Well, this week just zoomed by.
Monday Sister Macdonald came into the office at about 4:00 and said she wanted to take her daughter, Lydia shopping but they didn’t know where to go. She said the main reason was she wanted to get out a drive a bit. She wanted to practice. Well, I said Sister Gifford and I would be happy to drive our car and she could follow us to a shopping place. That’s a good way to learn. I followed a mail truck one day a long time ago and I learned a lot just by following him and observing. So we left a little early and drove out to the old Five Guys shopping area where there is M&S, Primark and TKMaxx. There is also an H&M and a few other stores really close in the same area. We offered to stick around and do some shopping ourselves and we could meet up in two hours and head home. Well, after two hours we were all starving so we found each other and decided to go get dinner at Pizza Express and then actually went back to the stores again for a little bit. It was great. There were major sales going on and I got the white shirts I wanted to go with some plaid skirts I got my grand daughters. And a few other things. I love that I can find modest clothes here that fit me. I actually enjoy looking at clothes here.
Tuesday we worked until almost 6:00. Moves planning is this week and it is already hitting hard. It’s July and I should have arranged travel on the ferries for our seven missionaries going home from Ireland last week. But with all the new things with a new president I didn’t even think of it and I’m suffering for it now. This is not going to be an easy moves. Buses and ferries are already full. I am going to have to be creative.
Wednesday Sister Gifford and I drove to Glasgow after work to see Elder James and Elder Miao. They had met a man named Henry who was on Amazon trying to buy a couple Bibles and an ad popped up that said “Click here for a FREE Bible.” so he did. But a Bible never showed up. He saw the missionaries on the street and said to them that we were supposed to give him a Bible. Well, this is the third person now who has said they clicked for a free Bible and they didn’t get one. We are not even aware of this campaign, nor do we know where the Bibles are supposed to be coming from but I ordered about 10 Bibles a few weeks ago and they finally came. Henry is now reading the Book of Mormon but won’t let the missionaries come back until they have his Bible so we thought it was worth the drive to Glasgow to hand deliver they Bibles. And then we were able to take them out to dinner as well.
So it is just over an hour drive to Glasgow and we told them to figure out where they wanted to go for dinner and even make a reservation if they thought they should. So we found them at the church and said hop in the car and let’s go. They were hesitant so I questioned them and they thought we would just walk somewhere to eat. I asked what they had in mind and they didn’t know but most things were about a 15 minute walk away. Well, that is 19-year-old’s talking and they forget Sister Gifford is 77. She is pretty spry for her age and can keep up with the best of them but after a full day of work and still over an hour to get home once we were back to our car, I didn’t want to do that. When they hopped in the car you would have thought it was Christmas when they saw the two Bibles sitting there for them. They were so excited.
Well after some back and forth conversation I asked them if there was a good carvery around. Carvery’s usually have parking and they said yes, so off we went. It was good. Lots of food. Elder James and I had calzone’s. Sister Gifford had an enormous chicken sandwich and Elder Miao had pizza. But you can also go to the buffet and get anything you want (except the meat) so Elder James had mashed potatoes and gravy along with his calzone. He was very happy. We drove them home after that and I’m so glad we did because Sister Gifford has now decided they are on top of her list for better housing. They live out so far from where they work and it’s not the best feeling area. Of course they don’t complain at all. 
Thursday we took the APs out to dinner. It’s our last dinner with Elder Grant. He goes home this next Monday. Elder Gedlaman is the new AP and so we had all three of them for dinner. We went back to Tony Macaroni which is a favorite. I also got all the moves on Thursday so I got started on travel. It is a tough one this time trying to find buses and stuff. But it’s coming along.
Friday was my birthday and early that morning President Macdonald told the APs to send a text out to all the young missionaries that it was my birthday and to call in and wish me happy birthday. Wow!! 160 missionaries – 80 companionships and I think I got a call from every one of them. Most started singing when I said hello. Some were in harmony, others were pretty sad sounding and others were so funny. One that stood out was Elder DeMille and Elder Rodriguez. I don’t think Elder Rodriguez knows the Happy Birthday song. Elder DeMille sang and Elder Rodriguez would pipe in at the end of each sentence with “to you”. It was so funny. I got nice texts from the missionaries too that made me feel really special. I love these missionaries.
I got a beautiful orchid from the Macdonalds and Sister Gifford and the Helps. 
And the STLTs brought me flowers and so did the Selanders when they came. And Wendy brought me some incredible candy. I wish I hadn’t tried them because I’m hooked. They are called Ferraro Raffaello. They are coconut balls that when you bite into them they are filled with melted chocolate and a hazel nut. Delicious.
Friday evening the Selanders from Alpine came to the office. She had asked me what I wanted from home before they came and I said Fritos Bean Dip. Well I got a bit more than that. I had also asked for some chow mein noodles because Sister Gifford has never had Hawaiian Haystacks and I want to make them for her. You can’t find chow mein noodles anywhere here. We have looked everywhere. As you can see I got a bit more than what I asked for. I’m set for the rest of my mission I think. Thank you so much Selanders. This is going to be put to some good use. They took us out to dinner to Zizzi’s as well and then we drove around the city a bit. It was so nice to finally meet them after this past year of keeping in touch. I’m so glad I have made new friends that will be home when I get there.
Saturday I got up and went in to the office to work for a few hours this morning and then Sister Gifford and Sister Miller and I went to a bridal shower for Lucy our Relief Society President. Lucy is from Arizona but she is here getting her PhD in Theology. She will be here for three more years except for when she is doing her research in the Middle East next summer. She is amazing. What a life. Her fiance is from Florida and she met him here in the same college and he will be working on his PhD as well. Different study than her but both Theology in nature.
Then I went back to work for another hour and then Sister Gifford and I took a bus up to the Royal Mile and walked around a bit and went in and out of shops then went to a place up on the Mile called Makar’s Gourmet Mash Bar for dinner. It was delicious and we were so glad we found a new place to eat. 
We thought we were going to walk down to Grassmarket afterwards for some Gelato but we were so full we couldn’t even imagine having some ice cream too. So we just walked around a bit more and then hopped on a bus and came home.
That catches me up to right now sitting here typing my blog. I need to make some plans because Skyler and Janelle will be here in just a couple weeks and I haven’t decided what we are going to do yet. Lacey is off in Iceland with Danielle Smith this week and it looks like she is having lots of fun. I wish I could hop on a plane and go see her. It’s not that far away. Oh well. It’s a lot warmer here I think. We had a huge rain storm yesterday but it is still quite warm and I am loving it.
I love you all. Have a good week.