Thanks for waiting for the 2nd part of this blog. I am so excited to continue to detail for each of you the last 2 full circle areas that we just crossed as our mission comes to a close. But before I do that, I will quickly take you through this week's missionary service. I know, I know...the suspense is killing you!
On Monday, we spent our morning getting a few groceries, but mostly washing our clothes from our visit to Northern Ireland. Since Elder M and I are officially living out of our suitcases until we get back to Utah, the best we can do is keep our clothes clean by washing them as often as we can. And believe me, we can do a lot of washing because our washer and dryer are so small. I am so ready and excited to use our oversized American appliances again; and believe me,,,,,I will!!! Later that night, the sister missionaries and us drove out to the Faloon's house again for another homemade meal. They BBQ'd pork chops and chicken for us. Sister Faloon made an incredible exotic fruit salad that I could not stop eating! At the end, she presented us with 3 different kinds of desserts. So good!!!
Tuesday, Elder and I started our morning with our district mission correlation zoom meeting. We really appreciated having this meeting on zoom that day, especially after driving so much last week. If it wasn't on zoom, we would have been asked to drive down to Cork (2 hours one way) for the meeting. After discussing how each companionship could help their friends more, the main theme was to tell of who had been the greatest influential person in your life so far. To tell you the truth, I have had so many influential people in my life, and certainly since I converted to the church, that it would be hard to name just one.
I really don't want to skip anyone, but I do want to say that I have had many family members, including many now deceased, many living members, amazing friends over the years, many, many instructors throughout my longevity of all my educational experiences, my blessed neighbors, wonderfully faithful missionaries and incredible leaders both past and present of the church who have guided me forward. The more I thought about it, the more gratitude I felt in my heart for all the loving, guided examples of Christ-like love I have come to know. As of recent date, that question has been a deep soul searching question; one that has stopped me in my tracks and has giving me hours of thoughtful thinking. Thank you to all of you who have been so very patient with me and have brought me to where I am today!!!
After our zoom meeting, Elder and I went over to St Mary's Cathedral here in Limerick to listen to our last lunch time concert of this mission. A quartet of string musicians played for us that day. They were so very good. They played some classical and then some South American Samba music. I loved how they played off each others rendition, to keep building upon on another's talents. And, oh my, the acoustics!!!! It was their last number that totally blew me away. I have never heard anything like what they played last of all. I still can't believe it. They so played it to perfection. Their last number was "I want you back" by Michael Jackson. It was so amazing! So fun!!!
The quartet of strings ar St Mary's Cathedral
After that wonderful concert, I came back to our flat and went out to our freezer to empty anything still in there that could make a good addition to a pot of soup! I found green beans, corn, carrots and potato chunks. I threw that in with some cooked ground turkey, an onion, quinoa, some mushrooms, chopped celery and some chicken broth and presto! Homemade turkey vegetable soup. It was so good! I only have 5 more frozen meals and 5 small ice cream bars left (I wonder who will get the odd bar???). The last 2 meals, my Danielle's Taco Bean Soup, will be eaten our last 2 days here! Yay!!!
We add a couple of Rosemary flavored crackers and a small handful of cheese into our bowls and "bellissimo"!!! After dinner, we joined our branch leadership committee in their correlation meeting.
On Wednesday, The sister missionaries and us joined our friend, Suzann, in a missionary lesson which centered on the restoration of the gospel. We had a wonderful lesson. Suzann had a few questions which were answered by using scriptures and at the end of our discussions, Suzann stated that she felt good about what she heard. The sister missionaries also set up for her to watch a short video. Our missionaries have asked Suzann a couple of times if she would like to be baptized. Each time, she has answered that she doesn't feel quite ready yet, which is just fine with us. The video that the sisters had her to watch was a church video that shows how little children describe baptism. Suzann really enjoyed watching it. Of course, after the video, she had a few more questions which were answered. The Galway sisters have a baptism at our Limerick chapel this Saturday and Suzann stated that she would like to come and see what it is like. We are very excited!
