Arrival in Galway

News Flash: Janice and Tracey had their baby boy on February 20th! Yeh!!!

At midnight I FaceTimed Janice in the hospital, it was so good to see her. She was radiant with that new mother glow.When I saw little Trae, I squealed with delight. He is 5 lbs 7oz and 19 inches in length, just a wee bitty nubbin of a laddie and precious enough to steal your heart away, aye! How we wish we could give him cuddles. We need ongoing pictures girls.

                                                               

                                                   
                                                   

We arrived in Galway on January 15 and
hit the road running. It has been a bit crazy here, but we are finally adjusting and settling down to a routine.The first map shows a portion of the west coast of Ireland, the second shows where Galway is located. There is a chapel icon over part of the name. 

Galway is known for its wet, wild, windy weather. The temperature only fluctuates about 30 degrees all year round, so in Fahrenheit that is about 32 to 60 degrees. It's cool enough in the summer that one still has to wear a sweater or jumper as they are called here. Although 32 degrees doesn't sound very cold, the humidity is usually in the 90's which makes it seem much colder. We call it bone chilling weather.

On Friday, after we arrived, we were invited to tea(dinner) at the O’Toole’s, Keith, Karen and children - Ciarrai (Gaelic, pronounced Kerry), Annie and Ryan.They are a delightful family, it was a fun visit.

Brother O'Toole is our Gospel Doctrine teacher. His wife is the Nursery Leader and teaches her daughter Seminary. The O'Tooles live about an hour from the church in a little village called, Corrandulla. Keith is working full time on his Master's Degree, presently. Ciarrai is 16, and such a lovely young women. She gave us an impromptu piano performance after dinner. She is also the branch pianist. Annie and Ryan are just as cute as they can be.





A day with the missionaries - Typically, when the Elders knock doors to find investigators, they ask the person if there is anything they can do for them. Occasionally, they get a taker.

One lady asked if they would clean and paint the kitchen walls.She didn’t have a ladder, so Elder Elliot climbed on Elder McDonald’s shoulders and away they went. Elder Meyers from Australia is in the gray sweatshirt.

 Okay I think we are having too much fun now! We went along on this service adventure. We accompany the Elders if they are going to visit a single sister. We have 12 to 15 appointments with them each week.

Tonight we were invited to the Curran’s - Coleman, Emma, and children – Sophie and Isaac. Sophie is 5 and a real charmer, so adorable. Isaac is 1, and a little pistol, into everything. Just like Andrew and Adam, our little tornados, and now Bryson holds that spot. I wonder what Janice’s little guy is going to be like? I’m excited to find out!
Coleman is the Elder's Quorum President, and Emma the Relief Society President in the Branch. A very busy family. By trade, Coleman works as an electrician and plumber. Emma is home with her children.

We are always so impressed when we eat dinner with members, they serve meat and several different kinds of vegetables. We had Chicken, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and beans.











On one of our excursions to city center, we parked in front of a member's home and went in to visit. We stayed about 30 minutes. When we came out to get in the car we found we had been clamped!

We missed the sign that said pay and display. Let me tell you, free parking is a premium in Ireland. Even the grocery stores have a time limit on parking. That little mistake cost us 80 Euros!







Every Tuesday we attend the District missionary meeting in Limerick, about an hour away. On our last visit, we took the opportunity to visit King John’s Castle located on King’s Island in the center of town. Sister Whitney went with us. You may remember King John as the very unpopular king in the animated Disney show, Robin Hood.

This is a view of the castle as seen next to the River Shannon. The city of Limerick recently built a high tech visitor’s center on the castle grounds. Inside the center was an amazing, hands-on historical presentation of Limerick and the castle from its beginnings. I don’t think I have ever viewed a better one. 

Here is a replica of the city and castle in about 1300 AD. Below is a view of the harbor.

We learned some interesting facts. Have you ever wondered where the term “to undermine” had its origin?

During a castle siege, the opposing army would dig a tunnel under ground, like a mineshaft, with wooden supports to keep it from caving in. (As in the diagram on the left.) When the tunnel reached a section of the castle wall, they removed the supports and caved in the tunnel bringing down the wall above and allowing the opposing army access. Thus the wall was undermined.

It took us more than an hour to go through the exhibit, it was so interesting. Then, we headed to the castle. I don't understand why anyone would ever want to live in a cold, dank castle? Maybe in its day it was more comfortable. There were exhibits set up in different areas of the castle.

The site dates back to 922 when the Vikings lived on the Island, the castle was built in 1210.

Courtyard

Sister Whitney and myself on the walls surrounding the castle

Bridge to King's Island, insert is how it looked back then.

Here you see the excavated site where the Great Hall once stood. Insert shows its former appearance.

We were amazed at the thickness of the walls in the tower.

Lances in the Armory

How do you think Gary would look in armor and tights?
That's what I thought too.

The castle is five-sided, with high curtain walls surrounding a rectangular yard. The lower part of the walls were curved outwards to deflect missiles dropped from the battlements. Its massive gate towers and round corner towers were state-of-the-art features at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The corner towers jutted out to allow archers to fire on attackers in crossfire. In its early years King John’s Castle was probably surrounded by a moat, with a drawbridge.   see:http://www.shannonheritage.com/KingJohnsCastle/KingJohnsCastleVisitorExperience/For other interesting facts --  

One of our assignments is to inspect missionary apartments. This is the Elder's flat in Galway, four missionaries live here. All you returned missionaries, did your flats look anything like this? And these Elders thought this was clean. The closet in the next picture was stacked from floor to ceiling. Elder Weber had them clean it out and then showed them how to organize it in tidy fashion. That will sound familiar to our children.

   

We had an all Ireland Mission Conference and training session, February 6 in Dublin.

It was grand getting together with all the young missionaries, the seniors 

and President and Sister Brown. We always leave these meetings inspired to do our best.

                                     These are our favorite Sister missionaries from Waterford,

 Sister Knab and Sister Henkle. We miss them! Sister Knab has been transferred to Dublin now, where she and her companion work as Sister trainers. This is a new role for missions, due to the large influx of Sister Missionaries. Sister Knab and her new companion travel all over Ireland giving special training to new sisters and veteran companionships. They really know how to do missionary work.

Here are our cute Galway Elders, from left to right - Elders Kinnard, Whiteman, Meyers, and Elliot. We have them over for dinner every Thursday night. Elder Elliot the shortest is a real go getter. He must call us ten times a day. 

Word for the week: stropping - ornery

Before I close I have a story to share - On the flight to Ireland almost 4 months ago I was visiting with a lady from Ireland returning home. I told her how we were leaving to serve in the Scotland/Ireland Mission and we wouldn’t see our family for 18 months. She said incredulously, “Why would you want to?” I suppose leaving home, family and one’s comforts to serve the Lord is a hard concept to understand. I want to try and explain why I have always wanted to serve a mission. Gary will have to explain his own reasoning in another letter.

When I was 13 my parents gave me a Book of Mormon for Christmas. My Father told me this book was very important to him and had a great affect on his life and ask me to read it. I set aside Sunday afternoon following dinner as my reading time. I remember sitting in a cozy overstuffed chair by the fireplace. As I opened the Book of Mormon and began reading a warm spirit filled my heart. Every Sunday I had the same experience. Soon I came to love reading this marvelous book. IAs the weeks passed by, I began to notice changes in myself. I felt more love and tenderness towards my family. I was kinder and more helpful to my parents and siblings. I had been struggling in school and my grades reflected it. Now I had a keen desire to work hard and improve myself. After months of hard work my grades did improve. I began keeping better company at school. It seems that every aspect of my life improved for the better.

 The years passed, and I began to feel a keen yearning to go on a full time mission and share with others what I had learned. But the Lord had other plans in mind for me and I became a wife and mother of ten amazing children. I continued to study the Bible and Book of Mormon and my faith in the Lord increased. As I witnessed His marvelous works in my life and that of our children, I came to understand that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us perfectly regardless of our weaknesses; and that I can trust Him completely to do what is best for my life.

His entire purpose, His work and His joy is to bless the lives of His children and help them achieve all that is possible. Heavenly Father wants us make those decisions in life that will put us on the road back to His presence. His love for us is the reason He gave His Son to suffer our pains and afflictions and atone for our sins. 

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that he is always by our side to help us in every step of our mortal journey. He will never leave us. It is us who sometimes leave Him.  Knowing these great truths is why I wanted to serve a mission and share this precious knowledge that has molded and shaped my life and blessed me with understanding, love, and peace.    Karen, Mom, & Grandma

We love you all,

Gary and Karen Weber