Never A Dull Moment!!!

      I thought after last week's busy schedule, that this week would be much slower. Well, I was wrong! This week, we were almost as busy. Besides attending all of our meetings as scheduled, spending a wonderful day with our closest senior companionship couple, and then just life in Limerick this week, we were busy. Once again, I would rather be busy than not be. I always feel such a feeling of increased self-worth, success and gratitude after busier weeks. The Lord certainly knows each of His missionaries, their temporal and spiritual needs, and then uses us to fulfill His work. This I know with certainty! 

     Last Sunday here at our branch, we had a wonderful sacrament meeting and a very deep gospel doctrine class on a Isaiah chapter. Every week it seems that we get more members moving in from other countries. This week was not different. We received two new branch members from Africa, a young African woman and a separate young African man. They are both here to study. I know that the young woman (I can't remember her name) is a practicing nurse wanting to move her career to the next level. The young man, Joshua, is here right now to learn English. I love their smiles and their excitement for the gospel!!! 

     We also had 5 visitors from the states that day. For those of you who know me well, most of you know that every year my two youngest daughters and I go on a "girl's vacation". We have enjoyed so many different places and faces together over the last thirteen years of doing it. It's actually one of the highlights of every year for me. Well, these 5 visiting members from the states were a 95 year old mother and her four adult daughters spending time together on their "girl's vacation". That was such an amazing and thrilling sight for me to see that I have inwardly committed to keep doing our "girl's vacation" for as long as I can. The thought alone makes me so happy!!!!

     On Monday, our mission had a transfer day. We drove our two established missionaries to the train station as Elder Schneider was called to serve as a district leader in Dublin. We needed to hurry back to our flat to receive our brand new dryer. We had gone about three weeks without a dryer, which in Ireland, can be a challenge with frequent rain storms and not having the ability to dry our clothes outside. Fortunately, we were able to spread our damp clothing all over our flat before going to bed and, most of the time, were able to put our stiffly dried clothing away the next morning. My biggest problem was using a towel after a shower that felt like sandpaper! Our kind landlord fixed that problem today for us!

Our very small, but private back porch (notice the little flower we have growing amongst the porch tiles) where we could hang up our damp laundry

The arrival of my new little best friend!!! Obviously, I suffered too long without this useful product in my life!

Ta da!!! As winter begins here, this could not have come at a better time. So grateful!

     When Elder Hardy, our other missionary stationed here, returned back hours later, he arrived with his new companion, Elder Larrubia. We got to pick them up at the train station and deliver them back to their flat safely. We also had YSA family home evening later that day. This week, we asked Marla, the YSA representative, to conduct and make assignments. Marla came so well prepared, which made Elder and I very happy. Marla, who is from Mexico, is here also to learn English. It is so pleasant to watch these YSAs take the lead even if they struggle with the language. We also got to introduce our new elder to everyone. We had a very fun night playing Jenga together, even though every time the wood tower would fall over, one of the elders was always the cause. It made us all laugh.

     On Tuesday, the Irish national circus came to town for a one week stay starting September 24. The parking lot chosen for them to use for this venue is about 400 steps away from our flat. Seriously! This circus travels all over yearly to bring the circus to the people of Ireland. It is the only circus found on the Isle. By noon, Elder and I were able to go back to St. Mary's cathedral to listen to another concert. This time Christoforos Karathanasis, a violinist, and his piano accompanist performed for us. They performed three pieces which were played with perfection. Both artists were very disciplined in their command of their instruments. It was a very enjoyable hour, which included the awesome background of the 850 year old cathedral and it's marvelous acoustics. 

One of the circus trucks carrying equipment

St. Mary's cathedral performers

     On Wednesday, we had our weekly mission district training meeting. It was good to welcome the newly assigned missionaries to our district. Because of receiving these new missionaries, we took time to introduce all of ourselves to the rest of the group. What we didn't know is that after our introductions, we would be given the task to ask specific questions to the missionary to our right about their themselves. Elder Muirhead just happened to be sitting to my right, so I got smart and asked him "What characteristic of his wife do you appreciate the most?", then I leaned in closer and starred at him. He was very quick to give a loving answer. I told him afterwards that if he had answered wrong, that I would not have made him dinner that night! He replied, "Then I'm very glad that I answered right"!

