PRATT'S HILL

I did not take this picture! It's one the mission office posted on the mission Facebook page, but it's very beautiful.

On Monday, our first day out of quarantine, the Assistants to the President took us and a few other missionaries who are new to Edinburgh, to Pratt's Hill, where Orson Pratt went to seek God's help in finding souls to share the gospel with in Scotland. He was blessed with the help he asked for. It's a peaceful place to meditate and ponder on the sacrifices made by others to open up this country for teaching about Christ, and to dedicate ourselves to continuing the work.

It's been wonderful to go out for walks in the morning- much nicer than trying to exercise in the flat! We are in a pretty area, next to a canal with a walking/biking path, where they actually train for rowing. It is barely big enough, but they make it work.

We had a brief driving lesson Monday, followed by taking the car out on our own. Driving on the left side of the road is challenging, especially when the streets are very narrow and oncoming traffic, as well as parked cars, are very close. They can park on either side of the street, heading either direction. We were warned that new drivers often hit the curb on the left side, due to a spatial awareness issue, and sure enough, we hit the curb and had a flat tire on our first day! However, now we know just how careful we have to be!

There is a store here called Asda, which I believe is owned by Walmart, because it's very similar. We found a black suit for Charles there that only cost about 50 American dollars, and it fits him vey well! 

Most things are more expensive here, partially due to the currency exchange, but also because there is a 20% "value added" tax on most everything you buy, excluding food. We have to figure that things actually cost about half again as much for us as the marked price indicates.

We had to get Amazon UK Prime, which is very handy for ordering things we can't easily find

in a store. The mission office is very close, so we have it delivered there to make it more secure. 

We ventured into the historic part of the city today, and found there is very little parking, and it's expensive, so we are going to try it again Saturday, only riding a bus.

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