Dublin City Center Post Office--checking on a mail concern.  It really is a nice big building. 

           Out to lunch at Murrays with"missionary" friends, the Exons from Idaho.  "Missionaries"   because they made their own 6 month call to Ireland.  The church couldn't call them because of health concerns.  Aren't WE lucky to be here.   We had the best ribs!  We'll take you if you come. 

One Month and Counting

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Lynne Pettit

                                                                         

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From:	Lynne Pettit (lynnepettit@msn.com)
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Dear Family and Friends,
We are laughing a little at our title this week.. only 22 months left.   We remember as missionary parents how we would mark the charts so diligently--especially at the first...and the time seemed to go by so slowly at the first of the kids' missions.  It seemed like the pyramid of time was close to marking the time until the end of eternity,  and it was very long in between letters,---- and that was when the letters actually came regularly!   But after awhile, we got used to knowing they were gone and the time seemed to speed up.  Now we are on this end and feeling a little the same.  We usually have to think a minute to know what day of the week it is because we are always in Sunday clothes and of course always working on "church" things.   We haven't been able to establish a regular P-day when we feel we can really do whatever we want, so we aren't really marking the weeks with a day out either--but we are managing to know when to go to church and we get our laundry done.   We find ourselves at the grocery store pretty often because we seem to be doing as so many missionary couples...cooking, but we don't really mind. 

This week we have been working quite hard to finish some materials for the stakes where we are meeting and presenting Self Reliance trainings but we have also had some great experiences working with the elders and sisters.  We are so lucky to be able to do this and see the miraculous work happening right here.  The church in Ireland really needs to grow, so it is fun to experience it.  Sometimes we feel amazed that the investigators are accepting the gospel so sincerely. 

 

To share a few stories, we met again with Marcio, who is the accounting major.  He wants to know where the golden plates are and have some evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon, because he says if the Book of Mormon is true, htne the whole Church is true.  Smart conclusion!      I decided to should tell him the Martin Harris, John E. Godfrey story---that there were some who did see and feel the plates and see and hear the angel, but that keeping the plates in a museum would just cause a lot of trouble, so they were taken away.  He seemed to really appreciate the testimony and is so good to keep coming back to learn more. He also wants to know why if the church is true, are there so few members throughout the world.  We talked to him about how quickly the church IS growing, and fulfilling prophecy.  He is smart and cautious and we respect that.   He has such great questions.

 

We also met with Daniel.  It is surprising that he is 38 and single.  He has been in business in Brazil, and came here to study and help start up a branch of the business he works for.  He is also so sharp and understands the Bible very well.  The elders have taught him several lessons, and this one was on the Word of Wisdom.  We actually thought that he would have a problem with it (Brazilians like their coffee!), but, as it ended up, he started comparing the Word of Wisdom to the Mosiac health law found in Leviticus.  He wanted to know if we restricted our meat intake according to Old Testament rules.  It was cool to see him with the Old Testament open on one knee, and the 89th Section open on the other knee!  He really could be a strong leader in the Church, but we are going to have to hurry since he is leaving for home on the 28th of this month.  We saw him in church on Sunday, and he was dressed just like a Branch President (whatever that is like!)  I think we should fill up the baptismal font, have him stand next to it, sneak up on him, push him in, and call it good.

 

We drove to Limerick, southern Ireland on Saturday, quoting Limerick verses all the way. (not really, but maybe next time).   We left the "flat" at 7:15 in the morning, arrived at the Limerick District Center (same as a Stake Center without the meat), met for 2 hours with the District Self Reliance Committee, attended a baptism right afterwards, and then went to a 2-hour District Council meeting right after that.  And to think that Grandpa said that he didn't want to sit in any more meetings!  Seriously, the Limerick district is leading the rest of the country as far as their progress with Self-Reliance.  The stake committee is well organized, and have enough faith to re-group and try again after some initial failures.  It is really impressive.  We keep offering to help in any way that we can, but they are certainly not having us do it all.  We are excited about what they are doing, and are really close to starting a pilot effort at using technology to reach the rural areas and cut down on travel time.  We will keep you posted as that project progresses.  We really need to work on the District leadership to give them a vision of self-reliance.  

 

 There are some great castles down in Limerick that we want to stop and see sometime, but the weather was of course rainy, foggy, and  cold and we had things to get done back in Dublin, so we didn't linger in Limerick, other than that we went to dinner with Pres. Ryan and his daughter.  They are so fun and so genuine.    We felt blessed that just the day before the roads were quite icy, but the temps raised a few degrees, so although the fog was a little slow, we were safe.  The fog looked like a really spooky movie scene, the quaintness or Dracula's hometown or something. 

 

On Sunday, we wondered about attending another ward we should get to know too, but decided to support a few things here, like a new baptized member and some investigators.  We were really glad we did.  We went to the Gospel Principles lesson where the new members and investigators go and there were 5 strong investigators there.  One girl came for the first time and even bore her testimony how the Lord had been helping here get settled in Ireland and even led her to the missionaries.  It was so fun.  Another young married couple were there and I asked her if they had been married in the temple.  It was my way of discovering if her husband was a member.  She of course told me he was not but she welcomed the idea of starting lessons with him again because now he is reading the B of M of his own and coming to church.  We will start lessons with them this week. 

 

On Sunday, we had the YSA Broadcast of President and Sister Nelson.  The fireside message was so good.  We recommend you all take the time to see it on the church site.  Pres. Nelson talked about the Millennials, which applies to all of you grandchildren and youth in general. HIs message was really practical and helpful to us as well.  And we loved the part in Sister Nelson's  talk about George Q. Cannon.  We had about 20 YSA  come, which isn't bad, but we didn't know how many to expect,(hoped for more)  so we had too much food made.  The kids really enjoyed staying around awhile and are looking forward to us offering the leftovers at institute tomorrow.  We told them we would, but we wondered if the word got out because this evening the 2 sets of elders showed up at our house pretty close to dinner time.  We had been planning all day to go try a restaurant (pub) we had heard about, but didn't know if it was expensive or not so we couldn't offer to take them with us, so we decided to feed them at home.  We just got it cooked when the Sisters showed up---the miracle of the loaves and fished, since we hadn't planned for it at all!    We could have fed them the leftovers but it was easier to start on a new menu than plan again for institute group-- since they are planning on it, we couldn't let them down.

 

Of course everything is not easy and people are not lining up to learn about the church--everyone is having to work hard and be bold, but it is great to see it happening.  We are having to work hard to be creative to show the importance of the Self Reliance program ---especially since it didn't get a good start the first round.  And we have a lot to do to find a lot of lost young people to come to YSA, and not lose their faith.   We had a young girl come to our door wanting help with deep depression, and there are not easy fixes for her, but we are doing what we can to serve however we are needed everyday.   We really need and appreciate your prayers. 

 

We love you all.  We are glad we also know that Heavenly Father loves you all--and watches over you.  Stay strong.

Hugs and Kisses,

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Your Friends Elder and Sister Pettit

p.s.  no significant pix this week.  ( we will do better)