After Suzann's lesson, we picked up the elders and the 4 of us drove out to the Pott's home for the young elders to enjoy a meal with them. I was very excited to enjoy another serving of Mexican burritos with the Pott's family. If you will remember from the last time, Sister Pott's makes a killer beef taco filling from scratch. Once again, she did her magic and everyone was very happy, especially Elder Guiurelli. Why, do you suppose? This is so funny!
Elder Guiurelli is totally from Italy. Pasta he knows! They don't do Mexican foods there at all. He has had a couple of burritos since coming out on his mission to Ireland, but he has never learned how to wrap the meat filling inside the burrito shell. He told us that he just makes the biggest mess having his Mexican meat filling fall out all over the place. After hearing this, Brother Pott's stepped up and took the burrito wrap packaging, turned it over to the back side, and showed Elder Guiurelli the pictured instructions of how to make it so your filling stays inside the wrap. By the way, by this time, Elder Guiurelli's companion, who, too, is from Italy, had already ready learned how the make a burrito and he was half-way done eating his! Well, Elder Guiurelli not only wrapped his burrito to perfection, but, very proudly, he didn't even spill the smallest particle out onto his plate. Check out this photo!!!
No, that's one happy young man!!!
Thursday, found me up very early in the morning as the sun was shining down upon Limerick. I grabbed my camera and lenses and walked quickly over to a place that I had been eyeballing for several days. I was hoping to capture another awesome photo and in reality, I was fortunate. Lately, the early morning sky here is bright blue until later in the morning or earlier afternoon when the clouds appear again. Today, even the River Shannon was calm. So, off I went. Here is what I captured.
I wish the water was just a little more calm, but I'll take this one.
Our neighbor, John, planted several tall rose bushes against the back wall where we live. This week those roses exploded. I just had to take a picture!
Elder and I got a text message Tuesday from our landlord announcing that she and her husband wanted to hire a local rental agency to help them rent out their flat in the future. The Casey's wanted to show the new agent what the flat looked like. Elder and I took several hours to shine up their flat making it look the very best it could. The Casey's were very pleased with our efforts. We, too, were pleased, as now we will only need to do a quick wipe down before we go!
Yay for cleaning supplies!!!
We ended up Thursday night in a zoom meeting with the branch missionary correlation team. All of the missionaries gave their reports and spoke about how several of their friends were coming to the baptism this Saturday in preparation for their own baptism. Then, we turned our attention to the next branch activity...next Friday night's branch dance for all 12 years and up. This is the first dance that the branch has held in many years. The leadership is very excited. They have reserved a DJ who has a great playlist, lights and decorations! The branch will supply the refreshments and drinks. We are even hoping that several branch members will be brave enough to grab the microphone that night and belt out a favorite song. We talked about what still was needed and who would be doing what. It was a very productive meeting.
On Friday, the Galway sister missionaries, together with us and the Limerick sisters went over to the chapel to prepare all needful things for the Galway baptism that was scheduled for the next day. Our Limerick chapel is the only chapel in this district that has a baptismal font. The Galway sisters received a referral a short time ago and taught Gabriel C., a 62 years old male, all the missionary lessons that were required of him in just 1 month! Gabriel has a very special story to tell.
This is the baptismal font clean-up crew! From left to right: S. Bakkland, S. Gonclavez, me, S. Lopez, and S. Caruss
He was raised Catholic and was baptized Catholic, but always knew that the Catholic Church was wrong. He literally has spent his whole life searching for the truth! I don't know how the referral came about, but all of us are so happy that Gabriel was found and sent to the missionaries. The Galway missionaries stated that they and Gabriel would meet twice a week during that one month's time and everything they taught him was accepted 100%. After the missionaries taught Gabriel about family history and especially about the temple, the temple became the only goal in life for Gabriel! So, on Saturday, Gabriel started to fulfill his new life's goal to go to the temple being baptized into the church. When Elder and I got to the chapel earlier that morning to support the service, Gabriel had already arrived. He was so excited!!!
