Ireland Update
| From: | Lynne Pettit (lynnepettit@msn.com) |
| Sent: | 11 January 2016 16:48:04 |
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been fun getting your letters this week and catching up on some of the things that are happening in your lives. Thank you for the time it means out of your busy lives. We hope you all are staying healthy and happy and feeling many blessings in your families.
Another week of mission work has passed with a pretty broad range of activities for us. Our assignment to train the stakes in Self Reliance is a little tough to see significant momentum increase, but we did make a little more progress this week. On Tuesday we met with our Mission President's counselor and wife to get their input on some of our plans for moving things forward. The meeting time was set up for 11:30 (half eleven) at our house, so naturally having lunch ready made it a little nicer time together. He is very supportive of our moving ahead on getting some of the classes organized as broadcast classes, and gave his insight of what might work best, based on what has been used in the mission for distance conferencing. We were glad to have his support for this, and made contact with the District who will likely use it most. Although this may be a good solution for other parts of Ireland, we think we will just pilot it in the Limerick District.
This week-end we are going down to Limerick, the southern part of Ireland, to meet with the District SR committee and the District Council for much of the day. We have been working for the last two weeks on our presentation, which includes our new power point project. We have thought we pretty much had it completed about 4 times, but maybe it will be in a constant state of upgrading as we use it and see its growing needs.
Tuesday night we met shortly with the Dublin Stake High Council and Auxiliary Council. Our main assignment was to introduce ourselves and what we are going to be doing, but we pushed it a little further and requested a meeting be set for just two weeks out where we can do a leadership training night. We offered to host a dinner for leaders and spouses, and it seemed to be the carrot that was needed to get an earlier date set. It seemed like a reasonable offer, but then we remembered both our apartment oven and the church oven combined are not as big as a regular American oven, so we are brainstorming ways to feed a hot dinner to about 60 with limited equipment. We are having to compromise a little, but we think we can still make it nice. We are so lucky that our apartment is part of the stake facility center so that we can add an enticement because the Stake is quite satisfied with their version of the program, which isn't much more than renaming the employment program. Unfortunately, what was given initially was not really understood well enough to bring 'conversion' and certainly not success, so we feel we are having to promote a whole new start. There is understandably a reluctance to give it a high priority now. There is always so much for leadership to do.
We won't try to "sell" you (yet) on the important steps Self Reliance takes to begin building Zion, but it is truly founded on inspired doctrine and principles. Our challenge has been to take all the materials and doctrines, some of which we are discovering for ourselves as we study scripture, and weaving it into a "digestible" initiative with practical steps that will help it succeed this time.
After the stake council meeting we also met with the Stake Counselor over YSA to get things going again for the Youth. He was very nice and they are happy that we can be a support, since YSA has diminished so much in the last 6-8 months. This area, Dublin, is a big youth center in the Republic of Ireland. There are big universities here that bring students from all over the world, which makes it a fertile field for sharing the gospel. The trick is to keep them active. There are far more converts that are not Irish than Irish themselves. Many of them are only here for 2-5 years, but their conversions will affect the world. So while they are here, the program needs to be strong. The YSA center here is not an officially designated, funded center, but maybe should be, and the local leaders are great to give it importance.
One of the outcomes of the meeting was a decision to replace the furniture in the YSA room. The kids wanted us to ask for it, but we worried about it because we didn't want to represent a big budget item at our first meeting. Never-the-less we did so that we could offer a new image. It was approved (with a pretty low allowance to spend--and we wondered if they gave us that amount to show it wouldn't be possible to get new) As we thought about it, we felt that maybe we should try to fix it first and then give them options of keeping the repaired old, or get new. So we went to the DIY store and bought a drill etc. and spent the next morning fixing the broken leg. We also combined filling for the throw pillows --which reduced the number of pillows to half, did some serious cleaning, and redid the bulletin boards. Then we took pictures of the improvements, and pictures of new sofa options and sent them to the stake leaders. Another brother was encouraged by the improvement and offered then to add a welded metal reinforcement to the furniture for a few hundred dollars. The final decision is still up in the air, but it looks like the new will be chosen.
