Loving These People

Dear Family and Friends,
As we look back on the events of this week, we feel that the over-riding feelings are of love and gratitude for the good people we have been privileged to associate with.  Our activities have been of such variety and we don't want to bore you with too much, but we hope to be able to share some of the great experiences.

First of all we are still chuckling from the fun time we had one evening attending the first meeting of a SR Finance group in Belfast.  We didn't realize that great dry humor and sarcasm is characteristic of Northern Ireland folk.  We have known that Brother Moffett, former bishop of the ward, is always giving a friendly "dig", but we didn't know that it is quite common.  (He is the man with the framed "live your dreams" artwork that has a big "cancelled" sign on top of it.)  As we observed more than participated in the lesson, we just kept getting such a chuckle of how everyone could tease each other almost mercilessly--and in the same minute share such a deep spiritual insight.  After awhile, we started taking notes of the things they said both funny and serious.  To share a few:

The lesson introduced what is called a "finance map" that is a graphic house-shaped model of ideal finance priorities.  One lady suggested that she make a larger copy to put on the bulletin board and asked if others thought it would be good.  They all agreed, but then added, "just don't crochet or knit it"---and another said, "and I don't think an ice sculpture is needed either".  
At the end of the lesson, the people organize themselves into "action partners" to give mid-week encouragement by contacting each other.  They were quick to do this and then the directions were:  decide on a suitable means of communication.  (phone, text, email)
One older man said, "Smoke signals work for you?"
One of the group said: "Life isn't easy, but it's worth it."  Someone quipped back:  "It better be worth it, because if it's not, I want a refund."
Their spontaneous dry wit combined with their heavy Northern Irish accent just kept us in stitches. but then just as easily one lady commented, that "regardless of how disciplined a person might be to do the things they commit to, they could never be completely successful without the help of the Lord."   We were so impressed.  In the very first lesson she had summarized the essence of keeping our commitments and covenants, which has so much power in the SR program.

Another incident:  We have been having a Job Search class now for 11 (of 12) weeks.   Most of our class attendees are Brazilian immigrants who wanted jobs, but were not having any luck.  One returned missionary is notably dependent on Irish Government support.  He is incredibly shy which has resulted in him becoming incredibly lazy.  We have been trying to get him to be motivated to go to school and work, but he lives at home and is quite comfortable.  To his credit he has been to every class --because he wants to change.
That night for the class, we wanted to encourage more to come---because now that most of them have good jobs, they don't have the energy to go to school, work, and come to a class that already met its purpose, but we wanted to have a bit of a sharing of best things learned to encourage the Irish lad to keep trying to get a job.   So since it was Grandpa's birthday, we invited them to come for a party.  It worked quite well.  We had several come and it was a fun time, ending with the advice sharing. 
After several weeks together, the members recognized the excuses of the Irish lad as weak excuses and their comments, though we didn't say give advice to him, were directed to him and were not too gentle.  Some said things like "nobody is going to come to your door while you are sleeping and ask you to come and work."   After class we emailed him to encourage him to try harder to do the things that he has learned and the next day we got a quite offended email back, saying he didn't appreciate the comments that made it seem like he just slept.  We tried to soften the offense, but still encourage him to try more.  We hoped he would not get upset and totally quit coming out.
To our surprise, the next day he emailed us again and said that everything the others had said was true.  He really did sleep most of the day and was so bored with life.  He really wanted to get back to be more like he was on his mission and find happiness again.  It will still be hard for him, but his honesty, humility,  and recognition of his problem was incredible.  It reflected the values that the class had been studying and showed us such great character.

And, as for the Birthday.....Grandpa had a fun time.  He was given cute cards by several--and thank you to all you who also send cards and greetings---and one girl in the class even gave him a present.  She came late, and shyly pulled a package of Frankfurters out of her purse that she had made a special trip to find, because one time they asked what food he missed from America---and he said hot dogs.  Frankfurters are closer to hot dogs than anything else, so he was delighted for her thoughtfulness.
We didn't make a bigger celebration of his birthday  than this, but it was fun to have those come who made such special effort. 

Later in the week we got a follow-up phone call from a Bishop that had attended the Bishop's Council meeting of the previous week.  He had talked to us about a man he had thought could serve as their Ward SR Specialist, but after hearing Grandpa say they should choose the best possible person to have this calling, he decided to do just that.  Wow!  The man he called is so impressive!  He had been the former bishop, then moved to the States, started his own business, taught at BYU, and returned to Ireland recently to bring his business to Ireland.  When we met with him it was like our roles were switched.  He had more vision for how this could bless lives than we ever thought anyone would think of.  He had met one of the church employees who was working to implement it, and has been excited ever since.  He is anxious to be able to share his talents and influence to bring it to his ward.  If we were to have his position, we could not do as well as he will---and he wants to start immediately. 

