Brexit Happened!

Dearest Family and great Friends,
We start this letter with news of the United Kingdom, and the history-making voting results that are facing this area.   We imagine that you are quite aware of the news yourselves, but we thought it may be of interest for you to know what the locals are saying and the general feeling here.  First of all, we should explain that we don't watch TV even a little, and yes we do have internet that pops up headlines, but we have not followed the political opinion issues closely--except through the members we talk to.  The idea of Great Britain leaving the EU has been a little bit of discussion ever since we arrived, but it has seemed like most people thought it was just a nutty waste of time, (and something to speculate over like the crazy options for the U.S. elections) ---until lately, and then we have been feeling like quite a bit of sentiment was rising, especially in Northern Ireland which is of course part of Great Britain. 

The Republic of Ireland saints have not said much about it, but it is easy to overlook that the two parts of the Emerald Isle are two countries with entirely separate politics---and the decision to stay in the EU or not is not even partially the business of the Republic.   We share all this background because feeling the strong opinions of those who favored leaving the EU, we were not surprised when it indeed won out.   But yesterday we had a fun dinner with some members (in the Republic) and the discussion bounced around between the football (soccer) finals,  the EU  vote, and the immigrant issues.  It was indeed lively!  

The surprising thing for us to learn was that the economists of the UK were seriously surprised with the result.  They did not think it would pass and so no plans were made for what would happen to the stock market.  Reminders again, that we don't follow the news, just the feedback from real people--and now there is a bit of a shock wave hitting everyone.  Apparently the polls were heavily stacked towards the proposition failing, but the reason it passed is that the younger people (who are not happy that it passed because of the ramifications that it will have for the future,) were complacent and didn't vote as heavily as the older generations who did not want their earned economic strength to be lost as Europe faces the challenges of the refugee crisis.

So what does this have to do with our mission?  We honestly are not sure, but we feel it will be making some impact not too far down the road.  As the details of the consequences unfold, there are speculations about many things to be affected.  Some will be economics, some will be just red tape:  the now invisible border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland will not remain invisible, nor will passage to England be so easy.   It is quite certain that the refugee issues will become more serious and the prejudices become more obvious. 

As it is right now, we are learning that there are a number of places that house refuges, but most refugees in Ireland now are from Africa from some years ago.  Some have been here as long as ten years and have been moved from one facility to another, but all of them are basically the same.  The government has purchased older hotels and each family is given a hotel room.  They have a small fridge and a microwave but nothing else for a kitchen because they eat all three meals in a common area.  Regardless of the family size they have one room. 

 

 In addition to a room and food they are given equivalent of $20 week for other expenses--but no job,   They are however able to take some classes, and some are wise enough to take advantage of this while they wait for a work permit or citizenship---which some ladies still do not have after 8 years.  Unfortunately they did not get started right off with their education because they thought their situation would be quite temporary, but has been so long.  The sad thing is this arrangement is a huge drain on the economy, so Irish and European citizens are feeling that the refugees come with the intention of taking advantage of all the free social benefits and not having to work, and they are not very welcomed.  In reality the refugees would be happy to work.   We know a person's self esteem and spiritual growth are linked to being able to be self reliant, so they are not really happy at all.  On the other hand, if they are given the permits to work soon, they are so happy to work, and  they are very willing to work for any price and so they are underpricing the Irish laborers.  Again, they are not welcome. 

 

As we had dinner with the two fun Irish families, we heard what seemed like a most candid review of what the real political issues are.  These saints are making a huge effort to follow the council from General Conference and befriend and welcome refugees, but just like Americans who don't really want to have many Hispanics, the Europeans don't want to feel like they are losing their nation, their benefits, their safety, etc., to immigrants.   And so as many countries have so much corruption and violence and good people feel they need to flee no matter what the cost, the problem becomes more widely spread.  Many of these people are the professionals who have enough means to try to escape, and they are risking everything for a better life. 

 

This week we have been especially aware of these things because we had a special presentation at the Stake Women's Conference from a lady who spent a week helping at a Syrian refugee camp in Greece.  She seems to know the situation very well and is trying to get the members to be ahead of the government effort. 

 

We also are acquainted with a younger man who came from Iraq a few years ago and is now studying the gospel with the missionaries.  We assisted in one of his lessons and then helped him with his job search efforts.  He has been taking courses to especially prepare him for a career with  airline services and  was finally given an opportunity to interview.  Just getting an interview was a huge step to success and he was preparing with full effort.  We felt he had a wonderful chance because of his fine qualities, but the week of his interview he received news that his father was seriously injured by a car bomb and is in intensive care.  He was so devastated that he said he did not go anywhere all week until his interview and then he did not do very well.  We feel so sad for him.  Finally on Saturday night he came to the Church for our movie night with a few investigator friends and he seemed a little better just to be out. 

 

One time when we  were talking with him, he told us about a time about 10 years ago when a car bomb went off across the street from where he and his mother were shopping.  He saw that people needed help and against his mother begging him not to go, because many times there is a second attack on those who rush in to help, he went to the rescue.   He said it was a horrible and difficult thing to do, but he hates the violence of his country and needed to do something good.   He is such a great person and we really hope he can have some miracles now for his life:   having his father live, a good job, and discovering the gospel.  Stories such as his definitely help us keep things in proper perspective.

 

We have been keeping you updated on the swans and their babies that we see on our morning jog.  The young swans are getting quite large, but they are still not very pretty.  We were thinking about this as we taught a Self Reliance seminar to a youth group in one of the wards.  We were trying to get them to realize their true potential as sons and daughters of God, so we showed them the video of President Uchtdorf telling the story of the ugly duckling.  We would like all of our grandchildren to look at this video and think about how wonderful they really are.  (It can be found on lds.org) 

 

We had a neat experience Sunday night.  It was the last class of our Self Reliance Foundations series that we have been teaching every Sunday night in Clondalkin.  We have come to really love the saints who have been attending, and it was an emotional experience to know that our weekly meetings were ending.  We had a little "graduation ceremony" in which we presented them with a remembrance gift.  We were surprised when they presented us with a gift as well:  some beautiful flowers and a very nice box of candy, accompanied by a sweet card.  We've really made some wonderful friends here.  The pictures that accompany this letter are of this group of friends.  What wonderful people!

