Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Monday, October 23, 2017

We are in a ward - the Finglas ward.  It fills the whole chapel, but the chapel is little so I don't know how many members that is.  We are also the only ward that meets in our building, but it is also the Stake Center for like half of the country hahahah. It is kinda funny because pretty much all of the members are Irish and all of the people that are recent converts or investigating are from other places.  Right now we are only teaching one Irish person.  The others are from BRAZIL, Croatia, Italy, The Congo, Argentina, etc etc etc.  

It got very cold here.  On Monday the "hurricane" was so fun.  Literally all of the stores in the city center were closed and had signs in the windows saying "We are closed due to extreme weather and will be open again tomorrow."  Good thing we got our food for the week before everything closed.  None of the buses were running and all of the bus signs said the same thing and said RED ALERT.  It wasn't even that bad, just windy.  We were still out and talking to the people that were out, which wasn't very many hahaha.  The next day was fine, but on Friday it POURED.  We tried to use the umbrella, but it didn't do anything.  We were soaked and could wring out our skirts.  We ended up going back to the flat for lunch and comp study and put all of our clothes in the drier (because we are smart, resourceful missionaries).  Then we went back out and got soaked again.  It was very cold, but luckily one of our appointments actually held, so we got the chance to be inside McDonalds as it was pouring.  When it's raining all day we just keep on keeping on.

One thing we do always is say "Woohoo."  It started as a joke because one of our zone leaders always texts us woohoo, but now we say it constantly.  I don't know why it's so funny, but it is.  We use it all the time, especially if we are having a rough day. woohoo.

THE PRIMARY PROGRAM WAS THIS WEEK AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING CUTER.  Just a bunch of cute little Irish children talking about choosing the right and following the prophet.  There were probably about 13 of them if I counted right.  I also started crying in the first song, but had to get it together so my investigators didn't freak out.  What a good week for two of our investigators to come to church for the first time!

We just walk into the city center.  Technically we live in the city center.  It takes us like 10 minutes to walk from our flat to the spire, so no need for a bike.

We are teaching a few people right now.  One is ____ from Brazil and he loves the church, but can rarely get work off to come to church with us.  If all goes as planned he will be baptized Nov 3.  We are teaching ___  who is also from Brazil.  He was supposed to get baptized the first week I was here, but works three jobs, so we could never meet with him.  He just quit two of them, so hopefully he can get baptized soon.  Another man we are teaching is named ____.  He is from the Philippines.  He LOVES coming to church, but never has time to meet with us, but hopefully he'll be baptized Nov 10.  Another is named ____.  He is from Italy and loves God.  He actually called us over to him one day as we were finding and told us he wanted to be closer to God.  He was supposed to come to church yesterday, but overslept, so we'll see how that goes.  They are all wonderful and just need to get baptized already!!!!!

Pray for sunshine, so I don't freeze.

Monday, October 23, 2017

Monday, October 16, 2017

Hola hola hola, 

We taught a lot of people this week and they are hopefully getting baptized on Nov 3.  Some of them were super excited.  One guy named ___ approached us and told us he wanted to quit smoking and come closer to God and get his life in order.  It was incredible and he was super excited to learn.  

SPANISH.  Wow.  On Saturday we taught the man who we contacted last week.  He spoke in Spanish 95% of the time.  Sister Scheib speaks zero spanish, so it was literally me trying to understand him and speak back in broken Spanish and simple English.  It was so draining.  It took everything I had to be able to teach him.  I was praying so hard to be able to understand him.  At the end we told him we wanted him to be baptized and he told us he already was like 15 years ago.  So basically it took everything in me and he was already a member.  Yeah. It was rough.   

Our flat is small.  It has one room with two beds, another room where we keep all our stuff, a little bathroom, and our main room that has a couch a table and a kitchen.  The kitchen is so small i can wash my hands and open the fridge at the same time and they are on the opposite side of the kitchen.

This week was crazy.  We had All-Ireland Conference and exchanges.  Exchanges were so fun and I learned a lot from being with another missionary.  

I love you so much!


