S.E.M. Podcast - Scotland, Edinburgh Mission

Russ Bass served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from February of 2004 through February of 2006. Russ came on the podcast and immediately admitted that he would likely not remember much. However, Russ shares so many great memories, including recording music in castle ruins, gaining his sight back (through prescription glasses), visiting people in the jail as the clergyman, and being invited to...

Blake Farnsworth served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from April of 2004 through April of 2006. Blake shares his experience of flying to Scotland as his first official time flying and how that was an adventure. He shares about his time serving with amazing companions and the fun times they had, including sliding down a water slide in full suits, coming in 2nd in the caber toss at a ward activ...

Rory Grant served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from April of 2003 through April of 2005. Rory comes on and tells his incredible story of going home on his own accord during his first area, then promptly returning back to Scotland. He shares about his funny memories and loving showing others his love through sharing his talents in wood working. Rory talks about pulling prank calls to other mi...

Michele Menini served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from November of 2003 through November of 2005. Michele starts his episode by giving us a walking tour around the Rome, Italy Temple ground, where he is the head gardener. As we get into the mission, Michele shares about his intent to keep a strong Italian accent as a great conversation starter, which worked really well. He tells fun memorie...

Catherine McConkie served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from April of 2003 through September of 2004. Catherine shares about her fun memories, enjoying all the fun food and sweets in Scotland. She shares about having so much fun on her mission, including dance parties, sleepovers (with her companions), and always having a plan on preparation day for an adventure. Catherine loved laughing thro...

Robert Nettleship

Charles Noble served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from July of 2004 through July of 2006. Charles shares with us his amazing areas and companions that he loved serving with. He only had 5 areas in his mission, which is a rarity. Charles talks about the great people he taught and brought to the gospel. He also shares funny stories such as getting drunk inadvertently from a piece of chocolate,...

Seth Wright served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from January of 2002 through January of 2004. Early in his mission experience, Seth experienced not one, but two separate altercations with NEDs that left him with a broken nose, broken jaw, and internal bleeding. This story is one you don’t want to miss. Seth finished his mission and shared his love of his companions and also the Wilkinsons an...

Joe Patel served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from October of 2007 through October of 2009. Joe comes on and shares some great memories from serving in Scotland, including a MTC companion having a mental breakdown, receiving a threat to be murdered, being iced out by a bishop, and splitting his trousers from belt to zipper. He had a laundry list of companions due to a couple of emergency mov...

Travis Trottier served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from October of 2005 through October of 2007. Travis shares with us his fun stories of the mission, along with some unique challenges that he faced. After a bizarre situation with his trainer, Travis had some tough times with stress management that lead to a few visits to the hospital and more calls home to mom and dad than normal. Neverthe...

Kevin Verdegem served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from October of 2003 through October 2005. Kevin shares with us some of his favorite memories from serving in Scotland, including seagulls with a vendetta against him, using sunscreen as hair gel, and earning his own set of golf clubs by selling ribbons on the street. He tells of his diagnosis of autism and ADHD since being home and how that...

Sasha Bogomolova served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from February of 2004 through July of 2005. Sasha came into the mission as a powerhouse teacher, despite still learning the English language. She shares with us some fun stories, including telling a man in her first area she could "probably" go out with him, eating cucumber sandwiches as a companionship unifier, and GQing J.K. Rowling in E...

Roman Bredlow served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from October of 2003 through August of 2005. Roman comes on and shares so many fun memories from his time as a missionary, including being left in Shetland for 3 days by himself, memorizing all the songs from Disney's The Lion King, placing apple stickers on his companion, raising a pet carrot, drinking too much laxative hot chocolate, and so...

Christopher Lewis served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from October of 2008 through October of 2010. Christopher came into the mission with the anticipation of having fun whilst serving, but was soon introduced to a mission culture that was opposite his expectations. He bought in and as a result worked extremely hard to be diligent to the already set expectations. Christopher shares how that...

Ren Hardy served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from October of 2005 through October of 2007. Ren shares about his wilder side before his mission and how he claims his dad used magic to get him to decide to serve. He tells us stories about 14-hour ferry rides, having his companion lie to him, laughing in the face of a NED trying to rob he and his comp, and disagreements over the temperature of...

Andre Zinkovski served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from June of 2004 through June of 2006. As a convert to the church, he had to work very hard to make a mission possible. He was born and raised in Ukraine and struggled early in Scotland to learn how to speak English. Andre shares some of his favorite memories, including riding a ferry by himself to Isle of Lewis, asking members to make him...

Allison Laird served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from July of 2003 through January of 2005. Allison shares about how she has since her mission learned that she has ADHD and that it was a likely factor in her missionary service. She loved her companions and all the areas she served in. Allison shares some funny stories about unique GQ'ing tactics, learning the ropes of being a young senior c...

Garrett McLeod served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from June of 2005 through June of 2007. Garrett shares with us all about his experiences with his companions, including stories about hemorrhoids, being the victim of revenge via stool softeners in his food, and being kissed on the mouth by his companion before moving. He talks about his ability to find joy through laughter and fun.    Garre...

Thomas Brownlow served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from March of 2004 through March of 2006. He shares his stories of how he arrived in the MTC as a shy young man that was helped out of his desires to sit back. Through this, Tom became a leader in the mission. He loved all of his companions, especially Brandon Egan (story to hear). Tom also had the opportunity to teach the caretaker of a 11...

Alberto Marcone served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from September of 2006 through September of 2008. Alberto had a unique MTC experience because his sister joined him as she prepared to serve her mission in Manchester. He came to Scotland with a very limited grip on the English language. Over time and through many wonderful challenges, he developed the skills and thrived in large cities, al...

Jack Bryce is back with an episode to recap all the fun memories that have come back to him since we began the S.E.M. Podcast. Back when he shared his initial thoughts about the mission, he was going off of memory and he had not gone through his journals. Today, Jack reflects on his companionship unifiers, shows off some of his favorite treasures he collected in Scotland, and talks more in depth a...

Jeremiah Johnson served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from early November of 2006 through late October of 2008. Jeremiah comes on and shared his favorite memories from serving in Scotland, including run-ins with NEDs, open bathrobes at the doorstep, and loving the people through all-out obedience. He shares about giant pizzas, car crashes, and all things he loves about Glasgow. Jeremiah loved...

Chris Mace served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from March of 2004 through March of 2006. Chris tells us about his plans to serve a mission, which came after being in uni for a few years and being engaged. He shares some of his favorite memories, including authoring the famous S.E.M. Expositor & playing Golden Eye on N64 for a week between Christmas and New Year. Chris loved serving in Sc...

Krista Heap served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from December of 2003 through July of 2005. Krista comes on and shares all about her decision to choose to serve a mission, and finding joy with her fellow missionaries during a difficult times. She loved all of her companions and also talks about her unique relationship with President Vriens.   Krista currently lives in San Diego, California,...

Hannah Macfarlane served in the Scotland, Edinburgh Mission from March of 2006 through September of 2007. Hannah shares about how she came to serve a mission and how one of her brothers played a nasty prank on her when she received her call. She came into the mission and trained many new sister missionaries, while experiencing many miracles and tender mercies. Hannah loved serving in Scotland and...