For the Beauty of the Earth

We had quite the week last week, and spilling over into this week.  Last week we made the drive all the way up to Dublin and  two drives up to Limerick.  Plus a crazy drive on P Day to find some castle ruins we had seen on one of our drives up to Limerick. More about that later.

Tuesday we attended our first All Ireland Conference.  This conference is held every 3rd transfer (a transfer is every 6 weeks), so that means we will be making the trek to Dublin often.  We left very early (5 am, yawn), picked up the Elders and made the four hour drive.  It was great to see all the wonderful young missionaries serving in Ireland.  Pres and Sis Donaldson and Pres and Sis Thompson were also in attendance.  The best part was being able to meet the other Senior Couples serving in Ireland.  There are 5 of us Senior couples here, all but one of which are doing MLS service as we are.  The other couple are the Self Reliance facilators and trainers. Ray and I were invited to bear our testimonies since we were the "new kids on the block".  We had an opportunity to meet just with the other senior couples and get a little better acquainted with how things are done here and what the other senior couples are up to.

All Ireland Conference
(the tall sister in the center is Shaun Bradley's daughter, for all you BYU BB fans who remember him)

When we told the Self Reliance couple, Elder and Sis Pettit, that we had not received any training in the Self Reliance program and had already taught two lessons, they were surprised.  They insisted that we needed training, so we set up a meeting with them to do so.  Because they live in Dublin and we in Tralee, we decided to meet in the middle in Limerick.

The conference went until 4 and we finally left Dublin by 5, arriving back in Tralee at 9.  It was a long day and tiring, but it was fun to be together with all the other missionaries.  And, by the way, commuter traffic in Utah county has nothing on the commuter traffic in and around Dublin!  Practically a parking lot for miles!

On Wed night we taught our second Self Reliance class to our Branch president and wife and their two non member friends.  Margaret and Shela and Ashley Ann have been friends for many years and so the conversation was quite lively and continually goes off onto tangents, but it is always fun.  especially when you sprinkle the conversations with their lovely Irish accents.  Just grand!  They had been doing the Self Reliance course when we arrived so we just picked up where the Wingets left off. Even though Margaret and Shela are not members, they insist on opening and closing prayers, they love the videos from church leaders and they want to know what the Prophets say about self reliance.
They are so excited that Ray is a financial planning background which they feel will be so helpful since both want to buy a house.  Ray has already given them a little advice which they so appreciated.

Thursday we drove up to Limerick to meet with the Pettits.  GPS gave us bad directions to the meetinghouse, but we drove around a bit and soon found the meeting house.  It is so nice that all LDS meetinghouses have a certain look, so we were able to spot the one in Limerick pretty easily.  We had a great meeting with the Pettits and they shared lots of great information with us and bore their testimonies strongly about the Self Reliance program as a great tool to help and uplift people,  as well as an added missionary tool.  It got us fired up even more about the benefits of Self Reliance. The Pettits are a great couple and we had a wonderful time with them.

On Fri we met with Trista, the new member to the Branch from Hong Kong.  She is going to the technical college, studying animation, and will be here for 4 years.  She came with one friend from her home, who is not a member.  She will only be going home for Christmas and the summers, and has no other family here, so we have determined to make the Branch her family for while she is here. Her English needs help, so we will be meeting with her every Friday to help her with her English.  She is a sweet girl and very bubbly and happy.

Friday night we taught another Self Reliance class to Valentine, a member of the Branch from Cameroon and Doris and her mother who are from Nigeria.  Doris' two children are members of the Branch, but Doris is not a member. Valentine is their friend.

Sat morning was the Comunnity Park Run, where we volunteer. They get a pretty big crowd every week and it is a good way to meet people from the community.  The Irish are very friendly people and love to meet new people so we have a lot  of fun meeting new people and chatting about Ireland.

Saturday afternoon we picked up Rukudzo who is our sole seminary student and drove back up to  Limerick for a Seminary student/teacher meeting with Pres McCrudden who is the Pres of the Belfast Stake and also the CES Supervisor.  He is a wonderful man with a delightful Northern Ireland accent.  He could have read the phone book and I could have listened to home all day.  Fortunately the information he presented was far more interesting than the phone book!  He has great enthusiasm for the Church and especially the Seminary and Institute programs and it is contagious.  However, I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed about teaching Seminary and all that is involved, until Ray reminded me that I only have one student, and because of Sis Winget, she is way ahead of the other Seminary students in this area.

