel. We found the interior to be very warm, and cozy.

Glennfinnan monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie. This gives honor to the man who was determined to fight for bringing the crown back to the Stewarts. 

Glenfinnan viaduct is of course famous for being featured in Harry Potter films. 

Loch Shiel looked spectacular. Just as we were leaving, the sun began to burn off the fog and cloud. It was 'Black Lake' in Harry Potter.

We continued north to Fort William, then went north to Fort Augustus at the south end of Loch Ness. These Fort Augustus locks join up Loch Ness north of the locks, along with Loch Oichs in the south and two other lochs (lakes). The locks allow movement of ships between the Lochs that are at different levels.

Loch Ness extends 37 kilometers from Fort August in a northeast direction and ends near Inverness. At its deepest it is 230 metres. Loch Ness contains more water by volume than all English and Welsh lakes together.

In the daylight, seen through our accomodation's window, we could see how each step in the lock helped move vessels.

We Finally Made it to Gairloch

One of our bucket list things to do while we are in Scotland, was to visit the ancestral home of my 2nd great-grandfather, Alexander MacKenzie, born about 1840 in Gairloch, Wester Ross in the northwest highlands. A cousin had made it there many years ago, met the then laird of the clan, John MacKenzie, and put together photos of genealogical records and parts of the estate, Flowerdale. 

We had driven through alot of wet weather but as we neared Gairloch the skies cleared and there wasn't a wisp of wind to oppose us. 

The Flowerdale Estate is an impressive home, where MacKenzie family still reside, and where a home has existed since the 15th century. They are private people - we tried buzzing at the house's gate and estate office to try an speak with anyone in the family but were not successful; found out from our B&B host that Duncan MacKenzie was golfing that afternoon so wouldn't have been available. There are great trails that go past the home and over to waterfalls so we took a walk, met a nice man and talked for awhile.

Flowerdale House from Flowerdale Bay marina. Legend has it that a ship of another clan (to be unnamed in this entry), came into the bay; a skilled archer at the house sent one arrow the 800 metres, killing the ship's lookout in the crowsnest. If that is true, it's pretty impressive.

The beach in Gairloch, and 9-hole golf course just above it. We arrived earlier than our check-in time so we wandered around the area a bit. I was able to speak with (Rene), a neighbor of our B&B operator for about an hour. When he explained that our host worked shifts at the petrol station, I detected a Dutch accent. That took me to introducing myself in Dutch and then carrying on a great conversation about my first mission, cities I served in, and now serving with Tina in this mission. He just totally changed in his demeanor when I spoke with him in Dutch. There are so many wonderful people around, wherever we go.

All of us felt so at home in Gairloch and agreed that it is one of the hidden jewels of Scotland. We would love to return and spend much more time here - fishing, golfing, hiking, whale watching, etc.

Gairloch Bay at sunset.

We left Gairloch and drove home a slightly different route back to Paisley. Again our B&B host took care of us. We took advice from Ian and decided to see one of the most famous Scottish castles, Eileann Donan. It is a tidal island at the confluence of three lochs, and connected to the mainland by a footbridge installed in the 20th century. 

This amazing looking Scot, Ian, is a volunteer guide inside this castle. We overheard him explaining its history, and heard him say that it was originally built in the 13th century as a stronghold of the MacKenzie clan. He liked our positive reaction to that and really gave us privileges like taking photos and greater access.

He opened a locked gate and door in an original section and allowed us out onto a small balcony so we could peer up onto the wall, where the original MacKenzie crest was carved. He also allowed me to take several interior photos - any photography was expressly forbidden otherwise. He then called to another guide in another room of the castle to say that some MacKenzie descendants would be coming and to allow us to take photos...made us feel like vip's. What a gent!

The castle fell into ruin centuries ago, but the McRae clan, who had been body guards to the MacKenzies, were given the island as a place to re-build a clan home for the McRae's. A complete restoration was carried out and completed in 1932. They did a great job.

In modern times several movie productions and series utilized the property as a filming location; The New Avengers, Highlander (1986), The World is Not Enough, Elizabeth-the Golden Age, Made of Honor...

We really wanted to see a 'Highland Coo' at some point and we finally found a small herd in a spot near the roadway so we could take photos. The breed is hearty and well-suited to the climate of the Scottish highlands. Some have been brought to at least one farm that we know of in northern Alberta.

I thought I'd show an example of some of the challenging roads we've driven on this week while touring around with Tamara and Grant Palsky. The road to a nice place we had dinner at near Gairloch, was only a few miles away, but it was mostly 'single-track' with a couple of pull over spaces to allow cars to pass. This photo is of a stone-walled bridge that had just enough room for one vehicle.

A Special Sunday in Paisley

It's hard to put into the blog all of the wonderful moments we experience each week. Today was very special though - in Paisley Ward, as we enjoyed a special visitor, our Area Seventy, Elder Stewart. He taught us well on how he learned from an apostle, Elder Jeffrey R Holland, how to forgive and love his own father even during a very difficult time that he wandered away from the path he had been on. He was taught to just love him, and that no good that his father did would be wasted. And so Elder Stewart taught us, to just love, even when it's hard. He also gave me a great bear hug of appreciation for our mission service.

Members of the Ward really welcomed my family - Alastair Mair our Elders Quorum President, spent a good amount of time with Grant and afterward Grant said that he knew Alastair and he could be good friends. Alastair is a great example of serving others. He just seeks out ways to help wherever he can. 

During the 'munch 'n mingle' in the gymnasium after church meetings, it was great to greet several folks who had not come out to church for a great amount of time. Attendance for the special meeting with Elder Stewart was about 30% higher than a normal Sunday. We sure hope that the spirit they felt today will carry them to decisions to return and join us again - we need each other as we strive to be better.

Sister Hales visited with my sister, Tamara, and Tina. It was a very special day. We topped it off by utilizing some technology and observing my great friend, David, give a wonderful talk in his Ward in Spruce Grove, Alberta. His topic was 'compassion', and he really taught us well from the scriptures, quotes from our prophet and apostles, and real life examples of people showing compassion to strangers in need. Thanks David for allowing us to hear your wisdom on the subject. 

We have loved having family visit and we'll carry on with a full and busy week - they'll fly home on Wednesday; then we have Zone Conference - our last - and we'll be helping with the Family History Workshop on Thursday then hosting Tina's brother James and wife Lorraine for a few days, which we really look forward to.  

We love our family, here, at home, or wherever they are. We can't imagine our lives without them. Heavenly Father, in love and wisdom, sent us here to learn and grow in family units and we can return to Him in our family units one day, through His great plan of happiness.

God bless you as you strive to lift your families and to be kinder and more compassionate to everyone you meet.

Elder Eric & Sister Tina McMurray

Member & Leader Support Missionaries

Scotland-Ireland Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

www.churchofjesuschrist.org