A rubbish foot makes for a hectic week!

This week had been something else! Ya mess up your foot, and they start bussin ya all over Scotland! Apart from what seemed like endless hours of folding paper it was actually a very adventure and fun week!

Jan 18th 

Because the AP's happened to be in Ireland all week, we got their car! It was a pretty average P-day, couldn't really do much with my foot. We were picked up in the morning by the Leith elders, did some shopping, and then headed down to the mission home where we ordered a pizza! I ended the night with Elder Stevens; we took the car and tried by loads of less actives! We spend the night in Leith's flat.

Jan 19th

I was dropped off at the Mission Home in the morning where I folded an endless supply of baptismal calendars’ till about 5:30pm. Elder Stevens picked me up and we were back at the try by's in the AP's car. Things got crazy fast when we turned down a heavily congested street! The roads here are too ridiculously small! When a car was coming at us from the other direction we had no choice but to pull into the front of the flat complex to let the pass. Little did we know it was all mud. When we tried to back out the tires was just spin and dig us in deeper. Elder Stevens was trying to push the car while I was reversing when this insane woman come out yelling at the top of her lungs!! Apparently we were in her spot and her son was coming home soon, or something along those lines. I couldn't really understand much of what she was saying to be honest. It took ages but eventually we found these two kind Indian men who helped us push the car back onto the road! We won’t be driving that way again anytime soon! Then I spent the night in the Mission Home with Elder Stevens.

Jan 20th

More Folding and office work... However at 5pm we had an amazing worldwide missionary broadcast at the church! The theme was "Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts" It was two hours of straight up revelation! I Spent the night at the Mission Home again.

Jan 21st

More papers, More old ladies... slowly starting to lose my mind. At this point I’m starting to think and am about ready just to cut my foot off. Spent the night in Leith 

 Jan 22nd

Today was much more exciting! Instead of folding the paper, I was laminating it!! I also got to help wash the bottom windows of the church! The evening was amazing! I was with Elder Stevens in Leith, we decided to give my feet a wee test and do some street contacting. We got two super prepared potentials and experienced the crazy drunk man yelling at us to "Beware of the quite one..." The foot started hurting pretty bad again so we hoped in the car and treated ourselves to Five Guys with YSA  Elders. Five Guys here is super expensive but was better than back home. Besides for their fries, or chips as they would say. Those weren't that great. I spent the night in the Mission Home. My brother Austin also returned home from his mission today! What a Stud! I've been blessed to the max to have him as such an awesome brother, and example. I now stand as the lone Elder Cluster :(

Jan 23rd

Started the day off with weekly planning, and then called nearly everyone in the area book and I iced my foot. The evening was wonderful! The church put on a Burns Supper! It was probably the most Scottish thing I have ever seen! Apart from the Highland Coo's of course. Bagpipes, Kilts, Neips, Tatties, shortbread and of course, the Haggis! They did some strange ritual for it and everything! They started by piping it in on a silver platter, rehearsing a long and painful poem, then stabbing it!! It was loads of fun, and to top it all off they had what seemed like an endless supply of Iron Bru! It felt amazing to sleep in my own bad again!

Jan 24th

 Church, Church was great! Natasha came!! I spent the night with some members resting my foot while Elder Blosil did some try by's with the ward mission leader. I felt supper spoiled when I found out the Argentinean visitors were coming over to fix us up some traditional dishes!! I couldn't tell ya what it was we had, but it tasted amazing! 

There ya have it, a week in the life of a cripple! I'm happy to say that my foot is starting to feel better, I can now walk on it for short periods and I know it will be back to normal in no time! Thank you all for your prayers, it had made all the difference! Love you all!!

PS stay tuned for next week’s episode "The Moves Call" 

They tell me I have tendonitis :(

This week has been something else! For the most part it’s been pretty boring to be honest, but there have definitely been moments of excitement!

  

Jan 11th

Just another ordinary P-Day... shopping, cleaning, email, etc.

