Christmas in Montrose, Scotland

It didn't quite feel like Christmas due to the lack of Snow and apparently this winter has been the warmest winter in about 50 years! I feel honored that i'm here at this time.

Well a picture is worth a thousand words.. here you go:

1. This is Hannah Dibdin dressed up like Rudolph

2. The Maxton Family. fun family

3. The Glanvilles and thier Granddaughter Kayla. They have us over every Friday. Always something Sister Beck and I look forward to

4. The Lynches. We made a connection my first couple of weeks. We know someone from Ephraim. They Lynches know him as a missionary, I know him as a Stake President. What a small world we live in.

5. Sister Hutcheon. One of the Sweetest ladies you'll ever meet

6. Our fireplace ready for Christmas!

7. My stocking. I was a very good girl this year!

8. Look at Sister Beck's stocking!! I'll give you a clue as to what you are looking for. DETAILS!

9. The Sister's with our Stockings!

10. A gift hand made by Sister Bunton! She made is special for us!

11. Couldn't resist having it on our wall in our front room!

12. The Craib couple. Sister Craib is also one of the sweetest people you'll every meet.

13. The Farquhar Family. They put up with us on Christmas day. I think they were more excited to have us leave (j/k)

My Christmas was wonderful and most memorable. The Farquhars always play pictionary with us (they play every year). It was Sister Kerr's (Sister Farquhars mother) turn. Her teammates couldn't guess it. Sister Kerr drew a girl and just propped it up for her teammates to see. Guessing continued but they didn't get it. When the buzzer rang the answer was revealed. The cad read Mona Lisa! How in the world is a normal person suppose to draw Mona Lisa. We all had a great big laugh! haha

Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

~Sister Garlock

Merry Christmas!

What a great Christmas Devotional. I know it's late but I saw it for the first time last night. There's only so much to do with the time difference. I don't have much to say about this week so I'll share some Christmas Favorites...
1. Every Christmas my family has the tradition to watch the famous theatrical play "The Christmas Carol" aka Scrooge. I always look forward to it because I get to spend time with cousins and family members. During intermission we eat Sees Candy; It's not Scrooge without our Sees Candy. I have seen Scrooge 15 times, yes it's THAT good. If you get the chance, WATCH IT!
2. Wassil- There is nothing better than walking into the house cold and smelling the warm wassil waiting for me to take a sip of it's delicious warm flavor.
3. Making and building Snowman, Snow Angels, sledding and skiing is always a must.
AND
4. This is something I've appreiciate more while being on my mission. The birth of Jesus Christ. Sister Beck and I try to ask investigators, members and less-actives a question before we watch a DVd about the birth of Jesus Christ. One of our questions is "Why was it important for Christ to be born?" My logic: You can't ask a question and not look for the answer. As we watched the DVD with a member I paid attention to that question and received and answer. For me it was to help people believe. Giving them something and someone to believe in. Alot of people have to see things to believe them. With out Christ people wouldn't believe that a new star came into the sky. They wouldn't believe Christ's words and wouldn't have been able to feast upon them.

Christ is the Savior of the World and it was crucial for him to be born and to set an example for each of us. I love my Savior and I'm so grateful to celebrate his birth. I hope all of you remember the meaning of Christmas. It's wonderful to recieve gifts from family and friends, but please remember the gifts that Christ has given you! Don't forget that he loves you and is always showering you with gifts through out the year.

*Merry Christmas*

~Sister Garlock

Christmas Season Spreads good Cheer

Our Christmas Card Picture!!! Haggis is delicious! (seriously it is delicious!). Not as bad as people said it woudl be. It is just lamb heart, liver and lungs cooked in a lambs stomach. I don't know why people complain!

Senior Couple: Clarkes, The Sisters at the Re-dedication ( It was known to be a great day, weather wise!). My purple lips and numb fingers and toes beg to differ! :)

Companions Sister Beck and Sister Garlock at the light house!! Beatiful lsn't it?

Puffin Poo. A delicacy from Shetland Scotland! Thank you Vicki for bringing a wee bit a Shetland to us. A little background needs to be said about Shetland. Shetland hasn't had missionaries in over 5 years because it's TOO small. Residents have been trying to get missionaries in Shetland for some time but our Mission President hasn't budged on his decision. Puffin Poo is suppose to be a small preview of what we are missing in Shetland. We were informed that our Puffin Poo was hand picked by a local we are friends with!! :) Thanks for the love.

This weekend was a special weekend for the Montrose Ward. Montrose land was Re-dedicated for missonary work. Elder Kerr (A 70) gave a short talk about being a light unto the people. A brief summary on Elder Kerr. He was the first missionary to leave the Montrose ward. His parents and sister still live in the ward. It was special to have someone everyone knew come and give the dedicatory prayer. The ward members met at the light house to listen to Elder Kerr at noon. Even in the middle of the day it was still cold and being by the sea shore didn't help any. However, it was a great opportunity to show our faith and willingness to participate in missionary work. It was a lovely service. Sister Beck and I haveseen that the field is white and we have had great success in harvesting it. We are booked full of appointments this ENTIRE week with members, investigators and less-actives. Members came up to us at chruch yesterday to see if we had time to visit them and we had to schedule them in for the the following week!! Just to give you an idea of what our week is looking like... We need 5 joint teaches (members coming with us to teach single men in their houses; We aren't allowed to teach a single man by ourselves, it's for our safety). On top of the joint teaches we have roughly 3 more appointments scheduled, there abouts.

Bishop wanted to make the Re-dedication a light house theme. We all know the significance of a light house. It allows sailors to know where the rocks are and where to come in for the harbor. Light houses are used to bring ships into safety from the rough sea. Bishop wanted the visual of the light house ergo why we had the Re-dedication at the light house. Elder Kerr expanded and said that other people notice that our church is different and how we should cherish it and take advantage of having the light of christ with us.

Religion has diminished throughout time. Before Everyone was part of a religion and attended chruch everyweek now, only the elderly attend church and religion is a touchy subject for most people. A member pointed out that people are not sending Christmas Cards. They are sending Winter Cards. Wishing you a Merry Winter Season. Why would you want to be reminded of how cold it is? It doesn't make sense. Being an example and having the light of Christ is SO important for the Montrose Ward. I was excited to hear Elder Kerr and I think the ward memebers were as well.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! and may we all remember whose birthday we are celebrating and how much Christ means to us.