I serenade someone down the aisle and escape into Canada

Had a good half week. A few interesting things happened. Other than that, a pretty average week

Went on exchanges with the legendary Elder Nyholm. We went into his area, my old area, Everson/Lynden and we had a great time. It was nice to be back in the old area, and although we didn't find much success we still had a blast. We got rained on a wee bit but we pressed forward. 

The Tabernacle Choir played the Hollywood Bowl down in LA, and a bunch of the stakes across the Pacific northwest had the opportunity to watch a broadcast of it. The mission had been really pressing missionaries to invite people to this event, because last time there was a whole bunch of baptisms that came from it last time they did it. Our stake didn't see that great of a turnout, but hey at least we got to watch it. The first half was kinda dragging a wee bit. They had a whole bunch of guest stars that were performing and it was alright, until freaking Donny Osmond shows up and has a longer set than any of the other guest stars. He played one of his original songs then played what everyone wanted to hear who likes Donny Osmond, songs from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. That got me excited

THEN, something miraculous happened...

BAGPIPES 

FREAKING BAGPIPE PLAYERS TAKE THE STAGE AND PLAY AMAZING GRACE

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I put hand over heart and puffed out my chest. One of the happiest moments of my mission so far

Someone in the lynden ward asked me to play at their wedding, and that's what happened on Saturday. It was a really cool experience, and I'm glad I got to be a part of it. The service was a lot quicker than i expected it to be. To be fair, it was a smaller wedding, but nonetheless it was a great experience. I played "Love at Home" as she walked down the aisle, and she loved it. Had some good food after as well

For pday we went to the peace arch. It's, well, an arch that goes into Canada. It was a great time and i was able to escape the country for a little while. 

Unfortunately, we needed to get lunch, and I had to come back to America for that. We went to a nice Mexican place in Blaine.

That's everything exciting that happened. We have our friends Anthony and Eric who are on date for baptism, but they'll both have to be pushed back, unfortunately. The area is going on a frantic incline and decline, but the Lord wants me here for a reason. So i gotta make the most of the time I have here

Spiritual thought: This quote from Elder christofferson:

"Christlike character grows out of a Christlike heart. Thus, if we are to succeed in developing a Christlike character, we must possess His motivations—His thoughts, desires, and intents of the heart. For us, it will require what the scriptures call a mighty change of heart."

Have a good day!

I Play with Hula Hoops, Get Sunburnt and Meet Old Friends

So. This week happened. And im still alive 

Miracles abound!

However, Scotland lost to Morocco, so we need to beat Brazil to get a guaranteed spot in the knockout stages. I might ask mission president if I can do a special fast for the Scottish national team to perform well. Anyway, on with the show!

I had an exchnage with the ZLs! I went on exchanges with Elder burningham, who I'd lived with previously in Seattle, and it was nice to be with a familiar face. We had a great day, and passed off one of our friends to the YSA via a football night. It was a great time, and I realised that I'm slightly out of practice. Nevertheless, I felt like Maldini or Ramos at points but still with humbling experiences of fatigue scattered about. It was a great day, and I had a lot of fun. I also got sunburnt, which was fun

We had the opportunity to help out at a stake primary activity that was missionary focused. We helped run the Pday section of the activity, and were able to teach primary kids about what p day is all about, and play some games. We had a fair amount of downtime and messed about with Hula Hoops a bunch. Not my finest hour, but we had a good time and a good laugh. 

