We were given a list last week by the branch president of the memberships of 11 people that Salt Lake had sent to the branch. These people they had determined lived in the branch boundaries. So we were charged with going out and finding out if they indeed lived at the addresses we were given. Of course, none of them had phone numbers. So we went out on two different days and looked for three of them each day. All of them lived out in the countryside, some quite a ways from Omagh. Without exception, there were people with those names who lived at those addresses, but none of them were members of the church. They were born in different locations or had different birthdays, they just shared the same name. So we have five more to look for that we will get started on soon. It was disappointing we couldn't find a member, but maybe in the next bunch. We travelled up to Londonderry on Tuesday morning for our district meeting. Sister Wilson made a light lunch to share with the district when the meeting was over which the young missionaries appreciated. We handed out the Mister Clean award for the first time to the district and we were very happy that choosing the winner was difficult. To the credit of the district, they all did a very good job of keeping their apartments clean and in good repair. It makes doing the inspections a much more pleasure task. For the first time since we have been in Omagh we got some snow. It was a heavy wet snow that didn't stay for long at the lower elevations but did up higher on the hills. There was quite a lot of precipitation in a couple of days so there was lots of water around on the roads. It made travelling on some of the small country roads an adventure! We finished off the week with a couple of wonderful events on Sunday. Between Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society at church on Sunday everyone was called into a the kitchen area and a member of the branch presidency had baked a birthday cake for us. They sang Happy Birthday to us and we all ate some cake. It was so thoughtful of them and a real surprise. On Sunday evening we had a devotional for the Self Reliance initiative. There was good attendance and a lot of interest in taking the classes, lots of members signed up for one or more. We said we would facilitate the classes so now we have to get the first one organized and hopefully start next week.
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This week we attended a senior couples conference in Dublin that was attended by all of the senior missionary couples in the mission. It was an enjoyable event, it is always great to get together with the other couples serving here in our mission and be able to talk about our experiences. We had some social events on the Thursday and held some round table discussions the Friday. We drove down to Dublin on Thursday and met the others who had travelled up from Dublin at Newgrange. It is an ancient burial site, one of many that are located in this area. To visit the site you meet at a visitors centre, and then walk across the river and take a bus to the site where a guide gives you a tour. We couldn't believe how big it was and also that it was in such great condition given that it was about 5000 to 6000 years old. The stonework and designs etched on the stones were incredible. The actual burial chamber on the inside was small given the size of the outside structure. We had a beautiful day to visit it, it was cool but sunny. After we visited there and the visitors centre, we drove to the stake centre in Dublin for lunch. After lunch, we went on a bus tour of Dublin. It is a huge city and it was nice to see some of the landmarks. The only downside was that we were pressed for time so we couldn't stop to see the sights and then keep going on the next bus. But we enjoyed seeing the city. We could not believe how big it was, a huge place. We stayed overnight at a nice hotel out by the airport so the Scotland couples would have easy access to the airport. The best part of the hotel was it had a great shower and the breakfast in the morning was fantastic, everything you could want. On Friday we had a series of round table discussions about what we could do as senior couples to help the missionaries and our branches. It was very worthwhile and we got some good ideas. It was just nice to be able to talk about what we are doing with other couples and get their ideas on things we are having trouble with. The meals were great both days. On Saturday night we went to a concert at the Strule Arts Centre here in Omagh called Great Bands of Ulster. It was a nice evening of music with a bit of a Remembrance Day theme thrown in which was nice. They talked a lot about the "troubles" in the 70's and 80's from the Protestant perspective. It was good to hear about some of the local history. There was an accordion band, not our favorite, two flute and drum bands and the highlight for me was the Thiepval Memorial Pipe Band. The are a grade two band from not far from here and they were outstanding. It was such a treat to listen to them as they played so well. It was a nice evening. There was a transfer this week and Elder Watson left us for Cork. Elder Wayment is going to be training a new Elder and he has only been out for three months himself. We met Elder Palmer on Sunday for the first time, he is from Cardston and a grandson to Milo and Nadine Barfuss. It is nice to have someone from so close to home and it will be nice to get to know him the next few months.
