Hello once again, dear family and friends! This past week brought me interesting (at least to me) new images of Irish life that I have never seen before and further advancements to the work that we have been called to do. For those friends who might have missed President Russell M. Nelson's recent statement about the great work that we are involved in, he stated, in effect, whatever good you do on both sides of the veil, either heaven or earth, that you are moving the work of the restoration forward. Here are some of the new images of Ireland that I saw this past week that you, too, have not seen and then I will write about our mission adventures.
As November comes to a quick close, winter here in Ireland is coming on harder and harder. Remember weeks ago, I included a short video on my blog of how quickly at times the clouds sail by? Well, almost hourly now the strong, moist winds can be seen, especially near the Shannon River's edge. Here is what I am trying to explain:
Like I said, this is now more the norm than the calmer fall days we had seen earlier. In this picture, the wind is blowing so hard that the flags all around me are 100% open to view. Yeah, it's been crazy windy here
And then, remember last week with the sun shining on one side of the river and the moon could still be seen on the other side? In this picture on one side of the river, one can see blue sky...
while if I turn the other direction, a full rain storm can be seen falling! Crazy, huh?
Ok, three more "only in Ireland" pictures. Here is the first one. I captured this photo mid-morning this last Monday while I was out exercising.
This is an official job in Limerick. This, my friends, is a sidewalk sweeper! He not only sweeps, but he vacuums up anything in its way, waters and then washes the sidewalks! Amazing...and pretty slippery, by the way
If I was going to describe to you an old, salty, Irish man....this would be him! For your information, he was so happy to pose for this picture. He was even wearing a sailor's beanie and a "P" jacket. I love the story that is written in each wrinkle of his face. His beard is pretty awesome too!!
This "only in Ireland" includes a strange way of being a missionary. Keep reading to hear what I'm talking about!
On Wednesday, I passed by two Irish gentlemen standing outside on the sidewalk talking to each other. The one man apparently was at work. As I walked by, I noticed what the man working was doing. He was moving heavy containers of "brew" down into the facility's basement by way of a huge iron "I" beam that provided him a working slide. I told the man that I was from the states and would like to take a photograph of his very useful device. He said, "Of course!"
Then he asked me from what state I came from. I answered, "Utah!". Then he immediately stated, "Awhhh, the Mormon state." I replied, "Oh, you know of us?", to which he replied, "I do!" So, being the good little missionary that I am, I asked him next, "Can I have two young elders of my church come to visit you and give you a lesson?" He quickly said no. He then stated, "You don't touch this stuff anyways!" and I answered back, "You're right, No, I don't, but I do drink!" He quickly snapped his head around to face me with his jaw hanging and question marks all over his face!!!! I met him eye to eye with a smile and a wink I said,, with a pause, "Water! Good, old water!" He was laughing so hard, I thought that he was going to fall right into that hole into the basement! Oh well, I tried!
This next is a good one too. Yesterday, I saw a young woman carrying three large loaves of bread over towards the edge of the river where all the seagulls hang out. I'm telling you, those seagulls knew exactly what she was carrying and what she was going to do with it. Before she even stepped inside the little park area there, those birds were flying around her everywhere. Some of the birds were even trying to snatch a loaf or two out of her hand. She kicked them away and yelled at them for being disobedient. Those birds were going to be fed her way and on her own time frame! Once she finally got into position and got the first bag opened, this is what I saw next....
Now that is one brave woman!!!! In this picture you can only see about a third of the gulls that were actually flying over, sideways and below
Oh! Good news! Elder and I are officially registered citizens of the Republic of Ireland for the next 12 months! We have to carry this with us everywhere we go. If it can't be proven that we are registered, we could be kicked right off of this island. Our cards have become our new best friends!
