Vertigo, Art , Educating Mercy, Spring Comes to Glasgow, Friends and other Odds and Ends





YES WE ARE STILL HERE

 

 

 

THIS NEAT PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE IN CHARRING CROSS, GLASGOW, REMINDED US OF THE BELL TOWER IN THE FILM VERTIGO, MINUS THE BELL

 

 

 

 

 

KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM,  GLASGOW, WHERE SISTER WHITNEY THOUGHT SHE WAS IN 7TH HEAVEN

 

 

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THE FILM EDUCATING RITA, WHICH HAS LITTLE IF ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS PHOTO OF SISTER WHITNEY EDUCATING MERCY ON HOW TO BAKE A PINEAPPLE-CARROT CAKE

 

 

 

 

OUR FRIEND CHIOMA AND HER BROTHER, A PHYSICIAN VISITING FROM ENGLAND.

CHIOMA  IS HERE WORKING ON A PHD IN CIVIL ENGINEERING AT THE UNIV. OF GLASGOW

 

 

 

 

THIS IS THE SITE OF A MULTI AREA YSA CONFERENCE TO BE HELD AT ARDINGLY COLLEGE IN ENGLAND  IN AUGUST 2013.  GREAT SITE, GREAT AGENDA.

 

 

 

MILNGAVIE'S VERSION OF A BIT OF LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON

ABOUT 5 MILES FROM WHERE WE LIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

ELDER WHITNEY TAKING A BREAK

 

 

 

SPRING HAS COME AND SO HAS THE FLORA

BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASGOW

WHEN IT IS 60 DEGREES, THE LOCALS THINK IT IS HOT

 

 

 

HIGHLANDER BAND PERFORMING AT  PRINCESS SQUARE, GLASGOW

WISH WE COULD POST THE VIDEO.  THEY ARE WILD

 

 

ELDER WHITNEY RELAXING WITH  KRIS AND RACHAEL AT HOME EVENING

 

 

A WALK IN THE PARK







We enjoyed a good walk on a beautiful clear day with SUNSHINE AND BLUE SKY! We discovered Kelvin Park as we kept walking along the river. Many people were out doing the same .Now this will be one of our favorite places to walk! We even saw a girl walking on a low tightrope. Elder Whitney went ahead of me at the end of our walk, I made a little trip to the grocery store near our flat. On the way I met some soldiers, and asked if I could take their photo, I liked their uniforms with the feather in their caps! They took a photo of ME! Across from the grocery store, on my way home, there is a little old pub.  I always see people standing out in front smoking, as they are not allowed to smoke inside. I decided to be brave and ask if I could take a photo of them; they were very friendly. After finding out I was from Utah, they said" MORMONS"!!  so I told them I was a missionary, and they asked if they could buy me a DRINK! laughing, because they knew I wouldn't. They were telling me that where our flat is was a very rough area until recently it has been improved with newer housing. I told them it seemed like it was STILL a rough area. they were quite friendly! I've found a way to meet people:  ask if I can take their photo!

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER WHITNEY



BLUE SKIES, BRAHMS AND MUSINGS FROM GLASGOW

The Glaswegians were out in droves on the third straight day of total sunshine.  We joined them for exercise  and are glad we did.

Thanks to our Ipod, we each enjoyed simply fantastic music on Classic FM romantic from England.  I think my favorite was a Brahms  cello concerto, at least I know it was a cello, and I think they said Brahms.  No matter, it was the perfect setting for a simply fantastic piece of music.

We started out downthe walkway by the River Clyde  (or its tributary?) and walked along the river, catching light from the sun .  No pollution that we could see.  Lots of people out and the landscape is super, with plants and flowers starting to bud and the light bouncing colors off the water and the adjacent flora.

In addition to people watching,  it was just what the doctor ordered for contemplation and musing, occasionally on one of many benches in Kelvin Park downtown.  Lots of parks around here and when the long summer days come and the warmer weather, we expect it to be even more beautiful than it was today. 

At one point, we stopped at a falls, which created a kind of riptide as it leveled out below.    There was a small yellow bottle, and two sticks, which seemed, along with the riptide,  intent on keeping the bottle from heading on its presumed path downstream.  The bottle would move around is if to overcome the riptide, only to be kept at bay by the sticks.  It was only a couple of yards out of turbulance to clear sailing ahead.  The bottle reminded me a couple of  times of a salmon, intent on spawning, as it tried several times to reverse its course and finds its way vertically up the slope of the surging water from whence it came, rather than fight through the riptide and sticks. 