     After our training meeting, the other senior couple, the Evenson's, that has only been in Ireland for less than a month, and us went sight seeing together. We ended up having a nice lunch at our flat and then walked over to King John's castle. We all had such a great time, spending over 5 hours together. Both elders hit it right off, as did both of us sisters. It was a well needed change from active missionary work. 

Posing with the Evenson's

     There is one thing I will always love about Limerick and it is the incredible cloud action that happens often here. There are times that the scenery before my eyes just takes my breath away, Below are two examples that literally happened about 18 hours apart from each other.

Look at those clouds, especially the lower ones. So amazingly beautiful!!

Early the next morning with fog across the Shannon River

     I have to also show you this little girl standing near the railing of the Shannon River with her parents sitting nearby. Look how close she gets to birds, pigeons and seagulls! The next photo shows her getting ready to throw some crumbs out and look how quickly those birds are up and ready to receive. If you look, she hasn't ever released any crumbs out of her hand yet!

You can never get this close to wild birds in Provo, UT

Crumbs in hand, but not thrown out yet. You would think that those poor birds never get anything to eat. What a falsehood! Believe me, they are fed by many daily

Talking about the Shannon River, which connects to the ocean, here is a picture of the river at low tide. In just a few hours after this picture was taken, the river was totally full again. It truly is always changing

     This past Thursday ended up being a prep day for me to be ready again to teach another Book of Mormon class. Though the numbers of class participants have not exceeded over 10, its wonderful to direct the amazing discussions that have happen every week. At times, I feel like the branch president asked the wrong person to teach that class. So many members here is Limerick are so intelligent, not only about the scriptures, but also about the stories, history, peoples, cultures, etc. 

     I got to share with the class two of my favorite articles concerning the night that Moroni give Joseph Smith the gold plates. I love these two articles because they add more to my knowledge, including a more personal touch to that eventful night. Below are the links if you are interested.

     https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2000/01/the-golden-plates-and-the-feast-of-trumpets?lang=eng

     https://emp.byui.edu/satterfieldb/rel341/Eventful%20Night%20Sept%2022.htm

  

Studying 1 Nephi chapter 1. So packed with so much!!! I could spend hours just on this chapter alone!

     This last Friday was "Cultural Night" in Limerick. This event has not happened since the beginning of COVID. Typically on a Friday night, just about everything closes down right at 5 pm. On this night, any building that had ties to anything cultural stayed open until 10 pm, some even later. The really cool part of this night was that EVERYTHING cultural was FREE!!! There was an aerial dancing event, a concert inside King John's castle, free entrance into all museums, music and dance concerts galore all over the city and many more venues too numerous to name. I saw the aerial acts, took a couple of pictures at the castle that night and walked through the Hunt Museum, especially their religious medieval artifacts display. What a fun way to celebrate culture!

This couple is from Chile and performed a cute pantomime of two people falling in love

They were not only good, but quite funny

Aerial dancers way up high

Doing spinning moves in the air

A young man doing an Irish jig. He was fantastic

Their finale. It was wonderful

The concert inside King John's castle

A photo of the crowd inside the castle during Cultural Night Limerick

A 15th century wooden carving of Mary and the baby, Jesus at the Hunt Museum. They have a small but incredible display of antique religious items 

      To end our week, our YSA group had a BBQ at our flat on Saturday. I love these young adults. They are so full of love and excitement for life, it's almost catchy. Emma, our newest YSA, from the states, here for a masters degree in violin performance, was about to celebrate an up-coming birthday, but we surprised her first. Our young elders had an appointment that they needed to keep at that very moment and missed the party, but came over right after this picture was taken. We are all bonding so well and certainly enjoy every minute that we get to spend with one another.

YSA BBQ and Emma's (in middle) birthday party

     Once again as I end this week's blog, I want to again bare my testimony of all the good that the gospel brings to all that will "come and see".  Serving in Ireland has already been such a joy to us. We love our branch. So many of our branch members have taken us in and have showed us so much love. I love to join with them every week and see the light in their eyes and hear the joy in their hearts. I bare testimony that God does live. I know it. I know that Jesus is the Christ. He is always there for me and answers even my simplest prayers, where I can never doubt His love for me. I am truly blessed. Each one of you are also a great blessing to me. I love you more than words can express. May God keep you all healthy and safe until we meet again... 