With a few more meetings, a few assists with missionary teaching sessions, speaking in Sacrament Meeting, and general activities, we worked through what is probably a pretty normal week, except for ice skating with the YSA on Saturday. THAT was a really different experience. About 14 youth got on board with one girl's idea to go ice skating and so of course we joined them. We were so surprised to see what that meant here. The rink is outside at a carnival type park, complete with Lagoon style rides. We decided that Irish people keep the fun going during the winter for a few reasons. One the winter is not severe cold, but two, it maybe doesn't get much better ever! They even were enjoying the log plume style water ride! Everyone was dressed really warmly and buying carnival foods and lining up for ice skating. The line was long--about 30 minutes, and it started to rain a little but no one bailed. It cost 15 Euro/hour ($15) for a very small rink, very bad ice, dull hockey skates, and by the time we were on the ice it was seriously raining. The kids were excited though none of them were a bit good at it. It was mostly walk-slide around in a small circle and get quite wet! They were impressed that we would skate too and not just watch, but we were so glad to be done. Our plan was to get finished in time to go to a baptism in a nearby town, but the traffic was horrible, so we were glad we had a valid reason to go home and get dry and warm.
We are discovering more and more that we are really blessed to live where we do. We are able to eat mostly at home which saves us so much money. We don't have to drive every day, or ride a bus, which is also expensive, and we are close to the church with things happening there. On Sunday we had a couple join us for dinner after church who came to Ireland for a mission of their own choice because they didn't meet the health requirements and will stay just 6 months. They are really nice and helping as they can--but we appreciate that we have it so good, and their situation is much more costly and less comfortable. We are seeing that most recreation costs about $10, so we are happy to discover things on our own that are for now just fun to experience. Hence you are seeing us combining our exercise with our fun and not looking too official in some of the pictures. One of our adventures was a quick stop at the cemetery across the street. It is so big, so old, so Celtic, so dense, and so decorated with flowers. We jog around it and some other areas, so we have been interested in it. Many people are there every day, so we took a better look. We really thought the sign on the wall was interesting!
We are being blessed to stay healthy and feeling the Lord's blessings in our work. Things are not moving along with speed, but we realize that is not uncommon with building the kingdom anytime, or anyplace. We are grateful for many things--especially your love and support. We hope you feel our love for you, and hope you feel great blessings in your lives too.
We send our LOVE and pray for you ALWAYS!
Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa
It has been fun getting your letters this week and catching up on some of the things that are happening in your lives. Thank you for the time it means out of your busy lives. We hope you all are staying healthy and happy and feeling many blessings in your families.
Another week of mission work has passed with a pretty broad range of activities for us. Our assignment to train the stakes in Self Reliance is a little tough to see significant momentum increase, but we did make a little more progress this week. On Tuesday we met with our Mission President's counselor and wife to get their input on some of our plans for moving things forward. The meeting time was set up for 11:30 (half eleven) at our house, so naturally having lunch ready made it a little nicer time together. He is very supportive of our moving ahead on getting some of the classes organized as broadcast classes, and gave his insight of what might work best, based on what has been used in the mission for distance conferencing. We were glad to have his support for this, and made contact with the District who will likely use it most. Although this may be a good solution for other parts of Ireland, we think we will just pilot it in the Limerick District.
This week-end we are going down to Limerick, the southern part of Ireland, to meet with the District SR committee and the District Council for much of the day. We have been working for the last two weeks on our presentation, which includes our new power point project. We have thought we pretty much had it completed about 4 times, but maybe it will be in a constant state of upgrading as we use it and see its growing needs.
Tuesday night we met shortly with the Dublin Stake High Council and Auxiliary Council. Our main assignment was to introduce ourselves and what we are going to be doing, but we pushed it a little further and requested a meeting be set for just two weeks out where we can do a leadership training night. We offered to host a dinner for leaders and spouses, and it seemed to be the carrot that was needed to get an earlier date set. It seemed like a reasonable offer, but then we remembered both our apartment oven and the church oven combined are not as big as a regular American oven, so we are brainstorming ways to feed a hot dinner to about 60 with limited equipment. We are having to compromise a little, but we think we can still make it nice. We are so lucky that our apartment is part of the stake facility center so that we can add an enticement because the Stake is quite satisfied with their version of the program, which isn't much more than renaming the employment program. Unfortunately, what was given initially was not really understood well enough to bring 'conversion' and certainly not success, so we feel we are having to promote a whole new start. There is understandably a reluctance to give it a high priority now. There is always so much for leadership to do.
We won't try to "sell" you (yet) on the important steps Self Reliance takes to begin building Zion, but it is truly founded on inspired doctrine and principles. Our challenge has been to take all the materials and doctrines, some of which we are discovering for ourselves as we study scripture, and weaving it into a "digestible" initiative with practical steps that will help it succeed this time.
