'Tis a Fine Irrrish Day, It Is!


Hello Everyone!

        While the East Coast of the United States has been storm-bound, Ireland has been basking in unusually warm weather for this time of year.  From a low of 54 degrees at night, it will go all the way up to 57 degrees in the day.  The weather forecast is for "extended periods of partly cloudy skies," which is as close as they can get to "clear."  We really have had some nice days with little rain.  The daffodils are blooming in front of the house.  The bad news is that storms over the Eastern US eventually find their way to Ireland:  this is the first real landfall after coming across the Atlantic, so we are keeping the umbrellas handy. 

       An old Irish gentleman in the ward was explaining the Irish way of saying things.  The Irish always give the answer before the question is asked.  "Ye are well this mornin', are ye?"  "Goin' to the store, are ye?"  "This is where church is held, is it?"  It's just the way Yoda would say it:  "You want to become a Jedi, do you?"  We have also learned that when we are low on fuel in the car, we go to get petrol, not gas.  Gas is something you get at Taco Time.

       While we are on that subject, we must tell you our petrol (actually, diesel) story.  On the drive to Belfast (described below), we kept looking for cheaper fuel prices because we heard they were possible, and as we neared Belfast we finally saw a very low price, so we pulled over.  We had found the best price around!  The problem was that we had forgotten we had crossed into Northern Ireland where the currency is the Pound Sterling, not the Euro.  The prices were in Pounds, not Euros.  We didn't have any Pounds, so we had to exchange some money at a terrible rate.  Add that to the fact that the fuel prices in Northern Ireland are much higher than in the Republic of Ireland, and it turns out we didn't get a bargain at all.  If you look up the exchange rates and do the math, you will see that we ended up paying almost twice as much as we should have.  Chalk that one up to experience!  Just don't ask us to manage your investments.  But bet we don't do that twice!

        We are not sure where we left off in last week's letter, but we'll start with Monday night.  We were scheduled to teach with the Elders, but the appointment fell through.  After waiting for a while, we invited them over to our "cottage" for a snack.  They were joined by the other set of Elders in the ward, and after they had a snack, they said that they needed to go to the grocery store, so we took them.  In the grocery store, we decided that we really should feed them because they looked hungry.  (We think one of the MTC classes should be:  "how to put on the 'hungry look'".)  We picked up a few groceries ourselves and hurried home, where Grandma,  put together an absolutely wonderful meal.  Besides being a very good cook, she can be a very good, very fast, cook.  By this time the Sisters had showed up as well, so we ended up feeding all six of them.  During the meal, a girl from Slovakia who is here to find a job showed up, and she ate a little as well.  We got talking so long that Grandpa had to drive the Elders home, and Grandma stayed behind to visit with the girl from Slovakia.  By the time she left, we realized we hadn't eaten, (we didn't try out our faith to feed the 5000)  so we broke all the diet rules and had a late snack.  Just another night at the ol' homestead.  Fine night, it was!

      Tuesday turned out to be a long day, because we were preparing for our important meeting with the Dublin Stake Bishops, Stake Presidency, High Council, and their wives.  We had originally offered to feed them a meal, but they had to choose a later time and some couldn't come, so Grandma prepared a carrot cake to sweeten them up before we hit them with Self Reliance.  She is not confident about her recipes working  here but things are starting to work better and this was quite a success.  One of the High Councilors said, "This is to die for," as he went back for his third piece.  We ended up spending quite a bit of time polishing off our presentation during the day, but had less time than we thought we would because the Elders had asked us to teach twice in the afternoon.  The first was a no-show, but the second one was with our friend Daniel, whom we have taught before.  The session ended up going for more than an hour.  We all had very high hopes that we could get a baptismal commitment.  He seems so intelligent and interested, and we thought that the Spirit would move him to accept.  The Elders have done a wonderful job with him, and we are so impressed by their spiritual preparation.  One night we went over early, and the Elders were calling the other missionaries in the district to ask them to pray that Daniel might accept baptism.  We have seen these Elders bear fervent testimony and teach the doctrine so well.  What wonderful young men!  Daniel said that he needed more time to learn more, so we set up another appointment.

        Because that teaching session went long, we had to hurry to get the treats for YSA Institute put together (thankfully, there were some left over from Sunday night's broadcast gathering).  We barely got time to stick our heads into Institute class, and then start getting ready for the big meeting with the leaders.  By the time we got the TV hooked up and the carrot cake in place, we really didn't have much time to catch our breath.  The good news is that the presentation seemed to go very well (we are quite a team in a teaching situation!), and think they seemed to catch the vision of what needs to be done.  We followed the presentation with a set of "first step" commitments for each of them to make.  We are trying to follow the Self-Reliance pattern, which always involves a commitment after the principles are taught.  Learn-Ponder-Commit-Use Resources-Report.  We sent them home with the first of a series of packets we will send to them monthly to be used as resource material for short training sessions in their councils.  We know that it takes the big train a while to leave the station, but we are trying to be patient, and we are a little more encouraged.  After the bishops meeting was over, we rushed to the table to salvage at least two pieces of the carrot cakes for ourselves before those who were "circling" finished them off. 

