A Scottish Barbecue

Spring is a wee bit late in coming this year, but the YSAs are doing all they can to encourage it. A few weeks back, they decided it was time for the first BBQ of the season. When it was planned the weather forecast was encouraging, but by the time the day actually came, the weather was not so good:  cold and rainy. They are hardy folk, and they had a great time.

Our Council President and Head Cook

In Memorial of Jeffrey Guerra -- a wonderful young man, brother, son, friend, full-time missionary

We met Jeffrey shortly after arriving in Sweden in the fall of 2010, to serve our mission in the Center for Young Adults in downtown Stockholm.  Jeffrey attended almost every activity, and was friendly to all who came.  His kind, gentle ways endeared him to everyone.  He was always nice and polite to us, and we enjoyed getting to know him and had many pleasant visits.  He was always smiling, it seemed; he loved dancing, playing games and hanging out with the YSAs, as well as being an attentive, participating Institute student.  Plus, he was very missionary-minded and was very dependable to help the full-time missionaries in their teaching.  On the YSA sign-up list of helping on "teaches" with investigators, Jeffrey's name was always there, at least once.  We shared in his excitement as he awaited his own mission call and joyed with him as he received his call to serve in the Utah Provo Spanish-speaking Mission.   He had been out only about a year, when he died.  Many tears have been shed at his passing.  Many hearts are aching.  He will be greatly missed.  The comfort we receive is the knowledge that he returned home, as a dedicated full time missionary and will continue to live there and bless others. In fact, in his optimistic way, he is probably excited about his new "transfer."  Jeffrey, your life has been an inspiration to us   It will be great to see you again, someday, Elder Guerra.

Jeffrey Guerra

 from the Deseret News (May 13, 2013)
Elder Jeffrey Rogil Guerra Alfaro, 22, from Lidingo, Sweden, a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Utah Provo Mission, died after suffering an aneurysm while exercising. LDS Church spokeswoman Ruth Todd said Elder Guerra "was jogging with his companion Thursday morning when he collapsed after suffering a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. "He was treated at the scene and then transferred to the hospital where he was placed on life support," Todd continued. "He later passed away with family members present."On behalf of the LDS Church, Todd said, "our thoughts and prayers are with Elder Guerra’s family during this difficult time.”

“I’m a Mormon” Campaign in UK

There is a lot of excitement right now in Scotland and in the rest of the United Kingdom due to the "Integrated Media Campaign" which is currently ongoing. The campaign features, among others, Alex Boyé, British-born singer and actor of Nigerian descent.

Also featured is Dean Johnson, the son of our Institute instructor. Dean lives on the  Isle of Man

 and is an airline pilot and volunteer police officer.  

A similar campaign to the one running in London was centered in New York City’s Times Square in 2011. Both of these campaigns coincided with the launch of The Book of Mormon Musical in each respective city. A recently published video gives reactions from local commuters to the Church's "I'm a Mormon" advert program to London's Charing Cross station.

In London, 250 double-decker buses will feature advertisements as will Charing Cross mainline station and ten tube stations including Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, for the next four weeks. Throughout the rest of the UK and Ireland, the effort will be focused on the Internet, where people will see “I’m a Mormon” ads through the end of 2013.

Here in Dundee we have special "I'm a Mormon Cards" and the missionaries fill out a special weekly report about the campaign.  

Dundee is just Dandy

We are enjoying getting acquainted with the "Dundonians".  Being careful not to come on too strong, we are following the advice we received in the MTC:  "Sit at the edge of the herd, and watch how the cows graze",   Meaning, be observant at the first, and  under no circumstances EVER say, "In Utah, we do it this way."
So, we've been:

drivin' around town  (David is doing better..he has only hit the curb a few times, while I have never hit the curb  (OK, OK, I haven't driven yet)

meetin' the wonderful ward members of the Dundee 2nd ward.  They're very friendly, hugging, inviting you over for "tea" (dinner) kind of people.

visitin' new members, investigators, less active, and recently re-activated.

enjoyin' being with the YSAs.  We have 6 leaving on missions to different parts of the world --  New Zealand; Sydney, Australia;  Benin (West Africa), Paris, France; Alpine German-speaking, and Brazil.

