Our Travels to Waterford Part 1

      This past week went by very quickly for us. We were busy, not only with our regular assignments, but we were given several extra assignments from the mission office. In fact, this week went by so fast that it literally flew by! Let me explain further.

      In preparations for the next missionary transfer that started today, 1/29/23, the mission office had Elder and I traveling up and down in our district boundaries to complete our assigned flat inspections, which have mostly been done every transfer by a video chat on WhatsApp. This time, like in August of 2022, the inspections were all in-person, except for one and we probably won't be doing another one in-person while we are still here. The furthest we went was to Waterford and because it was such a long drive for us, we decided to take a longer break there to break up the time and the drive. While there, we were able to see two more amazing treasures of Ireland, but let's start at the beginning of our last week.

     On Monday, Elder and I went early that morning to pick up a few groceries. for ourselves and for our weekly FHE We also cleaned and sanitized our flat. By that evening, the young elders and their friends, Alexandra and her sister Adda, came for FHE where we played Jenga. To our great surprise, these two sisters came bearing all of us a food treat. These sisters, who live about 30 minutes away by bus, made all of us homemade peanut soup, a staple in Bolivia. We know that it was a great sacrifice on their part to do this. Boy, was it so tasty!!!

Here is a photo of their soup. They explained to make it a more balanced meal, Bolivians will add a small potato and a piece of meat to the soup 

Alexandra is pictured on the right and her little sister, Adda, is standing on the left. They are both here to learn English and then they both hope to get an education from an Irish institute

     Our Tuesday morning started with our weekly district training meeting. All of the young elders and the sisters in our district travel once a week to Limerick to meet together to discuss Preach My Gospel topics and get new ideas from each other concerning friends that they each desire to bring to the waters of baptism. Once again, this is the one meeting every week that I so look forward to. One sister missionary companionship attended on zoom, because they live so far away (3 hours more North). 

     This meeting was also so cool, because of the teachings of one of our newest sisters to the mission. Sister Lopez arrived to our district in Ireland a week before Christmas from Spain. Though she went to the MTC, she struggled to quickly learn English as well as she wanted to. I remember our first district meeting with Sister Lopez and she just sat in her chair, not saying anything, because she couldn't understand what was being said. You literally could see fright in her eyes.

     Sister Lopez was assigned an awesome companion, Sister Ison, who exhibits so many Christ-like attributes. Sister Ison does not speak Spanish and without Sister Lopez being able to speak English, they had a significant communication problem, so they came up with a plan. Sister Ison would teach Sister Lopez English and Sister Lopez would teach Sister Ison Spanish every day! Well, on that Tuesday morning this week, Sister Lopez was assigned to teach a five minute lesson from the missionary standards handbook. I sat in shear amazement as I heard her teach in English and was able to understand all that she said....even the fine details of doctrine that she taught. WOW!!!! It was truly a miracle. We all had a most wonderful meeting together. 

With Sister Ison and Sister Lopez

     Later that evening, we had two zoom meetings at the same time! One was with our branch presidency and the other zoom was with the mission's senior couples in our monthly Senior FHE. That was a trick to be in two places at once, but we pulled it off!!! Early Wednesday morning we drove down to Waterford. I will describe our first adventure there nearer the end of this blog, but here is a photo I captured while driving to Waterford of God's watercoloring in the sky for us early that morning.

This photo hardly shows the majesty and brilliance of the colors seen that morning. It was unbelievable! What a blessing to see!

     On Thursday, we drove in the other direction up to Galway to visit Sister Ison and Sister Lopez personally in their flat. We were able to make it back safely to Limerick from our Galway excursion minus an extra 40 minute drive as Elder Muirhead took a wrong turn that definitely took us to an unknown region of Ireland! We counted that mistake the longer, scenic way back home. He he!!!

You may not be able to see, but this tower is holding at least 27 satellite dishes to provide cellphone and internet service to thousands of people who live in Galway. That's crazy!!!