I am teaching institute (2nd Corinthians)  this Wednesday night, and looking for a parallel, I thought of Paul's concern for the Corinthian Saints,  so much so that he wrote long letters encouraging them and consoling them as they tried to leave old company and break bad habits.  The bottle represented a  person on a new path,  trying to repent and improve their life,  the riptide, their continual struggle with bad habits they are trying to break,  the sticks  their former "friends" who are not about to be abandoned in their pursuit of the old way.   I thought to myself that when we see a fellow traveler in this predicament, this  is our opportunity to extend a hand of support, so that they can get beyond the "riptide"' of bad habits and the influence of sometimes well meaning but misguided  former associates.  I could see that if the bottle had been a person, all that I had to do was to extend my hand, like the boy and the starfish, to assist it out of harm''s way.   

Sister Whitney did get some  photos , a few of which  are included herein.   In one she may have accidentally caught the yellow bottle, but you must look hard for it.  I have also included a few of our home evening the night before (dinner, spiritual thought and charades)  and our district conference this morning.  Need to get a better camera, since the one we have now  does not show the vivid contrast of the colors and blurs the clarity. 

NOT A NICE WAY TO SAY IT

Elder Whitney has been taught that grown men  don't  cry.  Neither do they bawl, blubber, howl, lament, snivel, sob, shed tears, wail, weep, whimper, yowl, put on the weeps, muel, moan, mourn, shed bitter tears, turn on the water works or let it all out.   There is really no nice way to say it.  
Since he has been in Scotland,  Elder Whitney has  wondered at times if  he was simply past feeling, a sobering, rather  terrifying thought,  or maybe  that he had actually forgotten how to shed tears, equally disquieting. 

SO WHAT MADE ELDER WHITNEY DO IT?

 

While a picture would be worth a thousand words, fortunately we all had our eyes shut, or at least Elder Whitney did, as he  was too embarrassed to open his.    Besides he  was offering a closing prayer seated in a flat with two 19 or 20 year olds and Sister Whitney,  a young lady and mother of two from Zambia or close to it on a continent which Elder Whitney knows too little about, namely Africa.  Is it really a continent?

 

So what happened before the prayer, that created this compulsion in Elder Whitney to let it all out?

By a process of elimination,  he  concludes that his emotions were spiritual in nature, which could only have come from a higher power.  He was basically overwhelmed by his feelings of appreciation for  this young mother, for these young men, for Sister Whitney and for their common cause.  As a result, he could not start or finish his simple prayer without putting on the weeps. Fortunately, he did manage to refrain from wailing or yowling.  He is unsure about mueling, since he is not sure what that is, or even how to spell it, except the image of a mule comes to mind -- braying, and that is not what he recalls.  He fears he might have gotten close to sobbing, but he is certain he refrained from whimpering, the descriptive form of which would be too much for him to digest.  Real men may have a soft spot, but they are not wimps. 

 

So why was Elder Whitney so appreciative?      Elder Whitney, despite a resume which might suggest that he should know better, is extremely naive.  Either he has spent too much time in Utah and maybe even Arizona,  or he has practiced keeping his eyes wide shut.  He has considered plastic surgery to open those eyes, but it is not in the budget. 

 

Elder Whitney was struck profoundly on a cold, dark night in Glasgow on the 7th of February, 2013, with the realization that someone, in this case a young mother,  could come Out of Africa from a different race and culture, that so reminded himself of himself,  not only because of what she said, but by her mannerisms and the way she said it, that he felt as probably he had never quite felt before, the reality of the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God.  This feeling was only enhanced by the spirituality and polished  wisdom of these two 19-20 year olds, which cannot be explained but only experienced.  Elder Whitney will admit that his interaction with a diversity of fantastic people here has gradually prepared him for this experience. 

 

Since Sister Whitney will soon remind  her husband  that no one will finish this, even if they start,  and  that his  protestations that he  has  not spoken in the first person are simply a sham to cover up self-absorption, he will finish this off with a few photos.

 



PROOF THAT WE NEED TO BUDGET FOR A BETTER CAMERA

 

1/2 OF BURNS NIGHT 1-28-13:  Spring, Lars, Couple from China, Elder Moser, Elder Bayor

 

 

 

INSTITUTE ACTIVITY 2-6-13

 

 

 

 

 

CHINATOWN ELDERS AT OUR FLAT

 

 

 

MISSIONARY FAREWELL GATHERING [1-27-13] DUMBARTON, SCOTLAND

 

 

BISHOP GALLACHER, DUMBARTON 

 



CHEESEMONGERING IN GLASGOW

 

 

 

In Honor of Matt and Robb, and others in our family and extended family, who might be cheese aficionados, Sister Whitney and I, after she got permission from these two august gentlemen to take photos, actually stepped it up a notch and  forked out a few extra pounds and purchased some fantastic looking bread, hard crust , and some cheese.  For those who like cheese, what we had was as good as it looks.  Got a good return on our money:  we each got a pound back.     Nothing of its type as good as this that I can recall in Utah or Arizona or Canada or the northwest : in short in the northern hemisphere, although we feel certain such places exist.    We should mention the fantastic olives from Greece or Italy which, together with the bread and cheese, were a super compliment to a great walk in blue skies and frigid weather.  This place is cold.