Our newest Limerick district member, Gabriel. After the baptism, Elder and I went shopping and later that night, we and the sister missionaries joined the Kelly family for a wonderful roast beef dinner.
These are the Sunday shoes of many of my branch female friends. Go girl power!!!
Well, that was our week. Let's jump in and complete part 2 of our full circle! When I was a young teenage, I was fascinated with 2 subjects: the sinking of the Titanic and the Lough Ness monster. I became interested in both, even though one of them really did happened, because it seemed so mysterious to me. I loved seeing the few black and white photos that maybe showed "Nessie" in the lough, as much as I loved to read about the Titanic's sinking that fateful night. Even though Lough Ness couldn't be closer to me right now, it was actually the Titanic that I was able to make a full circle with.
The RMS Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland by the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding firm and the White Star Cruiseline. The Titanic, then, was one of the largest (over 880 feet long) and most luxury ships owned in the world. On its maiden voyage from South Hampton, England on April 12-15, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg that caused the ship to sink in less than three hours. The Titanic featured a large first-class dining room, 4 elevators, a spa/sauna and a full size swimming pool. The Titanic also had 16 (bulk) compartments, that, if the hull was ruptured, the ship could not sink or at least that was the claim. Because of its luxury and claim to be unsinkable, many rich and famous people were aboard that ship that night.
The Titanic!
As we all know, for many reasons, the Titanic did not make it to its destination in New York City. Between ignoring several iceberg warnings to not having the one key to unlock the cabinet that held the only set of binoculars that could have been used that very night to having difficulty in the dark of the night to see icebergs until it was everlastingly too late, the Titanic was doomed. When it was realized that the ship would sink, women and children were put into the available 20 lifeboats that could have saved 1,100 passengers, but in reality only 705 people were rescued from those boats. Though the lifeboats in numbers exceeded the safety regulations specified back then, in reality, the vessel could have used twice as many. In total, over 1,500 passengers were lost that night with the ship that was as close to 400 miles from its destiny. There were some silver linings in the after mass of this tragedy as it helped change many rules of the seas that, since, have been a blessing.
And who (not me!) could ever forget August 1985, when the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean? I think that it is funny that even as I write this blog, that a company released the first full size digital copy of the Titanic wreck. If you haven't seen the image, it appears to fill the largest stadium in London, England. On the 100th anniversary of the sinking, the Titanic Belfast Experience opened its doors to visitors. Titanic Belfast was actually built on the same land (and near the water) that the original Titanic was constructed on. The museum is incredibly huge and has many different exhibits of the Titanic, all referring to the many different stages of the ship's existence. It was, to me, more that awesome! It greatly surpassed my full circle expectations!
The newly released digital copy of the Titanic wreck just developed and released
Ok! Here we go!
If a quick glance of any building can leave a lasting impression, this one saids it all! The first exhibits in the museum introduced the imagination of building luxury liners in the 1900's and the beginning stages of this great accomplishment
Behind the museum as seen in the last picture, if you stepped aside, you would see this lone standing H & W hoist that still stands today
An antique poster advertising the White Star Line of luxury ships. Notice that these luxury liners sailed off from Liverpool to New York every Wednesday
This is an original sign for employment opportunities with White Star Liner company
This is the original time clock that all employees used while working at the Belfast shipyard daily.
This is the drawing room, though ship plans are no longer drawn here, it is still just steps away from the museum. Designing and construction were the next 2 exhibits in the museum
This is a photo of the Titanic being constructed with it's sister ship, Olympic, sitting besides her
This room had lots of original DETAILED drawings of the Titanic. There were literally pages after pages of them. It is no wonder to me now, how they knew 100 years later, what the inside and outside of the ship looked like
In this portion of the museum, you boarded a mechanical ride (like in Disneyland) and you were taken to what appeared like the bottom inside of the ship as it was being built. It, too, was very impressive. Elder loved to see how the riveting of the outside of the ship was done using 4 men to "hammer home" each rivet.
