Watch Out For Men Carrying Plants!

Heya everyone!

So this week was a pretty busy/interesting week.

So Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Greenock with the Greenock Elders because the ZL's (Zone Leader’s) had MLC (Missionary Leader Council) and they were blitzing another area so I was helping out the other area.

A funny experience happened where on Tuesday night we were heading back to the flat when Elder White, my DL (District Leader), stopped a guy to ask if we could help carry in his plants.

The guy is like 20 something mind you, and Elder White asked him what brings him happiness in life.

The guy says that growing the plants does.

Well Elder White and his comp ask again to take the plants to his flat and the guy lets them.

Well we get to his flat and we were hit by the strongest wave of weed smell that I’ve been around. They instantly took the plants then slammed the door.

The Greenock Elders had just helped carry weed up to a weed farm....!

Also met GQed (Golden Questioned) a guy this week who said he was a fallen angel and that he’d seen signs everywhere telling him he’s an angel.

Other than that we just worked in the ZL's area. They had a baptism so we were busy with that on Saturday.

Take care!

Elder Tarbet (Wolverine)

 Rachael's Baptism

June 27, 2015

 NOTES: From Mom: Elder T is serving in Johnstone with the Zone Leaders so here are some pictures downloaded from the internet of Landmarks in Johnstone Scotland, in the Paisley Zone of the Scotland/Ireland Mission.

Some landmarks in Johnstone, Scotland

The war memorial in Houstoun Square

 

 Johnstone Castle

Plague on Johnstone Castle

Frederick Chopin 1810 - 1849

To commemorate the temporary
residency of the composer and pianist
Frederick Chopin at Johnstone Castle.

Chopin was a guest of Ludovic Houstoun,
5th Laird of Johnstone Castle whose wife he
had tutored in Paris. He stayed at
Johnstone Castle for most of the month
of September 1848 prior to giving a
concert at the Merchants Hall in Glasgow
on the 27th of that year.

 Johnstone Station

 

High Street Johnstone

NOTE: From Mom

Tuesday and Wednesday he spent in Greenock with the District Leader, Elder White and his companion. 

Greenock is where I joined the church back on October 1st, 1981 

GREENOCK SCOTLAND

(Images downloaded from the Internet)

Greenock LDS Chapel

More Changes!

Hope you are all having a good week.

So first off just saying that we're emailing at the church and I am on probably one of the oldest computers that existed! The email system is completely different and it is taking forever to go through emails from loading time so emailing today is going to suck. 

So this week was pretty bad truth be told. My companion went home early on account of anxiety and depression. All week he was struggling to where we’d have to go back to the flat several times a day for him to cope. I felt really bad for him. We only taught 1 lesson all week which was a LA family. So for now I’m in a trio with the Zone Leader’s.
 
We were supposed to have a lesson with Mark last week (I mentioned him last time) but unfortunately we had to drop him.

I called him after emailing to see if we were still good for the appointment and I asked if the restaurant took swipe cards and he said "Don’t worry about the money just lie with me." I was like excuse me, and he repeated and again I wasn’t sure if what I was hearing was true and then finally he said "Just lie down with me and forget the world". So.... we know now that he is definitely interested in more than just the message and isn’t really willing to listen.
 

In answer to your question, our district is made up of three companionship's, all Elders.

That’s all that really happened majorly this week. You’s all take care!

Love,

Elder Tarbet (Wolverine)

MOM'S NOTE: A few weeks back Elder T tried Haggis for the first time, which he really liked. A number of you have wonder "what's a Haggis." So here's some information on Haggis:

 HAGGIS

(Image and text compiled and downloaded from the Internet)

Haggis is a Scottish dish consisting of sheep’s offal (heart, liver and lungs), minced onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock. Traditionally it is encased in the animal’s stomach though now it is often in an aritificial casing (like a sausage casing) instead. It is referred to as a pudding, but it's basically like a large sausage.

Although the name “hagws” or “hagese” was first used in England c1430, the dish came to be considered traditionally Scottish, even the national dish, as a result of Scots poet Robert Burns poem Address to A Haggis of 1787. 

Haggis is traditionally served with “neeps and tatties” (mashed turnips and mashed potatoes) on Burns night.