They love playing games and being together

Our YSA talented musician, Neil, playing a medley of Muppet songs

Rowan, soon heading to Brazil on a mission

teachin'  David taught Institute class this past week, as the regular teacher was serving at the Preston Temple, as he does one week each month.

plannin' a temple trip to Preston, England with the YSAs in May

Preston, England temple

celebratin' David's birthday, with dinner at a fancy seafood restaurant.

Turning 67 in style

meetin' with the Stake President, with the "marching orders" to visit all 6 units in the stake and become "best friends" with all the bishops and go find lost YSA sheep.

cookin' food for the YSAs and for a local soup kitchen

Making "stovies" for the soup kitchen with Michelle and Adela

learnin' some Scottish slang   great=BRILLIANT,  cap or car hood=BONNET, diaper - NAPPY, mashed potatoes, onion and corned beef.= STOVIES.

visitin' some local sites

Downtown Dundee by a random dragon statue

Little David in front of big McManus museum - lots of cool history

Exploring our first castle - Broughty Castle built in 1496

Scotland history quiz:
1.  What US company has had manufacturing in Dundee?
      a.   Timex
      b.   Levi Strauss
      c.   NCR - National Cash registers

2.  Dundee is
     a.   sunny
     b.   windy
     c.   rainy

3.  The Young Single Adults are
     a.  friendly
     b.  cute
     c.  good

(answer:   all of the are correct)

Next time we will give you a video tour of our "flat."  Right now it has damp laundry hanging everywhere.
"Cheerio" for now!

Our trip from Lehi to Scotland: "We've go' a lo' ta lawrn"

We are now in Dundee, indeed!
We truly had a lov'ly glorious sendoff on the morning of our departure.  As we were doing last minute things, we heard bagpipe playing outside, then discovered Richard in full Scottish attire, piping a wonderful selection of pieces.  We were so grateful.  It was the perfect way to start our trip.

Richard, the wonderful "Scot"

Kristen and Dave had come down for the weekend and were a big help to us.  It was great to spend Easter with them.  They took us to the airport on their way back to Seattle.

Kristen and Dave bid us farewell

After a 6 hour wait at the SLC Airport, due to a delayed flight, we finally took off with our "MTC in the sky", as half of the passengers were departing missionaries, mostly headed to France.

At the SLC Airport

In Chicago, we settled in for our overnight flight, but were lured into watching "The Hobbit" on our personal screens, leaving us a little red-eyed and foggy in reaching London and then parting ways with our fellow missionaries, for our flight up to  Edinburgh.  There we met our wonderful mission president and his wife, President and Sister Brown, and the Clarkes (the couple we are replacing).

President and Sister Brown

The mission home is a lovely old mansion, still with remains of the help quarters and buzzers for the location of being summoned, (Dowton Abbey-esque). After a delicious lunch, tour of the home, introductions to office missionaries, pictures and a trip to downtown Edinburgh to open our bank account, we connected with Elder Åkebrand, a former Stockholm YSA who is now serving as an assistant to the President.

Formerly "Felix", now Elder Akebrand

We also were delighted to receive the "mission" tie and scarf; and to learn that the mission motto is "Act Well Thy Part", with the McKay tartan as a background.  Hip-hip hooray for the McKays!

Long live the McKays

As the sun began to lower in the sky, we headed north in our little Toyota Verso, with the mantra "KEEP LEFT."  We had detailed instructions, which we (oops) didn't follow, and got lured off the wrong exit by the GPS, and took the "scenic" route to Dundee through all the small towns on the way.  As the sun completely dropped out of sight, we crossed the bridge over the Firth of Tay to the picturesque city of Dundee, and after maneuvering through unpicturesque construction barriers and cones found our way to our "flat" in a residential area on the old Dundee docks.

Elder Bylund at 1 Marine Parade

So, we have a symphony of seagull calls much of the day, and enjoy being by the river.  The flat is quite nice, with two bedrooms and two baths.  The appliances have been a bit pesky to use, since there are many buttons and knobs and no owners manuals, but we are comfy and snug here.

We met the YSAs Wednesday the 3rd, as they prepared a dinner for us (even though it was spring break).  There were 26 or so there to greet us and make us feel welcome.  We are quizzing each other continually to remember names and information.