After the meeting, we took Ru over to the nearby mall, which was one of the main reasons she came to Limerick. (Typical 17 yr old).  Unfortunately, she only got to go into two shops before everything started to close.  Can you believe a mall closing at 6 pm?  Unheard of in the US, but very common here.  Ru is a very happy and lively girl, so she and I had a rousing conversation all the way back to Tralee. (Poor Ray)

Our Branch president and family were away Sunday, so I knew our attendance was going to be low, as they make up about a quarter of the Branch. I took a head count as the meeting started and there were 12 in attendance.  A few minutes into the meeting, Nelly and Jennifer came in, followed by their mother Doris and her mother, Elizabeth, who has never been to an LDS meeting.  They were followed shortly after by Regina and Ru.  Then a few minutes after that, a man and a woman we didn't know came in.  We ended up having quite a good attendance.  After the meeting Ray was able to get better acquainted with Stephanie and Joe, who had come in last. Stephanie and Joe met at one of the hostels here in Tralee and decided to see if they could find the Church here in Tralee because Joe has been taking the discussions from sister missionaries in Dublin, but he travels a lot and has not yet been able to attend a meeting.  Stephanie is very interested in family history.  Stephanie agreed to meet with us to hear more about the Church.

Sunday night we made snickerdoodles and took them to several people.  Our neighbor, Katrina and her two daughters loved them and loved trying to say the name.  We tried to take some to Stephanie but couldn't find her at the hostel. We took a small bag to Messiah (pronounced Me-see-uh) at the yellow hostel.  Messiah is not a member, but has come to church occasionally with his uncle, Patrick who is an inactive member.  This time he came to church by himself.  We also met the receptionist at the hostel, named Clare.  She was a delightful, lovely Irish girl, very sweet and helpful.

This was not the castle we were looking for, since it is actually an old ruined church

Monday we spent a few hours looking for some castle ruins we had seen on our way back from Limerick after our meeting with the Pettits, but could not find it.  We did, however see some beautiful scenery, which was helped by the sun coming out occasionally, just at the right times

Nor was this the castle we were looking for

Nor was it this one.  Oh well, lots of fun looking for it, anyway.

Monday was dinner, FHE, and game night at Regina's, with her daughters, Alice and Rukudzo, Agnieska from Poland, the Elders and us.  We all enjoyed another round of Farkle, which has become their new favorite game.  Next up, we teach them Mexican Train.  Good times!

Sorry about the poor quality of the picture; but you can kind of see us.

That was our busy and exciting week.  We love what we are doing more and more all the time.  The people are wonderful and we are having a grand time!


HASTE YE BACK!

Our First Week in Tralee (with previews of coming attractions!)

Well, we're one week in, here in Tralee, and thought we would share a little of our schedule and some pictures of some of the friends we have made.

Monday is P Day or Preparation Day.  So far we have taken a little road trip down to Dingle. (see our last post for some pictures.)  We plan to see a few more places in the coming months.  We also do laundry and shop, (tho', I must confess, we have actually shopped almost every day this week trying to stock up a bit. )  We don't have much room in our tiny fridge, which is about the size of an RV fridge, so it necessitates more shopping.

Monday night is FHE which we spend at the home of Regina, Alice, Ru and Alfred.  Regina feeds us dinner, we alternate an FHE lesson with the Elders and then we play games.  Regina and children are AVID game fans.  Last Monday we introduced them to Farkle, which they thoroughly enjoyed!  Elder Hoppe especially got into it.  We are joined at Game Night by Agnieszka, an investigator the Elders are teaching.  In the coming weeks the schedule may change a little as we may be alternating FHE nights with another mom and her 3 children.

Tuesday is District meeting day.  We pick up the Elders and drive 2 hours up to Cork to meet with the Elders and Sisters in our district.  Ray sits in with the missionaries for their meeting and I cook them lunch.  Last Tues the Zone Leaders joined us.  The tortilla soup was a hit with everyone!

This Tues. we will pick up the Elders and drive 4 hours up to Dublin for the All-Ireland Conference.  These are held every 3 months and include all the missionaries in Ireland and Northern Ireland.  We'll also get to meet all the other Senior Couples that are serving in Ireland.  Since the meeting mostly focuses on the young missionaries and proselyting, us oldies usually sit in until lunch, and then we go find a room and just visit.  Since we are so spread out we don't see other Senior missionaries except at these All Ireland conferences, so it will be good to have an opportunity to visit and pick their brains about the mission and what they are doing.

Tues night is Branch Council meeting.  We drive out to the Branch President's  house and meet with him, Sis. Knight, his wife, the Elders and the second Counselor, Bro Boylen.  We discuss branch business, how the missionary work is going and set the calendar.  Pres and Sis Knight are stalwarts and the backbone of the Branch.  Their 4 children make up the entire Primary.

Wed night is RS activity night.  Mostly we gather to do crafts, learn things and perhaps go out to eat together.  Sis Knight has two best friends, non-members, who usually join in, as well as Sis. Nash.  This week Lori will start teaching piano lessons to the Branch President's daughter, Lauren, with the hope that she can eventually become the Branch pianist.