Ok, now for my weekly review of our mission. Last Sunday, we had an "all mission" zoom meeting with our good president, President McCrudden and his wife. President McCrudden started by telling us of one sister missionary here who wondered why our whole mission couldn't all meet together once a year. Then, president explained to us on zoom of all the missions that the church has organized, the Scotland/Ireland Mission is very different than the others. He said that our mission covers two countries and three separate areas. He, nevertheless, brought up this idea to our area presidency and the area seventy who said they would not only think about it, but would research it. President was pleased to announce that, if possible, our whole mission would gather together this spring in Edinburgh, Scotland for 2-3 day conference of activities and training. Very exciting!!
Monday was our 47th wedding anniversary! Yay for us!!! We spent the day together and then had our YSAs over to our flat for FHE where we all enjoyed a "cultural food" experience. Our YSAs brought dishes from America, Brazil and Ireland. We all had a great time with some amazing homemade favorites from our home countries. On Tuesday, we joined our mission district in our weekly training meeting. I will probably say this until we leave here how wonderful and spiritual each of those meetings are to us. This past Tuesday, we were joined by our Sister Training Missionaries. They always bring such great lessons and amazing spiritual insights.
Tuesday night, Elder and I walked over to the city centre to a well-known restaurant/pub called Glen's Tavern. Most of the eating establishments here offer mostly speciality hamburgers or fish and chips. I chose this place because they had other items on their menu. Elder ordered Irish Stew and I ordered a Cottage Pie (like a shepherds pie). Elder got the better of the two choices. Unfortunately, the meat at the bottom of my pie was a little over cooked. When we checked out, the head manager asked how our meals were and I told him about my pie. He was so apologetic and refused to charge us for that meal. I told him that we certainly wanted to pay for what we ate, but he refuted, stating that he would rather us to want to return there again in the future. What could I say?
A happy anniversary celebrated in Ireland!
My cottage pie with salad and, of course, chips! After we walked back to our flat, we shared a small dessert together. It was a pleasant night and a wonderful memory
Wednesday, we joined the young elders at the branches weekly English Connect class. This time we only had our two YSA sisters in attendance. The elders had invited several others, but no one else came that night. We learned about and how to pronounce different clothing and different colors. I understood better the confusion that English can cause foreigners, especially with all the different colors we have names for and their adjectives. We still had a great lesson.
Our elders setting up the computer for the English Connect class that night
On Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day. We were able to call home to all but one child that day. I can't tell you how heart warming it was to hear each of their voices again. We miss each and everyone of them more than words can ever express. Several of our children also sent us texts to show us what their Thanksgiving dinners looked like. It was so wonderful and, I must admit, so sad at the same time. Many promises were made that next year, we WOULD be with family the next Thanksgiving. I can't wait!
We invited our two missionaries over to dinner on Thanksgiving. Sweet Elder Larrubia from Spain, didn't know what to do with the cranberry sauce and was surprised that Americans use so much gravy over everything on their Thanksgiving plates (especially Elder Muirhead!) We laughed!
After our meal that night, our YSA who is here studying violin, secured for us guest tickets to their final concert this semester. This concert was much more than a final performance! The famous Irish Chamber Orchestra and two of Ireland's most professional singers also performed that night. In the opening remarks, our master of ceremony announced that in our audience that very night was the President of the Republic of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. He and his wife actually sat just three rows behind us. That night was incredible for more than one reason!
The University of Limerick's Cultural Arts theater
Our tickets. Thank you, Emma!
The concert hall was amazing, designed very well with wonderful acoustics!
Irish President Michael D. Higgins and his wife. The Irish people LOVE him!
The Irish Chamber Orchestra entertaining us
One of the performers that night by the name of Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, sang traditional Gaelic songs, some of them which were sung in the 12th and 13th centuries. She had such an amazing voice and the music could have been a fairy's delight, Here is her picture and a short YouTube video:
She is as beautiful as her voice is!
https://youtu.be/8rmETqRem70
I told you so!!! On Friday, we joined the young elders to give a lesson to one of their friends. His name is David and we have joined in teaching him for several weeks now. David is very well versed in his bible version which isn't the KJV. Since he has started taking lessons, he has made some several small advances, but still does not believe in living prophets. This meeting was different. The young elders had all of us take turns to read a verse from Alma 34, including David.