A big focus that the mission has been doing is tabling, which is where you set up a stall and usually have a whiteboard or something set up that people can interact with. We took a look at possible events that we could do it at, but there's not much. The closest thing we could do it at was an event called the "Cordata park summer bash" which we discovered is mainly kid focused. We scouted it out, since there's another one next month and its right next to where we live, and while the event wasn't the best idea for tabling, we got to listen to some music! There was a live band playing a lot of good music. Foo Fighters, The Cure, Blur, Franz Ferdinand and other songs. We stayed for a while and did some texts and calls, and actually set up appointments, so that it wasn't a total waste of time

It was father's day on Sunday, and they had ice cream after church, so we snuck in and got some. Im just saying, if they had ice cream after every Sunday school lesson, a lot more people would be coming to church

We went to the temple today and had a great time. I ran into one of my friends from home at the temple and it was great to catch up with her. She's serving in the seattle mission, and is having a good time. We've run into the same "cultural conflicts" being a Scottish person serving in Washington. It was good to see her again and chat

We also stopped by seattle, again, on the way up from the temple, and I got to meet with one of the people i was teaching in the YSA, Jin Lan! We had to pass him off to the Mandarin elders because we had a language barrier too big to teach him, but he's moving back to China and wanted to get lunch with us. He's been doing really well, and hopefully gets baptised some day. 

Something we talked a lot at Zone Conference about was teaching. As missionaries, we teach the principles of the church and doctrine of christ. We gotta know it to teach it, and you don't really know something until you teach it. That's true in any profession. If you can't teach someone to do something, then either it's too complicated for them to do at the moment, or you're not teaching it right. And the principles in the church are easy to understand at a base level, so it's never that the person isn't understanding because they can't, it's the teacher. 

And the answer is just to study more

"Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man."

D&C 84:85

I've never prayed for sports before, and it's probably the biggest match of Scottish football history today. The situation calls for it. 

$7.79 for a Canada Dry, but you get a cool cup!

Transfer number seven! Back to district leader again, and a stack of awesome new missionaries into the Bellingham zone! It's been off to a good start and a lot of great things have happened. 

None of it worthy for an exciting email, but we went knocking with a youth, had some lessons, made some friends, and no one showed up to stake conference. It was still OK though. The hermanas and I played a musical item at the Saturday session of stake conference, and it went really well. Huge shoutout to them and all the effort they put into it. I dunno if someone got a video of it, but if they did I'll post it on the photos here 》https://photos.app.goo.gl/ke7PcXCfxR8azkcG9 

As for cool stuff that happened this week, I had the opportunity to go to MLC again! And I didn't fall asleep this time! It was good, and we spoke about some big changes that are going to be coming to the mission. I got to see everyone (except Elder Stoddard) from my old old district, and it was great to see them again. Probably one of the best districts I've been in so far and a great opportunity to see old friends

We went to the Ensign Symphony again. We took one of our friends, Joseph, and a member, Sister Linde. He's great and she is hilarious. We drove down and i got to see another whole bunch of missionaries again. This was the same day as MLC so it was one of the most unique days of my mission so far. Also one of the best.

I got to see Mason again! Elder Durrant and I taught and baptised him in seattle back in January. It was great to get the gang back together again. The performance was good. Too bad it was all American focused

The performance was the Americana, celebrating 250 years of when they got fed up of the brits and decided that they could do a better job themselves. I won't get into politics in this email, but the performance was really good. They did the flag thing where they play the star spangled banner and everyone puts their hand on their heart. It was good to see that everyone had a love and respect for their country. (They're trying to brainwash me into an American. Not gonna happen, guys)

At halftime we went to go get some drinks (non alcoholic) and I didn't see the prices when I bought mine. $7.79 for a regular 330ml can! My aberdonian ancestors are gonna jump me in the afterlife. But at least I got a cool cup and a drink

After it finished we went and got some food in the U district. It was about 10:30 ish at night and it was really strange to be out that late. We went to aladdin's burger, and it was great. Some of the best burgers I've had.

We didn't end up getting home until about 1am, and we were all very tired the next day

Honestly that was the most exciting thing that happened.

Spiritual thought!

Mark 10:27

"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."

