What is the SIM Squad???

"SIM Squad"  Elders Gates (England), Elder Liao (Provo, UT), Elder Penman,
Elder Perkins (Las Vegas), Elder Harman (California)
with the President David O. McKay Stone in the mission office garden
(See story below)

Hey everybody! So my day to email is Sunday nights. Our schedule has changed a lot. So I am working in a group of 5 missionaries. I have 4 companions at one time. It's pretty crazy. We are going to travel around the Scotland/Ireland mission. This week we were in Edinburgh working all day everyday. I love Edinburgh City. It's so old!! I would tell you where we are going next, but we will find out tomorrow morning, so it will be a surprise next week. 

Our Ride--The SIM Squad Mobile (Elders Harman & Gates)

  So my companions are Elder Perkins from Las Vegas, Elder Gates from England, Elder Harman from California, Elder Liao from Provo... He speak Chinese, it's sweet.  It is kind of weird at first because we are all so different. We get along pretty well though.

   I'm not going to lie--going out and talking to people on the street all day long is pretty hard,  but I love it so much. One of the many miracles of the week was: First thing in the morning, I waved down a garbage truck because no one was around, I talked to 3 men in the truck, none of them were interested but I had a good talk. The last person I talked to that day was a security man.... He said, "Hey, I met you this morning at my first job... I am was the Rubbish man." We had an amazing talk-- so spiritual and he was a lot more interested than earlier after watching the #BecauseHeLives Video on MormonChannel.org. We ended up setting up an appointment for this coming week. It was amazing. We had so many experiences of people just being overcome by the Holy Spirit. Some people were so confounded by the Spirit, their very beings began to shake. It was incredible.

  There isn't much else to share. It was very much the same... But so fun!!! I honestly love this assignment so much. I know that this will test my faith more than anything I have done before on my mission. I will have to rely purely on the Grace  of Jesus Christ. 

   Again I have to tell you how much I love being a missionary. I love testifying all day every day of God's Truth!! I know that He, Our Father lives, I know that His son Jesus Christ Leads this church, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the only TRUE and LIVING church on the Earth, it continues to live on and will live on forever. I testify of all of this in Jesus Christ's name.

Elder Penman

Rebecca Cunningham Parr (from Paisley, which was Elder Penman's first area in August 2014), is now living in Edinburgh.  She was excited to spot Elder Penman at church today and sent Mom a picture of them together.  Thanks Rebecca!!  

David O. McKay as a missionary in
Scotland 1898

President David O. McKay

Stirling, Scotland, 1898, David O. McKay: “I was homesick and a little discouraged on this day.  As we were coming back into town, I saw an unfinished dwelling, over the front door of which was a stone on which there was a carving. That was most unusual, so I said to Elder Johnston, ‘I’m going to see what that is.’ I was half way up the graveled walk when there came to my eyesight a striking motto as follows, carved in stone:  “ ‘Whate’er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part.’  I said to myself, or the Spirit within me, you are here as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. That afternoon, I accepted the message given to me on that stone, and from that moment we tried to do our part as missionaries in Scotland”