Sunday, October 15, 2017

Monday, October 9, 2017 - Mostly answers to her mom's questions

The Journey:  Honestly it was awful.  I was in the middle of the plane and couldn't look out the window to see the Northern Lights that everyone else talked about.  I was next to two other sisters though.  I am taking after you and didn't sleep a wink on the plane.  I tried, but I could not.  The flight was sooo long, but we had a super strong tail wind and got there faster than we should've.  Amsterdam was lovely and flying in was cool from what I could see.  The flight to Scotland was much better.  It was only an hour and a half  - hallelujah.

Scotland:  We got to Scotland and were picked up by the AP's and Sister Donaldson.  It was so strange driving on the other side of the road.  PRESIDENT AND SISTER DONADLSON ARE ANGELS.  They were seriously so nice and loving and wow.  Everyone loves them and it is easy to see why.  We had interviews with President just briefly.  He told me that he could tell I was special and I had a wonderful spirit about me.  About three or so hours later I was assigned to Dublin and I was super excited because I had been there.  We took a bus the next morning to Glasgow, a ferry to Belfast, and then a bus to Dublin.  We left at 6am and didn't get to Dublin until about 6pm.

Companion:  Sister Scheib (like tribe).  She is great and has only been out for three transfers.  She feels super inadequate and like she doesn't know how to get around yet, but she is seriously great and so funny.

Area:  The same area we were in.  North of the river is our side and it goes out for ages.  We stay in the city center and meet every one of our appointments at the spire.  We walk, run, and bike everywhere.  

The work:  A lot of our day is spent finding aka we say hello to everyone we see and make some people stop and talk to us.  Most of the appointments we set up bail and so we just keep finding. We have taught threeish lessons so far.  One was in McDonalds with a Brazilian man who later dropped us because "he is sheltered by his grandma."  One was with a stubborn American man who didn't believe God loved us because there were poisonous snakes on the earth.  The last was with a man named _____ who we gave a pass along card to and he actually called us back.  We have another appointment with him this week.  He talked basically the whole time, but Sis Scheib and I both felt like we should just let him talk.  He told us there was something in our eyes and he couldn't describe what he felt as he talked with us.  Maybe you'll see a picture of him in white in two weeks ;)

Food:  I have had potato and leek soup and chicken and potatoes from members.  The rest of the food we have is brought to us by members (we had some salmon) or cereal or we eat out.  I almost died yesterday because there were two kinds of potatoes on my plate, but I poured gravy on them and choked it down hahahah.

My hair only freaks out when it rains.  It POURED the first night and it rained yesterday, but other than that it has been pretty decent weather.

I hope that answered lots of questions.  I tried.  I AM DEFINITELY A GREENIE AND PRETTY MUCH HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON BUT ITS ALL GOOD AND ITS THE LORDS WORK.

Random:  There are so many Brazilians here. WHY DO I NOT SPEAK PORTUGUESE.  I can say el livro di mormon and bom dia, but that's it.  I USED MY SPANISH.  We met a man named ____ from Argentina that has been here for a week.  I used broken Spanish and simple English to talk to him and he came to church yesterday!!! He was very interested.

I love you so much.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Okay first thing first. I'm already sick of the rain. I want the sun back. I can't believe how much snow is on Timp and how far down the mountain it came. I haven't broken into the Scotland/Ireland suitcase because I refuse. I probably should have, but oh well. It's probably entertaining for people to watch us sprint back from class in the pouring rain, in skirts, with a massive bag. It all works out. 

We didn't get to watch women's conference because they are having us watch it when the elders watch priesthood session, so I'll see it this Saturday instead. 

TRAVEL PLANS: we fly out on Monday. We check out of the MTC approx. 9:30. Our flight doesn't leave until almost 3. We fly to Amsterdam (holy cow that's a long flight and I'll probably die) and then to Edinburgh. Also I've been told that Edinburgh is actually pronounced Edinbra by some senior missionary here, so there's that. 

