Week 10 of Mission End of First Transfer

March 20, 2017

Hey everyone!

 

This week has been about as patriotic as the Irish get, which isn't very much. St. Patrick's day over here is a big holiday but they do not celebrate as much as back in the States. They had a parade, some carnival rides set up, and people wearing green leprechaun hats. However, we did not see any of it because of how crazy it can get out here on St. Patrick's day. We were told that we needed to stay in our flat for most of the day from the zone leaders.

As far as the rest of the week goes, we had quite a few appointments set up but all of them fell through sadly. This week has been filled with a lot of Gqing. It is always interesting what kind of people we run into everyday here in Waterford. We did go over to one sister's house last Wednesday to repaint some of the rooms in her house. I always enjoy an opportunity to be able to do service for someone in the branch here. They are all great! This week has been a great learning opportunity for me. I have learned to be more patient and that success comes in the Lord's time. One of the best things this week was Sunday. It was so awesome to be able to go to church, partake of the Sacrament, and be able to recharge my spiritual batteries. Going to church this Sunday made me think of a talk given by John Bytheway, called the "Best Day of the Week" and how Sunday can be the best day of the week if we let it be. I am so greatful for the opportunity I have to be out here to be able to bring more happiness to other's lives and for the opportunity I have to serve my Savior out here in Ireland.

 

So I am officially no longer part of the greenest bunch in the mission, but I am still pretty green. Elder Watson still has two more transfers until he goes home. I do not know if I will "kill" him or if he will "die" elsewhere. Sounds like the snow is beginning to melt back home. It has actually been very nice this week in terms of the weather. It only rained three days this week and was one of the sunniest weeks that I have been here. 

 

Last P-day it was warm enough for us to go to Tramore which is about a 25 minute bus ride south and go play football, (both kinds) on the beach. (Don't worry we didn't go swimming haha). I have a few pictures to send as well.

 

Here is a picture of Waterford Crystal lit up with green for St. Patrick's Day.

 

Some of the carnival rides they had set up for St. Patrick's Day.

 

I sure hope everything is going good back home. One of the best days this week was when we went running around town the day after St. Patrick's Day to find pint glasses that we could clean and use (not for drinking alcohol). Sadly we didn't find any though.

It is awesome to be out here inviting others to come unto Christ. I am loving every minute of it.

 

Love,

Elder Calley

Week 9 of Mission Week 6 of 1st Transfer

March 13, 2017

Hey you guys!

So this week has not been very busy except for yesterday. This week is moves week. Our district leader, Elder Fehoko, left us for Glasgow so we will be getting a new District leader later today. Yesterday was Elder Fehoko's last day in Waterford so we went to Limerick so that he could baptize one of his investigators, Stella, before he left. His companion was sick yesterday so he and I went on splits. So if you are wondering why there are pictures of me at a baptism that's why. It was an awesome baptism! The Spirit was very strong there. I ended up playing piano for it as well. Musical skills really come in handy on a mission I guess. 

The rest of this week has included a lot of Gqing with a bit of teaching. We found a few new people to teach. We hope to get them a date sometime this week. This week we also had one of our Zone Leaders down in Waterford on exchanges.

Sounds like you have a lot of snow back in Minnesota. ( we got 14") Today in Ireland it feels like 60 and is sunny. However, it has rained at some point everyday this week.

 

All of us (left to right: me, Elder Watson, Elder Herr, Elder Magby)

  

I hope everything is still going well back home

Love,

Elder Calley

P.S.  So I also found out the reason why we do not have tablets. The Republic of Ireland has a data protection policy that prevents us from saving other people's numbers on a tablet. If our mission just covered the UK then we would probably have tablets. It doesn't matter though. Out here is going great. The new schedule does allow me to exercise but sometimes I am the only one exercising. I haven't had a chance to go outside and run but hope with this nicer weather I can eventually. So for the first twelve weeks we have a training program called "The First Twelve Weeks" haha. It is half an hour a day of recapping everything you learn in the MTC and how to apply it to the mission field. I will try to take some pictures of St. Patrick's Day this week.