    This is called a "Spice bag" It is a very popular Irish dish with the younger generation. I had never tried it before and decided that while in Galway that I would give it a go. Well, spicy it was with too many French fries for me. I picked out the Tofu, chicken chunks and the very fine (and few) pieces of vegetables that I could find to make this a meal for me that day. Now I can check that off my list!

    By the way, the first two in-person flat inspections were unbelievable. Even the young elders in Waterford totally nailed it. Very impressive, to say the least!

     This past Friday, I still had three more flat inspections to do, plus all the paperwork that the office needed on all the flats we inspected. I also needed to teach the branch's weekly Book of Mormon class by the evening, so I had to put my bussle to the hussle! And I did!!! Elder and I first inspected the additional vacant flat here in Limerick. That inspection was probable the easiest of all, as the flat still looked great besides a little dusting that we had to do. By that afternoon, we inspected the Limerick young elders flat. After, I barely got me home in time to do another hour study of the evening's lesson on 2 Nephi chapters 3-4. And then to complete my evening that day, the Sligo sisters and I did their flat inspection over a video call and we finished just in time to zoom into the bi-monthly all mission "Come Follow Me" lesson. Such a busy Friday!!

     On Saturday, we had to go back to the grocery store as our branch had planned to do have a munch and mingle after church today. I decided to bake a chocolate cake and supply a big enough spaghetti casserole to feed about 15 people. Here's a funny story....as all the branch members were finishing up the fifth Sunday combined lesson, the fire alarms in the building started to go off. It was funny because no one had ever heard it go off before, and so nobody knew what it was or what to do! We all just stood there in the gym. I mentioned to someone that I thought that the fire alarm was going off, but my announcement was rejected until....we were all asked to vacant the building! A large pot of burnt rice in the kitchen sent each of us outside in the cold until our branch president cancelled the munch and mingle and sent us all home. So what did I do with my large casserole, you might ask? I invited the missionaries and three of their friends to join us at our flat for a feast! I was able to get rid of about 3/4 of the food I made!

     Ok! Now for part 1 of our first adventure while in Waterford this week. Waterford is Ireland's oldest city and is the heart of Ireland's Ancient East. Viking raiders first established Waterford 853 AD. The Vikings used the Waterford waterway because of its deepness which allowed their ships to get in and out with greater ease. Historically, Ireland and England later fought over Waterford and its waterway, which in time became Ireland's second largest city about one thousand years ago. Some 500 years ago, Waterford's population choose to become Catholic by religion until Oliver Cromwell stepped in. Under Cromwell, Waterford was captured and totally placed under English rule by 1690. Before Cromwell's men captured the city to be placed then under English rule, several Catholic priests place a sacred secret treasure, hidden away from sight, for preservation. More on that next week in part 2. Well, there is another treasure found in Waterford. Read on...

     What makes Waterford, Ireland so famous (and it really is world-wide) is its manufacturing of lead glass or "crystal". The origins of Waterford crystal glass began in 1783 by the Penrose family. Elder Muirhead and I have had the great opportunity in our live time to visit the Corningware glass factory in Corning, New York and the Murano glass factory in Venice, Italy.  Both of these factories were more than spectacular, especially the Murano factory. "Bellissimo!!" So, since we have already seen the first two, why not see another world-renown factory, right?

     The original glass factory closed in Waterford in 1851. For one hundred years it laid idle until it was brought back to life again, this time with the addition of a training school, to further production for generations to come. We were told that typically today, an young apprentice would start an education there, which consists of five years of study and practice followed by three more years of memorization of glass making, glass patterns and cutting every iconic piece which proudly wears the official "Waterford Crystal" stamp of approval. Imagine, eight solid years of training before that student can be numbered with the other factory masters!! 

Here we go!!

     As we walked closer to the factory, we were greeted with this huge crystal production of the famous Irish harp. I told Elder that if that is the beginning of what we were about to see, that we were in for a treat! Well, it only got better from there. We were greeted at the front desk by our tour guide, Ellie, who did a fantastic job giving us a perfect tour with fine detailed facts. I loved it.

