How much do our bags weigh?

So now that we have your attention on the title for last post here is the answer. Our original call was to Scotland/Ireland. We were told we would be serving in Ireland and so we studied all about Ireland. Then we were told we were going to serve in Scotland. So we studied everything we could about Scotland.  Then we were asked if we could serve in London, England because another couple had to go home because of health reasons. So we studied all about London.Then the decision was made to go back to our original call of Scotland/Ireland and we will be living in Falkirk, Scotland. We are so excited to be settled.

HOW MUCH DO OUR BAGS WEIGH?
That was the comment we made the last few days leading up to August 18th. Each bag could only weight 50lbs. As Doug would stand on the scales and hold the suitcases, each one was a little under the magic number of 50. So the night before we would add a few small things here and a few things there.

We got up at 4am on the 18th to get ready for our flight and did the final weigh in. NOT GOOD NEWS. Doug's one suitcase was 56.8lbs. Another one was just a few pounds over. WOW! How did that happen? Move this here, there, put it in the carry on. Our previous organized suitcase was now very disorganized. We didn't know what was where, but we were finally on tract for leaving at 5:30am.

Our wonderful drivers to the airport. Ray and Sylvia Walker. They go way back in special friends. Ray used to drive school bus for our children. Sylvia taught them piano and now me organ.

Jennifer and family came to the airport to say goodbye to us. I just had to keep in mind the picture of us coming home from our mission to Cape Town South Africa and seeing almost all of our children and grandchildren there at the IF airport waiting for us.

Doug at the SLC airport and our shuttle driver and van to the Provo MTC. We were the only ones in the shuttle because the airplane had come in 1/2 hour earlier than scheduled. When does that ever happen? The flight was only 1 hour in duration to begin with. Twice as fast! Go DELTA.

Wonderful Elders were waiting for us to arrive and help us with our luggage and take it to our room. Do you see my orange carry on? My other two red bags are easily identifiable but hidden by the elders right now. Doug's are the black ones, a little difficult to find however he did tie two white handkerchiefs on the handles.


There are 44 in our group of couples. Six couples are serving in Hawaii, their assignments range from teaching at the BYU-Hawaii Campus,employment, human services,  other couples serve in the mission office in charge of cars, apartments, scheduling and member leadership support.. The farthest away is a couple going to the Congo. This is their second mission. They are from Montreal, Canada. We met a Scottish Elder from Glasglow going to Montreal Mandarin Chinese speaking. I gave him a BIG hug to take to his  mother and gran/grandfather when I see them in about 2 weeks.

We get up and go walking at 6am. This morning it was raining, not too bad initially but we turned around when it really started coming down and by the time we got to our apt. we were really wet. A warm shower and breakfast and then to our 8 am mtg to noon. We got to try out our new raincoats. They worked well.It rains 2-3 inches each month in Scotland.

We practice teaching each other and then had "Investigators-members pretending to be investigators", come Wed.and we taught a gospel lesson for 45 minutes. It was a marvelous experience, very real and filled with the Spirit of the Lord. Our investigator wanted to know about Jesus Christ. She wondered about all the different names He was known by. She had never read the Bible and had not attended church even as a child. She wasn't even sure she believed in a GOD.

We have lunch from 12-1:30 and then class again from 1:30-4:15pm then are free for the night. We can eat from 4:30-6:30pm. The foodl is great, and they do an outstanding feeding hundreds of elders and sisters. It is beyond compare. On Wed. when the new elders and sisters arrive we get ice cream for lunch and supper. We can eat other things too, like the Navajo Tacos that I had today. They always have soups, wraps. Elder had a hot dog last night. He was so excited.

The MTC just had over 700 elders and sisters arrive for 2 weeks of training if they are English speaking. If they are foreign they stay for 6 weeks if it is South American or European language, and if it is Asian or Russian they stay for 9 weeks.

There is such a feeling of love here that you think, this must be what Heaven is like. I loved talking with the elders and sisters at meal times and finding out where they are from and where they are going and encouraging them along the way. We are all one happy family. I wish we could all share this wonderful experience.