On Saturday, we were invited to have a SR display at the Clondalkin Ward Prepared ness fair.  It was another big blessing for us.  We have several good friends in that ward (because this was the ward we taught Foundation class to each Sunday evening) so it is fun to be there, but the fair was a great success  and brought great success to our efforts as well. 
First, the SR specialist for this ward does not have the vision of the above mentioned ward, but is a sweet, very busy, lady who needed a little help to get things rolling with further classes.  The display was an attraction for lots of conversations and by the time the specialist arrived,  quite a few had signed up.  She was so encouraged and will be able to get it moving forward.  The other great thing that transpired was that the brother of the above ward specialist, by then had learned of his brother's excitement and was willing to be a facilitator for a class in this ward (a badly needed vacancy to fill).  

As for the Preparedness Fair, we gained such an appreciation for how easy things are in the States.   It is so easy for us to get dried foods, wheat, grains, beans, etc.  But here in Ireland it is not easy at all.  We do see some grain fields, and some granaries, but truly there is no outlet to buy them for storage.  Those who have any wheat, for example, have quite small amounts that they bought over 10 years ago when the stake made a concerted effort to buy a truckload from England.  One lady had a Vitamix blender to grind wheat, but our elaborate food storage options are beyond a dream here.  We felt we just had to say little to nothing about our opportunities and resources or it would just make them feel terrible.  In addition to no resources, their home storage spaces are extremely limited too.  They have no basements, rarely garages, and quite small homes, so most wouldn't even begin to know where to put much food storage.  We felt very blessed that we have been able to get food storage so easily ---and want to encourage anyone who is not comfortable with their food storage to do all you can, because it is so much easier than these saints will ever know.

After the fair, we drove across to the west coast, to Galway, to meet with a branch SR specialist before we presented in their Branch the next day.  It was a delight to meet him and his family.  He has had the calling for sometime,  and has wanted SR to be started, but has not been able to move on it because of resistance in the branch.  (Hard to explain or understand even for us).  
We spent a few hours with them and felt such faith and happiness even in the little children.  Little Sophie, just a month away from turning 8 recently decided she wanted to read the B of M before she is baptized, and so the family is working morning and night to meet the goal.  She plans to be baptized in the same river her father was baptized, same date, 9 years later--and we are invited to attend.  We hope we can make it, but either way we became friends with the little kids as well as the parents.
The success we felt the next day was another breakthrough so we realized Ireland had formally added 3 significant wards/branches onto the active list in just one week!   We see the work progressing and are grateful for the miracles we are seeing.
All of this comes to the one point that we have been realizing with more and more frequency:  the Lord's hand is manifest in so many ways in missionary work.  None of the things we have had the privilege of witnessing would have happened if it were not for the Lord directing things.  Our testimony is now stronger than ever that the Lord is interested in the details of people's lives.  He cares about His children and will orchestrate circumstances to bless them.  If any of us sincerely contemplate the defining moments of our lives, we will see that the Lord has been instrumental in shaping events that bless us in so many ways.  This knowledge makes us humbly grateful. 
One last thing:  we found an honest-to-goodness Leprechaun house and took pictures of it, which we have attached to the blog.  One of the pictures shows Grandma trying to phone the Leprechauns inside because she couldn't get them to come to the door.  Now that we know that these little houses exist, we will increase our efforts to find more, and we will document our finds with pictures to send to you.
As always we send our love, and want you to know how much we are praying for you.  Thank you for all of your support and love.

Love,
Grandma and Grandpa
Mom and Dad
Lynne and Lanette (What lovely Leprechauns we are, Aye!)
Elder and Sister Pettit  

 We saw this house by the side of the road and couldn't stop, but found our way back a few days later.  Unfortunately we didn't see any fairies or leprechauns in their yard.

 The door is so cute and tiny.  It reminded me of a poem I learned when I was young:

I met a little elf man once, down where the lilies blow,
I asked him why he was so small and why he didn't grow.
He slightly smiled and with his eye he looked me through and through
"I'm quite as big for me," he said, "as you are big for you!"

 Grandma decided to phone and see if anyone was home.  They must have been out checking on their buried treasure, or maybe sleeping because they danced all through the night.