Not only was this crystal harp more than life-size, it even has strings attached as though it really was a real harp. Pretty cool!

This chandelier hangs above where we started our tour. This is the type of crystal work that kings and queens would seek after

This crystal grandfather clock was also made by the Waterford Crystal factory and actually works. Its time piece is maintained to the highest standards to provide accuracy! We were told that there could never be a price put on it. Seeing up close certainly clarified that statement for me

Waterford Crystal has used the seahorse symbol on their products for years. This is the newly released symbol for the Waterford Crystal company on-going. I love this design, especially the Irish shamrock cut in the tail of the seahorse

Waterford Crystal most popular and best known piece

     Now, let's enter the factory where the magic happens! The first thing that we were shown was how the factory 200 years ago (and sometimes still today) use wooden molds to help shape their glassware. We were told that the wooden molds would only last a few times as the hot glass would burn the wood inside quickly. If the factory has a product that sells well, they will actually make a metal mold which can last much longer. We were also shown what a product's detailed drawing looks like. The factory is very famous for making every piece almost to perfection time after time!

Here is a wooden mold that was only used a few times before it became unusable

Here is how it all begins! Look at that detail!

A marked first trial run of a new product. It was interesting to watch even how the glass gets markings on it before cutting it. If this new piece has a market for sales, then the masters have another piece to add to their repertoire

     Next, we entered the main factory where some of the workers were actually making some crystal glass right before our eyes. We were able to stand like only 20 feet away from them and behind a protective glass to keep us safe. We saw them heat the glass, shape the glass (sometimes by blowing it) and then mold the glass, before the first kiln firing.

Heating the glass

Shaping the glass with a wooden handle

Blowing to shape it better

Enclosing it in a mold. The staff member would start blowing the glass to get the glass to grow into the mold

Glass ready for more shaping

Glass now getting its final shaping

Finished piece going into the kiln

     Well, that just the start of making Waterford crystal. Next, we watched staff further shape and sand the edges of the pieces that had been fired. All different shapes and sized go through this process. After a staff member sands off some of the edges, they will wash the glass off and assess to make sure the piece reflects the original drawing.

Our guide said that this part of the production is very important, not only for the final shaping and weight, but for the safety of the glass cutters coming up next

Sanding a larger piece

This photo shows one thick and one thin side of this bowl. Not acceptable!

   Now for the last part of production of any Waterford Crystal piece...the cutting! It's actually the cutting of the glass that makes a Waterford Crystal piece valuable. This part of the production is what make this factory so well known. The cutters needs to be ever so careful. Only the right pressure in the right spot can be applied. The glass cutting saw blades have an edge of diamonds and each saw blade cost 30,000 Euros. They told us that one saw blade could last them up to five years. The cutting of the crystal in the patterns developed is what the apprentice memorized during his last three years of training. One glass cutter told us that he had worked for this company for 43 years. Obviously, no one else can cut the crystal he specializes in the way he can.

Cutting the famous Waterford daisy leaves on the bottom of the stem

Cutting to complete the design all the way around

If you look closely, you can see at the top middle of this photo the crystal shavings being cut off

The finished product!

Elder holding an 18 pound hand cut large crystal vase. It was amazing both to hold and to see

     After every piece is completed, it is given a good washing and thorough examination to make sure the Waterford Crystal quality has been met. The next phase might entail etching, if needed, and definitely packaging for shipment. The Waterford Crystal company has made many famous pieces including the Times Square crystal ball that falls in NYC every end year. By the way, the last third of the ball and a partial of the stand it slides down on are renewed yearly for the next year's falling of the ball. Waterford Crystal has also made the NFL championship trophy, as well as other iconic championship trophies and even pieces for queens and kings.