And I can't wait for that day to come!

     

     

     

A Very Busy Week!

     Well, this week went by so fast! I loved it. It's so good to be so busy that before you realize it, it is already Saturday afternoon. What made this week so busy you ask? Well for one, the mission office contacted me late Monday to announce that I would be helping again with flat inspections for the young missionaries in the southern district of Ireland this week. This, along with our other assignments/obligations, really filled in my time.

     On Monday, we held another YSA family home evening. That night, I arranged a zoom video with the young sisters in Palmyra, New York, who toured us through the Grandin Building. It was so wonderful to see the inside of that historic and meaningful building and remember times past. Most of the YSAs never even knew what went into to get the Book of Mormon printed almost 200 years ago. Several of them had an eye opening experience.

     We have an older single male adult in our branch, who has always refused to join us, but he surprised us and came that night. We are hoping that he will come again. After the zoom meeting ended, it sounded like everyone like the presentation. We, then, asked the YSA representatives to plan the next FHE, including finding others for both prayers and the spiritual thought. They accepted and we are excited to see how well they do. This coming Monday, they have chosen to do another game night. Those are always fun and crazy! They have also elected to do a YSA BBQ on September 24th. More planning will happen this coming week along with a sign-up list to know who will be bringing what.

     Every Tuesday morning we have our district missionary training meeting.  Some of the young elders and sisters travel up to 2.5 hours one way from all over to attend. That alone really sets a huge example for me. They are so faithful and obedient. Elder Muirhead taught a 5 minute portion of the training again and talked about obedience and keeping the commandments. He, again, did a very good job. It literally took him about 4-5 hours of study to find what he was looking for to give in his 5 minute address. I remember that on that very morning, just minutes before we needed to leave for the meeting, he excitedly announcement he just finally finished and was ready to teach. Nothing like cutting it close, right???

     We also have branch presidency correlation meetings every Tuesday night at 7:30 pm. This week was weird, because I was also invited to attend 30 minutes before, the district YSA institute class. I enjoyed both meetings, It was just a little too long for me to sit and watch. We have a very good branch president. President Murphy is very easy to work with and has a great sense of Irish humor. I haven't caught onto all of his jokes, but the rest of the committee laughs and laughs. I'm really trying. It is a little easier to understand most of what is said. since we arrived. 

     On Wednesday morning, I started doing the first of five flat inspections. I started with our young sisters. They nailed it. Everything was almost perfect. Sister Foy did an amazing job reorganizing and tidying their huge bookcase. I gave them extra brownie points for their efforts. Later that day, I inspected the young elders here in Limerick. Though they weren't as good as the sisters, they did an exceptional job for young men. 

     The mission office here is very strict and detailed about what flat inspections should look like. Not only are we assigned to inspect all areas of the flat, including all appliances, etc, but I also have a list of about 40 individual items that need inspecting. It takes about 45 minutes to inspect each flat and then another 40 minutes to type up the report and sent it up to Edinburgh. The second from the last flat was not so good this time. I had to give those elders many assignments to complete and then report back by that night. One of the elders living there was packing his bags to go home on Friday, so he had items scattered all over. I think his heart was thinking more about returning home than passing an inspection. Bless his heart!

     On Wednesday afternoon, we meet with our single mother friend and spent over one hour discussing ways for her to prepare for the temple. It truly was the highlight of my day!!! Later, we joined our Limerick elders as they taught English Connect to anyone who wants to learn how to speak English. There are many here in Limerick from Brazil and Chile. We have come to realize our importance of attending that class is not only to support, but by using Elder Muirhead's presence, the class can run as scheduled even if only single young females come. Right after this class, the young elders and us joined another zoom meeting for the branch's missionary correlation committee. Our meeting this last Wednesday went longer than expected, but much planning was also accomplished.

