Two weeks ago, a man from Hungary came into the Centre for
help with his CV. He spoke very little English and his CV was in Hungarian, so
we got the help of a missionary from Hungary who just happened to be at the
mission office that day. They worked together, translated the CV, and we
formatted it. The next time the man came in, he was not so much interested in
the CV; he wanted to work on family history. With our little knowledge of
Hungarian and his information, we were able to enter his parents, grandparents,
and one set of great-grandparents into FamilySearch and reserve their temple
ordinances. It was sweet! As Lynn was typing in the names of his
grandparents, he called them “Papa” and “Mommy.” His gratitude was
overwhelming. You never know what you are going to be doing on a mission! The
Lord had us prepared for that task and helped us do it.
One of the Chinese members we helped at the
Employment/Self-Reliance Centre referred two of her friends to us. We helped
them with their CVs (résumés) and job search tips. One of them returned last week to practice
interview skills. She came in on Thursday just to tell us goodbye. She was very
sweet and stayed to chat. Two missionaries happened by, one of them from
Singapore, and started a conversation with her. Since we weren’t busy at the
moment, we invited them to sit down and join our chat. The conversation led to
the fact that this girl had read from the Bible that belonged to a friend. She had a question about the cousin of Jesus.
This led to a great discussion of baptism and the missionaries borrowed our
laptop to show her a video about John baptizing Jesus. It was brilliant that Elder Tan could explain some things in her own language. It was a wonderful
spiritual experience and we hope it will lead to others for this young woman.
She said she will come back to visit us this next week.
Our big recent event was fulfilling a life-long dream of Kaye’s by going to Scotland to see where her Frew ancestors came from.
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| Ready to leave for Scotland |
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| Scene from the train as we rode through the Lake District. Note the stone fences. |
We rode the train to Glasgow and then to Saltcoats, where we stopped to walk around and get a feeling for the town.
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| Our first glimpse of Saltcoats by the Irish Sea |
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| A street leading from the train station |
We found many old buildings, including the Ardrossan
Parish church, dating from the 1770’s.
We got on the train and went to Kilwinning. We started
down the main part of town, and suddenly found Frews Barber Shop on the main
street! We were sorry it was closed.
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| Frews Barber Shop in Kilwinning |
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| Some old-looking buildings in Kilwinning |
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| Another old building |
Oldest of all are the abbey ruins, dating from the 1200’s.
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| Part of the abbey ruins in Kilwinning |
We decided to find our bed and breakfast accommodations but could not
find the street. We asked a couple we met on a corner and they told us where
the street was, but the woman told us it was a “wee bit of a walk” to the
B&B. We asked if they knew how we could call a taxi, and he got out his
phone but then said, “Oh, we’ll take you there!” He got his car and they
drove us about 2 miles until we reached our destination. We offered to pay them
for the petrol but they said no, and it seemed they would have been insulted
if we had insisted. Such kindness! The proprietress, Margaret, at the B&B
was just as kind and greeted us with hugs.
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| Nethermains Farmhouse and Lodge in Kilwinning |
The part of the house we slept in was built in 1620 and had
walls 27 inches thick—very quiet, especially as we thought of the busy, noisy street
where we live in London!
As Margaret drove us to the train station the next morning,
we told her why we were visiting and that the ancestor name was Frew. She said
that she was a teacher and had taught three generations of Frews and that they
were very prominent in Kilwinning, and had been from the beginning, the 1200’s.
They currently own several businesses in addition to the barber shop.
We rode the train back to Glasgow and on to Edinburgh. One of Kaye’s Fraser ancestors came from a suburb of Edinburgh, and we were told to
make sure we visited Edinburgh if we ever got to Scotland. At every turn in
Edinburgh, there is a beautiful old building, many with turrets and towers. Kaye
is sure that every street in Edinburgh runs uphill!
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| An old building on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh |
We took a tour of the Palace at Holyroodhouse, the official
residence of the British monarchy in Scotland, a beautiful building dating from
the 1400's. It is very close to Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano and the
highest point in Edinburgh. Parley P. Pratt spoke there and missionaries visit
the spot often.
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| The Palace at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh |
St. Giles’ Cathedral, Church of Scotland, with its distinctive
crown spire, sits on the Royal Mile, the High Street running between Edinburgh
Castle and Holyroodhouse Palace. It is absolutely beautiful inside! The day we
visited someone was playing the magnificent organ.
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| St. Giles from the outside |
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| The nave of St. Giles |
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| The amazing ceiling in one of the side aisles in St. Giles |
Edinburgh Castle sits high on a steep volcanic mountain. It
dominates the city!
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| Edinburgh Castle |
Sunday we visited the Edinburgh Ward were interested to hear the Bishop announce that during the
testimony time, there would be nothing political said. There were chuckles. You
may be aware that Scotland votes this week on whether to remain in the UK or to
become a separate nation! This is huge!
After the meetings, a missionary couple that we had met in
training meetings took us to their flat for a lovely dinner. Then they surprised us by driving to see the
heather on the hill, disappointingly brown this time of year. They drove us
clear to the Scottish Borders and then to see Arthur’s Seat and a view of the
Firth of Forth. It was a memorable afternoon.
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| You can see that the heather on the hill has turned brown! |
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| A pasture with sheep in the Scottish Borders; we saw many sheep and cattle in beautiful green fields on this trip, some with hedgerows and some with rock walls. |
