On September 20th Douglas Andrew Yates (Irvine Ward, Paisley Stake) was invited to offer the ‘Time for Reflection’ at the commencement of Parliament. The invitation came via a nomination by Interfaith Scotland with whom the Church has been working with very closely.
After a brief tour of the Parliament building and an introduction to the House Speaker and Presiding Officer, Ken MacIntosh, Douglas was introduced to the house before delivering his remarks. His comments reflected those given by Area President, Patrick Kearon in his General Conference address of April 2016 and touched on the plight of those who are refugees and what should be our response as Christians. Douglas commented, “It was a privilege to represent the church and present to the Scottish Parliament what was an abbreviated version of Elder Kearon’s remarks.” Those who are invited to offer the ‘Time for Reflection’ are giving guidelines to follow and contributors are limited to 400 words and a time limit of no more than 4mins. “As I considered what I should say I felt that I wanted to represent the current teachings of the Brethren. I also wished to mention the Book of Mormon and quote from it as well as from the Bible. I wanted it to be on record that a verse of scripture from the Book of Mormon was quoted on the official proceedings of Parliament.”
After giving his speech Douglas and his wife Julie along with Anne Edwards, Assistant MSDPA for Scotland, met with Ruth MaGuire MSP and were able to discuss the Church’s role in the community and express a desire to help more. Sister Yates said, “It is nice to see the Church gaining recognition for its teachings and good works, it’s a measure of the progress we have made in our relations with other faith groups and government leaders that we have been extended this invitation today.”