     I did two more flat inspections on Thursday. I love the relationship that we both have with our district elders and sisters. It is very rewarding to work with the cream of the crop who are so totally devoted to the Lord, Jesus Christ. It truly is a honor to spend time weekly with them. I tried to spend some time working on my lesson for the Friday Book of Mormon class. I did the best that I could that day. We ended our evening by driving out to a branch member's home about 40 minutes away to have dinner and talk afterwards. It was a lovely evening. We drove home in the dark and relied heavily on our GPS to help us navigate on those narrow roads. So many cars here in Ireland drive really fast on those oh so narrow roads. We sometimes feel like we are new, beginning drivers again. Always on alert. No fun!

     Friday found us finishing our last flat inspection with the elders from Tralee. After the inspection was completed, I also completed all the paper work involved and then finished final preparations for my weekly Book of Mormon class. That night, our class almost doubled in size. That was cool.  We started that night by discussing quickly the major points that led up to the first vision and the Moroni visit in greater detail. Class started late, so I was only able to teach half of what I prepared, which was just fine, because we did have several good discussions throughout the time allotted.      

     One subject we discussed was the idea of a "throne theophany", what it is and to look closer at the common pattern that has almost always appeared when a theophany occurs in scriptures. Are you aware that many saints from the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and even the Pearl of Great Price had throne theophanies? What I found interesting is not only the many commonalities that can be found in just about every theophany, but that many times a book was given for that prophet-to-be to read. This all made greater sense as I applied Joseph Smith's and Father Lehi's theophanies into the pattern. I know, I'm weird like that! Cut and paste the info below into a google search if you want to know more. This is a good article.

The Throne-Theophany and Prophetic Commission in 1 Nephi by BT Ostler, BYU Studies

     After class, Elder and I went for a walk to start another Friday night date. In my walking travels this past week, I found some food trucks!!!! Yeah, in Ireland!!! I was so excited! One food truck advertised that they sold street tacos. My favorite! Yum, yum!!! Though these little circles of deliciousness were a little pricey (it is very hard to find corn tortillas in Ireland), they were so worth it. The owner from Mexico was cooking that night and made this senior missionary very happy. Afterwards, we both stated that we were a little hungry, so we decided to get a treat. What we didn't know was just about every store, except for the pubs, were closed and locked tight. We did find a fake Seven Eleven and purchased two ice cream treats. As we crossed over the River Shannon bridge, we were also treated with a beautiful light show being reflected off the calm river waters. Seeing that really made the end of our date night special.

     On Saturday, we were privilege to feed the young elders lunch. This was special to us because it was also transfer call day and one of our elders, Elder Schneider, got the call up. He will be assigned to Dublin starting Monday as a district leader. We ended our missionary week Saturday night by showing the movie "The Fighting Preacher" to branch members. The missionary leader of the branch has decided that we should have a monthly movie night and I have been asked to get and show the movies. We had 13 in attendance, complete with popcorn and drinks. This movie was never promoted in Ireland, so our branch never saw it before. After the movie finished, those 13 members were so very grateful to have see it and expressed how uplifted and motivated they all felt. I love that movie and the spirit that it brings every time. 

     Before I close, I thought it might be fun for you to see some of the Irish store fronts here. Some you will not recognize and some you will. Limerick is a very busy city with much to see. I hope you enjoy these few photos

One of the newer hotels in the city

There are rowing clubs everywhere. We see the club members often in the river rowing

This is one of the better and more popular eating places. If you look closely, its the old Bank of Ireland building

Like in other European countries, there are many small, narrow side streets all over

This picture shows how the city has been built around even a major church

A local butcher shop on Main Street

This store is their higher priced, fashionable clothing shop. This store is not only tall with many floors, but also stretches around the corner. As you can also see, their street signs are posted on the corner of buildings way up high. Not corner street signs like in the US

A pharmacy

A modern Bank of Ireland on Main Street

A local pub early the following morning awaiting a new delivery for that next night. This is a common scene if you get up early enough to see it

This is a new, very modern and large grocery store, much like Smith's Marketplace. It has many more varieties of food products

This is the corner Seven Eleven called Spar

Chinese anyone???? They have take away not take out

Awhhhh! A little bit of home, though the food inside doesn't quite reflect it

Penneys here is a very, very affordable store with very limited selections

When I saw this in the city, I knew that I would be able to survive!