Ok seriously, the impossible can happen. The miracles that I've seen have been remarkable and can only happen through the power of God. I'm grateful for his influence in my life, and fo everything that he's done for me

I become internet famous and old people jump us

What a crazy week. It's been a good time. A lot of stuff happened, but at the same time not a lot of stuff happened. When stuff happened, stuff happened, but when stuff didn't happen, stuff didn't happen

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ke7PcXCfxR8azkcG9 

Accidentally knocked into members on Tuesday. You love to see it happen. But they gave us some water and we chatted for a while. We ran into their friends a three doors down, and she gave us coconut water. It was pretty beouf, but we took them and said thank you. 

We had Elder Losee come with us for a day, because there was some exchange shenanagins and he ended up with us. It was a great day. A lot of lessons and memorable moments. We tried to knock this one place, and we literally got one door in then owner walks up with someone, spots us and comes over. She immediately tells us to leave because there's no soliciting. We try to explain that we're proselyting and not soliciting but she's not having it. She follows us out to our car and is being a nuisance. We try to be nice but she's giving my patience and charity a run for it's money. To add insult to injury, when we get to our car, apparently she's had enough. She threatens to call the police, takes a picture of me backing the car after I told her I have to cos of policies lol, and she didn't like that. So, if anyone sees me backing a white rav 4 floating around Facebook let me know. I might be famous when I get home

We then try to go knocking somewhere else, and the residents aren't pretty friendly towards us. They're all elderly and believe in Christ, which is good, but someone must've peed in their weetabix in the morning because they were all grumpy. We get through one side of the complex, and as we're travelling over to the other side. We spot a lady on the phone on the first floor of the complex we're walking towards, looking at us with a concerned expression. Next thing we know there's this voice that shouts from the heavens "HEY!"

Unfortunately, it was not God. It was some old guy on the side we'd just came from, and he yelled at us to leave. We stand confused, and he yells at us again. Next thing you know there's like about five or six old people emerging from their homes and telling us to leave because, yet again, we can't solicit here. We try to explain, but alas, their hearts are simply too hard. We leave, defeated, but we've still got some knocking time in. We head to a last and final spot, and find two new investigators! 

The opposition was real. It felt like St Mirren going up against prime Barça, or Scotland vs Germany in the 2024 euros, but we pulled it out of the bag

Our returning member took us out to have some Texas Roadhouse, and it was really good. Some of the best food I've had in a while. Also my first time going and I got a really good first impression!

We were supposed to have a baptism, but he wasn't ready yet, and hasn't been keeping commitments, so we decided to take him off date. He's made great progress, but he's not there yet. 

This area has been slowing down a little bit. Not as much progress, but that's just how it goes. Me and my comp are both staying and I'm going back go be a DL. That's gonna be exciting and I'm looking forward to it. Our district is gonna be ten missionaries, but that's the same size as the last one I was DL over, so that's gonna be nothing new

This has been a great transfer. I've loved almost every minuite of it and the people up here are great. I'm looking forward to staying another one with Elder Stoddard, because he's awesome. The members are great and there's a lot of fun to be had up here. I'm happy the Lord wants me up here and I'm grateful for everything that he's given me

Spiritual thought!

2 Timothy 1:7-9

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began"

I dunno what it is about this scripture, but I read it the other day and I like it

"He's gonna shoot you because he won't understand you"

Holy cow what a week. I see God's hand every day, but not like this. The Laurel area is on a revival and it doesn't show any sign of stopping. This was an awesome week. I'm gonna start by talking about Zone Conference

This one was held outdoors at the Casacde Park in Arlington. It was the best one I've been to on my mission, mainly because there weren't any moments where I almost fell asleep. It was a great experience, and I loved almost every minuite of it. It focused on the power and impact that the resotation of the Gospel had, and we all got these cool tshirts! 

