Let me assure all who follow this blog that we love our mission! We are so busy and feel like we are accomplishing so much. I'll give you a run down of a typical week, in fact it was just two weeks ago. Church on Sunday, we left the flat at 9:45 in the morning to pick up our Chinese 20 year old Young Single Adult friend Sarah, who has been a member of the church for only a few months and is an economics student at a university. Meetings from ten thirty to one thirty; then a YSA lunch so the kids don't have to take an hour bus ride home and back for the four o'clock fireside. All of the YSA (young single adults) from the whole of Scotland attended and wanted to stay and stay and stay. We cleaned up after the fireside and left a few of the kids still there at eight PM. Sarah was such a good sport hanging in with us the whole time.
Monday morning zone conference till three PM. Then back at the building for Family Home Evening from seven to nine-thirty. Don't forget the refreshments. Tuesday through Friday seven AM until three-thirty - work at the archives. Tuesday after work, Costco to get goodies for the rest of the weeks meetings, and laundry. Wednesday evening from six until ten YSA Council meeting and Institute. Don't forget the refreshments. Thursday evening visit with Dot and Ray at their home from six-thirty to eight. Friday evening Chinese Institute from five-thirty to eight. Don't forget the refreshments.
We really were looking forward to a three day weekend. Monday was a bank holiday and the archives was closed. We didn't have to be anywhere until Monday evening for YSA Family Home Evening. So off we went for a relaxing Saturday, Sunday and Monday to explore the Scotland we were waiting for spring to see. Inverness, Loch Ness, the Great Glen, the village of Tain where there is a wonderful little cottage industry, Tain Pottery. Yes I bought a few things and shipped them home to Andrea's. And most of all the beauties of the Highlands. We feel so blessed to have a wonderful mission president who encourages us to get out as often as we can to meet the people, see the sights and foster a love of this amazing country. The words of Sir Walter Scott seem appropriate here:

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd

From wandering on a foreign strand!

We don't want this to feel like a travelogue but we want to give you a feel for this foreign strand, and can't fill the pages of a blog with pictures of us sitting at our computer and camera station day after day but that is really how we spend most of the hours. We are in a windowless, gray-walled room with bright camera lights glaring, uncomfortable chairs, old backs and bodies but a love for the people of Scotland and feeling privileged to preserve their records. With an eye to the future when all families can be linked father to son, mother to daughter.
Anyway Saturday morning early after packing a couple of sandwiches and apples to eat on the way we set out, it was raining of course, but our outlooks couldn't have been sunnier. It rained until just before we arrived at Inverness. We hope you enjoy our pictures.

JT has a talent for planning wonderful fun getaways. He surprised me by booking rooms for our two night stay in this beautiful old Hotel Newton in Nairn just about 15 miles east of Inverness. It is a seaside resort town with naturally, golf courses; but we just liked exploring through the town, and especially walking out of the hotel to the pasture and seeing these crazy Highland Cows. Please call them Highland Coos! Now you sound like a true Scots.

Our drive north towards Inverness took us through some beautiful countryside and along the way we knew we could make a slight detour to a few places that JT was interested in seeing. His paternal grandmother was Mary Estelle Grant. The Grants originated in Scotland in just this area of the country. There is a Clan Grant gathering place at an old church and mausoleum. There are regular Clan Grant reunions with a lively, active organization. The first sheriff of Inverness was a Grant, the little town of Grantown-on-Spey was a treat to see, as was this church site.

Inverness is a beautiful northern Scotland city. Inver means mouth of a water way, the river Ness runs through the center of town and is lined in the commercial area with shops, restaurants, hotels and on a high hill is the red stone castle which is now used as a government building I think it is the city hall. As the river continues the commercial area gives way to lovely stately residences that line the banks of the river. There are grassy banks with yellow daffodils, and a walking path invites a pleasant stroll. The Inverness Ward chapel is just there. As you walk out the front door you see the lovely river and homes. It is said to be the most picturesque setting for an LDS meeting house in all of Great Britain. We attended meetings there on Sunday and were warmly welcomed by the members and were so happy to run into Elder Warby a young missionary from Cedar City. We have had a happy ongoing relationship with Elder Warby, we seem to run into him wherever we go.

Near Inverness just to the east a few miles is Cawdor Castle. The castle is still the home to a member of the Cawdor family and has been since mid 1300s. The fame of Cawdor Castle is evident to those who remember the play MacBeth and the Thane of Cawdor. After our visit to the gardens, the labyrinth, and the beautifully furnished castle itself we want to reread the Scottish play with the three witches, Burnham Wood and "out, out, damn spot" that's all I can remember. The gardens are not yet in full bloom but we could imagine what they will look like in mid-July. The black curly horned sheep were in the pasture just as we were driving down the lane to leave. I believe the lady at the gatehouse told us they were a breed from the Hebrides or one of the outer islands.

We visited Fort George, a military installation built in the 1700s and still functioning as an outpost. It sits on a windy, cold point on the Moray Firth near Inverness. Canons, munitions storehouses, barracks, a chapel; in the chapel notice the stained glass window with an image of an angel playing the bagpipes in the top right corner.

On a hillside overlooking Loch Ness is Urquhart Castle, now a ruin managed by Historic Scotland with a great visitor center where we relived the dramatic history of this castle and its amazing location.

On our way home we drove through the beautiful Great Glen of Scotland, following the famed Loch Ness. Remember, this is early May and the trees are just beginning to leaf.