April 27, 2015- 'Transferred to Dundee, Scotland'

 'SMILE'

So I've been transferred to Dundee! Which is the same stake as Kirkcaldy so I will see everyone at zone stuff and the ward at stake conference this month haha.

Sister Reed is my new companion! She's only been here for one transfer so she still doesn't know the area very well. Which has been hard. lets just say we have been doing a lot of finding and chapping (tracking) and getting lost and taking wrong buses XD. Her name's Sister Reed and she's awesome! She loves all of the things I do! Lord of the rings, how to train your dragon, she's even seen Tron! So it's been fun talking with her. She especially loves it since her last companion wasn't a nerd at all. haha though they got along great and she loved her.

Something great that I have come to realize is that for one: the PMG is like one of the best studying manuals of ever. I learn new things every time I read it! Kind of like the Book of Mormon ;) Also as I've been studying Christlike attributes (namely diligence...) I have come to find that they are all interconnected. To gain diligence you need to have faith to have faith you need to have obedience ect.. but! The great thing is, is that you are given christlike attributes that will help you gain others. Theres an attribute 'test' in the back of the section and I have come to discover that I am highly obedient! Woot! But I really lack diligence so the question for me is to figure out how I can use my obedience to help me strengthen my diligence. Cool beans right!? anyway just thought I'd share. C:

Also miracle of the week this wee girl of about 6 with some awesome super thick red little mermaid hair gave us a bunch of flowers from the front garden (some of them weeds) as we talked to her gran on the doorstep. She kept hugging our legs and picking flowers. Then when we left she asked us if we could come back tomorrow after she was off school! Cutest wee girl ever! We don't even know her name haha. We told her we would try but her gran was unfortunately uninterested. Kids definitely can see the spirit of the Lord in others even if their family isn't religious. Experiences with little kids on the mission gives a new meaning to the phrase become as a little child.

Anyway have a great week every one! love you all stay cool!

Sister McBride

 I'm not sure which sister the first one is?But the one in purple is sister McBrides old companion sister Wilkinson and sister McBride.

 How fun is THIS?! On the tour bus during the 2015 Easter choir.  Looks like it was a load of fun! what a blast.

The SIM Easter Choir made it in the UK Church news!

How amazing is this?! the SIM Easter Choir made it into the UK church news!  Way to go SIM!
 sorry it doesn't attach the picture of it but the link works.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/article/mormon-missionary-choir-performs-at-7-historic-venues-for-easter

April 20th: ' We got moves call! '

 

 

Hello everyone! We got moves call!

I am leaving Kirkcaldy! D: No it's really not that bad, I'm staying in the same Zone. I'm headed to Dundee, Bingham ward which is the building where we have all of our zone meetings so I'll actually still get to see my companion at zone stuff. I am very sad to leave the people that I have gotten to know. Especially my deaf friends :C I love teaching them and talking with them. I hope I don't lose the sign language that I've learned! I'm going to be really diligent in studying and using it when I can like when I say prayers and stuff. So on Wednesday I'll head out to Dundee, which won't be too bad. Takes about 45min to get here by bus.

Did I mention that there is the Biggest Market in Europe happening here in Kirkcaldy?! It's called Links Market. Probably because it's all up and down links street by the shore. I haven't gotten to see it because.. Well it hasn't been p-day and now since I'm moving our p-day is different and I'll have too see it when it moves to Dundee, but it wont be as big. I know lame sauce, a one-in-a-life-time-chance, but I really don't mind that much. I'd rather go see people who need our help. And I think just being in the same town as it, it good enough for me. C:

Also! J.K. Rowling lives not too far from the mission home! I found that out on choir tour. So cool. Also we walked by the coffee/bakery shop where she did a lot of her writing and ideas and stuff. Waaay cool beans.

Marks baptism was great! Stressful.... super stressful. But awesome. We just had a lot to do. the font wasn't filling up fast enough (luckily it was warm we've been having trouble with icy cold water) Mark and Lily didn't bring church clothes to be in.... so they had to rush home (which is 10 min away) Lily wore nice clothes to her baptism so we assumed they knew... I  so we had to make sure that their deaf friends that were there were able to talk to people so we forgot to set up the projector because we wanted to show a video (one with just words) for the deaf, the bishop and one of his councilors was nice and did it for us. then we just chatted with them for like an hour afterwards. Which is tiring! It's hard work talking with your hands and understanding what they're saying. With deaf people you have to kind of get used to the way that they sign things and really read between the lines because you don't know what all the words mean. You have to pick things up here and there and then assume what some sign are... anyway it was tiring, but so good. And I got to interpret the baptismal prayer and his conformation blessing for him on Sunday so that was way cool. It said a lot of things in there that just testified to me that the priesthood is truly the power of God to man. Mark and Lilly have grown so much together and it has been wonderful to watch the gospel change their lives. I'm going to miss them. But I'm happy that stake conference is soon because that means I'll get to see them!