The elders would stop periodically and ask David what he understood from what we had just read. David brought up several topics like does the LDS church believe in Abraham's bosom in the resurrection. We turned to the KJV bible dictionary and showed him that we do acknowledge that statement. He was impressed. He also talked about the natural man. I told him that that exact wording is used in the Book of Mormon and then had him read Mosiah 3:19. When asked how he felt about that one verse, he looked up at all of us and said, "that is true!" This was such a big difference from all the other weeks with him rejecting our teachings. We are now hopeful that he will have a greater desire to read daily from the Book of Mormon and allow the Spirit to work within his heart and mind. More to come.
I also taught our branch's Book of Mormon class again. We studied 1 Nephi chapters 13-15. I love these chapters! I love the history that Nephi saw intertwined in his Tree of Life vision, including chapter 13:12, where Nephi beholds Christopher Columbus and his huge part in the rediscovery of the Americas to advance God's purposes for the restoration of the gospel. After class was completed, the branch relief society and the young women gathered to tie quilts for a local nursing home. Everyone loved this event. The young women were so very quick to finish their assignment, so many of them then helped us adults get our part done. As usual, at the end we brought out the treats which made the young women so happy.
The young women tying their assigned quilt
Me with my assigned group working on our quilt. Notice our beautiful Meghan showing off her fine work!
On Saturday evening, the branch scheduled their monthly movie night. The movie chosen was "Ephraim's Rescue", a very good inspiring LDS film. Months ago when I was asked to be involved in these monthly movie nights, I purchased an Amazon.UK (United Kingdom) prime account so I could show videos here in Ireland that members wanted to see. I had used that UK prime several times, but never to watch a video, only to get the free shipping on needed products. Back in the states before we left, I would periodically watch a movie on Prime and knew how to play the video.
Seriously, a great movie. The elder from Spain had never seen it before and his companion is directly related to Ephraim Hanks!
So months ago, my daughter helped me turn off my USA Prime account by letting it just run out and not renew the subscription. I had received several emails after the subscription was cancelled telling me that the USA Prime account was now inactive. The plan is that when I return to the states, I will turn off the UK Prime account and turn back on the USA Prime account. Perfect plan, right?
Well, just to make sure that everything was working right one hour before I needed to show the video, I tried to play it on Amazon.UK Prime. I was greatly surprised that I couldn't. I tried over and over again. I tried contacting Amazon, but it seemed that no one was available on a late Saturday night to help me. I even called the young elders and told them my problem and asked them, if needed, if they could help me figure out what was happening. They agreed to try at least. As I was running out of time and still needed to drive over to the branch, I said a fervent prayer for help. I tried to play the video again without success. Then I got an impression.
I understood that I was to trust in God, get into my old USA Prime account that was cancelled and find that movie. After getting into my cancelled account (I have no explanation) and finding the desired video, I clicked on the play button and the video started! There is no explanation again for this miracle. I am so humbled and so very grateful to again know that the God of the universe knows me personally with all my many flaws, loves me still and would show me His hand so that I can testify. The movie played perfectly at the church and everyone there felt the spirit in abundance and gained a greater desire to serve and to testify.
In closing, I want to remind all of you dear faithful family and friends that read this, that President Russell M. Nelson has told church members several times this year that we all should seek and expect miracles. He IS absolutely right! And I promise you as you seek, expect and experience miracles, that your love and faith will grow to new heights and will become a great blessing to you. I am so grateful this Thanksgiving week for each and every one of you. Each of you have touched my heart and made me a better person. I testify again that God lives, Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon has the power to bring all men and women nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. I am truly thankful for my many blessings and for the great opportunity it is to be a missionary today. May God bless you all this week.
Great pictures and message!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your Thanksgiving day experiences and all you've been doing. You are amazing! I love ❤ you! And still miss you!❤ Love, Rosemary