 

Well, hope this letter hasn't been too boring.  We certainly are keeping busy.  As Sean O'Malley would say:  "On Prancer, on Vixen: it's off to Cork and Tipperary and Limerick and Letterkenney and Dundalk and Skerries and all other points on this fine isle of Ireland, it is!  May yer pockets be heavy and yer heart be light, Aye!

 

We send our love and prayers and hugs.  We think about you continually and pray for you constantly.

 

Love,

 

Grandma and Grandpa

Lynne and Lanette

Mom and Dad

a.k.a. Sean and Susan O'Malley    

 

 This is the Cole family, who have been attending the class.  We didn't have very many in attendance this night because of the Ireland-France soccer game, but these folks have been stalwarts.

Rebecca and Addison Cole.  Rebecca is a great little pianist and a babysitter for the class.  She cares so much for her younger sister.

 

 Graduation night.  The numbers were few because of the soccer game, but the Spirit was strong.

 

Here is the class again. 

On a Roll with SR

Dearest Family and Friends,

It is so good that in the Creation, the week was invented.  It gave us a way to divide up time, with a beginning and an ending.  If we didn't have weeks, all the days would just run together and we would not be able to keep things straight--especially when we are on a mission ---dressing in nicer clothes everyday and trying to do the Lord's work every day.  Even with weeks, we find things seeming very similar from one day to the next----thankfully with special highlights and always meeting new great people, but fairly often we have to stop and figure out what day of the week it is.  So today is Monday, and time to write home again.   We remember when the boys were on missions and sometimes (fairly often really) they were not so careful to remember that a week had passed and their family wanted to hear from them.     Deven did the creative thing and sent us a stack of post-it notes with quick little messages, like "doing great" and "keeping busy"  etc. for us to tear one off each new week in place of the letter.  We on the other hand have plenty to tell about, but we hope our letters don't begin to sound the same: lots of people, lots of travel, lots of lessons and lots of little miracles.

Our letter this week actually feels like it should go back to the week before and piggyback the events that have been on a roll for 2 weeks now, since last week we mostly wrote about our opportunity to see the first edition of the Book of Mormon. You may remember that two weeks ago we had our Area Supervisors here for most of 5 days.  We had hoped that we would be busy while they were here so they would feel the time was well spent, and they could get a good idea of what we are doing---and it was busy--and hasn't really slowed down.  It makes us happy when we can be busy, but it also makes us tired!   So starting with this Tuesday, we had to leave our supervisors to catch their own ride to the airport so that we could drive to Belfast (2+ hours each way) for a Mission Conference where we trained some Elders who are almost ready to go home.    We rushed home from that event for a service project to finish off our Finance Class that involved taking a dinner/party  to one of the participants who had just had a baby.  It was a rush job--but fun to all meet her husband and see the new baby.

Wednesday was repeat of the Missionary training effort except we didn't have to drive, so we were able to spend more time in the meetings ourselves, but again spent 2+ hours training the missionaries going home.  This is such a fun training to do because there is so much spirit in missionaries who are almost ready to go home.  They are so energetic yet humble , so polite but fun, so spiritually strong, but so real.  We feel that we are getting a glimpse of heaven as we are seeing young people who are nearly perfect.  

Following the conference we met with a new group we have been working to get together and started a Job Search Class.  We had 5 in attendance again with 4 being investigators.  It is not going to be an easy group to keep together so we are trying to sure it up by asking a few members to also attend for support.  We feel we can offer some real help to those in the class and  really want it to work.  We will see how it goes--but we love working with the investigators and seeing them grow.

And to end this wonderful day we had the rare treat of going to one of our student's home for dinner.  The lady is from France and knows her cooking!  We were delighted to find her home in a beautiful setting about 30 minutes commute from Dublin where she works.  She lives on the top floor of an apartment building that overlooks both the ocean and the beautiful green nearby mountains area.    Her home is surrounded on three sides by windows and she setting is just peaceful.  We think we will keep in touch with her and find out when she is going out of town, so we can go stay there as an ideal retreat.   With no responsibility except to take a hostess gift, we had a wonderful evening of delicious food and delightful peace. 

Thursday really picked up the pace again, with an almost comical relay of events.  First we drove out to Clondalkin for the refugee effort.   Everyone from the ward had a conflict that morning and we talked about cancelling, but they are working towards consistency so we said we would cover it alone.  Only one lady came and she was in a hurry to get to another thing she had to do, so we were glad that it wasn't long because we were also supposed to meet the Rueckerts from Frankfurt at the airport with a piece of luggage they had left ---and the timing became earlier than planned.

 So fortunately we met that deadline and good thing it went early because we then had a surprise lunch opportunity with a very recent convert Brazilian young man who was going home that same day--and we wanted to tell him good-bye and give him our parting counsel.  It worked out to be lunch for 5 of us, with tender mercies of having good food on hand for no particular plan.  It was special to be able to teach him a few parting things like Priesthood and Patriarchal Blessings.  It is wonderful to be able to share such amazing doctrines with someone of such faith for the first time.   His eyes went wide open to even think that such blessings were ahead for him. 