In the absence of hard facts as to haggis' origins, popular folklore has provided some notions.

One is that the dish originates from the days of the old Scottish cattle drovers. When the men left the Highlands to drive their cattle to market in Edinburgh the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the glens. They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep's stomach allowing for easy transportation during the journey. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a chieftain or laird required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the offal as their share.

 HAGGIS

(Image and information downloaded from the Internet)

A joke sometimes maintained is that a haggis is a small Scottish animal with longer legs on one side, so that it can run around the steep hills of the Scottish Highlands without falling over. The Hebridean Haggis is "thought" to be the original native species. The Lewis Haggis is different from the Haggis on the mainland: unlike its mainland relative all its legs are of the same length. According to one poll, 33% of American visitors to Scotland believed haggis to be an animal. 

For more fun information on the Haggis see link below: 

http://www.thehaggis.com/EZ/sh/sh/page07.php?PHPSESSID=3poforr9bconq8kl6gcjdtq2i1

Still Discovering the Area, Finding New People and Getting A New Companion

Heya everyone! 

So this week has been so far about the same. 

Just trying to learn the area and find new people. 

Didn't see Scott this week, still trying to navigate the area and learn the bus routes. Right now we're still only working with 3 of the investigators because all the others (8 in total) we haven't heard back from and I still haven't been able to meet them.

Last PDay we went hiking trying to get to castle ruins but got blocked off by a herd of bulls (they were all snip snipped so they were pretty tame/calm but was still kinda freaky/scary). 

 Bulls In A Field

(Image Download From The Internet)

We met with the guy Mark from the restaurant and turns out he is gay. 

How do I know that, he gave off several signs including getting one of his ties and putting it around my neck then stroked my cheek.... needless to say I stayed cool.

Well we later saw him again and had a really good lesson with him and he is willing to learn but we are wary of him a little bit. 

Zone day was good. 

We played some yoga football, normal football, and had a dodge ball tournament. 

The biggest difference between my last area and here is that Ireland was more rural and had a more country feel to it while Paisley seems to be pretty run down, and more closed in. So far the people are not as happy.

Not really much else happened this week sadly, just finding and dealing with man loving investigators. 

Take care of yourselves!

Love,

Elder Tarbet (Wolverine)

 With Elder Stoker Before He Transferred to Aberdeen

 A Street In Paisley

(Images downloaded from the Internet)

 

 Glasgow/Paisley Zones on Zone Development Day

Monday June 15, 2015

 Elder T with Elder Burch

 Elder T with Elder Burch and Elder Ward

 

Elder Pienaar, Elder Burch, Elder Beckstrand with Elder Welch in the front

Book of Mormon--Keystone of Our Religion with Jeffrey R. Holland!

Heya everyone!

So this week was a busy week!

For those who didn't hear my companion Elder Stoker got moved to Aberdeen to be a Zone Leader and I got a new companion Elder Scheuermann.

So we're basically white washing.... yippee.

So most of the week we were showing me around the area trying to get me to know my way around.

On Saturday we got to meet Elder Holland!

 Jeffrey R. Holland

(Picture downloaded from the Internet)

All I can say is the man is amazing in person. We got to shake his hand and he said the reason why he asked to shake our hands and ask for our name and where we were from is to have a quick one on one interview basically with each of us where he looked into our eyes and could know if we were doing what we were supposed to be doing! Crazy huh!?

On Saturday he talked about how we need to help the investigators, members, and ourselves to "lift up our eyes" and to focus on spiritual matters and the kingdom of heaven. He explained this by reading in John 3 and 4 where he meets Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and when he tells his disciples he has meat.

In each story He said one thing such as being born again, giving water, and having meat but no one understood what he meant.

The thing that impressed me the most was when he first started to speak is that he said part of his calling as an apostle along with being an ordained special witness he is also a representative for Heavenly Father in telling us that we are loved by him and he cares for us, and represents all our leaders (fathers) in the church and our own personal fathers.

On Sunday he spoke about the Book of Mormon and how it is the keystone of our religion and no other person on the planet today could imitate writing anything close to it not even a couple of pages; that have the effect of changing peoples lives, making people cry, comforting people etc.