A piece created for 911

Cinderella could never afford this coach

Elder checked out this car crystal and it was priced over $3,000

An iconic trophy

A crystal violin with real violin strings attached. I looked quickly at Elder and told him that there were strings attached! He didn't get my joke. Oh well

Etching of Starry, Starry Night

A handyman's dream tool box

A piece made for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

Every piece so unique, so beautiful!

     As always, I want to close by bearing my testimony. God does live. Jesus is the Christ, the One who can perfect me! I thought as I walked through that factory that day, that if man can create such beauty in glass, why can't so many in the world not see God's hand in all things. And just like each of these pieces started with a very detailed plan, so did we and God continues to be the author and finisher of each of our individual plans. I personally know that there has been many times in my life that I have needed a little more defining, a little cutting and shaping here and there to allow me to become the quality of the product that He wants me to be. How grateful I am for this knowledge, even while visiting a glass factory. I am grateful that He, too, already considers me "priceless"! Waterford Part 2 next week! See you then!

     

 

     

     

Our First Zone Conference of the New Year in Dublin

      This week we were able to attend another zone conference in Dublin. I have to admit, Elder and I are getting pretty good about driving on the Irish motorway and maneuvering our way safely to our designated zone conference chapel in Finglas, on the west outskirts of Dublin. More about that later. I, personally, also had several new experiences that I had never had before this past week. Those are always a wonderful surprise, but more about that in a few minutes also!

     Our week, starting out on Sunday, caught us by surprise. About ten minutes before we were to walk out our front door for church, we got a phone call from our branch president. I answered the phone. President Kelly asked me if Elder and I could teach the youth Sunday school class in about one hour and a half. My mind stalled for a split second as I was trying to comprehend what he had just asked me when I heard myself say, "Sure!" That was a surprise! Fortunately, the lesson was on the birth of the Christ child, but I didn't know that until after the fact. I later considered myself very lucky to be able to teach that lesson. So while all the other members sitting in sacrament was listening to the talks (including Elder Muirhead), I was reading through the lesson and marking scriptures to get through the youth class. Another surprise that morning happened when Elder and I both walked in just before the class started to find 18 youth gathered around the table. Well, with faith, it all worked out!

     On Monday, Elder and I went to the grocery store to purchase the fixings for me to make a large pot of soup for zone conference. I have never made large pot of soup filled to the brim like that before. That was a chore. It took me almost one hour just to prep the vegetables I was going to use. I ended up making almost 40 cups of soup! But, once again, with faith, it all worked out. And, again, I was surprised! Little did I know how long it would take me to cool down a pot of soup that large to package it! Yeah, it was like an all day affair. Well, it too got done. Then, about one hour later, Elder and I were holding another YSA FHE at our flat. I'll be forever grateful that we decided to do a game night that night. Even for that, I had to quickly clean up the flat and prepare treats and drinks for everyone. This was one tired missionary by the time I fell into bed for the night!

Here is the soup I made on Monday filled to the brim!!!

How many cans does it take to feed starving young missionaries???

    The next morning we were up by 6am and out the door before 7. It is at least just over a two hour drive to Dublin for us. The temperature that morning was only 24 degrees with warnings of freeze and slippery roads. We decided to drive slower than normal, which was alright by me. Once we got closer to Dublin, the sun rose to take away the darkness of the early morning. The closer we got, the more traffic we ran into. Like lots!! After it was all said and done, we were about 40 minutes later than expected. Surprise again! This did cause a small concern as we were asked to pick up 2 young sisters from the Dublin train station and get them to zone conference on time. Fortunately, another senior couple volunteered to help us out. Zone conference that day was delayed by 30 minutes until all were present. 

     Once conference started, our good President McCrudden and his wife spoke to all of us. In their opening remarks, we as a whole, were asked to continue to pray for a temple in our area. President also said that a vital part of getting a temple is to have more baptisms. He asked all of us to pray that we might baptize the 244 new friends we all set as one of our 2023 mission goals. This is the highest baptismal goal ever purposed during President McCrudden's administration. President explained to us from the Book of Luke that even as the shepherds went in haste to find the babe, that we, too, need to find those in spiritual need in haste. He encouraged the young missionaries also to make sure they teach the doctrines of the church.