We had our first district meeting in Londonderry this week. We travelled up there taking the Elders with us. It was about an hours drive from here to the chapel. It's a nice building and it reminded us of the one in Waterton with lots of wood and rock in the construction. It is quite attractive. We had a good meeting and the Omagh Elders took the bus back to Omagh when we finished so we could go inspect the Londonderry Elders apartment and then travel out to Letterkenny to inspect the Sisters apartment. The elders apartment was clean and well kept, no problems at all. It was about a 40 minute drive from there out to Letterkenny, which is in the Republic. The sisters apartment was in great shape too so it was nice to see. Londonderry looks like a nice city and we hope to have more time when we are there next to look around a bit. We stopped for lunch in Letterkenny before we drove home to Omagh. We took a day this week to drive out to Belleek to see the world famous pottery factory. It was an overcast day with lots of rain showers but it was still a pretty drive out there. The factory itself was impressive and the tour of it was great. They took us through the entire process of creating the pottery and we got to talk to the people who were actually doing the work at their benches. It was very well done. They had a large shop to buy pottery if you wished but it was very expensive. Maurene bought a small piece, a little basket, that still cost $40. It was about the least expensive thing in the store. But it was worthwhile going out there. We stopped at a forest park on the way home and hope to return there on a nicer day and take a hike on one of the trails. We travelled out to the branch president's home one evening with the elders for a dinner appointment. We had a great time out there with him and his family. They cooked a Mexican meal for us which was delicious. Their daughter, Clare, had just received her mission call the day before. She is going to serve in the Salt Lake City South mission and is really excited. She reports to the MTC in Provo on January 10. Monday was Halloween and they have some things similar to at home here in Northern Ireland but some that are very different. We had a few kids come around trick or treating. Later that evening we walked down to the city centre to watch the fireworks. All of the cities and towns here in Northern Ireland have fireworks displays at Halloween. The fireworks were quite good and there were a lot of families there to watch them. On the walk back home we went past a neighbourhood where there was a huge bonfire going. I guess that is something else they do here, have big bonfires. I thought the fire department should be called and soon a fire truck did show up. It sat there for a few minutes and then left. Didn't do anything to put the fire out, I guess they thought it wasn't a threat to the neighbouring houses. We had our district meeting in Belfast this week along with all of the other districts in the zone. I guess that makes it a zone conference but they didn't call it that. We drove down early in the morning with our Elders sleeping in the back seat. It was very foggy all the way there and the fog didn't lift until we reached the city. There was the usual traffic jam so it took us two hours to drive there and we arrived just in time. When we got home from Belfast we completed our presentation for the first Family History workshop for the branch. We held it that evening at the chapel and we had five sisters attend. It went really well and there was a lot of interest and we are going to meet again next week. I was even able to help some people out with some things which was really astounding! One afternoon this week we drove down to Enniskillen and took a tour of the castle in the town which houses a museum. It was all very interesting. There were a lot of displays on the history of the military in the city which went back hundreds of years. We finished off the tour with lunch at the cafe inside the castle. When we were finished at the castle we walked up to the city centre to see if we could find the barber shop which was also a railroad museum. It was pretty cool. There were a couple of barbers giving haircuts and all around them was the museum with artifacts from the local railroads. We found it very unusual and interesting. We looked around town for a while and then travelled south about 4 or 5 miles to Bellanaleck where there was a Lace Museum. It was quite the place, Maurene loved looking around in there and seeing all of the old wedding dresses and the beautiful lace work. It was quite impressive. On Saturday night we went to a branch activity at the chapel, it was the annual chili cook-off and ghost story evening. A number of branch members brought chili which we sampled and we sat around after eating and told ghost stories since Halloween will be here shortly. There was a good turnout and we had a good time, Maurene's chili was judged the best and she won a beautiful trophy! On Sunday we had a visit from Elder and Sister Pettit from Dublin. They are the senior couple in Ireland in charge of the Self Reliance program. So they came here to speak in Sacrament meeting and to also do a joint Priesthood/Relief Society meeting on the topic and hopefully get some classes started here in Omagh. We had good meetings and they came to our place afterwards for lunch. We enjoyed very much having a visit with them. When we drove home from Enniskillen Maurene decided to take some video in the car to give an idea of what it is like to drive on the roads here in Ireland. Be patient, it takes a while to download. 