June 9, 2015

Mason has been gone 9 MONTHS tomorrow - that is almost a year!! He e-mailed today (Tuesday) because they had a zone development (party) day yesterday - here it is . . . 

Hey Mom so this week has been so crazy.

Monday me and Elder Carter went around town looking at the tartan shops and other shops around town they have some really cool stuff here. I ended up getting a Green Scott tartan tie to match the scarf I got in Ayr. Not much else really happened.

Tuesday we mowed and cleaned up our backyard so that took a good chunk of the day. Then we went and did some try-by's and then went to a members house and had dinner. That was really fun.

Wednesday we went on exchanges. I went up to Invergordon with Elder Rogers and I drove the whole time, that was pretty fun. We went to a members house, there is a senior missionary couple going home so they were going and saying good by to everyone and so we went on a walk around the members huge back yard which is a massive field. Then we went to the branch president's house and had lunch with them and the senior missionaries. I found out the branch president's son had some of those training swords I was thinking about getting so we went and did some sword fighting in the backyard for a while and that was really fun. Apparently some of the youth now want me to go back there to sword fight with me. Then we drove down to Inverness picked up Elder Carter and Elder Stobbs and took them back then drove back to Inverness. So a lot of driving that day. 

Thursday we drove for three hours down to Aberdeen to go and blitz the area with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Scheuermann so that was really fun being able to catch up with him. We started right off by doing some service for this African guy who was really cool. Then me and Elder Scheuermann got taken out to lunch by a less active member to a chippy and that was really good. Then we all played basket ball with some members in the Aberdeen ward. Then we had to go pick up missionaries and drive them to the flats where they were staying at that night. I was driving the whole day so I went from not driving for 9 months to two days straight - that was fun. 

Friday we started off by mobbing down to Edinburgh for the Scotland east conference so that was about 3 hours of driving. Then when we were about 15 minutes away from the mission home we got in a car accident. First off everyone is alright, no one was hurt, and I wasn't driving. But the police came and told us we had to have the car towed so we had to pull into a parking lot and wait. But it was at the only Krispy Kreme in Scotland so we got some awesome doughnuts out of it. Then the Edinburgh Zone leaders came and picked three of us up, we had to leave Elder Carter and the Elder who was driving to wait for the tow truck. 

But at the conference the best instruction we got was right at the beginning because President started talking about iPads and told us that the church just needed to work out some legal stuff and then as soon as that is taken care of we will be getting them, so we will still have to wait a few months. But the reason they need to work stuff out is because the area book will be on the iPad and President will have access to it and since it has some personal info on it that has been whats holding the mission back from getting iPads. We then spent the rest of the day with some Edinburgh missionaries in Elder Carter's last area. Not much else there. 

Saturday, the big day, we started off by having breakfast at a member's house in Elder Carter's last area then we got on a train to Edinburgh. We met up with some other missionaries in the train station and some of us started walking to the mission home. Once we got there we had to line up really fast and get organized so it would be really quick for us to get in the chapel. We got it so the zones lined up alphabetically so we were the first zone in. The whole time we were standing waiting to go in some of the missionaries where saying things like "is this what the judgment will feel like?" Then we went in and I ended up dead middle in the second row. Then President Brown said that Elder Holland wanted to shake all our hands so we all lined up and got to shake his hand and tell him our names and where we are from. That was amazing. Then he told us that all the missionaries used to be interviewed by a member of the twelve and he had just interviewed all of us! He then told President that he had some really good missionaries. He then gave us some instruction on missionary work from the New Testament. He went through the stories of Nicodemus and the woman at the well and how they were two kinds of investigators. It was so power house it was insane. He also told us that a bishop in the meeting he had before asked him what he saw for the future of Scotland (the next day I found out this was the Inverness bishop). But he said that the miracles that have happened in this land would pale in comparison with what was to come and that this generation would live to see those miracles! That was the coolest part. Then after that we all drove back to Aberdeen and stayed at the Zone leaders flat again.

Then Sunday we watched the stake conference broadcast which was awesome as well. Elder Holland was the last speaker and he got up and said, in respect to the time, "I'm in charge here unless some one senior to me walks in I can do what I want." It was so cool. then after we went and had dinner with a member and that finished up Sunday.    

Monday it was right back down to Aberdeen for Zone Development it was fun. We played Yoga football, American football, and Redneck golf it was a lot of fun but not too much exciting stuff happened and now everyone hurts. 

I really only got one picture this week and that was a reunion of the Ayr/Stranraer district. I am off to Thurso for another exchange. So it's really been crazy.