We loved their little front fence and the pointed roof was just fun.

 

This is our District.  Back row, tall Elder Keim from Utah, Front row Elder Peacock from England,  Elder Phew, Utah, Elder Kinville, Idaho, Sister and Elder Pettit, Utah, Sister Coons (looks like Michele Chatterton), Utah, Sister Galvez, Guatemala

Anniversary and Other Blessings

Dear Family and Friends:

         The summer has passed now, school is back in session, and it seems like things are picking up.  We have several new Self Reliance classes starting, the numbers in English class are increasing, and it seems like we are getting more to YSA activities.  We remain busy with travel to so many places for Self Reliance start-ups, teaching with the missionaries, feeding the missionaries and investigators,checking on and arranging for repairs in missionary flats, preparing presentations, and trying to stay in contact with our investigators.  It is good to be busy, and through it all runs a recurring theme:  this is the Lord's work, not ours, and He is in charge.  Too many things happen that we are not in control of to deny that the Lord's hand is in it.
         Tuesday, we had a much-anticipated training for the Bishop in Dublin Stake.  We have been worried about it because this stake is still a little slow on getting Self Reliance going.  We prayed and prepared and wanted so badly for the Spirit to take our message to their hearts.  We decided for our training to focus less on processes and more on the actual message of the program, so we tried to take them through an actual "Foundations" lesson, which is the 20-minute Gospel principle that we teach at the beginning of every class.  From experience, we knew that once they experienced the spirit present in the lessons, they would become converted to the value of the program.  We came to the bishops training hoping for good attendance, but were a little disappointed - except that those in attendance were precisely the wards that needed to hear the message.  Difficulties with starting on time gave less time than we had hoped for, which could have been even more disappointing, but the Spirit took over the teaching, and we sensed a real change of heart in those who have been reluctant.  The Lord was in charge.  We really think that things will move forward now.
         There is a funny story that happened in connection with this bishops' training.  Grandma had made two banana cream pies to feed to the bishops, and we announced to those in attendance that we would feed it to them after the meeting.  However, after our presentation was through and we were excused, the high councilors and bishopric counselors showed up, and all of a sudden we didn't have enough pie.  We decided to quietly sneak away and hope that nobody remembered our earlier promise of pie.   Well, most people didn't remember - except for first one bishop and later a counselor in the stake presidency, who timidly came to us after they were through with second and third round of meetings, to ask if the pie promise was still valid.  For them it was, and we ended up having two long visiting sessions over pie that  night after everyone else had gone home.  They have learned never to turn down Sister Pettit's cooking!
       We are finding that this flat is very convenient because of its central location, but it is also very popular.  Some days it is hard to get our paperwork done because of the visitors (which we don't mind).  At one point on Wednesday, we had four different people drop by unexpectedly to visit, get job advice, talk about Self Reliance, or get help with their resume.  The problem was that, at one point, all four of them were here at the same time!
       We also have met a new investigator from Brazil.  She is such a wonderful , well educated young woman and already lives so many of the principles of the Gospel.  We first met Patricia at the Job Search class because she just wanted to know what it would be like if she attended when it started again.  That night the Foundation lesson was on integrity.  When we asked everyone to give us an example of integrity, she said that once she pretended to be asleep on the bus when an older person needed her seat, and she felt so badly afterward that she has never done it again.  Now, that's integrity!  The next time we met with her was a ;missionary lesson which was  on the Word of Wisdom.   When coffee was mentioned, she was a little taken aback.  In her sweet and quiet way, she said: "That will be so hard for me, because it is a part of my culture, but I will try."  What wonderful faith!  On Sunday, she quietly, but with great joy shared that she had indeed gone the whole week without coffee.  Again, the Lord is in charge of bringing these prepared people to meet with the missionaries.  It is so fun to meet these people and they are so easy to love.
        We have mentioned our friend Wellington (from Zimbawbe) before, who was introduced a while ago to the Church in England.  When he came to Ireland, he looked Sisters' flat to meet a washing machine repairman.  The poor sisters have been unable to do their wash for some time (they are so faithful in the middle of difficulties).  The repair worked, and the sisters were very grateful.
       That evening, we drove to Belfast (2 hours) for a My Path devotional in the Lisburn ward, which is the first step in starting Self Reliance classes.  The newly-called Stake Self-Reliance Specialist took charge of the meeting (which is precisely what is supposed to happen) so our participation was minimal.  He was very thorough, and the meeting went on a little too long, but it was wonderful.  Again, the Spirit did the teaching.   We are so grateful that things are moving ahead so well in this stake that has been slow in starting, and we know that the Lord is definitely directing this effort.  After class, we drove back to Dublin and got back late, so we were a little tired the next day.
