Mom and Dad go to Elder Penman's Missionary Reunion

(Historical post by Mom)There is an association called the Scotland Ireland Missionary Association that hosts a fireside and reunion once a year.  That event was held this past Friday, April 1 in the Olympus Stake Center building.  President Alan Brown and Sister Sylvia Brown, Elder Penman's first mission Presidents (from August 2014-July 2015) were here from Fife Scotland.  The fireside started out with the Wasatch Pipe Band playing Scotland the Brave.  There is such power in hearing the pipes and drums and seeing the players in traditional Scottish attire.  Here's what I wrote Elder Penman this week about our experience:  Sister Brown spoke about how much they loved the missionaries in the mission.  She talked about how the mission replicated the David O McKay stone and put it out in the garden of the mission office/home.  She talked about the missionary choirs (of which Elder Penman participated at Christmas 2014 in Northern Ireland)  they organized and how many doors and friendships that established.  She talked about her new calling as a historian for the church in Scotland and how she is wanting to collect missionary journals and stories from all eras of service.  President Brown spoke about how marrying all 5 foot of wonderful Sister Brown was the smartest decision he ever made.  He talked about how obedience by you missionaries brought fruit to the work and that you were all wonderful missionaries.  He talked about how the missionary age changes made their mission explode....they went from like 130 missionaries to 220 missionaries in a few months.  They had 19 sisters training to expand the numbers to 44, and some sisters were training 2 sister missionary greenies at a time.  He said it was a wise change from the Lord and that he could see the Lord's hand in the growth of the church and missionary force.  He spoke about weekly emails from missionaries and told us a few sweet funny stories.  He said he talked to Pres Donaldson just before they left for the US and that Pres Donaldson told him that convert baptisms were up 47 percent from this time last year.  That's awesome!  He closed with how his mission has made him more committed to the gospel, made his prayers and repentance more meaningful, and his relationship with the Savior.  What a lovely couple.  I can see why you loved them so much.  He was hugging all of the former missionaries.  There were probably about 70 young return missionaries and several of the senior couples there.  Both of them have such beautiful Scottish accents.