Continuing the "relay" , we then helped an investigator from Iraq with his CV.  He is such a gentleman and so grateful for everything.  He is in the new class we are starting for Jobs.  ----And then we dashed off to take Vinicius to the airport for Brazil--he almost missed the plane because he was more interested in saying a proper good-bye ---and it was rush hour!!  Grandpa did a series of incredible slick (kind-of illegal) driving tactics that got us through the impassable mess and he caught the flight.  That done, we took off for meetings in Mullingar an hour away--and arrived with a few minutes to spare.   The class we taught there went so well.  It was a Finance class for a small branch.  That night only 7 came, 6 of them the same family (parents, married daughter and husband, and married son and wife) It was a treat to be a part of such an insightful family effort with a gospel program.  They truly showed such love and support for each other and desire to learn and grow together. 

Friday was still keeping the pace although we had planned to not make it so big--just drive to Cork (3 hours),teach 2 classes, and stay overnight.  But as we looked at the options, we decided to really pack it tight as well, so we could best use the time.  First we remembered that we had talked about making the 5:00 class a dinner class and so we had to put together a meal that would travel---Hawaiian Haystacks (but the rice turned out awful!!)   Then the chance to have a meeting with the Mission President that morning turned into a lunch meeting for the Presidency and wives--and two meals in one morning don't make for excellence--but the meeting was a great opportunity for us to discuss some SR goals for the mission.  We had the car completely packed before the lunch and the wives  pitched in at the end to do dishes so we were able to take off in record time and arrived with 10 minutes to spare. 

The classes in tiny little Cork Branch were amazing.  The people were so happy to be there and so appreciative to us for coming.  This is thrilling since we had worried they would never make it happen.  They have three classes, one on Thursday night and the two that we facilitated on Friday night.  We made the 3 hour drive home after the last class, pulling in at midnight.

Saturday morning found us getting together some food (hot dogs) for a YSA beach party in the afternoon.  A beach party in Ireland always includes a sweater (65 degrees and overcast - not a bad day in Ireland), but it was a fun get-together.  Grandpa even scored a goal in ultimate Frisbee and sustained a small cut over his eye as he was tackled in the process.

We left the party early to make the 2-hour drive to Belfast to attend the wedding reception of the daughter of our good friends who used to be Self Reliance specialists.  They had a wonderful party in their back yard (oops - back garden, sorry), and seemed to really appreciate that we would drive up there especially for the occasion.  They are from South Africa, and have two daughters, both of whom are attending BYU.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  It was a little cool (65 degrees and overcast - not a bad day for Ireland) but really fun.  The drive home saw us pulling in at midnight again.

Sunday morning we were on the road early again to Sligo - another 3 hours away.  The little branch really seemed to appreciate our Self Reliance Sacrament Meeting talks and combined meeting presentation, and the Branch President was tearful when he said that he felt this could really bless his branch.  We will follow up closely to make sure that things get going.  We may not always follow the procedures precisely, but we are committed to finding the "one" or "two" that can be blessed by this program.  The drive home got us here just in time to turn around and make the 20-minute drive to Clondalkin for our Sunday night Foundations class.  This class has been a great blessing to us, and we will be sad to see it come to an end next week.  By the time we got home after class we decided we had a right to be tired.

Just one more story, which we feel illustrates the very essence of Self Reliance. After our lunch with the Mission President, he told us about the journey he has made in his life.  His father owned a business and pulled him out of school at age 12 to help.  He never had the opportunity to get a high school education.  It wasn't too long until the business began to fail, and young George Donaldson found himself without work or an education.  He became an excellent boxer, eventually winning the England Amateur Championship.  This earned him a little money, but still no education.  He found the Church, and eventually went on a mission.  After the mission, he married a wonderful young lady and found that he needed to provide for a family, still with no education.  He decided to join the police force (his boxing skills came in handy), but in order to become a policeman he had to pass an exam, which he couldn't do.  He literally stayed up nights to prepare for the exam (still with not formal high school education), which he passed and began his career as a policeman.  During this time he was called to be a bishop and then a stake president. He decided that he wanted something better than a career in police work, and applied for work in Church Education.  The problem was that he needed a degree to become a part of CES.  He still had no high school education, but with his family's support, he worked through the night many nights to get his degree.  He became an Institute teacher, Area CES Coordinator and YSA Director, Area 70, and now Mission President - all without a high school diploma.  His story is the essence of Self Reliance.  He had to overcome tremendous obstacles, do things that nobody thought he could do, and pull himself up from mediocrity to excellence.  This verse comes to mind:
      "The heights by men achieved and kept,
       Were not obtained by sudden flight.
       But they, while their companions slept,
       Were toiling upward in the night."
We love President Donaldson for his leadership and all that he teaches us by example.

Well, enough for this week.  It was fun to FaceTime with some of you on Father's Day (pretty much a non-event in Ireland).  We miss you and pray for you and love you and worry sometimes about you and pray for you some more and enjoy hearing from you and know that you all deserve the Lord's choicest blessings because you are such good people.  We are the luckiest missionaries to have your support!  This Work is wonderful.

Love, and more love,

Grandma and Grandpa
Mom and Dad
Lynne and Lanette
Elder and Sister
(a.k.a. Sean and Susan O'Malley - Aye!)

 

                                         Last-minute farewell dinner for Vinicius (next to Sister Pettit)
                                         just prior to his leaving to go home to Brazil.  Both he and David
                                         have joined the Church in the past 6 months.  Wonderful friends!

 

                                          YSA beach party.  (Getting a sunburn is difficult in Ireland.)

 

                                          Grandpa found out that Ultimate Frisbee is for anyone
                                           younger than 68!

 

 

 

More Ultimate Frisbee.  We had a hard time coming up with a common uniform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Edition of B of M

Dear Wonderful Family and Friends,
We hope our weekly writing arrives in time for your regular  FHE reading time, and that it finds you all well and blessed.  Our week has been a little different since we have had our Area Directors from Frankfurt, Germany here with us--- although the main events have not changed by them being here, we did take some extra time yesterday to show them around Dublin, with a little more than normal P-day, and the great experience of the Book of Mormon we want to share.