'We had our first district meeting in Omagh this week since the districts were changed. The sisters from Letterkenny and Elders from Londonderry travelled here together in the sisters' car. We had a good meeting together, they are a good group and a young group. The mission in general is very young right now. It was nice to not have to travel for the meeting but I think that will change soon. There are three sisters together as Sister Bleyl is here until she gets her visa to go to Arizona where she was called to serve. When that happens, they will no longer be able to travel here for the meeting so we will have to travel up to Londonderry. It felt strange not to feed the district after the meeting so we decided to have a snack ready for the next one. We have two recent converts here in Omagh, Dean and Neil. They have both been ordained priests in the Aaronic Priesthood and are progressing nicely in the gospel, both are very active. President Nelson asked me to meet with and mentor them to prepare them to receive the Melchizedek priesthood. So on Wednesday evening we met for an hour and had a lesson on the priesthood organization and responsibilities. It went well and I enjoyed meeting with them. We are going to meet weekly to continue the discussions. As part of the UK, Northern Ireland has a health care system not unlike the one we have in Canada. There are private clinics here in the larger cities, but for the most part people are provided health care under a publicly funded system. There is one Health Care Centre here in Omagh and inside it there are four separate clinics. You need to register in order to get to see a doctor so we went in this week to start the process. I just chose a clinic at random and there were forms to fill out. The only sticking point was proof that we lived at the address we gave them such as a utility bill with our names on it. We didn't have that but I had the mission home write a letter that we were indeed living here and they were paying the utilities. That seemed to work and the last step is to visit a nurse practitioner which we will do in a couple of weeks and we are registered so Maurene can get her prescription renewed. Besides the clinic, we got a lot of what I call maintenance things done this week. Both Maurene and I got haircuts. I borrowed a lawn mower from a member again to give our little lawn a mow, last one before winter I hope. The Elders have bicycles that have been in need of repairs since we got here, so I went and picked them up and took them to the bicycle shop where they had been purchased. I hope that will help them get around a bit better. We had our Elders over for supper this week which of course they always enjoy. Our home is heated by kerosene oil so I had EMO come over this week to fill the tank before the cold weather begins.
We got a call from the senior couple serving in Portadown, the Angels, on Saturday asking if we would like to join them for supper with the Winters, a senior couple serving in the mission home. They are over here delivering a new car to some sisters and are taking the opportunity to tour around a little. So we met them at a restaurant in Dungannon, about a 40 minute drive from here and had a meal together. It is always nice to get together with other senior couples and talk about the work. This week we had an all Ireland conference in Dublin. It is a one day trip there and back and it is a two and a half hour drive from Omagh so is a long day. We had to drive up in the dark for most of the way and then it was pouring rain on the way home. Not a fun drive! We took our Elders with us as we usually do. There are more senior couples in Ireland now so there were 7 couples at the conference. During one of the morning workshops we all got together in an empty room that we found and shared what we were doing and also had a chance to discuss challenges or problems we were having and get ideas from others and what could be done. It was great to be able to get together with other couples and talk about what we are doing! It was Thanksgiving on Monday and we didn't do anything special here. All of our kids got together in Calgary at Corey and Julie's place and we were able to FaceTime them. It was great to see all of them get together having a good time. We were just sad that we couldn't be there. We have put more time this week into finding and visiting members of the branch who haven't been out to church for a while. This is a slow process and we haven't had a lot of success so far but we have been able to make contact with a few people and have a visit with some of them. Going through old records is something that sometimes gets neglected. We have been well received by those we have been able to contact and although some told us they were not interested in coming to church we had a good visit with them and were able to extend an invitation. There are some that expressed an interest in coming back and we are going to visit them again. One afternoon I went for a walk along the route that I run mornings and took the camera with me. There are a few nice spots along the run but I never take the camera. It had been raining that day but cleared up and the sun came out so it was a nice walk. We like to keep busy here on our mission and we got a few new things to do at church on Sunday which we were happy about. Maurene gave a talk in Sacrament meeting, second one in two weeks, so I taught our Sunday School class. She was called by our branch president to be a counsellor in the Relief Society. Also, she and the Relief Society president are going to start a genealogy class that will be held Tuesday evenings to help branch members with their research. President Nelson asked us if we had been trained to teach self reliance classes and we have been. He would like to start classes here in Omagh so I guess we will call Elder and Sister Pettit to come here and get things started and we will be teaching those classes. Also, the Elders quorum president asked if I would go home teaching with him as he doesn't have a companion. So lots more to do for us which makes us happy.
There are four sisters in our branch from the Deery family. They are all very active and their mother always attends church also. Norma has a daughter who is currently serving a mission so we took a photo of all the branch members who were at church on Sunday for her and also a photo of the Deery sisters and their mother. We had to travel to Belfast this week for district meeting. All of the districts in the zone were meeting there so our Stake President, President McCrudden, could talk to all of the missionaries before our district meetings started. We had an opportunity to work with him while we were in Limerick as he is the Institute director for Ireland we really like him. He is a good man and he had a great presentation for us. It was worth the trip just to hear him. After he was finished we had our district meetings and then we travelled back to Omagh. It was good to meet the other members of our new district for the first time. On the way to Belfast in the morning there was a beautiful sunrise and Maurene managed to get a few good photos of it. On Thursday of this week we invited the senior couple who are serving in Portadown, a city between here and Belfast, to come with us and visit the Ulster American Folk Park. It is about five miles from Omagh and is kind of like Heritage Park in Calgary or Old Nauvoo. It is a recreation of what life was like in this area in the early 1800's before there was the big emigration to the Americas and then what life was like for the newcomers to the new world. The park was created by the Mellon Foundation in the United States and is located on the farm where the Mellon family lived before leaving for the United States. It was very interesting and the original farm buildings of the family were there and the other buildings were moved there from the area. The had even moved houses from the United States here. In most of the buildings there were guides in period dress who explained part of the history. They even had a ship in a building to talk about the voyage. It was a good day and we were glad we went to visit it. After the visit we had a late lunch at a sandwich shop in the city centre with the Angels. It was Elder Watson's birthday this weekend so we had he and his companion over for dinner on Saturday. We had a cake and sang to him and had a good time together.
This week we travelled to Belfast to attend a stake council meeting. The stake president, President McCrudden, requested that we and the Angels attend the meeting so we could meet the stake leaders and introduce ourselves to them. The meeting went well and he asked the stake leaders to think of ways they could keep us busy and use us to help their programs. That was nice to hear as we like to be busy. We drove up to Belfast earlier in the afternoon and spent some time looking around in the city centre and the shops there. We saw some interesting places and took a guided tour of the city hall. It was an interesting tour and it certainly is an impressive building. They have 60 city councillors! It was late before we drove home and it was dark and windy and raining so a pretty miserable drive home. Maurene doesn't like driving in the dark and I am not a great fan of it either. I don't think we have posted any photos of our new place here in Omagh so I thought I would take some photos this week and post them. It is a nice place and our neighbourhood is really quiet. The grocery store where we do most of our shopping in nearby and we can walk to the city centre if we want. It is about the same size as our place in Limerick just a bit more modern. The big plus is the much bigger fridge we have here and the big minus is no dryer. But it is a comfortable place and we are thankful for it. We visited a few more members this week that the branch president wanted us to see. We went to see Rachel, a single mom with an 11 year old son who hasn't been to church for a while. We had a good visit with her and she agreed to come to church next week and I agreed to hang some new curtains for her. Seemed like a good deal to me. Later that day we thought we were to have a meeting with President Nelson along with the Elders. So we picked them up and were driving over to the church when the branch president phoned and asked if we were on our way. He was expecting us for supper at his place and we didn't get the message, a misunderstanding. We had already eaten but we drove out to his place, about a half hour away, a had a correlation meeting with him. We all got supper take away! A little later in the week we met with Marion Radford, a single sister in the branch who has lived most of her life in Scotland. She has a nice Scottish accent! Her and her 16 year old son were hurt in that horrible bomb that went off in downtown Omagh in 1998. She survived but her son was killed. There is a tree planted in front of the chapel here in his memory. We also travelled out to Enniskillen, a town about 40 minutes south of here, and had a visit with Joan Irwin who talked our ears off. She is 78 years old and not likely to make the trip to Omagh for church. After we met with her we travelled around the town trying to contact members who lived there and were on the branch list but had no success. At least we found out that some of them didn't live there any more. This was conference weekend and on Sunday morning we had a priesthood breakfast at the chapel and then watch the priesthood session together. (It was broadcast at 1:00 am here) In the afternoon I drove the Elders to a place about 20 minutes out of Enniskillen for a lesson. The lesson went well. This man's place was beautiful. He had a nice stone house built on the top of a hill with a great view on the big lake here. It was a beautiful sunny day so we had a nice drive out there and back It was nice to be able to watch general conference this weekend. It seems funny that the morning session starts at 5:00 pm and the afternoon one at 9:00 pm.
We are finally starting to feel healthy again and getting over that awful cold/flu that afflicted us and made us feel miserable. We travelled to Portadown on Tuesday to our first district meeting. The zone leaders were also in attendance so there were eight Elders and two senior couples at the meeting. After the Elders had reported on their investigators the district leader asked the couples to report on what they were doing. That had never happened before and all I could say was we were sick all week. Elder Watson, Elder Wayment, Elder V., Elder , Elder , Elder , Sister Angel, Elder Angel, Maurene When we got home that afternoon we were invited out to Maggie's place to join with some of her family to see photos of their trip to Budapest. Her son had recently completed his mission there and they went back for a visit. We had a nice time with her family and enjoyed visiting with them and seeing the photos. She lives out in the country and has a nice home with a beautiful sun room with a great view of the surrounding countryside. We also went out to Ann Lee's home and had nice visit with her and her family. We met her husband Andrew who is not a member of the church and he was very friendly and seemed like a great guy. We did our first inspection at the Elders' apartment this week and they didn't do well. Their apartment is in the city centre so it is quite old but despite that it can still be kept clean and they are not doing that. It was pretty dirty and basic cleaning was not being done. So we filled out the report and sent it to Sister Clark at the mission home and she asked that we inspect the apartment again next week. So they have a few days to get things into shape. We had a baptism on Saturday for Dean. We attended a lesson for him earlier in the week and he was ready to be baptized. The baptism went well and it was nice to be there. He is a good man and will make a great addition to the little branch here. After the baptism, the branch had a party with a spy theme. We were divided into teams and had to go around the chapel to different rooms to get clues. It was not easy and a bit confusing since there didn't seem to be a theme to tie things together. But we had a good time and also met two sisters that President Nelson asked us to visit so we were able to make a first contact with them. We had a very busy day on Sunday. Maurene played the piano for Sacrament Meeting and we both gave talks. I was asked to confirm Dean a member of the church which was a great honour. After Sacrament meeting Maurene taught the YSA Sunday School class and her lesson was great. When church was over we were invited along with the missionaries to Tom Henry's place for dinner. I guess the young missionaries eat over there every Sunday. He is a good man and prepared a nice dinner for us. He puts the food on everyone's plates before you eat and the portions are huge. I guess he is used to feeding the Elders. We got to visit more of the branch members this week and have appointments to meet many more of them this next week. So we are gradually getting to know the branch and they make us feel very welcome here.
This past week has been very trying for us because of our health. We both came down with flu/cold like symptoms and have been mostly staying at our place staring at the walls. i took the Elders to district meeting on Tuesday and also went to meet that evening with the branch president but that was about it. We have had sore throats, bad coughs and congestion and have had little to no energy. I am happy to say that we are starting to feel better and attended our church meetings yesterday and I taught our first YSA Sunday School class. It went well.
There are these large spider like bugs that fly here in Omagh that Maurene calls prehistorics. They seem to find their way into our place at night through the open windows. They seem to be harmless enough but Maurene does not like them at all. |
AuthorThis is the blog of Elder Tom and Sister Maurene Wilson of our mission to the Scotland/Ireland Mission. Archives
October 2016
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