Scenic Adventures and Kevin Has a Baptismal Date!

It’s been a wonderful week here in Stranraer!  I'm low on time so I’ll just dive right in!

Feb 8th

Had some serious P-day swag today, did the normal emails, shopping, and cleaning, then Elder Harman and I got big at the gym, it was fun stuff! We also visited a member and had a great lesson with Vicky! We had to have it at the park so we were are all freezing cold but the Holy Ghost warmed our souls ;)

Feb 9th

Today was solid! First we had the boiler man over; he fixed our heating so we already had an awesome start to the day! Next up was a wonderful lesson with Kevin, we taught a wonderful lesson on the plan of salvation and he soaked it up! After our lesson we had a beautiful drive through the countryside to a nice little village with an amazing view and a legit light house! It was call "Mull of Gallaway" you can Google it if you want to have your mind blown! We did a lot of chapping there then made it back to Stranraer in time for our lesson with my favorite friend from the Czech Republic.

Feb 10th

We did loads of chapping today! Nothing too interesting... we got a bit of sunshine though!!

Feb 11th

More chapping, but this time in the most stunning little village I've ever seen! A place called Port Patrick; we got a lovely view up by Donald Trumps mansion! Later on we tried by loads of less actives, then finished off the night with some weekly planning.

Feb 12th

We got to do some service today and dropped by a member’s home to take out there dogs, it was a lot of fun, and made me miss my pup! We also had another lesson with Vicky and did more chapping. Get this, when we were coming into our flat for the night this dude came running up from nowhere and starting getting in my face and yelling about how he is our neighbor and that he heard a bang at 12AM. This guy was completely insane! We kept trying to tell him we weren't even awake at that time and he just kept freaking out and saying he was going to call the police! (Because of his accent I thought he was saying "I'll have your place" I was even more confused!) We were eventually able to get away from him, but I was extremely tempting to punch him in the face a couple times....

Feb 13th

In the morning we had another lesson with Kevin. We committed him to be baptized on March 5th! It was exciting stuff, he's a promising one! We did lots more finding today but it wasn't bad, we got to go on more scenic drives and those are always fun!

 Feb 14th

Sunday was interesting, church is weird here, and it feels next to impossible to get our investigators out! We get to sit on comfy coaches for sacrament though, that's gotta be a plus!  The main highlight of the day was when the Mc Lean family had us over for a wonderful Sunday dinner.

Things are looking up, my foots getting better, the days are getting longer, and there are great things on the horizon!

Love, Elder Cluster 

It’s been one wild week! 2-8-16

It’s been one wild week! Adventures are on their way! 

Feb 1st

Monday was probably one of the most hectic p-days I’ve had! We said a lot of goodbyes. It was hard to say goodbye to the Reids and to Natasha. A lot of good memories were made with them! We had a solid farewell and testimony lesson with Natasha! The rest of the night was mostly made up of writing notes for the new missionaries coming in. 6 Pages should do!

Fed 2nd

Did some cleaning, then met my mission mum Anne at Tony Macaroni's for lunch! That was some dang good Italian food! The best part was this tootie fruity Sunday I had for desert! It was celestial... We had another tender goodbye, and then made our way over to Ann-Maries for another last lesson. Pretty similar to the one we had with Natasha! These new Elders coming in are pretty lucky! It was a long night packing..... didn't end up getting to bed till 12:30! That probably doesn't sound that bad but it’s pretty ridiculous in the mission world!

Feb 3rd

Moves day! Woke up at 4AM and slowly made our way down to the train station. Trying to move three suitcases, my bag, and a guitar all with my bad foot was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. I must have had a lot of help from on high because I somehow made it to the mission home! I said goodbye to Elder Blosil as he got on a bus, and spent some time with all the new Greenies! It was a strange experience, feels like I was just in their shoes the other day! To kill some time we got a group to and tossed around a Frisbee for a while, it was good fun and felt amazing outside! Soon enough I found myself on a train to Glasgow with Elder Tang. When we arrived we met up with the Paisley ZLs, the Ayr Elders, and my new companion Elder Harmon! From there we took another train to Ayr and picked up our car! I was thrilled until I found out I was the driver.... That'll be interesting. We drove down to Irvine, got some Vanilla Joe's Ice cream with the ZL's and the sisters, then spent the night in Irvine's flat.

Feb 4th

We headed on a long and very beautiful drive through the country side to Stranrear. I managed to settle into my new flat. This thing in ancient, and it smells terrible.... Hopefully it'll grow on me; all I know is there's a lot of weird junk growing in it! Later we did some weekly planning, chapped around, and had a lesson with our investigator Victoria, she seems cool.