       Wednesday morning we were able to sit in on a couple of hours of Zone Conference.  It was so good to see President Donaldson again, and we are really impressed with the Elders and Sisters.  President Donaldson is such a humble, loving man, belying the fact that he was once Amateur Boxing Champion for England.  He stood in front of the missionaries and said, "I need to apologize to you, and ask your forgiveness."  Evidently, one of the Stake Presidents in the mission wanted to show his appreciation for the hard work of the missionaries by taking one of the districts to "Star Wars."  President Donaldson felt from the beginning that it wasn't a good idea, but because he wanted his missionaries to feel appreciated, he yielded to the Stake President's request.  The problem came when other districts got wind of it, and went to the same movie - without permission.  As the president told this story, there we no recrimination, only his apology.  He said it was his fault, and he asked their forgiveness.  What a wonderful way to teach elders!

       We left the zone conference early to drive to Belfast (about 2 hours) for another bishops and branch presidents meeting.  On the way, we stopped for a short visit to "New Grange", which is a Stonehenge-like site out in the country.  It was very interesting to see the "monolithic" tombs built thousands of year ago, and the countryside is absolutely beautiful.  There is a great museum and tours, and we would like to go back when we have more time.  Once you leave the main roads, you begin to see the Ireland you read about:  lots of green everywhere, rivers, quaint old houses, churches, castles.  It is charming!   

      In Belfast, we repeated the presentation we had given in Dublin.  It was a little harder sell this time, (maybe because we didn't take cake?) but, by the time it was over, we felt good about it.  Most of the unit leaders seemed enthused, and we were a little more encouraged in this stake, as well.  We understand how easy it is to stay with routines, and not really get launched into new programs even if we can see how they will help build the kingdom.  Change and improvement are hard and a little slow whether it is for ourselves or for the church as a whole.   We resolved to renew our efforts to get in touch with the stake specialists (we had a bad phone number) and go back to Belfast to meet with them as soon a possible.  The Bishops' meeting didn't get started until after 8:00, so by the time we visited with some Bishops afterward, we didn't get on the road for the two-hour drive home until almost 10:00.  We were tired by the time we pulled into our flat.

      Thursday, after our almost-daily trip to IKEA (I KEY in Ireland) to get the couches we had ordered for the YSA room (some day we'll bore you with a lecture on poor customer service - this was our third trip, and still no couches) we met with the Elders to teach Daniel one more time before he headed for home.  The Elders were going to talk about the temple, but Daniel came with questions about Sabbath Day observance, and we never got to the more important lesson that he needed to learn.  As time ran out, the Elders asked him once again to pray and ask Heavenly Father if this was the time for baptism.  We had a long kneeling prayer together, and he replied:  "Not yet, I need to learn more."  We could tell that the Elders were very disappointed, but they didn't let it deter them.  We all told Daniel goodbye because he was leaving for home in Bolivia, and assured him that we loved him and wanted him to find the Church at home.  In analyzing the whole experience we are not sure where Daniel is coming from.  It is no doubt hard to get the courage to commit to change your life so much, but it could be that he has some things in his life that need to be cleared up before he can really feel the Spirit.  At any rate, we are going to write him and try to keep some contact.

      Right after our teaching session with Daniel, three of the YSA leaders came for a pre-arranged planning meeting.  We had made cinnamon rolls for a treat, but realized when they got here that they came directly from their college classes and hadn't eaten dinner, so we took them to the grocery store with us, bought the fixin's, and Grandma cooked up another wonderful (and fast) meal.  She's pretty good at this!  After the meal, we had a long meeting that went until 10:30.  We need to help these young leaders see what can be done through direct fellowshipping and missionary work, and not so much as just do the big expensive things, but  again, patience is the key.  We'll just have to show them what can be accomplished if you really set your mind to it.  By the time the meeting ended, the city buses had stopped running, so we had to take one of the group to his home downtown (about 20 minutes each way).  It gave us a good chance to visit with him, get to know him a little better, and help him catch the vision.  We were up late again, but it was a good chance to talk with him.  We remember the ride home because that's when we returned Deven's phone call to hear about the flooding at home---again!!.  We are so sorry that they have had to deal with this!  As spring comes, we probably need to look at an even better, permanent solution, even if it is costly.  We feel badly for Deven and Janeen (and their daughters with the flooded bedroom.)  We are grateful it wasn't too bad.

       Friday morning we had one of those small miracles that makes missionary work so rewarding.  We had been trying to get in touch with the Stake Self Reliance Specialists in Belfast for a long time, with no success.  Seemingly "out of the blue" on Friday, we received an email from a member of the stake presidency  that provided the one bit of information we needed to correct the phone number.  We dialed it, and Brother Bowen answered.  He was so glad to hear from us, and it was just in time.  He was so discouraged that he was getting ready to "resign" from this calling in a few days.    We told him to hold on, and we would be there as soon as we could.  We arranged to drive to Belfast on Sunday, go to church with them, eat a meal at their home, and talk about Self-Reliance afterward. 

