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!)
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!
younger than 68!
More Ultimate Frisbee. We had a hard time coming up with a common uniform.
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