I absolutely LOVED the original photos that the museum had. Just like for each of you, these photos made me feel like I was really there!
This is one of my favorite Titanic photos. I love how each of the men are looking up at those propellers in total amazement.
This is an original Titanic launch ticket. Did you know that 100,000 people turned out just to see the launch from Belfast? The launch took just over one minute and there were no complications at all!
The next exhibits focused on the diversity of the people who were on board for the voyage, the differences between 1st, 2nd and 3rd class accommodations and what the ship really looked like on the inside. This is an original table ticket for one of the 3rd class passengers, second sitting
This is what the first class dining area looked like
The famous grand staircase
These are White Star first class china plates. There was a display at the museum of the plates that each of the 3 classes would use for their dining experience. It was quite the comparison...a very stark difference
This is what some of the carpeting would have looked like on the Titanic depending on which class you were assigned to
This is my other favorite original photo of the Titanic. I was surprised to see this photo re-created in the 1997 movie version, but loved that it was included
The next couple of exhibits discussed the tragedy about to happen!! There was also a heart-moving display of a minute by minute account of the sinking and the help the Titanic never received soon enough. Though there were many contributions that ultimately led to the sinking, the final investigation conclusion was that the ship sank after hitting a large iceberg, causing exterior damage to the ship. This photo shows how close the ship was to arriving in New York City and the pathway of the iceberg field that night
When I read about this contributor of the sinking years ago, I came to the same conclusion. The printed statement above these unusable keys tells the story. I have thought so many times since, that having these keys could have made a huge difference that night. I LOVED seeing these keys that close to me that day.
This, my friends, is one of the only twelve surviving original lifejackets from the Titanic. The other eleven are in private holdings. I had to hold back my tears standing in front of it. It was very moving to me
With this illuminated board positioned right behind the lone lifejacket, it didn't help my feelings at the moment. Too few lifeboats, poor management of loading passengers, and no other rescue ships close enough to help. Such a sad tale to tell
One of the crew members threw several deck chairs into the frigid waters that night to saved himself. When the Carpathia arrived one hour after the Titanic had disappeared under the water, this deck chair was brought onboard and can still be seen today in this museum. Amazing!
Of everything displayed at the museum, this object took my breath away. It is said (sometimes in disagreement) that this is THE violin that Wallace Hartley played that night as the ship sink. When Harley's body was found, which was positively ID, this violin (in its case) was strapped across his body totally out of the water. Of all the personal stories of that tragic night, I LOVE this story of Mr. Hartley and of his outward gift of comfort and peace to all left on board until the end is, to me, the story of an angel!
Is this not the cutest!!!!
The last couple of exhibits covered the discovery of the wreck in 1985 and what the future holds for the Titanic itself.
This was a cool way to show what is must of looked like when Mr. Ballard and his crew found the wreck and were able to correctly identify one of its boilers. Elder and I watched the people below us for several minutes as some of the original images passed underneath them
Seeing that, we went down to join them. My golly!! I was mesmerized! Of all the wonderful museums I have ever been in, in my whole life, this one ties for first place!!! It was amazingly done in every way! Oh, by the way, the other museum that also scored first place almost 20 some years ago, was the Cairo Egyptian Museum that once held the treasures of King Tut
After leaving the Titanic Experience, across in the next slipway, is permanently docked the last White Star liner named the Normadic (1911). This ship is the only surviving vessel left that was designed by Thomas Andrews, who also designed the Titanic. The Nomadic was the go between vessel from the larger liners picking up and delivering passengers, mail and needed supplies. Our ticket that allowed us to enjoy the Titanic Experience, also allowed us to walk onto the Nomadic and personally see that last White Star liner. It was a little piece of history that we got to enjoy together. Here are a few photos.
