Week 39: Well 9 months... It's gone by pretty fast

Oct 9, 2017

Hey guys!

This week has been rainy every day. Scotland must be taking all the rain next week. Haha. We met with John more this week. He is still taking small steps but progressing. We also went to the McGregor's last night. They are a very funny family. Brother McGregor is a diehard Rangers fan but his youngest son who is about five always says he likes Celtics whenever Brother McGregor mentions the Rangers. We did a lot of chapping the rest of the week. The ward here is nice, friendly, and willing to help us out where they can. 

So one thing I have been studying this week is charity. I came across a scripture this week in 1 Nephi 26:30-31 that I think really explains charity, "Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish. But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." I really like how if we have charity we understand why we are being serviceable. We shouldn't be doing service or showing love towards others because of the things that we will gain but for the sake of others. 

Here is a picture of Elder Orchard and I in typical Scottish weather. It's starting to get pretty dark in the evening. 

 So I have mainly seen men wearing a kilt in Glasgow in the city centre playing the bagpipes. They sell kilts for about £85 in the tourist shops but they are usually made out of cheaper material. The wool kilts are more around £600 (really expensive) and can be found in a kiltmaker shop. There are a few of those around Glasgow. 

So I do most of the cooking between the two of us. We buy food together and cook together. I think that is what most elders do. They have some good food here but a lot of the American sweets such as twizzlers they don't have over here. 

Wow, I can't believe Halloween is at the end of the month. They do celebrate halloween in Scotland but not as much back home. From what I've heard, only a few of the little kids go tricker treating and most people use it as an excuse to go to the pub. We have to be in our flat by 6pm on Halloween. 

Today we will probably just go to Glasgow for p-day. Usually we go to Glasgow but sometimes we do something with the other elders in our district in Airdrie. Wow, stake presidency is getting changed! President Foote has left some big shoes to fill. This next week for Cumbernauld is Stake Conference which is in Glasgow.

Well, sorry this email is short. I'll try to make the next one longer.  Hope you guys have a great week! Thank you for your emails. They make my p-day!

Love you guys a lot,

Elder Calley

Week 38: Well Transfers happened

Oct. 2, 2017

Sounds like you guys had an amazing trip in France. Thanks for the pictures. So transfers happened this weekend. I am still in Cumbernauld but Elder Bain swapped places with Elder Orchard in Livingston. Elder Orchard is from St. Louis has been out for three months. He just moved from Livingston to Cumbernauld this morning so I am sure that I will be able to get to know him a bit better as the transfer moves on. ( I'll make sure to send a picture next week)

Conference was awesome! We got John to come with us to see the first three sessions in Glasgow. Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Saturday Morning Session was one of my favorites.  We didn't get to see the Sunday Afternoon Session yesterday due to the time difference and so I didn't know that Elder Hales died until I read your emails. That is sad to hear.

Well, John is doing good. He continues to meet with us and keeps thinking about baptism. He takes really good care of us here in Cumbernauld. He had us over for dinner quite a few times this week. He said his favorite speaker from conference was Elder David F. Evans who spoke a lot on building a personal testimony and how we can through things such as scripture study and prayer.

By the way, I'm not sure if I told you this but John used to be a Free Mason and told us where the masonic lodge is in Cumbernauld so we took pictures in front of it.

We also rode bikes to a loch last p-day in Airdrie with the other Elders in our district. 

Elder Baklan is on the left and Elder Bain is on the right

So the closest soccer stadium I know of is in Glasgow. I think that is where the Celtics and Rangers play. Hot cereal is a thing here in Scotland and Ireland but its called porridge over here and is not as popular as back home I think.

I love you guys. Hope you have a good week of recuperation.

Love,

Elder Calley

Week 37: Wow Paris . . .

Sep 25, 2017

Hey that's good to hear that the race in Paris was good. Sounds like a lot of travelling though. Have you gotten over the jet lag yet? Euros are a lot different than US dollars as well. I'm pretty sure that they have 1 Euro coins. Has Google translate been working out okay?

So, Cumbernauld has been going good. We met with John almost every day this week and visited with Gordon as well. John is taking small steps and still reads his scriptures and prays everyday. He takes really good care of us though. We saw both of them at church yesterday.

One of the things I have been studying this week is patience and how patience is an important attribute to learn. It's interesting how patience is an attribute that requires patience in order to learn. One scripture I really like that talks about patience is Mosiah 23:21 which says, "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." Sometimes it is hard to be patient or we may not know why we have to be patient but it always works for our benefit when we are patient.

We have also been doing quite a bit of finding this week. We came across this one house that was really run down though.

 

I can't believe that General Conference is already this week. I am really looking forward to hearing from the Prophet and Apostles. Conference is always a good time to recharge spiritual batteries. Last Conference was fantastic so I'm sure this one will be as well.

That's interesting that breakfast is different in France. The food over here in Scotland is different as well. The milk tastes different over here. For breakfast, you can eat cereal, porridge, eggs, essentially anything you could back home. A traditional Scottish breakfast would consist of eggs, rashers (Scottish bacon which is thicker than it is back home), hashbrowns, beans, and ketchup. Almost every meal over here is served with some form of potatoes. Potatoes are like the staple for meals here.

There are a lot of people that smoke here as well. There are more people that smoke here than people who don't it seems like at times. No one really pays attention to the no smoking signs either.

We will generally pull out the cash because there is an international transaction with every payment of the card and it is easier to keep track of how much money you have then checking the ATM every time.

By the way today is a bank holiday so the library is closed and Elder Bain and I are taking turns emailing from the church so I hope that you guys enjoy France. Take some pictures of Normandy will you?

By the way here are is a picture of Elder Bain, me, and John.

 

I hope you enjoy your week in France!

Love you guys a lot,

Elder Calley