So perhaps that is as good a place as any to start:  Dublin is a very old city and Ireland is a very old country, so as you know there are for example, castles and cathedrals that date much farther back than anything in the U.S.  ---and we made an effort to share some of the heritage with our Directors because this is the first time they have been in Ireland.   One thing we offered to show them was the Book of Kells, the oldest Bible known, which had been carefully copied and ornately decorated by monks in the 800's by the Kells, or the Celtic people of Ireland.  It is on display (you may remember we went to see it in January) in the Trinity University Library which was the first University of Ireland dating from the 1700's.   The line (queue) to see the Book of Kells is very long and a bit pricey, so we also offered to try if we could indeed see the First Edition copy of the Book of Mormon we heard was in their library.  We went into the general student library and made the request.  At first it seemed they would not be able to accommodate us, but having heard it was indeed possible, we pressed the request a  bit more and got an appointment to come back, allowing them time to pull from the shelves for us.

When we returned 1 1/2 hours later, we registered our ID and were shown the way to the old books area, which we joked was a tricky way to  quietly dispose of Mormons and was the real reason they needed time to prepare for us, but after a windy walk down narrow cement hallways and a ride on the creepiest elevator to the 2nd floor, we indeed did arrive at the "Early Printing Collection area.  We showed our request forms and they were prepared.  They handed us a nice looking book shaped box, showed us how to open it, and showed us where we could go to look at it.  It was a real treat!  Unlike anywhere else we know of, they allowed us to hold, read, and photograph the book all we wanted to.  Apparently their collection of books makes a book from 1830, not too incredible, but although they were respectful, few would really know the full value beyond the monetary value, of this wonderful edition.

One thrilling part of holding the first edition of the Book of Mormon, was knowing that although it has been handled by many people since 1830, it originally was held by the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1830, and is the original format that the B of M had.  Although the book was not stored in any special environment except a nice protective book-like  box, it was in remarkable condition.   It is bound in a soft, but firm,  light brow leather covering and the pages are quite tan colored with some dark spots, probably oils from handing it. on most pages.  There are no torn or crumpled pages, showing that it was carefully, hopefully reverently, regarded from the beginning.   As you probably know, its printing format is quite different and we took time to notice some details.  We are very grateful for today's heading and footnote referencing, but without designated verses, it reads like a story book, with some chapters, but not nearly as many as today. 

In side the front cover were a few original newspaper clippings describing "Joe Smith" which were also fascinating.  Our feeling upon seeing and handling this precious book was a desire to sit down and just read it like a novel, and explained in our minds how historical stories tell of early converts doing just that, sitting down and reading almost without stopping.  Without being able to explain why, there was an almost tangible feeling of closeness to the writers from Nephi to Mormon and Moroni, and certainly to the Prophet.  It is hard to explain how a book we love to read daily could mean even more to see and hold in its original print form.  We were so grateful for the experience and will send at least some of the many photos we took.  We want to share our testimony of the truth and power of the Book of Mormon.  Our experience was filled with the Spirit bearing witness of the power and truth of this remarkable Second Witness of Christ and his Gospel.  We hope you can feel our love and testimony.

We see that we are running out of time to share our experience in time for FHE so we are going to send this much of our weekly letter now, and send the rest of our week's experiences in a little while.

Love to all....with more to come....
Grandpa and Grandma, Mom and Dad, Lynne and Lanette

 

 Dublin is known for its great beer, but we were so surprised at this Pub's advertisement.  Right now the Championship soccer (they call it football) playoffs are on and getting to the pubs at night that have TV is such a popular pastime.  In places they are even lining up outside the pubs to get in. 

 Ten days ago the our Area Directorsover Self Reliance, the Reuckerts based in Frankfurt,  came to visit for 5 days. We took some in between times to show them some of the historic sites in the Dublin area.  This is Newgrange, an ancient burial and ceremonial site, older than the pyramids.  The mound in the background is the manmade burial dome. 

 This was probably not a chair and cup holder, more likely a drilled hole for wooden posts.

 Wearing ;our missionary clothes didn't give us the option of crawling through the escape tunnel as this an did.

 Grandpa stands near some of the rock structures.  Notice the sunshine   It was raining part of time we were at the site, but really we were lucky with good weather that day.

 There are three very large ceremonial domes, and about 16 smaller domes in this area. 

Polehenge?   Grandma is standing in the sunlight pathway that marks the spring equinox of this ancient used-to-be structure.  They have replaced the original wooden pillars with new pieces, but they think this was built at about the same time as Stonehenge.  Does it remind you of the choices of the 3 Little Pigs?  Which will be longer lasting sticks or bricks?

 Inside the domed mounds are passageways (not allowed in them now)  Interestingly, far down this  passage it intersects with a shorter passage and their layout forms a cross.   This is dated to about 4,000 BC

 Standing on top of the mound we have a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.

 This ship is docked permanently on the River Liffy which goes through the center of Dublin City Center and flows to the sea.  This ship is called a "famine ship" because it was used to transport the suffering victims of the Potato Famine in the 1840's --mostly to the USA and Canada.  This one is particularly famous because its captain was successful in making many journeys and never had a passenger on his ship die. 

 Near to the famine ship is a standing sculpture in memory of the many who died or fled Ireland during the Potato Famine.  It is very well done, impressionistic but hauntingly real and sensitive.

 Book of Mormon, first edition, pages we could see and touch.  Formatting changes through the years to include headings and footnotes to improve our study make it look quite different, and of course we felt the special connection of being able to handle a copy that was also held by the prophet Joseph Smith.    There is no printing on the leather front cover, but on the spine.

 There was a pretty big line waiting to get in to see the Book of Kells, an ancient hand copied and highly decorated (by monks) Bible of Ireland.    Cealtic design (Kells) is very traditional and characteristic of Ireland.