Missionaries do have "regular church," but Sundays are more like dad's. At 7:30 we have branch council, 8:30 is relief society, Sunday school (district meeting), and then Sacrament. After Sacrament we go to leadership training and then lunch. After lunch we go back to our classrooms and we sit for another two-ish hours studying or doing something the branch presidency has us do. Then dinner. This past Sunday we had a departure devotional because conference is next week and we won't have one this Sunday. Then we have the big devotional with everyone. Then we watch another hour long devotional of our choice. Then it's bedtime. 

All the days here are pretty similar. We go to class in the morning, study, teach, study, teach "exercise" and go to class again. 

When we teach we teach "investigators." We don't know anything about them and we just show up to our appointment. Some of them are actual investigators and we don't know who is who. Someone said in the last 6 months there have been 5 or 6 baptisms from doing this. It can be kinds stressful not knowing literally anything about them and being thrown in, but it's good and we see ourselves getting better at it every time. 

Last Tuesday Elder Cook came and spoke to us. It was awesome and we were on like the 7th row. We have another devotional tonight and they don't announce who is speaking until you're in the room, so I guess we'll see who it is tonight. 

LOVE YOU LOTS

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

FIRST E-MAIL FROM THE MTC

Okay...so they really throw you in the deep end here.  You leave the parking garage, lug your suitcases up the stairs (no elevator yayyyy), pick up 87 different papers, have an ipad checked out to you, get a room key, a name tag, and off you go.  You go with your host and lug your suitcases up more staircases to get to your room.  Before I even got to my residency I saw Paige Gardner and she ran and gave me a big hug as I had all this stuff in my arms.  It was a mess.  After you throw everything in your room you are ushered to your classroom where you get your companion and meet your district.
 
My companion is Sister Peterson.  She is from West Haven, UT (Roy).  She is the best.  She just did a year of school at Weber State.  We were both kinda shy and awkward at first, but now we are always laughing around each other.

Our district has 9 people in it.  Elder Brockbank, Elder Youlton, Sister Peterson, and I are going to Scotland/Ireland.  Elder Graham, Elder Parry, Elder Smith, Sister Pierson, and Sister Chyenoweth (Shanoth) are all going to Montana Billings.  We have a good time with each other and classes are awesome. We have two different teachers - Bro. Richardson and Sis. Fronk.  We have six hours of class everyday.  Three in the morning and three at night.  In between we have exercise time (which usually turns into the most pathetic sand volleyball you've ever seen), personal study, companion study, and all sorts of different meetings with our zone/branch/investigators, etc.

Another thing we do is teach investigators.  We have taught five different lessons already.  Three were with our investigator Humberto aka my teacher went into another room and took his tie off.  Two were to two other investigators that we are assigned in the MTC.  I think they all kinda start out rocky, but we're getting better!  The two lessons we had were stressful because we knew nothing about the investigators.  Also they tell us that about 1 in 10 are actually non members, so yikes.  Hahahaha it's all good.  We just try to rely on the Spirit.
 
Sister Peterson and I got assigned to be Sister Training Leaders.  Basically we carry a little flip phone around and answer it when it rings (which has happened once).  Tomorrow we get to welcome the new missionaries in our branch which is weird, because I still feel like a new missionary.

  Every time we walk past someone speaking a different language Sister Peterson and I say BLESS THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.  The MTC is stressful enough I'm so glad I don't have to learn another language.  All the missionaries that are speaking another language always ask "What do English missionaries even do?"  They all say it in a super bitter way too hahahha

The food?  Oh how I've missed the Cannon Center...NOT.  It's literally the exact same stuff I have eaten for the last 10 months of my life, but it's fine.

I see people I know all the time here: Paige Gardner, Aidan Newsome, Josh Vance, David Fronk, Chulyeun Park, Brynn Hoggan, Tyler McCauley, Brynn Hoggan, Mary Lewis, Spencer Schwartz, Kendra Cottam, Heemin Lee, Emma Holdaway, Sam Allred.  You probably don't know most of the names I just listed, but oh well.
 
Today our district got to go to the temple.  It was awesome, but also very sad because we probably won't be able to go to the temple for 18 months :/

LOVE YOU LOTS