Blog

Sunday in Edinburgh. We attended church at the Edinburgh Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are so many missionaries and we realized the mission home is right next door! We attend sacrament meeting, and it is the first Sunday of the month which is always fast and testimony meeting. We loved the messages shared by members of the congregation. I especially loved the message to “Remember” …remembering and reflecting on the gospel in your life and its blessings will strengthen you and your testimony. Take time to remember and reflect daily. We take the kids to their Primary class. I love that they have been so lucky to be taught by so many loving Primary teachers in the UK this summer. We are so grateful for them! The kids gave us kisses then they were off! C and V meet a mother and daughter also visiting. They are from the States but living in Asia and are in Scotland for the Fringe Arts Festival. We totally didn’t realize that we would be in Edinburgh during one of the world’s largest festivals! It was nice talking to them and joked that we will probably see them out and about later. C and V attend the Sunday School lesson on Job from the Old Testament. I always felt so sad and so sorry for Job. I never really understood the lesson. But today’s class and teacher helped me learn and understand more. Bad things happen to good people. Bad things don’t happen to you because you deserved it or to punish you. Bad things can happen to even the best people like Job. At that time in the Old Testament scriptures, people didn’t have the mentality of “all these things shall be for thy good”. In fact, trails happen to everyone, and trials are a part of life and trials can make us stronger and strengthen us. The worst thing is to have a “woe is me” mentality…it should be “why not me”? We are all here, we came to earth, we knew there would be trials, we signed up for this, we promised we’d always remain faithful. I also liked a Neal A. Maxwell quote about trusting in the Lord’s timing. Who are we to question the Lord’s timing? We are creatures who have to wear watches to help us keep the time, while God controls the universe. We should trust in his timing. It was a great Sunday school lesson. After church V goes to pick up kids, and see them in the hallway. S and H are so excited to show me their drawings and tell me their teachers said they can go see the Bishop and tell him what they learned today and he will give them a treat. It was the cutest thing! They waited at the Bishop’s office with the other Primary kids and C and V watched them wait patiently and explain to the Bishop what they learned about in Primary today. He was so kind and nice and the kids were so happy to pick two treats each. We then take the kids outside to see the mission home and take photos of the church. We meet R’s Primary teacher and his daughter. They are so nice and they have lived all over the world! We love being able to meet so many interesting people from around the globe! We head back home and C places a Deliveroo grocery order. It arrives just after we get back to the house. We eat lunch at the dining table (carrot sticks, grapes, ham and cheese sandwiches, salt and vinegar chips, milk and Cadbury mini rolls) then we are off to see Edinburgh Castle. We walk to the castle uphill, and its very tiring! The kids are super impressed when we get to the castle gates. We pick up maps and audio guides for the kids and run into the mother and daughter from church we joked about seeing later! Too funny! We explore the castle walls, Crown Jewels, and Stone of Destiny. We enter the Great Hall and see all the swords on the wall and armor and stained glass windows. The staff answers our kids’ many questions. H wants to know if he can buy one of the swords. She tells us about the square hole in the wall that would’ve been hidden under a tapestry for the king to eavesdrop on his guests in the Great Hall. C and the kids love the giant sword. We continue to the other parts of the castle. We see cross stitching and giant fireplaces and the room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to King James. We had so much fun (maybe too much fun) looking up our different family names/crest/history. The kids really enjoyed learning about the names in our family. The boys LOVED Mons Meg. S tells me, “Mom, did you know she was one of the most powerful weapons in Europe?” V is totally impressed by his knowledge until she realizes he was just reciting what he was hearing on the audio guide! The kids played forever with Mons Meg, especially H! They try picking up the giant Mons Meg cannon balls which I assumed would be securely attached to the ground. Then other visitors tried picking up the cannon balls too. One big strong guy was actually able to lift one up and I said “I didn’t know just anyone could come pick those up!” and he replied, “…well, not just anyone!” We walked over to see the dungeons where the prisoners were kept. We read about the prison doors with prisoner’s graffiti including those from the American Revolution (and graffiti of the American flag and ships)! Everyone started feeling hungry so we walked to the park below the castle where we let the kids run around and roll on the grassy hill while C and V research dinner options. We walk home, take care of dinner and bedtime. Goodnight!