 This is a cousin of Patrick O'Mally that some of you have met.:-)  His name is actually Kim Cooney, a member of the church  from the U.S. We met him in a store and recognizing our name badges, he started a conversation which led to his coming to the Church that same evening and performing some of his religious and Irish music that has been a part of his Ireland tour.  His tour also included doing family history searching ---and being able to watch the famous and dangerous motorcycle races on the Isle of Man

 A few of our English class students along with the Rueckerts at our little flat.  Notice how light it is and it was at least 9:30p.m.  No wonder we forget how late it is!

D-Day

To Our Dear Family and Friends,
Perhaps something we have not mentioned too much about Ireland is the history.  Ireland, perhaps more than most European nations has been repeatedly threatened by war and hard times.  When we see the ancient castles and stone walls that surround buildings, it was not because they had an abundance of rocks, nor because they wanted towers for their Rapunzel to let their hair down, but they were built for protection.   As far back as the 1200's with the invasion of the Vikings, Ireland has had to protect themselves, sometimes successfully winning and sometimes not.

Random bit of interest:   Speaking of Vikings, we asked some YSA friends about a member of the Church in one of the small branches who does not have the clean cut appearance of most of the Saints, (he has a very scruffy long beard and long straggly hair)yet his family is so typical and he seems to have a great testimony.  Even though we don't like to stereotype anyone by their appearance---and we see lots of variety here, this was one time we were glad we asked.  The answer was, he is a strong and active member with a great job in IT, but his hobby is theater, and he is a extra in the movie series that apparently is widely successful, named "Viking", that is being filmed here in Dublin.  So he has to keep his rough appearance during a long filming period. 

So this week we have had quite a few times when we thought about the violence this land has seen. On Saturday we went to Glendalough again with a few YSA to make further plans for the big convention coming up.  It is a beautiful, very old mountain retreat with a great little round 100 foot tower from the 1200s.  The tower door is 12 feet in the air with one window out in every direction.  Grandchildren question:  Why is this so?  1.  Because the people were very tall giants, with very long legs and 12 feet up was just one step.  2.  So that Rapunzel could let her hair down from the front door and make it easy for her prince to come up.  3.  To keep out the violent people who would come and steal and kill, and they had to let a rope ladder down to get in and out.  4.  To make sure they did not get wet when the nearby lake flooded.  How did you do with the question?  The real answer is #3.   :-)

Another time we saw the effects of war was when we took our friend from Romania for a Saturday evening walk through the park, called St. Stephen's Green.  It is a famous park and beautifully landscaped and clean.   It has many points of interest markers throughout the park, but all of them having to do with war.  One sculpture is a memorial to the potato famine days of Ireland in the l840's when England landowners were in control of the land, with the Irish basically working as slaves and not permitted to eat the potatoes that were in storage, to the point that people died by the thousands.   Another sculpture was in tribute to the Irish who had helped the German refugees in WWII.  And many other interest points were of "the Rising" when Ireland declared its independence from England in 1916 (the 100 years being celebrated now.)  It was sobering to think that the city was a city then too, and that the buildings with bullet holes in them indicated the reality of the severe revolution that took place here.

And today, June 6,  is D-Day.  Our Mission President writes a letter every week and today he shared some insights about this, the largest seaborne invasion in history, which began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front.  It was one of the most complex military operations ever undertaken, with 160,000 troops crossing the English Channel on a single day, accompanied by hundreds of warships and aircraft.  Recently, a penciled plan written by General Montgomery a month or two before the D-Day landings was published for the first time.  The plan was titled "Most Secret" and boiled down to a single piece of paper.  It breaks down the armed forces into separate sections, lists the special armored vehicles to be used, and ends with this profound statement:  "The keynote of everything is to be SIMPLICITY."

In citing this story, President Donaldson showed parallels with missionary work:
     "As we wage war on our spiritual opposition, let us remember that Lucifer is the author of complexity.  Our daily plans ... must stretch us but remain simple and within our extended grasp.  We can do hard things.  A few missionaries still believe that missionary work is hard, and that we can't baptize thousands in the Scotland/Ireland Mission.  In Ecclesiastes 11:4, we read:  'He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.'  It is sometimes a difficult thing which is required of us, but when the going gets tough the faithful simply move up a gear."

What a wise and spiritual mission president!  We love and appreciate him. 

We have had another interesting experience this week.  We have been working with an investigator from Zimbabwe who spent time in South Africa and eventually ended up in England as a refugee.  He is very bright and well-educated (MBA), and has been in management positions in large firms and had his own business for awhile.  When political persecution made it too hard for him to stay, he immigrated to Ireland to find work, and was introduced to the Gospel.  We started working with him through the Self-Reliance program, and have had such a wonderful time getting to know him better.  After our Self-Reliance presentation in Belfast last week, we were approached by a member of the congregation who has made a lot of money over the years as an entrepreneur, and who now has a desire to create business opportunities for those in need.  We immediately thought of our South African friend as someone who could benefit from such an opportunity, and we drove our friend to Belfast and got the two together.  The connection between them was immediate and exceptional.  Today we sat with them as they worked out the rudiments of a business plan together, and it was wonderful to see their "play it forward" approach to the whole thing.  They want to create something that will bless as many lives as possible, based on Gospel principles in a business setting.  If someone had told us 6 months ago that we would watch as faith-based entrepreneurism was being put into practice, we would have told them they were crazy.  This mission is taking us up paths we would never have dreamed of.

