Elder Hanson: A good week

We had a really good lesson with Fidel and his wife. they are from the Congo and they are really interested. We had Bro. McCray go with us and it's just so crazy how much better missionary work goes when you can get just the slightest amount of help from members. A couple weeks ago I thought that the ward should be pretty much doing our work for us but I kind of want to put myself through this hard work because I really think it will shape me. I also think that when the ward is just willing to help then that means the world.

This week has actually gone really well. We started off with nothing and at the end of the week we have a few strong people. We did get a couple fake addresses but other than that, not too bad. The man that I felt a prompting to knock on his door is named Todor and we met with him and I can just tell that his heart was just softened like butter compared to the last time we spoke. I know there is a reason I am talking to him and I just feel something when I talk to him. It's going to take a loooot of time but I think I can help him eternally. We also joked that if he is right (about there being no God), then we won't see him smiling after this life, but if we are right, then he is going to see us with the biggest grins.

The Condies normally teach the Institute class and do an amazing job but last week they had their son and grandson visiting and they went to the Scotland tattoo festival which is a big thing. I'm not sure what it's about but they say it's super amazing. We wanted to teach to connect more with the YSA because from what we have seen, the most success has been through people around that age and I just want to have them be around us more. We have some top secret plans that the missionaries are going to do that I call project mayhem and it involves us just making activities with the ward because this ward doesn't have any. So we are going to do monthly missionary activities with the ward like munch and mingles and just things people can easily invite there friends to that aren't members and we are going to have a missionary week with the YSA and it's going to be amazing.

This week went really well. I learned a lot and I had a lot of fun. It's crazy how you can summarize pretty much everyone's religion here that you talk to. They are either Christian, Born again, Catholic, or Church of Scotland, or atheist. Every single person we have talked to has said they are not very active or don't know much about religion. But there are some really good people here. I just can't say how many times we have heard people say " nah, I think I'm fine with just the bible, I don't need anything more." We also ran into a man doing yard work and we offered to help and we talked about religion and he said that we only need the bible. So we didn't want to, but he just made it easy so we ended up proving him wrong with scriptures from the bible and his reply was, "Nope, we only need the bible." But he's a really nice guy and we offered to still help him with his work. This next week looks really promising and I'm excited. We also went to Slains castle and I feel dumb because I took off my name badge when we were running because I didn't want it to fall off and I forgot to put it back on for the pictures.

Slains Castle - Wikipedia: Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Errol had 'New' Slains castle, originally named Bowness, built in 1597. The wings around the courtyard were extended in 1664 by addition of a gallery or corridor, and in 1707 the entrance front was renewed. In 1895, the author Bram Stoker visited the area, staying at a cottage near Cruden Bay, and he may have been a guest at Slains. The castle is commonly cited as an inspiration for Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula".

In 1913 the 20th Earl of Erroll sold New Slains, ending more than 300 years of occupation by the family. It was purchased by Sire John Ellerman, who leased it out. In 1925 the roof was removed to avoid taxes,and the building has deteriorated since.