Buildings here are not for rent. They are to let. Kind of a different way of looking at things

     As I close, I was reminded again this week, especially from watching The Fighting Preacher movie, that one person certainly can make a difference in the lives of others. I am so grateful that Elder and I are here, serving these saints at this time. I want these good saints to be able to meet their long awaited goal of becoming a ward/stake to be accomplished. There really isn't anything more important to them. I am so grateful that in daily small ways that Elder and I can help, support and lift. It makes me smile to think that an ordinary Utah couple in their retirement years could be an instrument for God Himself. I invite each of you to also make a difference to someone today. Though I feel so unworthy at times, again I am grateful for the opportunity. I know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. Small miracles happen here daily. Elder and I vow to continue to serve and continue to love. May God bless each of you this coming week!

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu › cgi › viewcontent

PDby BT Ostler · 1986 

     

Believe It or Not!!!!

      Believe it or not, we have just finished a fourth of our mission this past week here in Ireland. My, my, how time has flown by so fast! And believe it or not, this past week also had the summer here come to a screaming halt, which was shockingly replaced already by a rapid fall, almost a winter environment. School has officially started for all ages here, including university students. So daily life has changed dramatically here in Limerick.

     This last Monday, we held our weekly FHE with our young adults. We had six young adults attend and four young elder missionaries. We were privilege to connect on a virtual zoom to Palmyra, New York and had the young sister missionaries there take us on a tour of the Smith Log Home, the Frame Home and then into the Sacred Grove. Every time I take a virtual tour at any historic site in the New York Historic Sites Mission now, it makes me smile, as I was there in 2020 when we could only do virtual zooms because of the pandemic. I will never be able to forget how silent and empty each of those sites became during that pause. It was almost ghostly.

     I also remember how all, both the senior and young missionaries, put their heads and hearts together to  developed the beginnings of the now well-used virtual tours. Believe me, there were many daily challenges that needed to be over come during those beginning days, like developing an online schedule to host each tour, finding ways to keep the needed internet signal from dropping off, to deciding what words should be used in the dialogs, and that was just only a few of the challenges we faced. I can also testify that there truly was miracle after miracle seen day after day during that same time. Now, years later, every tour looks so polished and always brings the Spirit into the homes of thousands. All I can say is WOW!!!

     Early sometime Tuesday morning, I had a piece of furniture attack one of my toes on my right foot. My toe lost the battle as seen below in my first picture. It did slow me down for a couple of days, but I am proud to say that I am back to full steam ahead at this time, though I can still see the remnants of the damage done.

You have to admit that I did a nice job!

     We also were able to attend all of our weekly missionary meetings as scheduled this week. I was asked during one of those meetings to address the importance of talking about families and temples whenever we are discussing the gospel message with others. Ha! They only gave me five minutes to do this in. I did it as simply as possible, but in reality, I could have spoken for many more minutes concerning those items that are so near and dear to my heart. 

     We, again, met with our new friend, the single sister, that I had introduced to you in my last blog. Elder Muirhead made us a lasagna dinner to share for luncheon on Wednesday. After eating, we spent time talking about her up-coming educational opportunities. She is so excited to learn a new career. We also talked just a few minutes about some of the questions she posed to us last week. In reality, she stated that she felt that she needed a priesthood blessing. We were able to get in contact with one of her ministering brothers and we all met the next day where a personal blessing was given along with a priesthood blessing on her home. I am so grateful for this heavenly power and worthy men of God.

     On Friday, the branch's first in person Book of Mormon class started since the pandemic. The Branch President asked if I would teach the class as a missionary tool. We had eight branch members come, which included our two young elders. To introduce the course, I posed the question and asked the class to tell, in their opinion, what it took to get the Book of Mormon into our hands that very night? Many responses were expressed including the difficulty that those ancient prophets must of had in the beginning to find ore, refine it, melt it and form it into defined pages, let alone etch in the words on metal without making any mistakes. 

   

    It was also expressed how Moroni had to carry them (sometimes run with them) for many years from those who would have killed him for having them. These commits went all the way to Joseph Smith receiving the plates, translating them and then getting the book published. We, then, spent a few minutes to tell a few personal stories how some of the class members found the book in their lives. It gave us all deeper thoughts and greater gratitude for all that it took for each and everyone of us to have such an amazing book in our possession.