Feb 5th

We took a long drive to a small village to chap. That’s pretty much what we do here, drive to some remote village and chap in the rain. Most people hate that stuff but I’m lovin it! We chapped into a man named Kevin who invited us in, and let us teach the Restoration! After wards we realized we weren't even in the same village we thought we were. The GPS had taken us somewhere completely different. Jesus literally took the wheel. What a blessing! We Taught Vicky again, I met a funny man from Czechoslovakia, and then we went to a basket ball activity with Vicky and a recent convert! It was a lot of fun, first time I’ve seen a basket ball in 7 months! It was a shame I couldn't really get into it with my foot. 

PS. our shower broke this morning and we are already starting to stink...

Feb 6th

Took another 30 minute drive down to see Kevin where we had another awesome lesson, he said he would come to church! Later we helped a kind older member named Duncan pack up and get ready to move. One of our only members is headed off to Aberdeen. It’s pretty sad, but we on the bright side we might be getting his flat soon! Another highlight was meeting up with this grandpa named David in a different village. David is a cool guy, but he has the creepiest house ever!  He had paintings of some pretty bizarre stuff, and had them framed all over the place. Not to mention all the freaky dolls hidden in every corner!

Feb 7th

Got ready for church and headed down to the Old Folks Day Center. That’s where our branch meets for church... It made sense when I found out we only have 8 members, and one of them is moving today... It didn't even feel like church to be honest, but it was a really cool experience! David came though so we might get turn it into a full fledged ward soon enough ;) I also had the coldest shower of my life today! Oh yeah and now the heating isn't working either. I feel like I’m serving in the arctic at the moment!

Stranrear is definitely something new, but I’m excited to see what it has in store! Change is good right? Thank you for your prayers, I know great things are to come!

Love, Elder Cluster

White Washed Out of Livingston

What a week! From Move's call to getting a nice big carvery at the Pub, it was action packed every day, and lots memories were made!

Jan 25th

Did the normal P-day stuff, and then met up with Pres. Henderson from the stake. What a cool guy! He took us out to this pub to get a carvery. It was delish! I don't know how I’m going to live without carveries back home! After getting the meat sweats from an over dose on gammon, we drove around visiting lots of Less Actives! 

Jan 26th

In the morning we took the train down to the mission home for our last district meeting together, it was a good one! Afterwards I did more paperwork in the mission office while the rest went down and did some work in Livingston. A few hours later they picked me up and took me to Coordination meeting. Then I ate some food and slept like a baby.

Jan 27th

Back to the mission home! This time they had every zone leader in the mission over in a big MLC conference! Even the ones over in Ireland flew over. And to my surprise my best buddy Kat was there from Paisley! She was the best helper, mostly in helping me stay entertained and not going crazy! It was fun having lunch with all the crew in the mission home. It was another day of awesome food and then the Leith Elders picked me up and drove us down to Five Guys for dinner! Spent the night in Leith. 

Jan 28th

Today was one heck of an adventure! I was dropped back off to the mission home in the morning, expecting to do the same old paper work junk, but there was a change of plans!! Elder and Sister Broughten took me with them to a cookie factory to pick up some of the missions favorite biscuits! I finally got to see where all the magic happens! They took me back, and not even 20 minutes later President Donaldson comes in, and invites me to go on a drive down to Glasgow and back (On Official Business of course) So there it was, just President, Sister Donaldson, and I on a road trip in to Glasgow. Being in a mission that is so spread out, you’re lucky to get a couple of minutes with president every couple of months, and here I was getting some serious bonding time! What a blessing. I finished the night off right with a game of Uno in Leith.

Jan 29th 

We traveled back to Livingston with the Leith Elders in the morning, and had lunch with my mission mum Anne! Pizza and Iron Bru. It was on point. As far as the rest of the day was concerned, we did a lot of work in the area book and tried to survive the crazy weather!

Jan 30th

I got to spend a bit more time on my feet today! It still hurts pretty badly, but its lots better than it was a week ago! We helped some members move into Bathgate, there was this funny little kid there that kept making Star Wars references with me! The Boyles had us over tonight for Chinese, I got some pineapple chicken stuff! The Chinese is nothing like back home, but was pretty good considering. As I'm writing this week’s email I'm starting to understand where all this weight came from...

 Jan 31st

The day of moves call... Church was a lot of fun, unfortunately we didn't have any investigators there, but our spirits were lifted when we got to teach the primary class! Kids are crazy! After church President Henderson offered to give us a ride home, but he ended up taking us back to his home for a Mexican lunch! It was the first time I’ve had Mexican in over 7 Months! Not only that but he had some homemade root beer for us!! As if the excitement wasn't already too much to handle, then came the call. "We are White Washing Livingston" What the flip!? I just got here! Elder Blosil is going to the Republic of Ireland, and I am headed back to the West Coast, a place along the borders of England called Stranrear. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I trust that it is where the Lord needs me. And on the bright side, we have a car! 

And between it all we've been getting beaten and torn apart from the tail end of the storm that hit New York. It’s funny how they even blame the weather on America over here!! Well, we better head out, its sounds like the Library is about to fall on our heads. Or ours “heeds” as the Scottish would say! 

I'll be sending out my new address next week, Love you all!

Love, Elder Cluster

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