I've been studying a lot on Diligence and Hope this past week and It's amazing how in-depth you can go! There are some good studying tools in the PMG! I encourage everyone to read it. Especially doing the activities in the Christlike attributes section.

We also met this girl named Hannah who is Golden! I mean you have your How to begin teaching points that you use. They're basically sentences that help people understand who we are what we do and how the gospel will help them and that we will ask them to do stuff like prayer and reading the BOM, but we didn't have to force any of that. She asked us like, how would I come to church, how do you pray, what are Mormons about etc. all really good questions she's very blunt and very open which is nice. the Lord is truly blessing this area but I'm excited to head off to serve with Sister Reed! Thats her name I think she came out a transfer before me but there will be no Senior companion, which doesn't happen often so that's a bit strange, but I'm super excited! (I hope one day to go to Ireland. I have this feeling that I'll stay in Scotland for a while. which is fine! There are a lot of gypsies in Ireland.. like real ones that travel around, cant read and write, and they steal from people. Don't worry mom Scotland isn't like that and I think it's only certain places in Ireland) Anyways I best go I hope you all have a good week and remember to read your scriptures! haha

Welp I have to get going. Have a great week everyone!

Sister McBride

The missionaries made it into the Scotland newspaper!

LOOK who made it into the newspaper!! how awesome is that!! so cool that these missionaries made it in the newspaper. Sister McBride is in blue with a side braid. We love it!

Sister McBride forwarded this attachment to us in an email. Everyone in the choir got the attachment. How nice of someone to take the time to scan it and send it to all the missionaries that were in the Choir.

April 13th: "It's been a great week"

Sister McBride's letter for the week! She is growing so much!  I got an attachment that I will post later.

Hiya!

We're actually at the church right now because we wanted to watch the last session of general conference for p-day so we're going to stay here, pop some popcorn and eat some strawberries and cream. yum! C:

I am so excited for Melissa!! AND Sarah Oliphant got her call to Nicaragua! Craziness!

This week we did a ton of finding! We got 6 QGC's! (Gospel Quality Confersations-with a return appointment!) How great right? Except now they don't count for our official numbers that are sent to the president but hey oh well :)

 This week I learned that we can't label ourselves. Example: If I were to label myself as a forgetful person because I kept loosing everything and I stuck to my label of myself then I wouldn't be able to become better. For instance when I get on a bus and I'm carrying an extra bag, instead of setting it at my feet or beside me, I make sure it's on my lap. I would always check for my wallet multiple times through out the day. Now I will not loose anything important! When we are trying to be better at something like being more patient, more diligent etc. we are given opportunities to improve in that attribute! Often known as trials. (Sometimes we're not particularly trying to work on it but the Lord gives us chances to work on it anyway.) Those trials are never fun or easy and often times they're embarrassing, but if we are humble and allow ourselves to learn and don't let the experience overwhelm us then we can learn and improve so much more! If I was working on patience and was given a trial that tested that attribute there would come a point where I would need to choose. Either I would say "This is hard but I can try it and do my best" or "It's too hard, I don't know if I'll be able accomplish it. I guess I'm just an impatient person" NO! If you are trying to change and become better. If you ask for the Lord's help you will always learn something from it! Will I never get upset again or never ever forget anything important? No, but you'll will be better at it than you might have been if you allowed that label for yourself to define who you you are. Anyway that was my insight for the week.

I went on exchanges to Dunfermline with Sister Montgomery. It was fun She's timid and more quite like me. Also we met this man who shared with us a scripture in Hebrews (I think. Ch 1) that says something like if you're not preaching the word of God and are leading souls away from Him then you will be thrust into heck. He kept asking us if it scared us and was trying to bible bash with us.... I don't mind that other people have their beliefs, it's just when they're trying to force theirs on you, disprove your sentence before you even finish it and then try and scare you with a scripture that it gets hard to talk to them. We just said 'well nice talking to you we have to go' and walked away. I think he actually took one of our cards though.