      Friday was a "catch-up" day on all the paperwork that had been piling up after our training meetings.  We had follow-up emails, letters to leaders to write, organization of our notes from the meetings, and planning for future meetings.  And what a paperwork day it was!  We sat down at the computers about noon, and finished the last of the correspondence around midnight.  Except for a few minutes to grab lunch, we were essentially at the computers all day.  We're not sure how much it rained that day because we never got out of the house.  We are feeling a little more caught up now, but we feel it is very important to follow up quickly with our presentations and assignments so that the "spark" doesn't go out for the stake leaders.

     During our morning run on Saturday (our running route takes us around the perimeter of the largest cemetery in Dublin, but we're not dying to actually go inside the cemetery), we passed a dumpster with a really nice framed glass window in it.  We determined that we could use it for a green house (we think it would be fun to try to grow vegetables in a land with no sun), so after taking care of some errands to the post office and other places, we went back and did some "dumpster diving" to retrieve the glass.  It now sits safely in our back yard, awaiting the onset of spring to make it into something in which plants will thrive.  We can almost taste the fresh tomatoes already!  Wish us luck!

    Saturday evenng we were scheduled to teach an investigator with the sisters, but after a long wait with no show, we determined that it was dinner time for the sisters, and - you guessed it - Grandma cooked up another wonderful (and fast) meal for them. To be honest, they declined at first, but came over for some medicine and just sat on the couch looking too tired to go home.   We had a good visit and took them home afterward.  The average weight of the elders and sisters in this district has gone up 5 pounds since Sister Pettit arrived. 

     Sunday morning we drove to Belfast in time to attend the Bangor 1st Ward with Brother and Sister Bowen (SR specialists).  What delightful people!  They are from South Africa, have lived in Ireland for 13 years, and are so easy and fun to be around.  After church we went to their very nice little home for dinner (Grandma had cooked a knock-out chocolate pudding cake with whipped cream for dessert.)  We visited with them after dinner for about two hours.  That was the most exciting meeting we have had since we got here!  We left very pumped up.  They know the SR program very well, and have been trying so hard to make it go, and have received virtually no leader support.  They were very discouraged, and ready to quit, as mentioned above.  We had just a wonderful brainstorming session with them about ways that we can make this thing go, and outlined a very definitive path forward. We feel so strongly that the timing of our previous meeting and the growth from that, combined with the meeting with the Bowens is very orchestrated by the Lord's hand.   We are certainly going to be spending some time in Belfast (which, by the way, is a very nice city.)  At one point in the meeting, Sister Bowen got very emotional in explaining how alone they had felt until we got there.  I think the four of us really can work together to get things moving forward.  We already have one ward training set up, and Brother Bowen is doing some calling to set up more right away.  The two hour drive home was late again, but it went quickly because we were still pumped up and kept bouncing new ideas off of each other.  What a blessing that trip to Belfast was!

     So, that brings us back to Monday again.  After our regular trip to IKEA (today was a little more fruitful) -the couches were actually in stock this time, and since we had previously been given such a run around, they are going to deliver them for free!  They are supposed to be delivered tomorrow - we'll see if that really happens), we returned to prepare a dinner for a young couple from Brazil.  She is a member and he isn't, but has started reading the Book of Mormon on his own, and she is very anxious that he start the missionary lessons again.  We fed them dinner, had a FHE lesson (temple marriage was the topic), and played games.  They are very bright and they surely need to be sealed in the temple.  When he joins the Church (which we feel he will), that will happen.  For now, it will be fun just to do things with them.  The left-over chocolate pudding cake from yesterday made my night.  (Grandma says that Grandpa "wolfed it down.")

      This missionary work is fun, because it is so easy to see the Lord's hand in it.  Every day there are miracles, big and small.  We got to listen to a recording of the special world-wide training for missionaries, and it was wonderful.  The Lord is directing this Work as it fills the earth.  There are prophets and apostles on the earth.  The priesthood has been restored, and the Gospel in its fullness is here.  What more could we want? 

      We are so very grateful for your love and support.  We hope that we can be the kind of missionaries you would want us to be.

 

       Love,

         Elder and Sister Pettit

          Grandpa and Grandpa

           Mother and Dad

            Sister and Brother

             Leprechauns in training.  Aye!

 On the motorway to Belfast:  Not quite the Washington DC temple, but cool looking old church.

 This is New Grange.  Older than the Pyramids, circular monolithic tomb on horizon in center.

 Bridge over the River Boyne near New Grange.  Person in the picture is older than the Pyramids.

 Bridge over the River Boyne near visitors center at New Grange.

 Entrance to Visitor's Center at New Grange.  (bor-ing)

 Motorway bridge over the River Boyne. (Look up the Battle of  Boyne and St. Patrick in Wikipedia.)

 

 Coming into Belfast.  Don't ask what it is, because we don't know.  Nobody does.  Not Epcot.

 Road sign.  The traffic is on the other side of the road, so should we read the signs from right to left?

 

 Here's the big golf ball in Belfast again.

Nice Irish family outside the chapel in Bangor (by Belfast).  The daughter is going on a mission to Belgium tomorrow.