Sheep Crossing!

Scotland may be one of the few countries that have half hour breaks in traffic to let sheep cross the road... Cool! But inconvenient. xD

In other news, this week has been mostly uneventful. We had a car again, as you can see, but just from last tuesday until tomorrow. :/ But that's life. It's going off to a senior couple that's coming in. So hopefully they'll enjoy it. Not have to use crutches... 

Nothing overly exciting happened this week - at a charity shop, we got to sort through books in the basement, which was nice and cool. ^-^ It was pretty sad to be discarding so many books, and reminded me of how much I really love books... *sigh* I miss reading. But I love reading the scriptures too. I've been enjoying it a lot more than ever before. 

Currently, I'm in Helaman, where Nephi has a huge growing experience. After telling a huge crowd about a murder that happened, listing specific details about how to catch the murderer, he goes home pondering what happened, pretty surprised about the whole situation, it seems. He then gets rewarded for his preaching and listening to the spirit, getting told his word is law, since he wouldn't do anything god wouldn't want him to. I want to have that sort of trust from the Lord. So I've been trying hard to listen to the spirit, and follow its promptings promptly. :) My prayers have also become conversations; rather than just sending off a telegram to god, I converse with him. 

I'm so thankful for the scriptures and for prayer. 

Keep going everyone! Keep finding! Keep teaching! Keep keeping! 

Chirp Chirp Chirp. (We've been throwing bread into our back garden - the birds love us!)

Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Cheers! 

– Elder William Kevin Black

Eternal Daylight

So being farther north is cool. The following picture was taken right at our bedtime, 10:30 As you can see, it's still pretty bright - the color in the sky was just about the same as in real life - pretty bright. A few days ago, I woke up early at about 3:40, and it was just about as bright! So we get an eternal light during these summer weeks. :) 

– Elder William Kevin Black

GRAR.

Sorry! I forestalled this, so I have no time to write!

Suffice it to say: the church is true.

I believe that more than ever. I know that god's grace is real, and I am so thankful for it. 

Keep on praying with god! Keep studying your scriptures! Keep seeking inspiration from church! These are the basic bread and water for your spiritual health. 

Love you all! Cheers! 

– Elder William Kevin Black

Equines, Eating, Emotions

A list, not an event... 

This week was great. We got to finally see the children of a lady who hasn't been to church for a long time, but is really friendly to us. They were wonderful, and are stellar kids. That makes a total of 3 new people we're teaching for this moves! :D

Our branch president was having a bit of a hard time physically, since he collapsed earlier in the week, but he was right as rain on Saturday. He is an amazing chef - he made us some apple pie for dessert, along with cinnamon rolls and banana bread. We love him to bits. But more so because of how much good he does for all the people in Gala. He really cares a lot for them, and is still able to have everyone rolling in laughter! 

Since the commonriding was on in Hawick, We had a lot more unscheduled time, in which we got to see a lot of people we'd been meaning to see for ages. 

But that's not overly exciting. 

I decided this week - Oh! I've lost 2 kilo! I can now eat unhealthy food whenever I want! 3 kilo later... :c Turns out it does matter what you eat, and you can't just magically loose weight on a seafood diet (I see food, I eat it!) 

I love being a missionary. I'm having a ball, and feel on top of the world! :D

Thanks for your prayers and your letters! 

Keep on being missionaries yourself!

Keep seeking truth!

Cheerio!

– Elder William Kevin Black

Now, time for Chef Black! These were both from scratch, improvised recipes! 

Here's some pasta bolognese I made. You're seeing it fresh out the oven, covered in bread crumbs. >:D

This one is some bread I threw together one night when I was stressed. It smells like Christmas, since I added some Peppermint to it. ^u^

Wrong paths, and 2nd-hand alchohol

Well, this week was pretty exciting! 

On Friday, we got onto a bus to go straight south to Hawick for an appointment. After 40 min, I looked up. Hmm... That hill looks familiar. Like the one outside Edinburgh... (mission HQ, 30 miles to the north) My heart sunk when I realized it was. So! We quickly got off the bus, in the middle of nowhere, and waited for the next bus coming south. So we were a couple hours late to our appointment. '~' That night, we realized the irony of it all: we were going to share a talk titled: "Let's not Take the Wrong Way." XD I died when I realized that... 

Later that day, we went to someone's house, and were parched, having walked across the whole town to get there. They offered us water, which we gladly accepted. It tasted a bit funny so afterwards my companion asked me what I thought of the water. I knew it wasn't clean, and thought it was maybe soap or something. "Yeah, that was alcohol" My jaw dropped. So! You've heard of second hand smoke, and now I've experienced second hand alcohol! Not an experience I am keep to repeat. XP

Otherwise, we had another great Zone Development, where we played ultimate frisbee, and did another murder mystery! :D We had a blast, and I didn't die! So that's a success in my book!

We've found one new person to teach, which is the first new in many months. So that was really exciting! He's a born-again christian who was once in the phillipines to convert catholics, and did door-to-door proselyting like us! So he's the first born-again that has ever really listened to me on my mission yet, and seems to honestly be seeking truth! :D

Thanks for your prayers, letters, and support! 

Keep Calm and Ride On!! (Hawick Commonriding is on this week! ^0^ Not that we'll get to see it, seeing 90% of the entire town will be drunk.)

– Elder William Kevin Black