We have had some choice and spiritual experiences, but we also have had a good amount of fun this past week.  Friday night we had a fun table games night again, which helps the immigrants feel accepted and like they have a family.  Our trip to Glendalough on Saturday with two YSA leaders was really fun.  On the way home we stopped at a beach town and had lunch and then a short walk along the beach with gelato cones while we talked about plans for the convention in July, Sunday we had a mix of meetings, ending with a YSA Broadcast Fireside---where nobody wanted to go home until late!   Today, (among other harder work things) we were invited to a ward party (where we have been doing the Sunday night class). The party was because it was a bank holiday---and it is summer.  It even felt like it!  They have some Polynesian families who roasted a pig and they had lots of fun food, games, and visiting.   It is surprising to us how many of the ward we knew--and love.  Then tonight we had our fun English class again.  These students are so smart and so wonderful--all Brazilians tonight.  One girl is an investigator and again we can see the gospel light changing her.  She is really beautiful.

So you see another week has passed and our hopes to be able to be busy and helpful have been a pretty good success.  We cook a lot for a variety of events and are having more success with the climate and recipes.  Sometimes people ask us about our  grandchildren and they wonder if they (the grandchildren) miss the treats we used to cook for them.   One thing we can say for sure is that we miss the grandchildren--and then people know we truly love the gospel and the Lord since we are willing to be gone from our family and serve a mission.  Perhaps that is the best message we can give.   We DO miss the family and friends and always keep you in our prayers, but we are grateful to have the opportunities that we do to share our faith and testimonies in so many different settings and ways.

We love your letters and support and hope that you are all well and happy.  Stay strong and faithful in all things.
Love,
Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Lanette and Lynne

 Ireland seems to love to have unique road sculptures

 This is honestly the inside of a hardware store owned by an old man and wife.  They are so cute and cheerful and sell plants at the best price anywhere.  we asked if they happened to have small magnets, to make fridge magnet handouts--but they didn't think they had them anymore.  :-)

 When we did our morning jogging, we saw the mother sit on the eggs for weeks.  Then 9 baby swans were hatched. 

 This feeder hangs outside our sliding doors and keeps a pretty steady supply of bird visitors to watch.
The suet ball that hangs from the flower pot will get eaten in one day by the many birds that come.
The yard looks bare here after they took down the trees, but we have been cleaning it up and planting  some and will share pictures later. 

Four Baptisms

Dear Family and Friends,
Tonight as we begin our letter, we are thinking of the varieties of things that have happened this week and the statement made by Grandpa, " to say that we are having different experiences would be an understatement".  It really does seem like everyday has new experiences that bless us. So where to start?  We suppose that we should just try to run through things as they happened chronologically, because that may be easiest. 

So Tuesday we picked up our manager from England for a whirlwind visit to film our Dublin Stake Self Reliance meeting.  Most of the Church SR videos were done in the Philippines or Africa and we need to show that the program is not just for third world countries.  We had tried to film it last time he was in Dublin, but  someone must have ripped their four leaf clover, because it was the least well attended meeting ever!    So we tried again.  This time we had much better attendance ----partly because we decided to invite the ward specialists  and do a training afterward, especially for those who have recently been called, and partly because we really do have a great committee.  At any rate, the meeting went very well with lots of good planning and positive comments about the way the classes are touching and changing lives.  And the result was a much needed blessing, in that a few of the people in attendance really needed to hear those testimonials from someone besides us.  We felt that the outcome was quite miraculous especially for one man who stayed late and did a virtual 180 about his calling.

Another activity of the week has been to work more closely with those who are seeking work, but are not in our Job Search Class.  It is so hard for immigrants to get the connections and the language to be able to get jobs--but they are such wonderful and sincere people.   Some are new members and some investigators, but we learn to love them for their sincerity and goodness regardless  of their hardships.

Along with those efforts we spent quite a bit of time with a class member from Romania who had her baby.  She is so far from her family and friends  except for her husband from Pakistan, and the good people in her ward.  It meant so much to her and her husband for us to visit her in the hospital and then the next day at her home.  We have to admit that getting to either of them was pretty difficult.  We thought that we must be victims of a crazy GPS reading, but her husband was also surprised we could come that far just to see the baby.  We took them some food, but the husband was still so gracious and wanted to give us something to eat.  It is a real perspective check to see how little some people have and yet are so happy and generous.  We hope we can do things to help support them because she wants so badly for her husband to accept the gospel.  Thankfully their ward has been extremely kind and he won't be able to ignore that. 

Thursday was a special day indeed.  There were several missionaries who were completing their missions so perhaps that gave a little more push for holding  a multi-baptism.  It was such an exciting time.  We were thrilled to see 3 baptized that have been attending some of our classes, and the 4th who has been participating a few times in YSA activities.  They are all such great young men and we feel attached to each of them. This time instead of giving rocks--because some are going back home soon and won't want extra weight in their luggage, we gave them skeleton keys.  Remember being baptized, grandkids?  They are not as big, but they did like them.

That same night we had a surprise knock on the door and met the Mahoneys from Provo, Great Gma and Gpa's friends from Jamestown.  Grandma Godfrey had told us they were coming a few weeks back, but apparently their schedule was quite different than Grandma thought.  At ay rate they joined us for the baptism and then left while we taught our class, ---but we met them again the next morning for a great breakfast at their hotel and then we drove them to the car rental place.  They were very nice and fun people and we mutually enjoyed the time together.  We admired them as they were being so diligent  to do Family History research.

Friday during the day we did a lot of preparing for the weekend responsibilities, but Friday night we had a YSA game night.  The young people really enjoy playing the games we brought from home, and we love to play with them as well.  It helps us not miss home so much, but the hard thing is they don't want to go home on time because the sun is staying up until 10 p.m. these days.  We don't really have a closing time set, so it is a bit awkward to tell them we have to get up early and need to go to bed, but it is the truth.  The next two days were packed schedules and a lot of driving.   Of course we did end after "just one more"---and we survived the big days too.

