"...I'm doing my first exchange as a district leader..."

Yoyoyoyo!

Did you guys hear about Andy Murray?! Wimbledon CHAMPION! And even better...SCOTTISH! 

It was a huge deal over here. We didn't watch any of the matches...on purpose at least. We were, however, in a few homes for dinner where the family insisted that they watch it, so rather than running out of the room covering our ears, we watched for a bit. Some missionaries might think it was wrong to do, but I didn't mind. Spent quality time with the members, and they saw that we are normal people that enjoy normal things.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!!!! I sure did. We did our weekly planning, taught Jimmy, had dinner at a member's house, and went to Ward Council. It was awesome.

Last Monday I got hit in the head by a bird. Not by bird poop, but an actual bird. We were walking around City Centre, when I felt something hit my head. It felt like someone hit me with like a text book or something, but then I saw a big ol seagull land on the ground in front of me, pick up a piece of old food on the ground, and flew away. It was weird yo.

Did I tell you guys about the time a wee yappy dog bit the leg of my trousers (aka pants)? It was back in Omagh, quite a while ago. So yeah, if I don't get chased by a real dog whilst I'm out I'll at least have that story.

Tuesday was my first district meeting! It went alright. Our district is just me, Elder Meyer, and the elders in Perth. One of our zone leaders also sat in. They told me at lunch that it was a good meeting. So I'm happy with that. 

Tomorrow is zone meeting, so I can relax. But I'm doing my first exchange as a district leader, so that will be fun.

Other than those things, no big significant events. Overall though, we get dinner appointments an average of six days a week. The food is no different from that of America. 

We had fajitas at three of the six last week. The only difference I suppose would be that they have dessert after every meal...not sure if it's because they have guests over, or if they always do that. I guess we usually gave the missionaries dessert when they came to our house, right? 

Also, they drink lots of fake juice. (Here and in Omagh) They call it "Squash", "Dilutant Juice", or a few other names...basically it's a bottle of concentrated juice-type drink, usually orange or raspberry flavour. It's pretty good. Some of them think it's real juice. 

Oh! And also biscuits. Basically like thin, plain cookies. They have "rich tea" biscuits, "digestive" biscuits (sounds gross, but they're alright) and a few other types. The biscuits we eat in USA , like Red Lobster Biscuits or other buttery flaky type biscuits, they call them scones. At least in N.I. Probably the same over here. That's my little food update. Really not that much different.

Not sure if I've filled you in on our investigators. Here we go:

Jimmy. He's the boyfriend of Siobhan, a member of the ward. He really wants to get baptised. We're working with him, making sure it's for real, not just to impress his woman. He understands most of what we teach.

Vikram. Late 20s man from India. Currently living with a few other guys of similar age and nationality, and they are trying to design a video game. He says he's still Hindu, but says he believes the Book of Mormon is true, and that he feels the holy ghost when he sleeps (?). Trying to help him realize that if the Book is true, then Christ was the son of God and stuff like that. Doesn't open up too much. Dresses real classy too.

Kris and Chelsea. Unmarried couple, Kris' mom is a member in the Bingham ward. (Dundee is split between Bingham and Liff wards.) Both want to be baptised. Love coming to church, reading scriptures, having us over. They are super good; they have seen their lives completely change since meeting with the missionaries.

Paul. Excommunicated member who wants to return. Amazing guy; the first day I met him he was saying it would take a while for him to get off the drink and the smoke. But last week he committed to live the Word of Wisdom, and gave us all his cigarettes, tea and coffee. He had already thrown out his alcohol. Great man. Strong testimony. Real intent to come back.

Those are the only people we work with really. Much different from Omagh; there we had loads of investigators some who weren't really THAT interested. Here we only have a few, but they are all pretty committed. They are spread out all over the city, and traveling from our flat to their homes to members' homes takes a good chunk of time. 

We have little to no time for door knocking ("chapping" over here) or street contacting. I'm trying to muster up the courage to do "bus finding," but it's scary.

Overall, I like Scotland a lot. It's great, so it is. (there's a N. Irish man in the ward, I heard him say "So I did" yesterday and it made my day.)

Today we are going to a tartan shop. Basically they sell kilts, tartan fabric, tartan ties, and loads of other stuff. Let me know if you want some, there's loads of tartan here.

I love yous! Thanks 4 everything.

Spencer

Photos:

The extent of my July 4th celebrations

 Remnants of a recently demolished building

FREE MARIAN PRICE! (Taken on my last day driving through Belfast. Usually a sign of an IRA neighborhood.)

The view from Bingham ward's building. The River Tay, or the Firth of Tay...not sure which it's called.
BYE!