December 21, 2015

Here is the very short e-mail we got from Mason today - they had a short P-day today, I guess because of Christmas this week.

Elder Johnson was sick from Tuesday to Friday, so nothing really happened. We went to the ward Christmas party Friday night and that was pretty fun. The Ewarts came and had a really good time, their kids loved it. They would have been to church on Sunday but Irene had a performance at the other church so they weren't able to come.

Saturday we helped a member's sister move into the ward, and that was pretty much what we did all day after service at British Heart.  

Sunday church was really good - it was a big Christmas themed sacrament meeting. After church we went to the old bishop's house for lunch and that is about it. Sorry this hasn't been a very exciting week. We haven't seen William and Shannon this week since William has been away doing a roofing job in Glasgow but hopefully we will see them sometime this week. Love you and can't wait to Skype on Christmas. 

He did send some pictures with the Christmas tree they have in their flat. The tree was already there so I just sent some decorations from Amazon UK. The first one is a little blurry but the second one is better.

December 14, 2015

Here is the e-mail we got today -

I am staying in Montrose, I think only abut 9 people got moved this moves call.

Well this week on Tuesday we went out to a small town called Letham after lunch, we did a few hours of tracting but nothing to much happened than we came back and had dinner.

Wednesday we mainly did some GQing on the high street then after dinner we had to go to Dundee and spent the night with the district leader. That was pretty fun. Elder Johnson and Elder Benton are both really into this card game called Magic the Gathering. Elder Lauricella showed me how to play, and Elder Johnson and I have been playing with me just using some of his cards. So we played that for a while. 

Thursday we had to get up at 5 am to get our train to Edinburgh. We had an all Scotland conference since the area president was touring the mission. We arrived at the Edinburgh stake center about 9:30 so it took us a little while to get there. But the conference was great - Elder Kearon was really good and really funny. I didn't expect so much joking and laughing it was really good. I also got to talk with the sisters who are in Glasgow. It was fun to talk to them about the Austins and they said they are doing really well. When I starting talking to them they just said "the Austins love you so much" so it was good to hear how they are doing.  I also saw one of the sisters in my group who I haven't seen since the Christmas Concert last year and she said "just in case I don't see you again before I leave I will see you on Facebook." Things are getting real - the sisters in my group only have two moves left before they go home - it is crazy how fast it is going. But then after we got on the train and went back to Montrose. We finally got back to the flat at about 8:20 so it was a long day.  

Friday Elder Johnson wasn't feeling well so we didn't do too much except for seeing a less active in the afternoon, then we went and saw the Ewarts in the evening. That was really good.  A member who came with us, sister Maxton, is really good and is friends with the Ewarts. But we got on the subject of blessings and Sister Maxton said she felt like the Ewarts should have a blessing so before we left I gave blessings of guidance to Irene and Allen. The spirit was so strong there it was so great. So we should be able to get them with a baptism date here soon. 

Saturday we were having the zone caroling activity I was one of the missionaries out finding, and they said they would rotate between singing and finding but they never did - oh well. But they got some members to help since there are so few sisters and one of the members wasn't very good and she was the loudest so it wasn't the nicest sounding choir by far. After that we got lunch with some other Elders at KFC then since we had an hour until our bus we went and looked around in the mall and one shop then right back to the bus for Montrose. That was pretty much that day.

Sunday after church we went to the old bishop's house for lunch then after, since Elder Johnson still isn't feeling the best, we went back to the flat and waited for moves call. 

That was our week. Man only 11 more days till Christmas - I can't wait to Skype. Love and miss you guys.

 

 

In this picture Mason is standing in front of a statue called the Declaration of Arbroath - this is one of the most famous documents in Scottish history and was written in 1320. It asserted Scottish independence and was written at the Arbroath abbey.

December 7, 2015

Here is the e-mail we got from Mason today - 3 more days and we are at 15 months down! 

 

This week has been okay. Nothing really too exciting happened this week. We saw William and Shannon twice but the first one wasn't really a lesson since they just ranted about some things for an hour and a half. Then when we saw them on Saturday we watched On the Lords Errand, the movie about Pres. Monson. After the video they said that they don't believe there are prophets anymore; so we are going to need to talk to them about that. We had a joint district meeting and after that for district lunch we ordered Dominos and had a pizza party which was really fun. 

The lesson with the Newtons went really well they were open to tithing after the bishop and us explained it to them. But they still didn't come to church on Sunday, and we just got a text from them this morning saying that they are going to be really busy these next few weeks so they won't have time for us to come over until the new year. 

The Ewarts we weren't able to see this week because their oldest son had a ballet thing Friday night so we will be seeing them on Thursday this week. 

The big thing that happened this week was that we got a new bishop here in Montrose. The new bishop's name is Jeff Dibdin he is really cool! He had us over for dinner at his house this week and we kind of made planes to come over most likely for new years, he is really cool and fun. 

Other then that not much else happened sorry this email is pretty short. Love and miss you. 

 

 

These are pictures from the district meeting/pizza party - 

November 30, 2015

So for this week on Tuesday we had district meeting and after getting back to Montrose I got a haircut since the barber shops are closed on Monday. Then we went and saw William and Shannon we did a bit of a review of what we had taught them and they did pretty good. And that finished off Tuesday. 

 

Wednesday we pretty much did finding all day until dinner, and then we went and saw the Newtons. It was a good lesson and we learned that their big concern is tithing. So we will be teaching that this week with Bishop, so that should be good. 

 

Thursday, because of our English district leader's disrespect for American holidays, we went on exchanges so one of three full American teams in the zone was split up for Thanksgiving. I was down in Dundee and we did have a meal appointment with a recent convert, a college student from Germany, she made us lasagna and brownies for dessert. It was really good, but nothing like what Elders Johnson and Benton got at the Bishop's. 

 

Friday we exchanged back and then it was finding until we went to the Ewarts. We watched Elder Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon with them. They really liked it, then we got talking a bit more and then Irene told us about her belief in past lives so we will need to talk about that one. But it went pretty well.

Saturday we did weekly planning then we went to see William and Shannon again but they weren't in so we just did some more finding but it was cold and not many people were out.

Sunday after church it was munch and mingle so that was fun and we left with a lot of food. Then we did some finding and then we purged the phone. That is were you call all the potentials in the phone and see which ones actually want to meet up, nothing from that and then we had dinner. So not the most eventful week.

 

 It is so crazy that Christmas is already coming up its coming so fast. It will be good to Skype again, for the second to last time. Love and miss you. 

Mason's companion sent some pictures home and his mom put them on Facebook so I "borrowed" them.