When Ian D. and Anne M. Swanney moved from their native Scotland to England in the 1950s, they knew nothing of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now they are back among Scotland's deep blue lochs and its wild moorlands and mountains where high peaks sometimes are lost in clouds. And they're back with a purpose: to preach the gospel to their fellow Scots.

Called to lead the Scotland Edinburgh Mission earlier this year, Pres. Swanney and his wife said they feel they are living a dream as seemingly improbable as many of Scotland's legends. But, to their delight, their experiences in Scotland today are not part of a dream.Pres. Swanney, 60, was born on the Isle of Stronsay, one of the hundreds of islands off the coast of Scotland. He went further north, to Lerwick, for schooling in the Shetland Islands. (The Orkney and Shetland groups of islands are north of Scotland, forming the boundary between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.) During the years of World War II, he returned to the Orkney Islands, and finished school in Fife, a fishing village.

"I got a job teaching school in Fife," Pres. Swanney said. "Anne was from Fife, and we taught at the same school. We got married in 1958. After two years of teaching in Fife, I got a new job in the south of England, in Bracknell. It was there that we learned of the gospel and joined the Church."

"Our first child was 11 months old when the missionaries called at our home in 1961," Sister Swanney said.

"When the missionaries came to our home, we listened to them with great interest. We had been trying to find something we felt comfortable with and good about.

"One of the elders who baptized us later explained that we were one of four families who joined the Church in the same month. He and his companion had accepted a challenge from the mission president to find four families in which priesthood leaders could be ordained. Those priesthood brethren would be the leaders of a new branch to be organized in Bracknell. Most of our life, since being baptized, has been spent in Church activity.

"We found in the Church the things we were searching for, and our children [David and Lorna AnneT grew up in the Church."

Sister Swanney has served as a seminary teacher and president in ward and district auxiliary positions.

Pres. Swanney became the first president of the Bracknell Branch, which was organized in 1962. He served as president of the Reading District of the Southwest British Mission from 1964-65. In 1965, they moved to York, where he served as a counselor to three mission presidents. He was president of the Hull England Stake from 1973-76 and served as a regional representative from 1976-1982. He served again as a mission president's counselor from 1982-84, and was bishop of the York Ward in Leeds England Stake from 1984-90. At the time he was called as mission president, he was a member of the Leeds England Stake high council.

While serving as a regional representative, he was assigned to Scotland for a period of time. "Since we had not been members of the Church when we lived in Scotland, I didn't know any members when I was assigned here as a regional representative," he reflected. "But, naturally, I had deep feelings about serving here. When the assignment was changed, I felt great sadness. I didn't know I would be back."

It was with great joy that he and his wife accepted the call to return to Scotland for him to preside over the mission headquartered in Edinburgh. The mission call came just as Pres. Swanney was contemplating taking a leave from his job. "I was principal lecturer in physical education at a college," he explained. "I planned to take a year off, do some gardening and things around the house. Then the call came to serve in Scotland.

"As I look back over the list of mission presidents in Scotland, I notice there isn't one native Scotsman among them. I am so grateful to have been called to serve, but am particularly grateful to be serving where I grew up, where my roots are.

"I think the greatest experience you'll have in life is serving a mission. You quickly come to love the people you work with. We've discovered how hard it is to see missionaries leave when they've completed their missions. And, I think, the best thing a couple could do is serve a mission together. Unless a couple has done that, they can't appreciate how much good it does for them, as well as for the missionary work.

"This is one calling where you really have to rely on the Lord. You can do only so much on experience and common sense. But those won't take you far on your mission. You know the Lord is directing the work."

Sister Swanney added: "The glorious part for missionary couples is that husbands and wives are serving together. There is no other calling in which couples get a chance to be companions, night and day. The companionship is more constant than ever at home.

"And, it's a great honor to be entrusted with other people's sons and daughters at such an impressionable time in their lives. The young elders and sisters are like our adopted sons and daughters."

Sister Swanney said when she reflects on their life as members of the Church, she sometimes feels she understands what it means to be pioneers. "We haven't walked across the plains or endured any hardships," she said. "But we have seen the Church, and ourselves, grow. When we lived in Scotland before, we didn't know about the gospel. When we were baptized in England, there was not a branch of the Church in our town, just a group of people. There was not a meetinghouse nearby. We saw the Church grow in that part of England from a tiny beginning. And now we have the privilege of seeing it blossom in the beautiful land and among the wonderful people of Scotland." - Gerry Avant