Some of the Dundee YSAs

Friday night, there was a party to welcome us, with lots of games, including "Werewolf", which I think is a form of "Murder."  It was helpful in that they called each other by their names over and over.
Saturday and Sunday was General Conference, which was held at the Stake Center here.  We are gearing up tonight for our first Institute evening.  It is quite different from Stockholm, as the Center is in the meetinghouse, and we open it only 3 times a week --  Sunday for Family Home Evening, Wednesday for YSA Institute council mtg, Institute and dinner, and Friday for a social or activity.  This means we cook dinner at our flat and take it to the center.  We will probably be doing a lot of visiting in homes of various people, and less actives, and have already started some on that yesterday.  Another way different from Sweden, the YSAs don't speak American English, but Scottish English, which runs the spectrum of delightful to thick, fast brrrrogue.  I guess we'll get the ear for it, but now there is often a "what did she say?" sideways glance.   We've driven around the town a wee bit and will further explore some Dundee sites.  The city is built around an ancient volcano hill, called Dundee Law, with a great view of the city and river.

View from "Dundee Law"

 The weather is "partly sunny and mostly cloudy", usually with a strong breeze. We may later give a "tour" of our "flat" when we ever get it cleaned and organized.  We miss everyone and are still blessing the inventors of Skype, especially in a couple of weeks when we can virtually attend Nico's baptism.

"Cheerio fer nu" -- Elder and Sister Bylund

The Missionary Training Center

We spent 10 days in the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) in preparation for our departure to Scotland. It was a wonderful 10 days. We appreciated the opportunity to learn more about preaching the doctrine of Christ and about how to study the holy scriptures in depth as well as breadth. 

Before we entered the MTC, we were set apart by our Stake President, President Raines as full time missionaries and received inspired blessings at his hands.

The first week was "Preach My Gospel" training which included several opportunities to give 45 minute lessons to volunteers from the community who were posing as investigators. One of our "investigators" was Wilford Tolman. Elaine remembered him as the person who came out to Omaha in 1993 to assist with the Wilderness Youth Conference when Elaine was Stake Young Women's President. After we were done, Elaine told him who she was, and how much the Conference had meant to the youth of the Stake. He said thank you and gave her a nice hug.

Each Wednesday the new young missionaries arrive at the MTC to start their missionary training. It used to be that about 300 missionaries would arrive each week. Now, there are 600-800 arriving most weeks. This is a result of the minimum missionary age having been recently lowered from 19 to 18 for young men and from 21 to 19 for young women. We took the opportunity to watch them arrive, say goodbye to their families and be escorted through the check-in process by a host missionary. 

The excited arrival.

The tearful goodbye.

The required last picture.

Off to check-in.

Sister Bylund's great grandmother was a cousin to David O. McKay, who was the President of the Church from 1951 to 1970. He often related a true account that occurred while he was a missionary serving in Scotland. He was feeling homesick after being in the mission for just a short time and spent a few hours sightseeing at nearby Stirling Castle. When he and his companion returned from visiting the castle, they passed a building where the stone above the door had a carved inscription of a quotation usually attributed to Shakespeare, which read: What E’er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part. 

Recalling this experience in a talk given in 1957, President McKay explained: “I said to myself, or the Spirit within me, ‘You are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More than that, you are here as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. You accepted the responsibility as a representative of the Church.’ Then I thought [about] what we had done that forenoon. We had been sightseeing, we had gained historical instruction and information, it is true, and I was thrilled with it. … However, that was not missionary work. … I accepted the message given to me on that stone, and from that moment we tried to do our part as missionaries in Scotland.”This message—What E’er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part—was so important and had such an impact on Elder McKay that he used it for inspiration for the rest of his life. He determined that whatever responsibility he had, he would do his very best.

When Elder David B. Haight was mission president in Scotland, he located the original stone inscription and had a replica made, which is today in the missionary training center in Provo, Utah.  (see Elder Quentin L. Cook, CES Devotional for Young Adults, March 4, 2012).

The design of the stone is a magic square. Each symbol represents a number.

5  10  3

4   6   8

9   2   7

The sum of the three numbers in any direction is 18. Note that if any of the symbols (or numbers) are changed or rearranged, the square will no longer be magic.The message for each of us is that whatever our position or calling, if we are conscientious in doing our part then the whole will function as intended. What e’er thou art, act well thy part.