Thurs is the night Ray teach the Self Reliance lessons to the Knights and their friends, Margaret and Sheila.  They are all good friends and the discussion is lively, sometimes going way off the rails, but we have fun discussing the aspects of being self reliant,.

Friday, Lori is responsible for teaching Seminary to Rukudzo, or Ru, who is a fun, vivacious 17 yr old. I have only taught one lesson, but I think we will have a lot of fun while learning the New Testament.

Sat morning we volunteer at the Community Park Run.  This is a weekly event held at a beautiful rose park in Tralee, rain or shine, all year round.  We go at 9:30 to get the instructions for the post we will be working that day, and by 10 all the runners/walkers have shown up.  There are some little preliminary rah-rah remarks, and then they blow the whistle and everyone takes off.  They run 3 laps around the park perimeter, get their tag to scan and then go home.  A few members of the Branch participate, as well as the Elders. So far, Ray and I just volunteer; last Sat I was a time-keeper and Ray was one of the photographers.  It is a fun activity, and the people knew Elder and Sis Winget, our predecessors, so they have accepted us with no problem.  We are simply the new Wingets!

Us, the Elders, Margaret, the Knight family and James, Margeret's nephew at the Park Run

Sunday is a busy day!  Church is at 10 and we arrive around 9;30 after picking up Agnieszka, and probably other members in the future.  Lori is now the Branch pianist and Primary Pianist, as well as the Jr. Primary teacher.  Ray teaches Gospel Doctrine and is the one of the Counselors in the Branch Presidency, (not sure which, yet, as he has not yet received his official assignment). It is interesting to sit in church with just a small handful of members, after years of being in full-to-bursting wards.  Yesterday we added a new member, a Chinese girl from Hong Kong who is attending the Technical College here.  She will be here 4 yrs, so we want to put our arms around her and make her feel like a family member of the Branch. Her English is not very good yet, so we will try to help her with that. Yesterday, we also had a visitor. When he sat down I thought, "another Asian man. I wonder if he is an investigator." Imagine my surprise when he stood up to bear his testimony and said he was from Houston, Texas!  Church is always full of surprises!

Sunday evening we go to the Knight's house for dinner.  Ashley Ann, is a wonderful cook and we will enjoy many delicious meals there, I'm sure.  They live outside of Tralee in a little village called Abbeydorney, surrounded by green pastures.  It's always a nice trip out to Abbeydorney.

In between all these activities, we shop, visit people, prepare lessons, drive the Eders here and there, pick people up and take care of household business.  Last week, Lori made some cookies and invited in some of the little neighborhood girls to help.

Sis Walker with Leah, Sofie and Leila

As you can see, there's hardly a dull moment for us here in Tralee.  We are loving it and looking forward to see what the next 18 months brings!


HASTE YE BACK!

There is Green Hill Far Away

Ireland is called the Emerald Isle, and for very good reason.  It is SOOOOO GREEN!  Everyone told us that it was very green, but until you actually see all the green, you don't really quite understand what that means.  The green here is an entirely different shade of green.  Ray keeps telling me that it is the same green as at home, but it's not.  Somehow it is a lighter, greener, more vibrant shade of green than I have ever seen. Even when it is overcast and rainy, it is still a vibrant green.  When it is sunny, it looks florescent!  And the green is EVERYWHERE!  Through the pastures and meadows all the way up the hillsides and over the top.  Every pasture is fenced off by using hedgerows.  All this makes for a beautiful green patchwork.  It is inspiring thoughts of an Irish patchwork quilt when I return home. In the following pictures, however, because it is rainy, you can't really get an idea of the emerald green I'm talking about.

Along the drive to Dingle

On Monday, we picked up the Elders and took a drive down to Dingle. Dingle is a town on the farthest southwest tip of Ireland. The natives like to say that it is the last stop before you get to NYC!  Unfortunately, we chose a day that was one of the first really rainy days in the last 4 months, so it rained hard on us all the way down, while we drove around, and all the way back. It was so rainy that the only stop we made was to take a picture of Fungi, the Dingle Dolphin.  The story of Fungi is that a dolphin somehow made his way into Dingle Bay and stayed, and became a sort of mascot for Dingle, so they immortalized him in a statue.

Fungi, the Dingle Dolphin

Yesterday we had District meeting with our District and so we drove the Elders and ourselves up to Cork. We drove through the pretty town of Killarney on the way.  We'll definitely have to go back and look around there.  Maybe at Christmas!

As we drove down from Edinburgh through Scotland, we noticed this delightful sign as we drove out of each town and village.  I liked it so much, that I think I will end every post with its instruction..

Haste Ye Back, Family and friends, to our blog.