MTC Group 25 April 2018

In this group we have missionaries from the Netherlands, Romania, New Zealand, Switzerland, Taiwan, Denmark, India, Austria, Mexico, France and the Dominican Republic. Nineteen missionaries in total and only four from America. Our Senior Couple, the Hamon's (from New Zealand) are headed to the Czech/Slovak Mission. They have been learning Czech in preparation. Elder Hamon had some heart problems upon arriving and ended up in the hospital in Preston for almost a week. They stayed with us two weeks instead of one. We love them.

One of my favorite things about this mission, is living so close to the temple and being on the temple grounds daily. The flowers are always well tended and beautiful. These tulips were amazing!

Mission President Seminar

We had a really nice Mission President Seminar in Frankfurt, Germany. The Area Presidency always have a small gift for us in our hotel room. They gave us a nutcracker/smoker thing and these flowers. It is usually something very traditional from the area where the meeting is held. The flowers were beautiful! This is the only photo I took the whole time.

I always love the training our Area Presidency gives to us. Elder Johnson opens the scriptures up for me, as he compares them to the things we are going through, and applies them to me personally. 

Elder Sabin says a lot in a very small amount of time by quoting others usually. These were a few that I wrote down:

*"The best days are ahead." - President Eyring

*He compared Helaman to a Mission President and the stripling warriors to the missionaries.

*Keep it simple.

*The Church has never been stronger and more faithful.

*Ministering- bringing people home. One by one.

*He spoke of Dave Wottle, 1972 Olympic middle distance runner in Munich. Keep running. How do we finish the race? D&C 21:4-7 1-follow the prophet 2-patience and faith

Elder DeFeo spoke a lot about ministering. How to help our missionaries become ministers.

It was very nice to rub shoulders with some of the couples that we have met and grown to love. Sister Pickerd, serving in Italy Rome, was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, right after this MP Seminar. We have been in contact with them over the past year trying to give our support and strength as she has fought her cancer while staying in the mission field. This is the first time we have seen her. It was quite an emotional meeting for me. She has been through a lot. I hope her road gets a little easier this next year.

IRELAND - April 18-23

Jon and I had an absolutely fabulous trip to Ireland. The MTC was having some work done inside, so we didn't have any missionaries from April 17-25. We decided to have an adventure in Ireland! We flew into Dublin and drove to Kilkenny Castle and then spent the night in the town of Limerick.

On Thursday we woke up and went to visit Blarney Castle. We kissed the Blarney stone (biggest waste of money ever) and then drove south to Cork and Cobh (pronounced Cove). We took a city tour at Cork and visited the cathedral and Titanic Museum at Cobh. It was a lovely day. We drove through some beautiful country. We returned to Limerick and spent the night.

Friday morning we got up early and headed to the Cliffs of Moher. They are absolutely gorgeous. If I had to pick, they were my favorite thing about Ireland. The whole country was beautiful and the people were friendly and funny. Jon and I both fell in love with it there. After the Cliffs of Moher, we drove to Dunguaire Castle, had a great lunch in Kinvarra, and then drove to Ashford Castle. This was another beautiful drive on small country roads. We saw many a green pasture without any animals feeding on them.

The Ashford Castle property is really lovely! Today we took a two hour boat tour/ride on Lough Corrib (Lake/Louch Corrib) that was glorious with sun included. We met a really fun couple from New Orleans. Afterwards, Jon played some golf, I read my book in the sunshine (what a luxury!), and then we went for a bike ride. After dinner we walked and walked. This was a perfect day!

Our last full day of being a tourist was spent going to North Ireland, seeing Dunluce Castle, The Giant's Causeway, Carrick-O-Rede Rope Bridge, seeing a beautiful rainbow and staying the night in Ballycastle. This was another great day! 

Monday, we drove to Belfast, returned our car, and flew back to Manchester. Tomorrow we leave for Frankfurt for our Mission President's Seminar. It has been a traveling month for me. Time to get back to the missionary life.

MTC Group 4 Apr 2018