Our weekend plan was to drive up to the north coast and do flat checks for missionaries, come back down to Belfast for a meeting with a new ward specialist and the bishop.  Then Sunday morning we met early with the ward council, spoke in Sacrament Meeting, presented in RS/Prsthd, had dinner with the specialist's family, drove back to Dublin Stake for our Sunday evening class, then last of all do a make-up lesson with a great Sister.  We knew it would be pretty ambitious, so we decided we would have to get a hotel room in Belfast rather than driving the 2 hours each way round trip that night and next morning.  We had stayed last week in a reasonably priced nice place and just assumed we would be able to get a room again, but by Wednesday, everything was booked up.  We gave it a lot of extra effort to get the room and finally put our names on a cancellation list.  As we were driving into Belfast area we did get the call we needed--a room had just opened up!  We felt so blessed because we know we would have had a hard time doing it without the stay over.  We were tired when we got home Sunday night as it was!

Our meetings in the ward we presented were just thrilling!  We have had this appointment for over three months and somehow in the waiting time, the Bishop has really gotten the vision of what would be important.  Not only did they have a new specialist called, but she was super!  She was  just released as Primary President and is such a dynamic younger lady.  A second man was also called as her assistant and the Bishop himself presented such insightful comments in every meeting.  The lady Karen, spoke in Sacrament Meeting with us and the topics assigned by the Bishop were simply inspired to lead the ward and make the effort take a Zion cause.  We have been quite worried about the Belfast Stake and this support and now to have a model "how to" ward  is a great blessing.

And back to Monday.   Today we were busy with odds and ends again, then a meeting with a man who needs work but is determined to get around his  over-qualified .status, even if he has to wash dishes  Tonight we had English class with just three men, but only one of them was at all conversational.  Watch out when we get home we will be masters of pantomime!  The trick is to keep them all interested--or maybe not when we are doing such a crazy show.  Our favorite part again is studying gospel topics with them.  It is so faith promoting to feel explanations of gospel principles come to our minds, and concepts unfold. 

The weather?  Can we entice you with sunny and almost cool?  We almost thought we would never be able to go without coats, but we can fairly often now.  The flowers are blooming like we cannot believe!  For one, the hydrangeas are enormous, bright colors and plentiful.   We got the idea to transplant some maple seedlings that would not be able to stay in the flower gardens of the Church, and they look like they are going to live.  In spite of the wood pigeons getting fat, the grass is beginning to grow in our back yard, and we found an inexpensive source for flower starts, so our gardens are starting to look like Ireland should.  We wouldn't be able to stand seeing such a bare scruffy yard for 2 years, and it gives us a little change of pace to dig and water a wee bit. 

We are grateful for the things being done at home to salvage the house and water problems and try to not think about it.--but we do think about each of YOU so much.  We thrill to hear the news of things happening in your families and hope you stay safe, and healthy.    Please take care of each other, stay faithful and happy, and know that You are constantly in our prayers and we love you so much!

Our best to each of You,
Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Lynne and Lanette

                                                                 Tiago

                                                                      Erik

                                                                 Igor

                                                              Fausto

                                                          Big Terry going to England Mission


Evelin goes home to Brazil.  We will miss her.  She was always doing the nicest things for everyone!

Visit from an Apostle

Dear Loved Family and Friends,
We begin our letter this week sharing our experience of seeing President Uchtdorf in Belfast yesterday.  The Belfast Stake is about 2 hours away from Dublin and you will remember it is a separate country from Dublin, which is in the Republic of Ireland.  Belfast is Northern Ireland.  The Belfast Stake is a large stake, with 11 units in it stretching across all of Northern Ireland, but Northern Ireland is only about 1/4 the size of Utah.  The entire island if Ireland (both Irish countries) is close to the size of Utah.  The Republic of Ireland is about 3/4 the size of Utah and has a stake in Dublin and a District in the south.  Having President Uchtdorf come to Ireland brought huge anticipation, with many people guessing what might be happening.  Because Belfast is a large stake there was speculation that the stake might be split, or the real hope of everyone in both countries was that he would announce a temple to be built here.  The reality was neither, but that it was the last of his tour of Europe, making evaluations of primarily what needs to be done for the immigrant population in all of Europe. 

But regardless of there not being any great announcement, the people were  thrilled to have a member of the First Presidency visit and the conference was limited ticketing.  We had planned to go to the conference for a few weeks, since we learned we could get tickets since we serve that area, and we knew to get good seats we would have to arrive early, so we booked a hotel for Saturday night about 1/2 hour away.    As it turned out, we were not able to leave until rather late Saturday and when we checked into the hotel, the desk attendant woman was alone and when she saw our name tags, she asked us if we were coming for some special church meetings.  We were thrilled to tell her yes and what it was all about.  Then she told us that her daughter had been invited to go (an investigator).  We said it would be a very memorable event and her daughter would surely feel the Spirit.  Her response was, "I'm sure, because I feel the Spirit right now just talking about it!"  She was so sweet that when we got to our room we dug out our best Pamphlets and took them to her in case she would like to read them during her night work.  She was delighted and wanted to know if she could really keep them.  How fun!

Sunday morning was amazing!  It had rained much of Saturday--in fact we got soaked at a YSA activity in Dublin City Center and it rained loads in the night, but Sunday morning brought the clearest warmest summer morning ever.  We arrived at the Stake Center at 7:30--which was barely early enough to earn seats in the chapel---but some saints had queued up at 3:30, and everyone was full of joy.  Everyone who waited was blessed with comfortable weather and a happy buzz of anticipation.  A total of 1005 were counted, which of course was not only a record, but meant that even the classrooms and halls were filled and sound was piped in.  President Uchtdorf, ---accompanied but Elder Kearon, the area authority 70 (you will remember he spoke in conference about the refugees)  ---came in from the back of the Cultural Hall so that many people could see him.  Our Mission President and wife, and Elder and Sister Kearon, and Sister Uchtdorf all spoke first and then President Uchdorf for about 45 minutes. 