Also, my comp, some of the other missionaries in our district and I got to perform a musical item, so now i can officially say that i played Cascades Park on my mission. We performed a version of "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" which is a really pretty song. We originally got told it was gonna be another song, then we were asked to change it, then we were told we were doing this one! I didn't really mind, because it just meant that we could keep playing and writing songs. The video of the performance is on my Google Photos album, which is here

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ke7PcXCfxR8azkcG9 

But I'm really pleased with how the performance went. I've never performed guitar live before, and it went well. The G string was a little out of tune, and it was especially prevalent as I was playing high up on the guitar, but im still satisfied with my performance. Also, cascade park is just beautiful. Reminds me of Alva Glen back home

Not much happened during the week. We had an hour-and-a-half long lesson with one of our members and her husband. Folk have been trying to baptise him for ages, but he's almost as stubborn as I am. He accepted the commitment to read the Book of Mormon, so hopefully that goes somewhere. Our KI's were really down until the last few days of this week. The Lord really blessed us with fortune, because last night we got about five media referrals, and we were able to make some of them friends! There's a lot of people out here who need a good relationship with the Lord, and we are the only ones who can do it. The proper way, anyway

There was this one friend we went to go and see because he wasn't answering any of our calls. When this happens, we break down the door like SWAT and interrogate them as to why they've been ghosting us. Unfortunately, this guy had no door to break, or house, for that matter. It says on Google maps that there's a house there, but it must've been translated or something because there's literally nothing there. There's also gonna be a video of that on the Google Photos. Don't get fomo now.

The place looked like somewhere out of a cheap 80s horror film, and as we were going to knock his door we were joking about which one of us would get shot first if it came to it. My dear comp, who is awesome, said that I'd get shot because he couldn't understand me. Don't know about that one. If I've survived 8 months in the field, then I think I'll be ok

Our friend Eric is getting baptised next week! Hopefully it all works out, because he's not the fastest responder, and we need to plan a whole bunch of stuff. His baptismal interview is tonight, and I really hope it all goes well. 

We (us and the sisters) were at a dinner yesterday, and it was a party. They must've invited more members of the church or extra family to come round or something because the house was packed. You'd think that someone had an empty

Anyway, I got told HALF AN HOUR before the end of dinner that we were gonna be performing a song at the end of dinner. 

This has happened before. At Perth uni back home we were told, the day of, that we needed to play a twenty mintuite set at lunch. So not the first time this has happened, but luckily someone had a guitar, which I tuned and we played a version of "Isarel, Israel, God is Calling" that I made up on the spot and it was awesome. Didn't get a video sadly, but it was really pretty

Spiritual thought!

Church on Sunday was, interesting. It was a good day, and we had one of our friends come to church. As sacrament meeting ends, we chat and wait for Sunday school to start. The bishop is running it because it's a fifth Sunday, and he whips out a projector. I take a glance at what's being projected on the wall, and I'm met with a sight that makes the Scot in me regret my life decisions. 

A painting of the founding fathers signing the declaration of independence is on the wall.

Sunday school is all about the constitution and the founding of the United States.

Unfortunately, we did not watch Hamilton 

It was one of the most awkward Sunday schools that I've been in. It was all about how, apparently, God inspired the US constitution (as it says in D&C 101:76-80) and how great of a land that "we" live in because we get to practice religious freedom. It is a great thing, and something that I'm really glad someone pointed out was that it's important to have agency. It's part of God's plan. The constitution allows people to worship whoever they want, and that was mainly what i focused on, was the agency part, and not the underlying "we are the best" vibe that i got from the class. The First Presidency asked if we could have a discussion on it (I'm not sure if they asked all of the wards and branches worldwide, or just the ones in America. I'm really hoping it was just America) and they (The First Presidency) also invited us to "participate in a unified fast to express gratitude for religious liberty and to pray that it be strengthened throughout the world"

Im gonna tackle that bridge when I get to it, but something that i thought of was how important agency is. The reason why the flood happened in Genesis was because corruption had reached such an agency destroying point that spirits could not, in justice, be sent here. It's good that there are places in the world where we can worship our God. And I'm grateful for everything that he has done for me.