 Jan 12th

Today was a good full day! First we traveled to district meeting early in the morning, learned lots about missionary stuff! After DM we had lunch in the mission home with the Zone Leaders, they made us a curry! After lunch Elder Blosil and I did lots of finding in Edinburgh as I waited for a doctor's appointment. Sister Donaldson had set up an appointment for some problems I have been having with my foot. It was an awkward moment when a nurse called me into a room and pulled me away from my companion, but it was even worse when she took off my sock and started rubbing my feet! She finally came to the conclusion that I had a bad case of tendonitis and was to stay off of my feet for a minimum of 10 days!! In other words this week’s going to go by very slowly.... Despite the bad news we still ended the night off right with a lesson with both Natasha and Ann-Marie! 

Jan 13th

In the morning I limped over to the church where we made a poster for an activity we'll be doing next month. Later we had dinner with the Jacks! She fed us lots of traditional Scottish food; it must have been a four course meal because she just kept bringing more and more out! 

 

Jan 14th

Today we had lunch with my favorite mission mum Anne! And then it was down to Edinburgh. We met up with the Leith Elders and taught their investigator from France in the coffee shop! She had a super heavy accent, it was awesome! After the lesson I went on exchange with Elder Stevens and went to the mission home where we had a meeting with sister Donaldson and the Zone Leaders about what they were going to do with me while I’ve got a dud foot. The conclusion was that I’d be spending a lot of time folding papers with the senior sisters in the mission home.... Sister Donaldson was amazing and drove us to a Boosts and got me a fancy insole for my shoes! She also made dinner for us; it was a really cool experience having dinner with just president and his wife! For dessert I was fed Christmas pudding, now that's weird stuff! It was kinda like gooey fruit cake with custard! I taught a lesson with the zone leaders to one of their investigators then spent the night in the mission home.

Jan 15th

Friday was much more fun than I expected! First I went mad folding baptismal calendars, but later I got to go on a four hour drive to drop off the Unfreeze Elders with Elder Stevens! That was one beautiful drive!! I was surprised with how much snow there was going through the hills! I love road trips, and not many missionaries get to go down to the borders of England! That’s not all the excitement though; a member had us over for dinner tonight and gave me a can of A&W root beer!!! I guess they had family up from the US and they shared their spoils!

 

Jan 16th

The Leith Elders came up today to help us out with the work in Livingston (because I'm a dud) So Elder Blosil and the others went out and did some work while I had a long coordination meeting and hung out with our ward mission leader. Ended the night with another killer lesson with Ann-Marie 

Jan 17th

Church was nice; Anne-Marie was there for sacrament meeting! Besides that Sunday was super long for me. I sorted through the area book and wasted away with a member while Elder Blosil did some try by's with the ward mission leader. 

  

Well there ya have it folks! This week is looking like a lot more time folding papers with the ladies, so pray for me please... 

Love, Elder Cluster

We have snow in Scotland!

All in all it’s been another wonderful week! Some of the highlights being a Zone Conference, A Blitz exchange in Edinburgh, and some snow!

Jan 4th

The libraries were down again because of another bank holiday. This meant we have to take turns on the computer at the church; it took ages and made for one very boring Pday! The rest of the night was wonderful though, my mission mum took us out to a restaurant call Beef Eater!

Jan 5th

Tuesday was a lot of fun! We got up early and headed down to Edinburgh for a Zone Conference. The instructions are great, but my favorite part was getting to spend a bit of time with our mission president! The fun doesn't stop there; afterwards we took the train back to Livingston, met up with our ward mission leader, and got a chippy for dinner! I love me a chippy with an Iron Bru! Then we headed down to Ann-Marie's and had a lovely lesson on the book of Mormon!

Jan 6th

We mainly just chapped today; it wasn't all bad; we met a nice old lady who was determined to give us some tea! We ended the night with a lesson at ___. It was a pretty discouraging one. She hasn't made any progressing quieting her smoking, and has a really hard time taking in the lessons.

