Baron Scrioll Fall 2005                                                                                                                      page 17

 

 

 

Joy Wilbert Erskine ’70 and her husband Bob have returned from a successful 23-month mission in Edinburgh, Scotland.  “It’s been a real growth experience for us,”Joy reveals.  “We expected to be solely on the giving end of our mission, but we ended up receiving a lot in return.  We discovered that it’s a win-win situation - both the mission and the missionary benefit.”

 

The Erskines served as records preservation missionaries with the Family and Church History Department in the Scotland Edinburgh Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from July 2003 to June 2005.  They assisted in an ongoing records preservation project, digitizing Church of Scotland records for the National Archives of Scotland.

 

The Erskines traveled throughout Scotland on days off from their digitizing work.  “We worked hard five days a week, traveled on Saturdays when we could, and attended to our other church and personal responsibilities on Sundays and evenings,” remarked Joy.  “Scotland is incredibly beautiful and its history is fascinating.  It was an amazingly fast twenty-three months, but we learned so much.  We see things from a whole new perspective now, and we have wonderful memories that we’ll enjoy forever - like the time we went on a Saturday to a pipe and drum competition in downtown Glasgow.  It was a gorgeous clear day.  We were in a large park and the grounds were filling up fast.  Everywhere we looked were colorfully kilted bagpipers gathering in groups to practice for their turns in the competition.  We wandered around trying to get our bearings, enjoying the Scottish atmosphere and the kaleidoscope of colors swishing around us as we walked, and we discovered that every band group was playing a different air.  How fun, we thought - music coming from every direction--bagpipe music and drum music, droning and rattling melody after melody in continuous overlapping rounds.  We wanted to find a place to sit and see it all, but we were having a hard time figuring out what was going on and where, even after stopping twice at the information desks.  Suddenly, amidst the bellow and blow and color all around us, we realized we couldn’t find our way because we couldn’t even THINK amidst the cacophony.  At that point, it really hit us - we looked at each other, grabbed hands, and made a mad dash to escape back through the main gates to the relative quiet of Glasgow’s Saturday traffic rush.  We’ll never doubt the power of the bagpipe in battle - it could easily drive the enemy mad, if not away!”

 

The Erskines are settling into their new home in Pleasant City now and are planning to stay put for many years.  “But the time may come when we feel impressed to put in our mission applications again,” Bob noted.  And Joy adds, “It’s been such a good experience for us this time that we’re very willing to do it again and again.  It makes my heart race to think about it.”

 

“We looked forward to going on a mission for a long time before we were able to apply for the privilege, Joy says.  “To be assigned to serve in Scotland was a dream come true for us because we both have Scottish ancestry.  It gave us an opportunity to extend our genealogical research into places we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to go.  And what better circumstances to do that under than while working in the National Archives of Scotland!”