President and Sister McCrudden

     Sister McCrudden spoke next and referred to a talk given by Neil Maxwell. I loved the quote she read from his talk, "We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count"! That was so powerful to me. After they finished, the APs talked and several safety videos were shown. In time, I went into the kitchen to finish warming up the soup I made and to offer any assistance where needed. Lunch went great and all were happily fed. I will always be amazed by what it takes to feed a crowd!

Our four APs (Assistants to the President)

Lunch time line up!!!

We told the young missionaries that they would have to eat their veggies or they would not get any dessert!

Here are two smart young sisters who did what they were told to do. Veggies all gone...bring it on!! Look at that dessert spread!

This is my proof of how happy they all were after lunch

Even the seniors got to relax

     After lunch, President McCrudden answered questions about the priesthood ordinances of the church. He was able to instruct these new priesthood holders with valuable information on the ordinances, like the  who, what, when, where and how. In the last part at zone conference for us, the sister training leaders (STLs) instruct all of us by leading a discussion on "what are you doing to better know the Savior"? One of the conclusions we came up with was if we want to come to better know Him then we must sincerely study more of Him, enlarge our capacity to serve, and give simple, pure testimony of Him. As we do this, we were told, our desires will align more completely with His desires and His purposes will become our purposes. I loved that! As Elder and I were the only senior couple that drove up early that morning and needed to drive back that same night, we got permission to leave one hour early. Once again, our zone conference was very, very successful.

     On Wednesday, we woke up to........SNOW! Not a lot, but definitely the white stuff. I realized when I first saw it, how much I do miss snow. Here is a funny story. I was the first of us to find the snow outside our window that morning. Seeing that I had just woken up, I was still in my shorts and my t-shirt. Without a coat on, I quickly ran outside to take a picture of the snow. I left the front door open just a hair to get right back in. As I ran out a little further to get a better picture, I heard my front door close.  I didn't take our house key with me. :( Yeah, it was below freezing outside. Yeah, that was a surprise!

     After I took the picture (of course I had to do that first), I looked for little rocks to throw up to hit our bedroom window. After successfully throwing several rocks and not seeing Elder look out the window, I realized that Elder was not going to hear anything without his hearing aids in. What was I to do???? For a split second, my mind answered, "Yeah, that's a great question"!!! Duhhhh. I looked around and thought if worse comes to worse, I could maybe stay inside a neighbor's home. Then I got an impression to ring our doorbell and beat on the front door. Being obedient, that's just what I did! After a few minutes of trying that without luck, I got another impression. I texted Elder (who still struggles using his phone) with a simple message saying "Come to the front door".  I'm telling you, typically Elder is very, very, very slow to respond to his phone, if he even sees a text at all. Believe it or not, within one minute, he opened the door to let me in! I don't know what even made him look at his phone right then or how he ever even saw my message, but I was very grateful that prayer and faith worked again.  Once again, I was greatly surprised

A little Irish snow with a lot of freezing cold!

     That same evening, we supported our young elders in teaching the two Bolivan sisters learn more about the gospel. After we were done teaching, Elder Hardy asked the older sister, Alexandra, if she would say the closing prayer. She said it in Spanish. Talk about a pleasant surprise! I was so impressed by the change of tone in her voice as she prayed and the length of her prayer. I was also impressed how her younger sister folded her arms and faithfully bowed her head in great respect for Diety. Though these two still struggle with understanding English, I felt great hope for them. After the prayer, we started our weekly English class. We always have so much fun doing that class together.