       The next day started with a call from the Sister missionaries saying that the washing machine worked, but when they started the dryer, it blew a fuse.  We went to help, got the fuse fixed, checked on some light bulbs, and then they asked us to check their heaters because it is getting to be coller weather again.   When Grandpa tried to adjust the electric wall heater, it promptly fell off the wall!  Oh boy!---an top that with a window that wouldn't close.    This all ended with a phone call to the landlord about his responsibility to fix things, which may happen when he gets back from holiday on Monday.  The sisters are very patient with all of this.   --and as a bonus for their patience, we decided they needed new bed linens since they were moved into a flat that had been for Elders.  So we bought them new bed linens, sheets, duvets etc.  (mission expense--not ours).  Grandma thinks there were three who slept better after that--the sisters and herself!)
       Friday night we had another experience that was remarkable.  We had planned to go to one class group in one city and as the time came close to going we realized that it was not a good day to go there.  We didn't want to waste the evening, so we called the  class in another city to see how things were there.  To our surprise, they had not wanted to bother us because we had said we could not go there this week, but they really needed us to come since both groups' facilitators were not able to come.  If things had not changed they would have had such problems.  When we got there, most were so surprised and so pleased.  It was like their faith had made it happen.  We were  able to have inspiring lessons instead of frustration--and not because of us, but because we were able to be instruments.   It reminds us of the story in the September Ensign on tithing.  Faith is so real and SR takes faith too.  We felt a great blessing in being led to go there.
      Saturday was our 45th wedding anniversary!!! --- so we actually took time to drive to Bray, a nice little community on the coast, where we had a wonderful seafood lunch at our favorite restaurant there.  It was really fun and relaxing.  The food is very gourmet and could be an enticement for any visitors.   We really can relax or take time off as we feel we need/want it, but honestly we are quite happy  when we are doing all we can to help others.  We miss interaction with family and friends, but we are always making new friends here, so we get along pretty well.   This experience is really a quest in our life to show our gratitude for the blessings we have had through these 45 years.
      After lunch, we attended a baptism, which, coincidentally, happened at exactly the same time as Addie's.  We are so proud of Addie, and wish we could have been there, but were able to Skype everyone later when they were out repelling.  As for the repelling adventure, we were grateful to learn that in spite of high adventure and a microburst they were able to get everyone back to safety.
      We will share one last significant day, Sunday.  One thing we wish we could have on this mission is a home ward.  Officially we do have one here where we live, but we are so rarely here that we don't feel as connected and consistent as we would like.  Nevertheless we did attend the beginning of the block here and met with some of our friends both members and investigators.   Then we went to another meeting and did a Self Reliance Devotional.
       One of the reasons we stayed was that we had offered to pick up (they call it "collect")  Stephen from the bus in City Center.  He is a new convert YSA lad (that means young man) all the way from Sligo, who works with show horses for a living.   He shared some videos that were quite thrilling, of himself  jumping the horses.   Stephen caught the early bus to Dublin to come for his Patriarchal blessing and to be one of the speakers at the YSA fireside that night.  This was really a big step for him, but he approached it with such faith and joy that we felt a great privilege to take him where he needed to go for his blessing, and host him throughout the day.  It was great to answer a few questions he had about lineage and to feel his love of all that the day brought to him.  The fireside featured 6 great young people who had all recently joined the Church and it was so fun to hear their stories of faith and life  joy as well.  We wish we could video all of the sweet things that happen and better share them with you.  It would be even better than the cookie crust fruit pizza we had that night.
        One last thing for the Grandkids.  We have been wondering if we should look harder for Leprechaun houses.   We have seen some really short people who live here, but we think not tiny enough to be real leprechauns.   On Sunday we think we saw a real leprechaun house We were not able to stop on such short notice and we didn't have time to go back, but we marked the spot and think we can find it again and send you a picture.  We marked it with the end of a rainbow!---so it should not be too tricky to find.  What do you think?  Will we be able to get there again?  If we could find the house and a leprechaun should we ask for a wish or money?  If we get a wish, we will wish to have you all be so happy and so good.  And if we get money, we will buy you a jet to all come and see the house!   We love you all so much!
For another week, we say hugs to all,
Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Lynne and Lanette, Elder and Sister Pettit