     

Me, up front teaching

     There was one gem that I found while studying this introduction that I would love to share with all of you. Official church educational scripts record that the Book of Mormon had four main authors. Can you name all four? Nephi was listed as first, then Jacob, his brother, then Mormon and finally, Moroni. Very good for those who knew that. But did you know that all four wrote in the Book of Mormon about their own personal spiritual experience and also wrote what their purpose was of why they wrote what they wrote in the book. Here is a small chart for each of you to use if you want to also discovering this fact.

Name of prophet                                  His spiritual experience                              His purpose

Nephi                                                   2 Nephi 11:2                                                2 Nephi 25:26

Jacob                                                    2 Nephi 11:3                                                Jacob 1:7-8

Mormon                                               Mormon 1:5                                                 Mormon 3:20-22

Moroni                                                 Ether 12:38-39                                             Ether 12:41

I don't know about you, but I love to know things like this, so this was a cool discovery for me!

     We completed our week by doing a little more traveling. This whole past week, except for Saturday, it rained and rained. Because of all the rain, we barely made it outside at all. So when Saturday was going to be only cloudy, we jumped in the car and drove to Lough Gur, about 20 km away from Limerick.

     Lough (lake) Gur is the largest lake in Southern Ireland and is home to Ireland's oldest and largest stone circle. This circle dates back to five thousand BC. There is an Irish tale about Lough Gur which involves the Goddess Aine and a boy who finds the goddess's comb and takes it home with him. They say that the goddess banished the boy to the bottom of the lake and that every seven years, he raises to the surface to try to break the spell. The lake is fed by an underwater spring and is only 3.5 better deep in its deepest area. The lake also has two castles near its shores that date back to the 1500's.

Lough Gur near the water's edge

Lough Gur from a different angle

     Grange stone circle is the largest of its kind in Ireland. When it was excavated, they found late Neolithic artifacts, which dates the circle to at least five thousand years BC. The circle was made by using an axial point and rope, to where the diameter of 150 feet was measured out. One hundred and thirteen stones form the circle. The largest stone weighs over forty tons. It could very well have been a ritual site. One clue leads historians to believe this.

     

This is an aerial view that I found on the internet

     

     Here is the clue. The circle also aligns with the four major Solstices. One solstice in particular is very evident here with the ancient stone placement. On the west side of the circle, near where the tall tree on the left side of the above picture, lies two stones that sit side by side and form a V-shape opening. On the fall solstice, October 31st, the sun sets directly, year after year, in-between these two stones. We were told that it is an amazing sight to behold. I have to admit, that when I first stepped down into the circle proper from the stone edges, I felt a power that I had not felt before that moment. How cool to step back in time in such an amazing, historic, probably sacred spot. I loved it.  Here are more pictures.

These are the two V-shaped stones where the Fall Solstice sun sets straight through the middle

Several of the rocks as they line the ancient stone circle

Another angle of the circle. I think the preciseness of the stones is so beautiful

Once again a different angle

This stone, which also lies in the circle, has some ancient carvings engraved in the stone

Entrance into the stone circle on the east side 

This is the largest stone that is thirteen feet tall and weighs 40 tons

     While we were at Lough Gur, nearby is a small chapel ruin and also a well preserved wedge tomb. The church is important still because it lies in the community as a historical remembrance, including its graveyard. The wedge tomb is a Neolithic burial site used between four thousand to two thousand BC. Because these ancient farmers believed in the afterlife, they used these tombs to house their dead. These farmers did not bury their dead, but used cremation instead. When this particular site was excavation in 1938, the remains of eight adults and four children were found.

The chapel ruins

Looking from the inside out onto the graveyard

This is one of the finest wedge tombs in Ireland

Another angle

One last angle of the wedge tomb

     In closing, I want to again express my deep love for my Heavenly Father and for His Precious Son, who not only created this earth that we enjoy throughout all history and in all areas of this earth, but also for Their never failing love that They have for me and you! I am so very grateful to be a covenant daughter and desire to remain faithful, though my human frailties surface often. May the Lord continue to strengthen each of us as we endure and may we clearly see the way back as we follow the light of Christ. Until next week, we love you all!

Maybe my best photo of King John's castle to date! Practice makes perfect, right?