Faith in Action in the Dundee Stake

 In a ward in Dundee Stake, there was a sister reactivated who hasn't been to church since she was a girl, she is now married and has three small children of her own and her husband is being baptized this Wednesday. The other part of this story is that the ward selected Wednesday 26^th June as a date to organize a baptismal service when they didn't even know who would be baptized – they just went forward with faith and prayed that someone would be found and the Lord provided this lovely family to strengthen and build His church. 

Act Well Thy Part - Reprise.

At the end of our first post, we mentioned the stone inscribed with “Act well thy part.” In April Conference,  Elaine Dalton, the outgoing Young Women General President talked about her experience seeing this stone many years ago when she visited the Mission Home in Edinburgh. The Elders in Edinburgh were very excited by this and quickly took a picture with the stone and sent it to the Ensign, in hopes of getting it published. This picture appears on page 74 of the May issue.

Front: L to R: Elders Orgill and Judd. Back Elders Johnson, Jones, Moser, Bland,

Graves, Åkebrand  (one of "our" YSAs from Stockholm), Stoica, Mauff.

The Scotland Ireland Mission has a monthly newsletter, cleverly titled “The SIM Card”, the title for which is shown to the right. 

The June issue of The SIM Card, contains an article about the legacy of the Stone, which I have included, in part, below.
It was in 1898 that David 0. McKay as a young missionary was assigned to work in Stirling, Scotland. After looking for an apartment he and his companion did some sight-seeing. On the way back to their rooms David felt homesick and rather down. Looking up he saw a carved stone above the lintel on the side of a house being built. He said "I was not more than half way up the pathway leading to it when it struck me, carved there-"What e'er thou art, act well thy part." It made a huge impact on him and encouraged him to make a renewed commitment to his missionary service, and indeed subsequently it became his often mentioned motto throughout his life.

The original stone at the Mission Home.

In 1965 two missionaries were teaching a family who lived in the upstairs apartment next to the stone. They told the missionaries that they were moving because the entire row of apartments was to be demolished. President Phil Jensen was then the Mission President, and they passed on the information and asked the demolishers to preserve the stone. Pres. Jensen drove hotfoot to Stirling and paid £30 to purchase it. (Estimated weight is about 500 lbs.) It was delivered and built into a brick frame-work in the front garden of the mission home and remained there until 1970 when David 0. McKay died. The Church then moved it to the Church Museum of Art and History among the artifacts in President McKay's section. There are 4 reproduction copies that we know of - inside the Mission Home in Edinburgh, Alloa Ward Building (being the nearest to Stirling) and in the entrance of the MTCs at Provo and Preston. 

The SIM Card also included the above picture of four of the Jensen children in the mission home garden with the original stone.

Scavenger hunt with the YSAs

At a recent YSA "Scavenger Hunt" through the neighborhood, we had fun checking things off our list.

Elder Meyer from Australia doing a Brad Pitt impersonation

One of our team members, Jimmy, climbing a tree

The ever-popular "jumping" picture

Being photographed with a total (but willing) stranger)

A combination of "something with feathers" (borrowed a neighbor's chicken), and a KFC bucket.

Team member doing something never done before...Elder Bylund getting handcuffed by the Dundee "bobbies"

Joshua carrying Polly through the park, as she was recovering from a dislocated kneecap.

Food

Since arriving in Scotland, we have continued our habit of eating, and have enjoyed some new foods.

First, is Haggis, which is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock. Our first encounter with this wild food was as an appetizer in "The Doric" restaurant in downtown Edinburgh.  

Our plate in Edinburgh restaurant

We have since ventured into the haggis world, by eating haggis meat pie, and Elder Bylund even found it....served in burger form at a roadside fast food trailer. We're looking forward to Burns night on January 25, where haggis is ceremoniously served followed by the "Address to a Haggis."  that begins..""Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, great chieftain o' the puddin-race...". and continues several stanzas.

Second is IRNBRU - Richie Peterson first clued us in on this soft drink that is actually quite good.  

Elder Bylund with a winning combo of haggis burger and IRNBRU at Alloa

Also, we  found it in the form of ice cream.

At an ice cream stand in St. Andrews

At a 4th of July barbecue, we also ended up "wearing" it, as two young boys tousled, one of whom was holding a cup of IRNBRU, the contents of which became airborne and landed in our laps.

Third is Tablet - No, not like aspirin nor like a pad of paper nor an electronic gadget, but this is a Scottish confectionery that is made with sugar, butter and sweetened condensed milk, that is cooked until thickened and then cooled in a pan and cut up.  It is somewhat like eating a lump in the brown sugar...pure sugar.  Our YSA, Joshua, made up a batch, which was quickly consumed by the rest.  If you're wanting a sugar high...this is for you.

 Fourth is Fish and Chips
We kept hearing about the "best fish and chips in Dundee", and finally went to the Silvery Tay.  It was SO good.  It is take-out and there is always a line.  We met a lady who had literally just returned from 7 months in Saudi Arabia, and instead of heading straight home to bed, she made a b-line for Silvery Tay.

But, then we heard from the cute sister missionaries about the best Fish and Chips in Scotland!  So off we all  went on Preparation day to Anstruther's Fish and Chips, which is right along the North Sea, south of St. Andrews.  As you can see by our expressions, we agreed.

With (left to right) Sisters Lund, Harris and Hughes

So, if this blog,or any part of it has made you ready to pack your bags and head here, we would have done our job.

YSA Activities

The YSAs have an activity every Friday night, and there is a lot of variety in what they chose to do. This post will focus on the more sporty type of activities, three in particular, volleyball, rounders and human bowling.

Volleyball is a favorite of many of the YSAs. Not much more needs to be said.

Looks just like volleyball, doesn't it?

The game of rounders has been played in England since Tudor times, and is related to baseball. Some of the main differences, at least the way we played it: 1. No foul balls i.e. everything is in play. 2. The batter has three swings, and may run if the ball is hit, but does not have to except on the third swing, when the batter must run, whether or not the ball is hit. 3. A fielder can “kill” a base by stepping on it, and if a batter runs to that base, the batter is out. 4. Once a batter is out in an inning, s/he doesn’t bat again in that inning. This was played in a wonderfully large and beautifully green Camperdown park, located just across the motorway from the Church.

Choosing teams and going over (some of) the rules

Batting

Fielding

Human bowling was quite the event. One of the YSAs brought his long board, and they set up ten 2 liter water bottles at one end of the cultural hall in the normal bowling pin arrangement.

The pins.

A person wearing a helmet lies face down on the long board, and is pushed by other team members toward the pins. They try to knock down as many “pins” as possible with the helmet. Hands must be kept close to the body. Normal bowling scoring was used. It was blast. Elaine and I were each the “ball” for a frame, each knocked over 9 pins in two “throws”, and lived to tell about it.
Here is Sister Bylund starring in the role of the bowling ball.

The video below is of the owner of the long board. He has a hook when he bowls.