We met a lady just a bit older than us named Hannah. She is a single mom with a boy thats about 2. She asked a lot of good questions about life and God and the church. When we left both Sister Wilkinson and I felt that she would love coming to church and that she would just fit right in and make so many friends! We have high hopes for her C:

Marks baptism is this Friday! The day after your birthday Dad! Happy Birthday!! :DD  Bishop Brown (pres. son) is going to baptize him. Mark has grown so much. The other day he told us how he was really unsure about baptism at first but now he really wants it and desires it. I was just thinking about the many scriptures that talk about if you've brought just one soul to Christ how great should be your joy! And I am so happy that I can be apart of that and that I have chosen to do this with my life right now.

I am also so thankful for the sacrament and that I can repent every week! How wonderful to know that I can become clean and feel Christs atonement every week!

Tell the family that I loved the letters they sent in the Easter package!

Lots of Love,

Sister McBride

EASTER CONCERT TOUR was AH-MAZING!! toured March 23rd thru April 3rd

Mom here: OH my goodness! sister McBride has had some AWEsome adventures! this post is going to be a bit long. make sure to scroll down I'm adding her letter from last week of March 29th and this week April 6th. Last weeks March 29th that didn't make it on here yet... sorry about that....she actually emailed it on Sunday because they were touring on their Pday and didn't get a chance to email on their regular Pday (preparation day). All  the missionaries in the choir stayed in the mission home which she says is a huge building type castle I believe 20 some odd missionaries in total made up the entire choir and they all stayed at the mission home so it must be a BIG mission home! The choir had solos preform ranging from violin, piano and flute. Sister McBide was able to play the flute in one of the songs. A few places I know they performed at were in Edinburgh castle, chapel Royal at Stirling castle, St. Giles cathedral, and the Rosslyn chapel (which is a very famous old, old building you are not aloud to take pictures in but someone videoed it, haha... don't know if that was completely legal but I'm glad they did I'm going to be posting all the videos on here, I hope they work. I'm still trying to get the one in the Rosslyn Chapel converted to put on here.) A very generous member videoed two of the performances and posted it to the Scotland/Ireland Mission FB page which was SO SO nice and a very BIG and pleasant surprise. I wont lie their may have been a few tears shed when I saw sister McBride and her singing. We are so happy for her being able to have this special growing and amazing experience.


April 6th letter

 Hello everyone! It's been an exciting few weeks for sure!

I hope you're all doing well and that you enjoyed watching conference! I seriously love conference so much. There's an Elder in my district that quotes GC like he used to quote movies! lol it's great. 

So some of the people I met are Sister Prescott (actually I've met her before) She is in my MTC group we came out at the same time. Elder Thomas is basically another version of Anthony. He's so funny and quotes movies all the time! It's great. And Elder Beckstrand can do an amazing George Bailey impression from "It's a Wonderful life" (he kinda looks like him too!) Ah it made me laugh! These Elders could be comedians though. Also one of the Elders, de Vries told us a story about how he got a call from one of the people working on the Hunger Games 2 a while back (before his mish) and they wanted him to try out for the part for Finnick! Crazy I know! But he wouldn't be on his mission if he had so he didn't. I met some crazy cool people!

 Whenever we would perform at an LDS church building we always prayed together, or would read, or share our testimonies. Our choir director was an elder named Elder Black and he always testified of the Savior at the end of our concerts. Our last night in the mission home we had a get together with all of us and the President and his wife. He recited some scottish poetry and sang us a song and told us jokes as we all sat on the couches or the floor. The we had a wonderful testimony meeting and sang the mission song together. It was truly a life changing experience because of the spirit that was felt and the testimonies that were shared. 

Playing her flute 'I come to the garden' Elder Black conducting.

I wish I could tell you all the things I did this week. It was truly amazing. Not only was I able to see Stirling Castle and Edinburgh castle along with many other beautiful places like St Giles Cathedral but my testimony was strengthened 10fold! I love the Savior and I am so grateful that I can know of His love, light and gospel. I am so blessed to be apart of this church and to have to opportunity to come out and serve the Lord. My desire has been strengthened and my testimony remembered as I have gone around Scotland with some of the most amazing missionaries ever, singing about our lord and Savior. So many hearts were touched and lives were changed as we sang our testimonies and I am grateful to be apart of it!

Singing 'Consider the Lillies'

This week we had a lesson on Chastity with Lily and Mark before conference on Sunday. Usually those ones are... slightly awkward, but they have to be done! This one was awesome though. Both Lily and Mark expressed their testimonies on the importance of staying faithful to your spouse. Mark has had a hard time praying, but in the closing prayer he gave he asked Heavenly Father and expressed his desire to be baptized to that he could live with Lily in Heaven after they die! I just about cried! Well I might have shed a tear... I have seen them grow so much as husband and wife and I am lucky to be apart of it! 