Week 8: Craic, Doner Kebabs & Brick oven Pizza

Elders getting ready to make pizza



It starts with the dough.

Pizza Oven outside

 

Hey everyone,



Elder Calley & Elder Herr



Sounds like everything is going pretty good over there. This last week has been quick. Last Thursday we went up to Carlow to visit the Condemi's (pizza for lunch), Saturday we went on exchanges with our district leader, and yesterday we were in Cork for a broadcast of a Northern Europe Regional Conference. It was good craic there (craic means good time in Ireland). President Clayton and Elder Dyches of the Seventy, Sister Reeves, and Elder Ballard spoke. One thing that Elder Dyches talked about was hope and resilience. He defined resilience as the ability to bounce back from failure. One thing he said that stuck out to me was, "one of the blessings of hope is resilience and one of the blessings of resilience is hope". This week has been hard for our investigators to keep appointments so hope and resilience have come in handy. So we have done a lot of GQing this week and are trying to find more people to teach and have some more appointments set up for this week.. We have had a lot of dinner appointments this week. The members out here know how to make good food.

So I did bring my camera with me this week so I do have a few pictures to send.(Last P-day we played soccer with the other Elders and lost track of time so I couldn't send pictures until today. Sorry.)

 Here is a picture of Elder Watson with Elder Herr and Elder Fehoko Gqing in the background.

Here is another picture from the bus station in Cork.

So there is this potential investigator, Eddie, who has a french coffee shop on the Quay and he made dinner for us one night. It was really good.

 

Yesterday was flag day here in Ireland and so there were a lot of Irish flags up yesterday in preparation for St. Patrick's Day. All of my stuff is holding up fine even though it has rained almost everyday.

So one of my favorite DA dishes I have had out here were these potatoes made by the Condemi's. One thing that is really good that they don't have back home is doner kebabs. It is supposed to be lamb wrapped in a tortilla or pita bread, kinda like a gyro, but no one is really sure if it is lamb or not. It is really good though. Haven't had a lot of unique dishes yet but I'm sure I will.

Hope everything is going well back home.

Love,

Elder Calley

Week 7 Nice and Sunny here in Ireland

Sorry I must of forgot to post last week.

Hey everyone!

That sounds like a monster storm back home. Here in Ireland it has rained pretty much everyday except for today. Last Friday, I went on exchanges with our district leader Elder Fehoko who is from Tonga. He is the first Tongan in the Scotland/Ireland Mission. He is a great missionary and district leader. We have had quite a few teaching and dinner appointments this week. Last night we went over to the Powers who are an elderly couple in the branch. They are crazy sometimes and have thick accents but are a lot of fun to chat with. We also went over to Brother Sharma's house last Tuesday. He is from India. He makes really good curry. He also brought a friend with him and we were able to teach him about the restoration. We currently have two investigators with a date. One of them is Evans. He is very interested in knowing about the Church but is hesitant to commit. The other one is Gift. He is pretty much a golden investigator who is strong in his own faith but is willing to learn and seems willing to commit as well as long as we can get a hold of him.

One of the things that I was reading in the scriptures this week was Mosiah 4 and how the King Benjamin was continually inviting his people to change and to listen. I really liked how we sometimes face hard trials, however we can always try to improve with the Lord's help and help others along the way. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to continue to learn and grow out here as well as help others.

By the way GQ means Gospel Questioning. So I left my camera back at the flat but I will try to send all of my pictures later today. It has been great out here in Ireland. I do have one funny story this week. So Wednesday night last week we were out GQing and some drunk guy comes up and tries to give me a rose because he thought I was a girl but then he realized I was a guy. Elder Watson asked him if I still got the rose but he just walked off. Haha.

It’s hard to believe that I have been out here in Ireland longer than I have in the MTC. Spring is already just around the corner here. I hope everything is going well in Minnesnowta. We are hoping to do some type of sport today but we will see what happens.

Love,

Elder Calley