Jan 7th

The day started out with weekly planning, and then went to chapping, but eventually we found ourselves at Anne Marie's, she gave me a free haircut and we got to have a good chat with her partner about the BOM!

Jan 8th

Friday was exhausting and super successful! Elder Blosil and I went down to Edinburgh to go on and exchange with the zone leaders and to Blitz the city. I was nice to get to street contact again! The only bad part was that's all we did all day! We had a great time though; all together we found 21 potentials! And here's the best part, they had an amazing lesson with someone I found named Olivia just the other day, and she already has a baptismal date! I had a good feeling about her from the start! I also got to spend the night in the mission home for the first time.

Jan 9th

The ZL's gave us a lift back home, and to all of our surprise, it snowed! The Edinburgh elders felt a bit ripped off but I was ecstatic! Of course it only lasted a couple hours till it rained again but I’ll take what I can get! We also had Coordination meeting, and had Chinese takeway for dinner (which is completely different from the Chinese back home by the way) then finished the night by having another lesson with Ann-M. We got to teach the Plan of Salvation this time, and even the kids stuck around for it!

Jan 10th

Sunday was a bit disappointing, no investigators at church again. But looking on the bright side the Sunday school teacher had us reenact the story of Nephi and his Brothers getting the brass plates. I was Nephi and had a lot of fun chopping off Laban’s head!

Well there ya have it folks, it’s been a pretty solid one, but better things are on their way! Thank you for sending your love and prayers!

Love, Elder Cluster

Happy New Year!

It’s been a fairly decent week; Livingston has taught me that you can find adventure anywhere if you look hard enough for it!

Dec. 28th

Had a good P-day doing normal P-day stuff, mostly cleaning up from the craziness of Christmas! We finished the night off right with dinner at Dan the Hot Dog Man's. (Our favorite Lutheran Hot Dog Vendor)  

Dec. 29th

I had my first district meeting with my new district today! Our district is only made up of two teams... i didn't think that was even possible but the good news is that it’s at the mission home so I still get to see loads of other missionary's! Later on we had a lesson with our investigator Ann-Marie, it was mostly just made up of her partner grilling us with questions but it was good fun!

Patch Crowe from Beyond 5 is in my Distinct (That's for you Ivy) 

 

Dec. 30th

In the afternoon I was able to have pizza with my favorite missionary mum and open the rest of my Christmas presents! I got some Poo-Pourri! We chapped lots of doors then visited some nice Elderly members in the ward, he pretty much just went on and on about the war... it was pretty hard to stay awake but I gave it my best effort!

Dec. 31st

In the morning we had weekly planning, which was even harder to stay awake for then the war stories... But later on we were able to visit a less active then had dinner with the one and only Jimmy Reid. Jimmy has got the biggest heart, I love the guy! Then Elder Blosil and I celebrated New Years Eve by going to bed early.

Jan. 1st Happy New years!! President let us use this day to have a bit of fun with the members! We spend most of it over at the Campbell's playing monopoly and a competitive game of spoons! Later on Dan the hotdog man had us back over for dinner and football! Watch the BYU vs Utah game... that was intense!

Jan. 2nd

Early on we had coordination meeting with our ward mission leader, and then came the chapping! We knocked a couple hundred doors then spent some time with an old widow in the ward. She's a sweet old lady; we had great fun with her as she helped us make a card for our mums!

Jan. 3rd

Fast Sundays are always a growing/humbling experience, we had pretty good day chapping doors and picking up mail at a vacant missionary flat in Bathgate. (They removed the sisters from our ward and now our area is twice as big!!) And I thought Greenock was a big area...

All in all we had a pretty good week; I’ve got a feeling that next week will be better though! I'm excited to see the work in Livingston start to grow :) 

I Love you and hope you all have an amazing week!

Love, Elder Brycen Cluster