We are finally able to post to our blog after a long absence. My attempts to update using the mobile hotspot were futile, I lost a few posts so I decided to wait until we had our broadband installed in our house and it was installed on Friday so I am going to attempt to do some catch up and bring everyone up to date. The day we arrived in Edinburgh the Broughton's, a senior couple who work in the mission home, took us down to the Royal Mile to look around. On the way there we passed a house where Maurene's great great grandmother lived, it was so cool to see it. We also saw the Nelson monument that her great great grandfather, who was an architect, designed. We got to listen to a few pipers who were busking and see a few of the sights. The photos that follow are a few shots I took that afternoon. We are very happy with the house that the mission got for us here in Limerick and also the car although someone put the steering wheel on the wrong side! The car is a little Opel four door hatch back with suicide doors in the back. It is diesel so it gets great gas mileage which is important here given the cost of fuel. The house is much bigger than we expected and has central heating which is great. It is completely furnished including dishes etc. and is in a nice quiet neighbourhood. It is also close to the church and shopping. I have posted some photos of our new place below. We have spent a good deal of the past two weeks getting things that we needed for our house and also arranging for delivery of kerosene, garbage collection, opening a bank account and getting an Internet connection. Our furnace runs on kerosene and you have to get a truck to come and fill up the tank in the back yard when it gets low. Also, garbage collection here is handled by private companies so you have contact someone to do that for you. The company we got leaves you three bins, one for recycling, one for compost and one for garbage. The garbage one is the smallest and they encourage you to recycle by charging you based only on the amount in the bin for garbage. They come by once a week to empty them. I managed to get a bank account open. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and then I was able to get an Internet hookup which we are very happy with. We have gone out teaching lessons with the sister missionaries here twice and had really good experiences both times. We attended Institute classes the last two Thursdays and this past week after the class we taught the YSAs (Young Single Adults) there how to play hearts. None of them had ever heard of the game and we had a great time playing. Maurene won getting only one point! The branch here is really quite big for a branch and they have attendance at Sacrament Meeting of close to 150 most Sundays. We have been going to visit the YSAs in the branch in their homes one at a time to get to start to know them better. A couple of them live close to our place so we walked there the other day. Below are some photos I took during our walk. I have managed to go for a couple of runs in the morning this past week. The first day I went I just decided to take a road that led out of town and I came upon this historic site that had three old churches, 10th or 11th century, and cemeteries around them. They were beautiful old stone places. So when I got back home I told Maurene about it and we went back later in the day and had a good look around. It was very interesting reading the history of the place. It is great to be somewhere where you are surrounded by so much history. I have posted a few photos below that I took at the site later in the day. We have found the people in Ireland to be most welcoming and friendly and polite and they really like to talk! They are even very polite and considerate in their driving habits. You never have to worry about getting let in when needed and when we have been walking and want to cross the street they stop right away. Driving has been challenging for me and I am slowly getting the hang of driving on the left side and going around all of those round a-bouts. There is a little fish and chip shop close to where were live so we went over there the other night to get some supper. It was delicious but boy were we stuffed. We are gradually getting busier and we figure out what we are supposed to be doing and are looking forward to some new adventures this next week.
2 Comments
Lynn Wilson
10/25/2015 03:27:29 pm
Love the new posts Tom. So interesting. And the pictures are amazing. It's so beautiful. Thanks.
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Aaron Varty
10/27/2015 08:48:19 pm
Your blog is great! I love all of the pictures.
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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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