Speaking of conference Bishop Dewey who is a professional BSl interpreter (British Sign Language) and has been helping us out, went to general conference this weekend in Utah! He has some friends I guess that he's going to talk to so that they can maybe get the word about the need for BSL everything in the church! So hopefully that goes ok. And to answer your question about conference mom of what happens? so what happens is we watch the women's session Saturday at 3-4 the saturday morning session from 5-7 and then on Sunday we watch the Saturday afternoon session from 1-3 and then the Sunday morning session from 5-7 the Sunday evening can be watched from 9-11! but as missionaries we need to be in by 9 and that's just too late anyway so we basically never really watch the last session. We'll just read it in the Ensign we get. though most people do watch it. Isn't that crazy though? It was weird watching it at those times but still wonderful! I love conference!!! 

Anyway I really liked the prophets talk (of course.) and Elder Bednars talk as well as Hollands and Uchtdorf. Something that our mission pres mentioned in his e-mail this week was how much they warned and stated truths of the gospel and how that always happens before something is coming! craziness.

Anyway, there are so many spiritual experiences I can't even count them all. I actually had a question that I thought of for conference. It was "how do I know if I'm doing enough". Well the lord answers our prayers in ways we don't expect! it was answered before I made it to the church to watch conference! We visited Frances (that's this sweet 92 or maybe 95 year old, like 4'9'' lady, who happens to be my mission presidents mum, that wrote my mum a letter telling her I was safe in Scotland and feeds us biscuits every Saturday when we see her) and she told us how great we were and that the ward loves us and that we need to remember to be proud of all the things we're doing and she thanked us for all of our hard work and for helping her family grow stronger in the gospel... I love Frances!! 

Anyway I hope you are all doing well! Wow this is a long e-mail! Thanks for reading to the end! ;)

In the words of our Prophet "Are we more worried about having fun than we are sharing the gospel?"

PS A fantastic study on the atonement and resurrection Matt 27 or John 20 about the men that are crucified with him. So good!

Love you all!

Sister McBride

Another video we think she is in the blue they aren't very good quality but we are grateful for them.

MARCH 29th

Queen Alyssa sitting in Stirling Castle- ok how COOL is THAT!


Hello everyone! This week has been amazing. Right now I'm sitting in the mission home and there are people playing quite the variety of instruments. 2violins, 1 viola, a banjo, some small drums, 2 flutes a trombone and a piano haha it's loud, but awesome.

First of all let me explain why I'm emailing on a Sunday. Since we've been traveling around east Scotland for the choir tour we are all staying here at the mission home which is like a super old building that is way beautiful btw- (mom here: btw- means... by the way) We just got done singing at Rosslyn Chapel about and hour and a half ago. It's this really super old church that was preserved pretty well and has been restored nicely it's a beautiful place and the acoustics were amazing! It was hard going preparing for this concert. We got together last Monday and practiced until lunch time on Wednesday day at the church near the mission home. Then headed off to our first place named Aberdeen! The concert went well and they've just been getting better and better since! We also got to sing at the Chapel Royal in Stirling Castle! It is like... one of the coolest castles Ever! Super big and ah... so cool. And it's been great going to all of them, but they're weird. The spirit isn't there. In fact it's almost an eerie strange type of feeling when you go into castles and churches like that. But whenever we sing st the churches the spirit is able to testify even stronger to the people who are listening. We've had a lot of nonmembers and people from all different faiths come to our concert and they all have really enjoyed it and have felt the spirit! Lots of spiritual experiences have happened out here. Each time I sing I can feel my testimony of the Savior grow. How wonderful is it to know that He lives! Can you imagine not knowing that through Jesus Christ who loves us, we can over come death and live forever in happiness. There is a new video coming out called Because He Lives and it is so good! I encourage all of you to look it up and share it.

Anyway Hopefully I'll be able to attach some pics! I really don't have much time but I love you all and I hope you take time to remember that the easter bunny, chocolate, and eggs... for one make no sense, and two! Are pointless and worldly. Though nice to enjoy, don't let anything overpower your thoughts and testimony of the Savior this Easter time. He truly lives and loves us.

Take care everyone love you all!

I think this might be the Stirling Castle

This picture and the next two are of the Rosslyn Chapel

This is her companion Sister Wilkinson and the couple that they baptized Lilly and mark with Elder Boehme. Which looks like the pictures was taken on the grassy hill side of the Rosslyn chapel or it could be the Stirling Castle but I'm not sure... sure looks like a happy and fun bunch of missionaries.