Here is the Nomadic in slipway number 1 where she was originally built
It was from this slipway that the Nomadic was lifted up slightly by a crane, with a greased hull, that allowed the ship to slide sideways into the water on it's christening
The is one of the 1st class areas for passengers on the Nomadic
An opened porthole
A piece of antique luggage to gave the baggage area a more feel of reality
Our last full circle event happened on May 12, when Elder and I visited our last Irish castle. I have to admit that just even saying that causes my heart to be sad. But, all good things must come to a close! Since coming to Ireland almost one year ago, I have had this castle on my list to visit. I was ecstatic that we were finally able to go visit this one. This castle, just north of Galway near the bogs of West Ireland, is called Kylemore Castle. This is a newer castle in Ireland, being constructed in 1868 by a man named Mitchell Henry. He literally built this castle because of the love that he had for his wife. (I give all of my married, female readers to invite their husbands to show their love by building them a castle too!) Today, the grounds are owned by the Benedictine Nuns, who have been in residence there since 1920. Here are my photos from this castle.
Any way you look at this castle it is just breathtaking
This is the the advertisement when the property went up for sale in 1902
A beautiful vestment possibly used in the abbey
This is the greeting room. In 2019, the estate received a new renovation that has made it look spectacular
Historic keys and other artifacts that has been related to this castle over the years under different owners
An original bookcase from years ago
The face on this grandfather's clock looked like one from a fairy tale book to me
This was the Henry's formal living room. Like the previous rooms, this one, too, was amazing
An original piano. Notice the candle lighting that this piano provides
One of several fireplaces
A formal dress from the late 1800's
Mrs. Henry's sewing box
Entertainment for the children
I loved this wedding dress and the antique camera that stood behind it
The Henry's formal dining room. Beautifully set to perfection!
This wooden panel is above another fireplace in a second sitting room.
All in all, this castle truly was a mansion of made with love. Every inch was beautifully designed and crafted with care. I am so happy that we took the time to visit it. On the same grounds is also an abbey that Mr. Henry built. Although it is only 150 years old and quite small, it was such a quiet haven for me. Even the walk through the wooded path along the lake was so refreshing to my soul. The ground also feature a large walled garden. Because we were pressed for time, we were not able to walk through that portion. I guess we will just save it for the next time. Here are photos of the abby.
Didn't I just write about how peaceful and pretty the walk to the abbey was? I really wasn't kidding!
This is Kylemore Abbey! Sitting on the edge of the lake with the mountains standing behind was an amazing sight
All curved out of stone. This little abbey was just as beautiful as was so many others here in Ireland!
Wow!!!!!
Beautiful stained glass
Sitting inside was quite the experience for me. I literally sat there for over 30 minutes! I needed it and my spirit really needed it! I truly found rest there
This whole trip from start to finish will always be a welcomed memory for me. Gosh, we saw so much and, at times, experienced many deep tender feelings. It was certainly all worth waiting so long to see every part of the trip. In closing, I would like to leave another spiritual thought with you. A question was posed to our small branch today from our district president. President Roy asked us to evaluate the following question, "Do you know the Savior or do you know of the Savior?" His immediate timed pause after asking the question just about stopped my heart. What a question!!!! And I have thought since that it is one of those great questions that we should ask ourselves frequently.
Seriously looking inside myself, including my heart, I think I can answer for myself that I go in either direction depending on the situation. So my next question to myself was, "Are you satisfied with where you are?" This answer for me seemed easier to answer. My answer to the second question was emphatically "NO!" So, since then, I now want to find ways of knowing Him better.
I also have come to realize that by applying all the many "primary" ways that all of us have been taught to do, like reading your scriptures daily, morning and evening prayers, obeying God's commandments, going to the temple, etc are just the beginning to come to know Him. I also know that for each one of us, to answer these questions for ourselves are very personal and that there is not just one way to come to truly KNOW Him. So, my quest changed again today. I so love that as I age, I can still desire to be even better than I have ever been. The prophets were right about one thing...and that is that it will take a life-time of asking, seeking and knocking to endure to the end. May we all recommit and make a greater effort to know Him. Elder Rasband promised me months ago in an all mission zoom meeting with him that if I will come to know Him better, I will love Him more, and if I love Him more, I will serve Him and my fellowman with all my heart.
Great post and pictures!
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