     One Thursday, I spent most of the day studying in preparation to teach 2 Nephi chapter 2. That Book of Mormon chapter is so sweet. In it, father Lehi directs his lecture directly to his young son, Jacob, to teach him the pure doctrine of the creation, the fall and the atonement of Christ, known to us as the three pillars of the plan of salvation. It was hard to squeeze in my lesson  within the 50 minutes I had to teach it. We had a pretty good turnout for that Friday evening class. I'm thinking as long as it is cold and dark by 5p, we won't be getting many more out until spring comes. Several of the branch members did participate during the lesson, which made my job easier. I love the Book of Mormon! I also loved watching the Book of Mormon church video produced a couple of years ago concerning this chapter. Father Lehi does a great job acting out his part and showing the deep feelings of a father to his son.

     One Saturday, I went out to exercise and found a very large protest of Irish citizen's walking the main street of Limerick. There were literally almost a thousand people in the street. Surprised again! Why were so many protesting, you might ask? Well, I will tell you. I found out that they were protesting about another recent closure of a local hospital, causing more over-crowding and neglect to patients of every age. These closure events have been happening for a long time. I also heard that as citizens have approached law makers over time about this problem and that their inquiries and summons for help have fallen on deaf ears. It made me happy as a US nurse to hear of their concerns and understand their need to make the Irish healthcare system better. 

The length of this protest was so long that I could only capture this small portion in photo

    Later on Saturday, I was put in charge of the monthly movie night. For the past couple of weeks, the internet has not been working well at the chapel, so the movie I wanted to show got postponed and a substitution was found. Ha! Another surprise! I elected to show through a download the church's movie, "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" that is found on the church's website. This is one of my favorite church movies. I love the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love Jospeh's family which gave him such amazing support. After the movie was finished, all in attendance expressed their desire to do more, to be better. What a great way to end another week!

Such a great and inspiring movie for all members! When was the last time you watched it??? It is only one hour long in length and is well worth your time! Do it! You won't regret it!

     Well, I am pretty surprised that all of you reading this blog have made it to this point. Good for you!  I'd like to end again by testifying that God the Father lives, that Jesus is the Savior of the World, that Jospeh Smith was the prophet of the restoration and that the Book of Mormon is SOOOOO true. These are the last days and much still needs to be done before Jesus Christ can return in His Second Coming. The most important thing that needs to happen today in the world is the gathering of God's Children from the four quarters of the earth. Here is another newly developed way that will assist in the gathering of His Children.

     This is MOST EXCITING news, at least it was for me! Forgive me if you have already heard about it. After I heard about just days ago, I want to YELL "hallelujah"!!! This new knowledge truly is one of the best tender mercies that I have ever seen of God to bless the whole earth with. Two days ago, as I was still studying and looking for material for my weekly Book of Mormon lesson, I came across this video, which was released just hours before. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has partnered with a BYU production called Scripture Central to NOW FLOOD THE EARTH WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!! I have linked below both the video that introduced me to this great knowledge and hope and also a link so you can read an article about the history behind the story.

                      This is the link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/INgHmUOsmrQ

     

     As before, just copy and paste this address in a YouTube tab address to watch. You may stop the recording when the video reaches 6:00 minutes (after that time, you will be offered an opportunity to donate to this new cause and then the video ends. You may watch the full video if you wish).

This is what the video will appear as once you have opened it

    Here is the link to read about the project which was published last July, but I never had the opportunity to read it.    

  

https://www.ldsliving.com/in-their-own-tongue-new-technology-brings-the-book-of-mormon-to-people-who-lack-written-language/s/10798

     I truly see this as a miracle! Just think, thousands will now to able to hear the word of God in their own language, which before this time, was an overwhelming challenge. It's not any longer!!! How grateful I am to be on this earth at this time to see this miracle occur. Back in 2018, President Nelson said there is more to come in restoring the gospel to the earth. "Wait till next year, and then the next year," President Nelson said. "Eat your vitamin pills. Get some rest. It's going to be exciting." This just might be the beginning what he saw five years ago! God bless me to have the strength and the endurance to remain true and faithful in my discipleship.

Until next week, take care!