Tour of Galway

                                                                                                                              April 23, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,

Galway Branch Easter Sunday

 

We love the Gibbons family - Michelle, Emily, Nathan and Alex. The boys are the only young men that attend church. 
Emily is in my primary class.

On the right is Dennis Walker. He is a wonderful member. Dennis lives more than an hour from Galway in the town of Westport, so he only makes it to church twice a month. His goal is to start a branch in Westport, so he is actively fellow-shipping and teaching his friends. He is a great example to all of us.

This is one cool bunch of missionaries

 Monday - April 28, we had a Zone Development day in Limerick last Monday. All the missionaries gathered together and we enjoyed sports and other activities all afternoon. It's a great way for the young Elders and Sisters to have a break from the rigors of missionary work. 

We went to a park in Limerick where they played football and had other fun. The weather cooperated and gave us a beautiful sunny day.  We Senior couples prepared lunch and dinner for the group then spent our time visiting with one another.  It's always a positive experience when we get together with the other missionaries. Next week is an all-Ireland conference. We are excited to go!

Look at these adorable Sister missionaries!

It was a beautiful day for our trip to Limerick. We enjoyed the rolling hills and green meadows. We noticed in places a yellow flowering shrub called Gorse (a native plant widely distributed in Ireland). It was growing around the perimeter in a few fields. Occasionally we came across an area where the Gorse had been allowed to grow freely and had completely taken over the meadow. When this happens the land is no longer suitable for grazing or planting. It reminded me of what sin and bad habits can do to us. If left unchecked they will totally overcome the good and take control of our lives.

Tour of Galway

April 9, 2014 – This morning we joined up with Elder, Sister Whitney and their two daughters for a tour of Galway. Yaheli, a member of the Branch, was our tour guide. Yaheli, 25, is a transplant from Mexico, she is young, vivacious and has a cute Spanish, Irish accent when she talks. 

Yaheli

            Cathedral of our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas

Corrib River, scene of many suicides each year

In the old days this lantern was lit by
a man on horseback with a long rod.

Medieval Street

A unique Irish Pub

This is a picture of the famous Claddagh ring.

Depending on the direction the ring is worn and 
whether it is on the right or left hand, you advertise if 
you are free, have a boyfriend, are engaged or married.

The walking tour took us about two hours. I was worried Gary would have a difficult time, but the 
group moved slowly enough that he was able to keep up. 

This unique old building was built in 1580.

Story of Lynch Castle

As the story goes - The Lynches were a wealthy family, many of whom served as Galway mayor. One of the mayors, James Lynch Fitzstephen, actually pronounced his own son guilty of the murder of a Spanish sailor who became involved with a female family member in 1493. Lynch hanged his son Walter himself when everyone else refused to participate. The term 'Lynch Law' arose from this unfortunate episode.

Actual place of execution

The old prison on Market Street in Galway City displays a black marble plaque marking the actual spot of the execution.

The Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas is the largest medieval parish church in Ireland in continuous use as a place of worship and was founded in 1320, dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of seafarers. Local legend states that Christopher Columbus worshipped there when he visited the city in 1477.

Before the tour, Gary and I took a stroll through a shopping mall, we discovered. Then we headed up Shop Street. We stopped in a wee, tiny shop stocked with Irish trinkets for the tourist. We started talking with the clerk about peat farms; peat was the fuel of yesteryear. 

The clerk told us, when she was a girl they lived close to a peat bog. One day she and her younger sister were out with some older family members. The girls ran ahead to the bog, the next thing she knew her sister had disappeared. She looked all around and called her name, but there was no response. She ran back and told the adults. They frantically began searching. They finally found her stuck in the bog, with only her hair and arms showing. Peat bogs can act like quicksand. They had to work quickly, but had no rope or other apparatus to help them, but thankfully after a lot of work, they finally managed to get her out. That incident scared both girls so badly; they never went near the bog again.

(Bogs are wetlands, and although they often look like land, they are in fact like a floating carpet of soil and decomposed matter full of water, up to 90-95% water. Ordnance Survey Magazine)

April 10-12 - We decided we wanted to meet the seven families living in our building. Gary baked some of his awesome cookies then we went about delivering them. No one turned us down and we met five great families. The other two have been difficult to find home.  I decided I wanted to get to know some neighbors and church members better by having an Easter craft class at our place.  I handed out invitations to the four neighbors I found home.

April 16, 2014 –  From the Branch, Lisa and Michele came with their daughters, Sharon and Emily, and Sister Jensen. Later our neighbor Brenda came up and brought her granddaughter. I was thrilled to get the chance to visit with her. The class turned out great and everyone seemed to have a good time.  They each tried their hand at decorating cookies, making daffodil nut cups, and creating a sock bunny or chick. Gary took several pictures of the event.

April 21, Down in city center today we saw a man playing the hurdy gurdy, a medieval musical instrument. It sounds very much like a bagpipe. 

The hurdy gurdy is generally thought to have originated from fiddles in either Western Europe or the Middle East some time before the eleventh century A.D.

Today's hurdy gurdy is roughly the same as those built in the Middle Ages. It has three to six strings, which are caused to vibrate by a rosined wheel turned by a crank. Melody notes are produced on one string, or two tuned in unison, by pressing keys, which stop the string at the proper intervals for the scale. The other strings play a drone note.

We just came back from the missionaries place. One of our Elders is going home in three weeks and is having a difficult time thinking about leaving the mission field. No matter how hard you work as a missionary, you always wonder if you could have done better. Brother Weber and I had a good talk with him and by the time we left, he was smiling and seemed relieved. Some of our best experiences are with the young Elders and Sisters. Sometimes they just need a Mom and Dad and a hug. 

Two things you should always do - pray for the missionaries and pray to have missionary experiences.

Love you all,

Elder & Sister Weber, Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa