This past week has been very cold for here in Northern Ireland. We have had heavy frost on most mornings and some thick fog almost every day. I was getting a bit worried about what the rest of the winter was going to be like. But a fellow I was chatting with at the car wash as well as other locals assured me that this was unusually cold even for winter. Needless to say we were relieved as we were worried about January if this was November weather! I even had a couple of mornings that I could not run because the sidewalks were very icy. Maurene managed to capture some of the beauty of the frost one morning before we headed out for the day. One evening this week we went over to the Fosters for supper. We always have a good time visiting with them, she is from Poland and he is from around here. We had a nice discussion after supper about what life was like here in Northern Ireland during the troubles in the 70's through the 90's if you were a Catholic, which Brendan was before he joined the church. It gave us a little glimpse into the turmoil from a different perspective. It gave us a better idea about some of the reasons for the conflict. He also shared his conversion story which was very inspiring, it was a good story. We spent another day this week travelling around in rural areas looking for more of the lost sheep. We didn't have any success unfortunately. None of the people we were looking for lived at the addresses that we were given. It was not fruitless, I guess. Our branch president can now send the memberships back and let them know that they do not live here. We travelled up to Londonderry on Tuesday for district meeting which went very well. Maurene made soup and cookies for the district which we all enjoyed when the meeting was over.
We pretty well have things organized for the Self Reliance courses that are going to start this next week. I am going to facilitate a course on Health and Well Being for which we have six people signed up to take. Jennifer, a returned missionary in the branch, is going to do a combination of Education for Better Work and My Job Search. She has about five or six members who are interested in taking those courses. So that is a tremendous number of people to take the courses for a small branch like this. We are excited to start this next week and see how this turns out. Our course and the other two that Jennifer is facilitating will take about 12 weeks to complete. We are looking forward to Christmas, we hope that you are too!
1 Comment
4/22/2024 03:24:32 am
Thank you for your delightful travel blog posts! Your vivid descriptions and insightful tips have ignited our wanderlust and inspired our own travel adventures. From picturesque landscapes to cultural encounters, your narratives transport us to magical destinations around the globe. Much appreciation for sharing your incredible experiences with us!
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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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