Meeting him in person was a truly wonderful thing and when he talks praise to the missionaries and said how proud he is of us and just looks you in the eye, you cant help but not smile!

I know that he is truly a man called of God to lead the church!

We also had a great lesson with Scott yesterday and invited him to be baptized. We'll work on a date with him this week.

Nothing else really new and don't know what to say.

Take care this week and for those people who I said I'd send them a copy of the talks from Elder Holland, sorry I wasn't allowed to record them so you won't be able to get a full copy.

Love you all!



Elder Tarbet (Wolverine)

With Elder Stoker at a dinner appointment shortly before he transferred

Picture supplied by "AH":)

 

Would you like to be spiritually fed?

 Then read this!

New Area, New Companion, Paisley in the Paisley Zone--So Far So Good!

Heya everyone!

Alls going good so far in Scotland and I'm actually in Paisley in the Paisley Zone/Stake.

So last week I left Tuesday evening and traveled to Dublin and then traveled all Wednesday, rode up to Belfast and from there we took the ferry. The ferry was good it wasn't too bad a ride. We got there at around 4 in Glasgow.

I like Elder Stoker he's a nice guy.  He wants to get in shape before he goes home so we go run every other morning and are trying to eat healthy when at the flat. 

So since getting here I've been mainly trying to get used to the area and I'm now in a bus and walking area.

I've only been able to meet 2 of our investigators so far and one of them seems pretty promising. His name is Scott and the instant we walked in all you smelled was weed but he was super nice and said that since hes been meeting with the missionaries he's noticed a change in his life (and that's not just the dope talking!)

The other guy we met is named Andrew and he's a Catholic.

E. Stoker wants to go to a mass session before he goes home so we might go with Andrew to his and get him to come to ours.

So I finally got to have a Scottish kebab which was amazing! It was as large as a pizza (I got a king kebab).

We are working with a lot of LA's and the bishop wants us to do that as a major focus.

The ward here is pretty big or at least compared to Galway about 100 or so and the members I've met are really nice.

We've got like 5 DA's (dinner appointments) this week so I'm both looking forward to that and not (because I'll get fat)  :(

I also gave a talk on Sunday about prayer and how it's brought me closer to God and I thought it went alright. I did it on one of my favorite talks which is Bread or Stones: Understanding the God we pray to but have personalized to myself so it went alright.

One of the members came up to me after and said how in my talk it was an answer to her prayer with something she was struggling with and said that I was an instrument in the hand of the Lord.

So this week we're busy with Scotland West Conference and on Saturday we get to see Elder Holland! I'm so pumped I get to see and meet the Bulldog of the Apostles!

Anyway yous all have a great week! Take care.

Love,

Elder Tarbet (Wolverine)

With Elder C, before transferring from Galway

Paisley Stake Center (Image taken from Internet)*

*Mom's Note: This is the very first LDS Chapel that I visited. It was here that I stood in the doorway of the cultural hall as I watched the members visiting with each other and said to myself "I want what they have." It was also the first building I went to for my Stake Conference and to watch General Conference.

PAISLEY
(Image taken from the Internet)

Paisley is a town that is situated about 7 miles west of Glasgow and 53 miles west of Edinburgh. It is the largest town in Scotland, outside the four principal cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh (capital), Aberdeen and Dundee. It was an important ecclesiastical center during Medieval times, based around the 13^th century Abbey.

Image taken from the Internet

The growth of Paisley in the early 19^th Century primarily through textiles (printing, bleaching, cotton thread) lead to the name of ‘Paisley’ been given to the distinctive pattern of curving shapes found on silk and cotton fabric.*

*Interestingly 'Paisley' ties are quite popular with the missionaries.

UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND

USW-Paisley (Image taken from the Internet)

Located in Paisley is one of the largest of the four University of the West of Scotland (UWS-Paisley) campuses. It is located only a few minutes walk from Paisley Gilmour Street Train Station with easy access to Glasgow and Ayshire. The University in Paisley serves around 10,000 students offering a range of courses and research opportunities in business, computing, social sciences, engineering, science, health, nursing and midwifery. 

USU-Paisley (Image taken from the Internet)

Gilmour Street Station (Image taken from the Internet