It was so interesting to us that the main theme of the conference was forgiveness.  We had not really thought so much about the serious concern of overcoming the hard feelings of the troubles in Ireland from the 1970's to about 2000.  A few people have tried to help us understand the magnitude of what happened then, but we did not think about it in light of the need for the people to forgive in order to grow spiritually.   The membership of Irish people just doesn't seem to grow much, and the feeling we had was that especially the Church members need to forgive and heal spiritually for the nations to be able to progress spiritually.   Right now 90% of the convert baptisms are of temporary immigrants, so the real membership of Ireland doesn't increase.  Another factor is that many of the good saints end up moving away from Ireland, and some who carry so much responsibility to keep the smaller units strong just wear out and become less active.  So the message from everyone was to forgive.  President Uchtdorf of course had the strong attention and his experiences even as fighter pilot in the war were incredible examples of the difficulty of overcoming hatred.  The hope of a temple is spoken of so often in meetings here, and President Uchtdorf addressed that hope, with the counsel that it would come when the growth happened.  Right now, there just aren't enough saints to have a temple, and the membership won't grow unless old wrongs are forgiven and the saints become completely obedient and missionary-minded.  President Uchtdorf's message is that we can't become true followers of Christ if we can't forgive.  It was a powerful sermon. 

We have had other special things happen this week too that we would like to share.   We are continuing with our classes and they are going pretty well, though 12 weeks is a long commitment for people to make, so a few drop out, but for the most part we have been enjoying the group interaction and spirit of the work.   But our favorite experiences are when we get to participate with the investigators.  On Thursday, we were invited to join the Elders in teaching David, who is a black South African refugee.  His stories of his sufferings during apartheid were fascinating and very sad.  For instance, his employer had the police put him in jail for no reason just before payday so that he wouldn't get paid.  This happened repeatedly.  He finally made his way to Ireland with his wife to find a better life.  He converted to Christianity a number of years ago, and has a strong testimony - and knowledge - of the Bible.  When we asked him if he believed that God had a body of flesh and bones, he said:  "Certainly.  How else could we be created in His image?"  We were blown away.  When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he hugged it to his chest and said:  "This is a happy day."  Things like this are happening more and more often.  People are coming up to the missionaries on the street, or sometimes just showing up at a chapel, where they are touched by a familiar Spirit, and they know very quickly that they have found the truth.  We are witnessing, first-hand, the prophesied gathering of the elect.  What a special experience!

We have also had special experiences with newly-baptized members.  On two occasions in the last week, we have seen men cry as they described their love of the Gospel that has just come into their lives.  They were both so embarrassed as they wept, thinking that we felt they were weak, but they could not help themselves as the Spirit testified to them.  It is a wonderful thing to watch them express their pure and simple faith.  It certainly does make us examine the depth of our testimony, and realize that we, too, must be converted, even though we have been members of the Church our whole lives.  We simply cannot take it for granted. 

One of the highlights of our week happens during our Monday night English class.  It is always fun - we play games like speed Scrabble and Balderdash - but tonight we decided to couple it with a real Gospel message.  We all took turns reading from "True to the Faith."  The words were hard, but they seemed to really enjoy not only expanding their vocabulary, but also learning basic Gospel principles.  Tonight's topic was the Priesthood, and it was interesting to see how little they really understood about it, even though several of them are scheduled for baptism right away.  We had a neat discussion about Priesthood power, right in the middle of our struggle to get native Portuguese speakers to pronounce "Aaronic" and "Melchizedek" and "authority" and "quorum" correctly.  They are really intelligent, accomplished people who have come here to improve their English, and they have found the Truth.  We love them!  They seem so appreciative and so guileless.  Funny story:  we were talking about Mr. and Mrs. and Miss and Ms., and we told them about the name Lynne.  They laughed and laughed!

Today (Monday) was just another day in the mission field:  get up, run 3 miles, transplant some trees in the backyard in an attempt to make it somewhat presentable, clean up, eat, read scriptures, pray, drive to the house of a YSA to get her ready for a job interview tomorrow, hurry back to spend two hours with a Brazilian immigrant Church member to re-do his resume and practice interview questions, email a report to our supervisor, communicate with the Self-Reliance specialist in Belfast, refine some details on the YSA convention to be held in July, run to the store to get supplies for the dinner we will serve our visiting supervisor tomorrow, prepare for English class, bake cookies for English class, and then hold English class.  Tomorrow is a repeat, more or less.

Grandma is working with the Relief Society president of one of the wards to organize a weekly sewing/cooking/crafts class for some refugee (mostly African) women who are cooped in a "retention hotel" (refugee camp?) close to the church building.  We are really hoping it works out, and we will keep you posted.

Well, enough for now.  Our testimonies grow stronger by the day, and we are feeling so blessed to witness the Gospel changing lives on a daily basis.  We are also feeling especially blessed because of your goodness, and your prayers in our behalf.  We promise not to let ourselves get homesick, but we surely do miss you and think about you and pray for you.

Love,

Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Lynne and Lanette

 YSA City Center  activity:  searching for alphabet places

 Yeah!  we got a letter G, so we were able to go get gelato!

Grandpa rolls up his suit pants to water the garden.

 Farewell to 4 missionaries, one to go into the mission,  and one Brazilian student who has been such a dear friend to everyone.

"Till We Meet", was the theme of a big party where 4 missionaries were going home, one YSA was going on a mission, and one Brazilian student who was a blessing to everyone was going home.

Below:  Evelin, he darling Brazilian friend.  We got her a quad and she was so happy.

 
 
 
 
 


 The flags were home countries for everyone's farewell party (and one birthday) cake.  Crazy fun!

 Saying good-bye to many is not so fun --but we have lots of people to come and visit us in America later.