January 25, 2016

Hey Mom - The Ewarts are still doing really good, they came to church this week which was awesome. No luck seeing the Newtons or William and Shannon we will see what happens this week. It feels like ages since the last moves call, but this next move is going to fly by so fast. It will be cool to see who my next companion is. 

This week not too much happened. Tuesday it was mainly finding, but we had dinner at one of the members. They had one of their daughters and a grandson over and it was a fun night. Wednesday not too much happened before we had to go to the worldwide missionary broadcast. Once we got down to Dundee we met up with our district leader and his companion and walked from the bus station to the church. We got there about a half hour before everyone else so we just waited outside the church. Once everyone showed up we got it all working. It was a really good broadcast, and they talked about how important it is that our investigators are truly converted and how important the Holy Ghost is in that. After the broadcast it took us about an hour and a half to make it back to Montrose cause we had to take a different bus that took a longer route so it was about 9:30 when we made it back. 

Thursday it was weekly planning than we went to Arbroath and did some finding, then we went to our ward mission leader's house for dinner and had a meeting with him. Our new ward mission leader is the Bishop's father-in-law, and he is really funny. 

Friday it was another finding day until we went to the Ewarts with our ward mission leader and his wife. We had a really good lesson about the temple and they started asking questions about what it looked like even asking what kind of chairs were in the temple. Then they told us about how they both had dreams in different rooms in the temple. Also during the lesson they kept on saying how they know they need to get baptized they just aren't sure when so we will keep talking to them about that. 

Saturday we started off by going to British Heart then we went to a member's house in a small town called Letham for lunch. It was really fun! The husband has a few birds of prey like hawks and falcons as well as an owl, and I got some pictures. It was really cool seeing and getting to hold the birds. We then went back to Montrose and did some finding, then we had to go to the church for something, then had dinner. 

Sunday the Ewarts came to church as said above and the whole ward loves them! A few were asking when they where going to get baptized and they said they just need to figure out when they were going to get baptized. Then after church we went to do some finding around the church before going to the old bishop's house for lunch and we ended up chapping a flat where a guy was cleaning up. When we started talking to him he told us that the flat wasn't a place we wanted to be, turns out he was cleaning up from a murder that happened in the flat. After that we just went right over for lunch. Then after we did some finding and some paperwork and had dinner. So that was our week, it was a really good week mainly cause of the Ewarts. Love and miss you guys.

Here are the pictures with the birds of prey they saw at the member's house.

January 18, 2016

Hey Mom here is how my week has been. Tuesday we spent the whole day in Dundee for the Zone Interview Training which was good. But after we pretty much only had time for dinner when we got back to Montrose. We actually didn't have to give the training in ZIT cause the zone leaders called every other team as well and told them they were training and then they just picked who was giving it. 

Wednesday we tried by some potentials Elder Johnson and one of the other missionaries, Elder Parsons, got when they were on exchanges. Both fell through but we saw one of them as we were talking to people on the high street so we should be seeing her sometime soon. Then it was some more finding all day until we went over the first counselor in the bishopric's for dinner. That was good they are pretty funny. 

Thursday we went on exchanges and I was up here with Elder Parsons and it was pretty much an all day finding day. We got let in by this one Polish guy. He kept going off about different things that disprove things from the scriptures. Like he said that with the parting of the Red Sea that it was because of the continents moving and there for had nothing to do with God, and then he mentioned how some kind of DNA studies disprove the resurrection. So yea we tried to teach him a bit but whenever we tried to say something he would just steamroll over us and go on about something else, and because of his accent I could only understand about half of what he was saying. So that was the most exciting part of that day. 

Friday we exchanged back and did some finding until 6:00 when we went over to the bishop's for dinner. Bishop and his family are so cool I love going over there. But then we went and saw the Ewarts which went really good, we went through the Articles of Faith with them and explained some things to them. But the coolest thing was Allen started reading the Book of Mormon and in less then a week got halfway through 2 Nephi. Allen said that he can't say enough good things about the church so they are doing really well. 

Saturday we did service at British Heart in the morning. Then did some finding not much happened there but we missed our bus to Arborath to go to a dinner appointment in a small town. So we waited for the next bus and then we waited for another bus to the small town which never showed up so we weren't able to get to the member's house. But she was cool with it. After that we went back to the flat and had dinner. 

Sunday after church we had a meeting with our new ward mission leader, then went over to the old bishop's for lunch then went and weekly planned since we were on exchanges on Thursday. So that was our week. Also on February 16th I hit my slump day or my six months to go mark. Love and miss you guys.