After the stake council meeting we also met with the Stake Counselor over YSA to get things going again for the Youth. He was very nice and they are happy that we can be a support, since YSA has diminished so much in the last 6-8 months. This area, Dublin, is a big youth center in the Republic of Ireland. There are big universities here that bring students from all over the world, which makes it a fertile field for sharing the gospel. The trick is to keep them active. There are far more converts that are not Irish than Irish themselves. Many of them are only here for 2-5 years, but their conversions will affect the world. So while they are here, the program needs to be strong. The YSA center here is not an officially designated, funded center, but maybe should be, and the local leaders are great to give it importance.
One of the outcomes of the meeting was a decision to replace the furniture in the YSA room. The kids wanted us to ask for it, but we worried about it because we didn't want to represent a big budget item at our first meeting. Never-the-less we did so that we could offer a new image. It was approved (with a pretty low allowance to spend--and we wondered if they gave us that amount to show it wouldn't be possible to get new) As we thought about it, we felt that maybe we should try to fix it first and then give them options of keeping the repaired old, or get new. So we went to the DIY store and bought a drill etc. and spent the next morning fixing the broken leg. We also combined filling for the throw pillows --which reduced the number of pillows to half, did some serious cleaning, and redid the bulletin boards. Then we took pictures of the improvements, and pictures of new sofa options and sent them to the stake leaders. Another brother was encouraged by the improvement and offered then to add a welded metal reinforcement to the furniture for a few hundred dollars. The final decision is still up in the air, but it looks like the new will be chosen.
With a few more meetings, a few assists with missionary teaching sessions, speaking in Sacrament Meeting, and general activities, we worked through what is probably a pretty normal week, except for ice skating with the YSA on Saturday. THAT was a really different experience. About 14 youth got on board with one girl's idea to go ice skating and so of course we joined them. We were so surprised to see what that meant here. The rink is outside at a carnival type park, complete with Lagoon style rides. We decided that Irish people keep the fun going during the winter for a few reasons. One the winter is not severe cold, but two, it maybe doesn't get much better ever! They even were enjoying the log plume style water ride! Everyone was dressed really warmly and buying carnival foods and lining up for ice skating. The line was long--about 30 minutes, and it started to rain a little but no one bailed. It cost 15 Euro/hour ($15) for a very small rink, very bad ice, dull hockey skates, and by the time we were on the ice it was seriously raining. The kids were excited though none of them were a bit good at it. It was mostly walk-slide around in a small circle and get quite wet! They were impressed that we would skate too and not just watch, but we were so glad to be done. Our plan was to get finished in time to go to a baptism in a nearby town, but the traffic was horrible, so we were glad we had a valid reason to go home and get dry and warm.
We are discovering more and more that we are really blessed to live where we do. We are able to eat mostly at home which saves us so much money. We don't have to drive every day, or ride a bus, which is also expensive, and we are close to the church with things happening there. On Sunday we had a couple join us for dinner after church who came to Ireland for a mission of their own choice because they didn't meet the health requirements and will stay just 6 months. They are really nice and helping as they can--but we appreciate that we have it so good, and their situation is much more costly and less comfortable. We are seeing that most recreation costs about $10, so we are happy to discover things on our own that are for now just fun to experience. Hence you are seeing us combining our exercise with our fun and not looking too official in some of the pictures. One of our adventures was a quick stop at the cemetery across the street. It is so big, so old, so Celtic, so dense, and so decorated with flowers. We jog around it and some other areas, so we have been interested in it. Many people are there every day, so we took a better look. We really thought the sign on the wall was interesting!
We are being blessed to stay healthy and feeling the Lord's blessings in our work. Things are not moving along with speed, but we realize that is not uncommon with building the kingdom anytime, or anyplace. We are grateful for many things--especially your love and support. We hope you feel our love for you, and hope you feel great blessings in your lives too.
We send our LOVE and pray for you ALWAYS!
Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa
Elder & Sister Pettit~
ReplyDeleteI am loving reading your blog! Richard & Cleone Allsop directed me to it. We got to know them when they were serving their mission in Montana. I served in the Ireland Dublin Mission in 79 & 80. (I was Sister Zeller then).
Your blog has so many sweet memories for me! Thank you for sharing the amazing work in Ireland!
Sidney Pitt