The gulls

This week has been a bit crazy since we are moving flats so we've been doing a lot of packing and cleaning and getting stuff sorted. Our new flat is a bit smaller but super nice and right by the water.

Although that means more gulls....as in sea gulls. Let me tell you those things are SO loud and obnoxious. They just squawk all the time! And they attack people! It hasn't happened to me but a gull dive bombed a sister in the mission and knocked her on the ground.

This is real life people. The gulls are taking over.

We borrowed the zone leaders car and drove down to Edinburgh one night - photo attached.

We also met with Dimitri who is from Latvia. He is a STAR. He's studying biomedical engineering and is doing his masters at Dundee University. It was the night before his last day of his course and he walked 50 minutes to come to our lesson at 8:15pm and then had our lesson and we find out that he still has course work to do! But he just wanted to come because he loves what he is learning. What an example, ach!

We talked with an awesome homeless man named Darren, had an East Scotland conference and Andrew my deaf recent convert came to my ward yesterday!

Quote of the week:

     I collapsed on the floor in fake agonizing hunger.

                  " I want cake! ..... I want rice!"

              Sister Turner: "Do you want a rice cake?"

hahaha it's probably not that funny but..it is.

Oh yeah, I've been reading in Jesus the Christ. WOW. That.book.is.amazing. Jesus Christ is real, He is the Son of God. He lived and He lives. How blessed are we to know this!

I love this work.

Sister Skagen

Dundee Fundee

So Dundee is a party.

It's weird to be serving in a city when I've only ever served in small towns. There are loads more drunk people! It's been great though.

We met  and taught some wonderful people, did some service and learned how to say "Hi, my name is Sister ____" in Mandarin!

We also went to St. Andrews for p-day! (It Wednesday's on moves week) I'll attach some pictures. I haven't stood on the golf course yet though.

2 favourite quotes of the week

- Sister Turner bus contacting someone

and this was her opening sentence:

                             "Do you see a lot of tractors here?"

I almost laughed out loud.

- Young boy (about 8 years old) shouted

at the beginning of primary on Sunday:

                              "Can we just start now? I'm getting a bit fed up!"

hahahahah :)

Pictures of the trio: Sister Turner, Sister McBride and I.

and then us soaking our feet in the tub to bond.

The St. Andrew's golf store and the St. Andrew's Cathedral ruins.

I love Scotland!

Sister Skagen

Movessssss

We got moves call.

I'm leaving Kirkcaldy! :( Waaaah. 

I'm literally just bouncing around the Dundee Zone. I'm going like a 30 minute train ride up the way. The Dundee curse is real. Once you're here, you get stuck! 

I'll be in another trio...not particularly chuffed about that but it'll be fun. It's always a good time with loads of missionaries. 

I gave some training at a Zone Meeting this week on learning to laugh and positivity in missionary work so that was fun and a cool thing to study. Proverbs 17:22!

We also ran into Gordon again, or as everyone else calls him "The Werewolf." He is the coolest guy ever! So friendly. Loves American baseball and football and is basically just awesome. 

Sister Jackson and I have a bad habit of chapping houses with a For Sale sign. We just don't see it! So we stand and knock, ring the doorbell, chap and nada. Only then do we realize no one actually lives there and do a "walk of shame" while the neighbors look on in amusement. 

In other news, we met a super rude grandma, our friend was afraid of a butterfly, and yesterday we had dinner with the Brown family and they gave me profittarolls (creme puffs) because they are my favourite. It has been a wonderful week!

Love you all, from Scotland!

Oh, also. We got 3 days of summer this week! :)

Sister Skagen

Don't judge a book by it's cover

Hello Hello!

This week I re-learned a very important lesson about not judging people. 

We tried by a potential who wasn't home so we wrote a note and stuffed it through the post slot. 

While walking away from the flat complex this man walked by us and I have never seen anything like it in real life. He was pretty beaten up and he had two black eyes which were so swollen his eyes were swelled shut. He also had a drink in his hand.

Now, we usually try to stay away from people that look a little dodgy but we said "Hiya!" in passing and he said "Hi" back.

For some reason we felt so impressed to ask him if he needed anything but Sis Jackson and I were both so hesitant for obvious reasons. 

After a mental battle we ran after him and asked if he needed anything. We had the nicest conversation ever and he was the kindest man!

He thanked us sincerely for stopping to talk to him because "most people just give [him] dirty looks." He wasn't super interested in our message but I know that Heavenly Father wanted to let him know that there are nice people in the world and that he is cared for. 

Today for P-day we went to Anstruther which is on the coast near St. Andrews. Anyone watch The Open? St. Andrews is JUST out of our area...so bummed. But, we got some "famous" fish and chips enjoyed the five minutes of sunshine before it started absolutely pouring.

I love being a missionary. I can't imagine where my life would be had I not come on a mission. I know that I, personally, need this experience and I am so happy to be here! 

Love,

Sister Skagen

P.S. I took this awesome picture of my with a salad in the street because, well, the street name! hahahaha. I'm hilarious. :)

Baptisms and Knitting

Margaret was baptized this week.

It was amazing.

She's amazing.

Oh my days.

How am I so blessed to participate in such a marvelous work!?

I love being a missionary.

In other news, I think I'm done with physiotherapy. Hopefully I'll be okay for the rest of my mission. In honor of (hopefully) never going back, I took a picture outside the building with a thumbs up. Yeah.

I'm also attaching a photo of a sign on the way to a toilet in a restaurant that had be dyyyying. Enjoy.

Also I learned a new finding technique. 

So, I am learning to knit, yeah? Everyone in Kirkcaldy knits. Like, everyone. So what did I do? 

I took my knitting needles on the bus and asked all the old ladies how to do a "plain" and a "pearl" stitch. 

It proved to be very successful and I'm getting domesticated at the same time. Hollaaa.

Frances, our 96 year old member is teaching me and she promised that if I knit a hat, she would do the highland fling. I'm definitely cashing in on that :) 

OH YEAH. I almost forgot the worst moment of my life. 

There I am just running to our bus as per usual and a bug flew.in.my.mouth.

I'm squealing and sputtering and trying to get it out but it got stuck between my lips! 

Finally got it out and I look over at this man looking at me. As soon as we make eye contact he looks away so I said out loud "A bug flew in my mouth!" I hope he heard it.

Needless to say it was a very exciting week. I love this Gospel and I love missionary work!

Love,

Sister Skagen