January 11, 2016

Mason has been gone 16 months now and it looks like his release date will probably be August 17. So even though he has only been gone 16 months he will home in a little over 7 months. They had to change some transfer dates to match the new MTC schedule that is starting in March so that moved up his release date a little. So here is the e-mail he sent today . . . 

We saw the Ewarts this week and it went really good. The Newtons we haven't been able to get a hold of so we may just need to go and try by them sometime, The Glanvilles have had a lot of things going on so we haven't been able to see them for the last few weeks. 

So this week, Tuesday we had district meeting which was pretty good. I took some book marks I made (with the leatherworking stuff I sent him for Christmas) and gave them to the district and the Zone Leaders and they really liked them. Then we just did some finding the rest of the day.

Wednesday was pretty much all finding again so nothing much happened that day.

Thursday we went on exchanges. I was down in Dundee with our district leader, we did some finding in the morning and found a cool brother and sister who seemed pretty interested. Then we got taken to lunch by some members, who I found out are the in-laws of the Bishop in Inverness so that was really cool. Then we had another lesson with this one guy and then it was a few try bys and then back to the flat for dinner. 

Friday after exchanging back we had a meeting with our new ward mission leader, who is doing great. Then we went to see a less active who was asleep then we took a combined lunch and dinner hours then went to Brechin. We did some finding out there and then went to the Ewarts. We started off by teaching a bit about the atonement since Allen had some questions about some verses in the Book of Mormon. Then we talked about the first vision again and went over it in some more detail and said that he will get his answer, then he said he knew they would get an answer and Ireani said she has her answer and is just waiting for him. So it was a really good lesson and we will be seeing them this Friday with the Bishop so it will be really good.

Saturday we did some service at British Heart then we had lunch and then we went and did some try bys for potentials Elder Johnson and Elder Parsons found on exchanges. Then we went by William and Shannon but they weren't in. Then we went back and prepared for some training we have to give at Zone Interview Training. We have to give twenty minutes of instruction on "Teach People Not Lessons."

Sunday after church we went and did some finding on the way back to the flat and once we got back to the flat Elder Johnson got a migraine so we just stayed in. So that was our week. Love and miss you guys. 

Here are a couple of pictures that Elder Johnson took and his mom posted on Facebook - 

 

December 28 & January 4

I am posting today and last week's e-mails today. Mason's e-mail last week was really short since we had just Skyped with him on Christmas and I didn't get it posted last week.

January 4 

This week not too much happened with us - things were still a bit slow this week. We pretty much just did some finding so not too much went on the first few days this week.

On New Years Eve we went over to the Farquars again and played the card game Magic the Gathering (which is the game we also played with the Austins) that was way fun. New Years not much happened - every one is a little too far out or was just busy so we didn't go anywhere, but we did spend the day at the church watching the new Cinderella on the projection screen we have at the church so it was good just to chill out. 

Then Friday after going to Arbroath in the morning for a bit we went back had lunch then went and saw the Austins!!! (The Austins are the family that Mason taught in Cumbernauld and they just got baptized a couple of months ago. They drove up to Montrose for the weekend to see Mason.) That was so much fun, it was so good to see and catch up with them. We really just talked for a while played Magic and had a really good steak dinner. Then they came to church on Sunday and the whole ward loved them. After church they were all saying that they want the Austins to move up here. Then later we went and saw the Austins again and they said they really liked Montrose. But it was really fun to see them and they said they will come and see me in the summer so that will be awesome seeing them again before I go home. So yea that was our week. We haven't been able to see anyone this week but we will be seeing the Ewarts this week and hopefully start seeing the Newtons again as well as William and Shannon so things will start picking back up now that the holidays are over. Sorry it's not a very exciting email again. Love and miss you. 

 
Here are some pictures that the Austin's posted on Facebook from their visit with Mason.

 

December 28 

Not to much to report on this week - we didn't see anyone this week. We set stuff up with William and Shannon but they all fell through. We hopefully will be seeing the Ewarts this week we need to call them and see. On Christmas after the Skype we stayed at the house of our first counselor in the bishopric until about 9:15. Boxing day (the day after Christmas) we really didn't do anything it was just a chill out day. For New Years Eve we might be spending it with the Faurqurs daughter Lea and her husband Jordan again and just play some games. But sorry not to exciting this week. But now that the black hole year (the one entire year you spend out on a mission) is almost over it will just fly by. Love and miss you. 

Here are a couple of pictures from our Skype call on Christmas.