Quick Catch-up...

So much to catch up on:
Thursday we took the day off to settle in our new digs. Headed over to the Gallery of Modern Art and had a dinner of delicious Indian food. Kate & Janny decided to get some female bonding time in, so I wandered the streets until I found free wifi at a pub called ‘The Butterfly & the Pig’ which we’ve been back to a few times. Around 10:30pm, I wandered up to the where the Salt & Light bus usually parked. The bus wasn’t there, but the volunteers and homeless were (I guess the driver forgot that it was his week...) so I chatted with them a bit and saw a few of the homeless folk I’d met last year. It was good to see them. It looks like we may not be stopping by Salt & Light until our final Thursday as this week is Stuart Gilmour’s band’s show and next week we’ll be getting back from our holiday in Iona.

Friday, we wrapped up painting in the afternoon and were able to put in our first ‘official’ shift at City Mission. Tommy is an old Glaswegian who now has three new friends from Colorado and is astonished by that fact. When he smiles, his mouth and most of his nose disappears behind his snow white beard. He’s the sweetest old Scot I’ve found yet. And, of course, I can pick up about every 3rd word he says.

We tried to help clean the headquarters of the Friends of the River Kelvin on Saturday, but by the time we arrived (we got a bit lost on the way) they’d finished up and left. It was right by Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens so we spent an amazingly beautiful day for Scotland enjoying the day and traipsing through various wonderful folliage. Kate actually got a sunburn in Scotland!

Mosaic Church in Partick was Sunday afternoon and it was phenominal! The 1st Sunday is their Corinthians gathering where they open it up for anyone in the congregation to give a word, ask for prayer, sing a song, etc. It was good to hear the things that God is doing in their community. And so good for me to be back in their community! Seeing and chatting with people I’d become friends with last year and hadn’t seen or talked to in a year was such a gift. And hugs! I recieved 4 hugs within the first few minutes which doubled my Scottish hugs up to that point. I’m looking forward to work alongside them in cleaning the Kelvin this Saturday and on spending more time with them on Sunday afternoon. Wes White who’s one of the pastors there had just gotten back from Africa (where he happened to be at the same conference as my sister ‘cause God is that hilarious) and spoke to us of seeing the cost in lives of the 1994 conflict in Rwanda which stirred some good conversation between the 3 of us upon our return to the Salvation Army (or the Sally as I like to call it).

As City Mission has staff meeting on Monday, we headed over to Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum for an amazing day of learning more about Scotland and life and art and the world. It’s seriously like no museum I’ve ever been in. So unique! That night, Janny & I worked the Mission while Kate made friends with some folk at the Butterfly & the Pig during trivia night, becoming the team: Deep-fried Foreigners (they were from about 30 minutes outside of Glasgow).

Tuesday, Janny went yarn hunting while Kate & I helped out with the I.T. class which mostly consisted of homeless people surfing the internet while I tried desparately to figure out how to connect computers to the printer and download music on to one man’s mp3-playing phone. (How a homeless man has an mp3-playing phone, I’m not sure... but welcome to Glasgow!) Kate stuck around the Mission to help out that night while I went and had tea with Stuart Gilmour. It was so good to see him again and catch up on his life and what’s been happening with Void Avoidance. We’re looking forward to seeing his band, Rodent Emporium, play this Thursday night. After chatting with Stuart for a bit, Janny & I made dinner of macaroni & cheese with hot dogs. She & Kate’s came form a box much like those in the States. Mine came from a can and tasted vaguely like something reminscent of mac & cheese. The hot dogs also came out of a can and tasted more normal than the canned mac & cheese, but still a bit odd. Oh yeah, they were soaked in brine. Yum!