Scotland, Here We Come! (Part 10)

Day 9

After a comfortable evening in the Marriott Hotel in Aberdeen, we got up Sunday morning and headed for the Peterhead area for church. (Another item on our wish list.)  We got the address of the building the ward meets in from lds.org before we left the U.S., so we put it in the GPS and headed for the school in Mintlaw where the Buchan Ward meets.  However, when we got there, we could see the meeting going on through the doors of the auditorium, and it just didn't look like an LDS meeting.  So we wandered around and found the janitor who said it was the "Kirk of Scotland".  He sent us to a school across town where he had heard that another "kirk" held meetings there.  When we arrived and found the area they were meeting in, we knew that we were in the right place, but we were a little late and weren't sure how to get in without interrupting.  The ward clerk solved the problem for us by coming over, opening the door, and inviting us in.

We really enjoyed our day with members of the Buchan Ward.  There was such a sweet, welcoming spirit among the members.  One of the speakers during sacrament meeting was the Bishop.   He talked about the ground-breaking for a new chapel that had been held the Friday evening before.  The members of the ward were so excited to finally have a chapel.  The church has owned a piece of ground for 20 years, but it took that long for them to meet the criteria to build on it.  The Bishop said that the L.D.S. Church will be the first church (of any denomination) to be built in that area.  Since we've been home, we've received two newsletters with updates on how the chapel is going.  The latest indicated that the roof and steeple are now on.  (At this posting, we assume it is done.  We haven't heard for sure.)

One of the fun things about the day was meeting the ward members.  Sister Mary Mair, the wife of the branch president when Roger served his mission there, was still in the ward, but her husband had passed away.  We also found a young woman who had been a young primary girl at the time Roger served in the Peterhead area.  The Bishop had been in the Aberdeen Ward when Roger was serving in Aberdeen, so he remembered a lot of the same people that Roger did, and he was able to catch us up on some of the members Roger knew.

Us with Sister Mair

















President and Sister Mair back in the 60's when Roger was on his mission.

Brother and Sister Peterson invited us to their home for dinner after the block of meetings, and we spent the afternoon with them.  She and I had a common interest -- we both collected bells.  We visited at their home for awhile and then they drove us around Peterhead to see some of the areas that Roger remembered.  

As it turned out, Peterhead had changed so much that we would have had a hard time finding our way around the area from what Roger remembered.   So what follows is a sampling of what we saw in Peterhead.  

Peterhead is located on the North Sea.  The fishing industry was an important part of the economy when Roger was serving there, but now the oil rigs contribute a lot to the economy.   There weren't quite as many fishing boats in the harbor, but there were a lot of boats that come in from the oil rigs in the North Sea. 

Roger was in Peterhead during the winter.  The view in the harbor then...

 

 

 

and now.....

The Imperial Hotel where Roger and his companion lived while they were in Peterhead then.....

 

 

 

 

and now......

The street in Peterhead that the Imperial Hotel was located on then.....

 

And now.......

They used to hold their church meetings on the upstairs floor of this building, now called "Rescue Hall".

This is the property that they've bought to build a chapel.

 

A couple of more pictures, I found.  Remember in a previous blog we took you to Glamis Castle.  Evidently, Roger had been there before.......

 

Then.....

 

 

 

And now.....

 

 

 

As you can tell, I started this post a long time ago to finish up our Scotland trip -- somehow I never got back to it.  On that last Monday morning, we got up early and left Aberdeen to head back to Dumbarton.  We were actually trying to make it back before the remains of the hurricane reached Scotland.  There had been a hurricane go up the coast of the United States and then swing over to Scotland.  After a few unexpected detours - even with a GPS you can get lost if a road is closed - we made it back to Dumbarton before the main storm hit.  It was getting pretty windy and rainy by the time we got back, though.  We hadn't been able to visit the Dumbarton Castle because it was closed when we first arrived, so we decided to go see it.  We did manage to go in the lower area and the visitor center, but they had closed the upper levels because of the high winds.  We took a few pictures of the castle and the waves on the river and then decided we'd better head back to our Bed & Breakfast, as it was getting pretty windy. 

 

 

We stopped and bought a couple of Subway sandwiches that we could take back with us and then settled down in our room for the night.

Tuesday morning we got up early, headed for the Glasgow Airport and delivered our rental car.  Then we said our farewells to Scotland and headed back home to the United States.  It was a fantastic trip -- one of those once in a lifetime adventures that we will always remember.