Lovely Month of June

My favorite flowers are in bloom!

Dear Family and Friends,


I am always amazed to see the Lord's hand in our lives. Today, watch and be aware of the Lord's tender mercies to you. They may come in many forms - a call from a friend, a helping hand, a smile, an answer to pray. Decide what you can do today to let the Lord's influence be felt in the lives of others. 

Service generally doesn't come in grandiose ways, but through small and simple acts of love. There is nothing more rewarding than serving others. See this touching video - Our Hands

This past week I was putting together a scrapbook for a dear sister who is moving to England. I gathered pictures from members and what supplies I could find. I set aside two days and invited the sisters to come join me, but everyone seemed to be busy.  I thought I might be doing this project by myself. 

Wednesday morning I prayed and asked the Lord to send someone to help me that day, an hour later I received an email from a member who said she and her daughter would be there that afternoon. We had a delightful time creating scrapbook pages together. The next morning, I asked Heavenly Father again to send someone to help. I began the project by myself, but soon a sister from the branch joined me.  It was a perfect opportunity to get better acquainted with her. We finished the book!

I've learned Heavenly Father cares about those things that are important to us. He is always willing to send help if we but ask.

Our District at Rock'n Joe's - a weekly event following our meeting

Every six weeks the missionaries have moves, often included in this process is a Zone Development Day. This is a time for the 30 missionaries in our zone to spend some time together having fun and getting better acquainted.

Crazy Missionaries

Croagh Patrick Hike --

June 21, 2014   Today we went on another YSA adventure. This time we were off to County Mayo to climb Croagh Patrick, considered by the Irish to be a holy mountain.

This is where Saint Patrick is said to have fasted 40 days for penance in 441 AD. Legend also has it that Croagh Patrick is the mount from which he banished snakes from Ireland forever!   (FYI - There are no snakes in Ireland!)

The Hiking group - Elder Weber is along to drive

“Its religious significance dates back to the time of the pagans, when people are thought to have gathered here to celebrate the beginning of harvest season. Each year thousands visit the mountain and make the pilgrimage to honor Ireland’s patron saint. Some people even climb the mountainside barefoot, as an act of penance.”  (Teach na Miasa)  

On the way up we saw a few individuals hiking barefooted. 

"How in the world can they do that!"

The scene below was simply breathtaking. 

The first part of the hike was tiring, but easy compared to the upward rocky ascent the group took after I left. 

We took several breaks along the way. I made it perhaps halfway and was exhausted. The higher we went the steeper the climb became. I was concerned about getting back down safely and thought it too risky to continue. Svetlana and I decided to head back down. We found even descending the trail was arduous. I was completely wasted by the time we arrived back at the car. 

The trail was very steep, as seen in the above photo, and strewn with rocks and loose shale. 

The young'uns of course, were climbing with ease. It took them about 4 ½ hours to make the round trip.

Upper right picture is Destiny, a cool kid in our branch. He is only ten years old, but he toughed it out to the top. We were proud of him. On the left Elder Crittendon is taking good care of Destiny as he takes him by the hand over the rocky shale. Below is Elder Hale, Elder Crittendon, Alex, Elder Ilory and Destiny all excited with their accomplishment. It was a good day!


Our Irish Friends --

This lovely family are the Jensen's (Yensen). Brother Jensen is from Denmark. He has been Branch President and in the presidency several times. He is a high councilor now. Sister Jensen is Primary President; their daughter, Veronica, Young Women's President and William, first Councilor to Elder Weber. They are surely stalwarts in the branch and have been here forever. Good people!

These are the Connelly's, Joseph, Patrick, and Izzy, our friends from the Waterford Branch. They came up on a Sunday to visit us.

We love you and thank everyone for your concern and prayers in our behalf. We want you to know we are thinking of you.

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

P-Day Excursion

Dear Family and Friends,

We want to introduce you to some of the lovely people we have met here in Ireland. These two wonderful families are members of the Galway Branch.

This is the Gibbon's family, Michelle, Nathan, Alex and Emily. Michelle works as a teacher's aide at Emily's school. Her sons, Nathan and Alex are our only active young men in the branch. Emily is in my Valiant, Primary class, she will turn 12 in August and go into Young Women's. We love the Gibbon's family, they are great. We knew Michelle's brother Paul and wife Angela when we were in Waterford.

On the right is Sharon and Lisa Isokpan. They are so lovely. Lisa works as a caregiver for the elderly. Sharon, who is 12, is an amazing athlete. She is on a city basketball league. They are moving to England the end of this month, so we are all sad.

Our dear Elder Meyer is going home in a couple of weeks. Because he hasn't had the opportunity to see any sights in Ireland, we promised him a P-Day excursion. 

P-Day Adventure to Cong

Ross Errilly Friary

Today is May 5, the Hales stayed over with us this weekend. On Monday, we took a short drive to the village of Cong(Irish-Cunga) to see Ashford castle and the cottage where The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, was filmed in 1951.

On the way to Cong we happened to see an old monastery off in the distance. We decided we had to stop and investigate. We took a few back roads and finally made our way there.  On the faded sign out front was the name, Ross Errilly Friary of Franciscan monks built in 1351 and added onto in 1498. 

Inside, we found a number of graves and crypts, a half dozen were recent, but most were very old. There was a labyrinth of rooms, stairways and corridors within the crumbling walls of Ross Errilly. We enjoyed our little explore, trying to imagine what life must have been like here centuries ago. As you can see, the Elders are having a grand old time.

A table full of hungry missionaries

We planned on having a picnic lunch in Cong when we arrived, but it was raining so hard we opted for a dry place and ended up at the Hungry Monk’s Café. It was a tasty choice.

                   

Cong is a picturesque village on the banks of the Cong River. Gary is standing at the end of the bridge that spans the river.

The upper left picture is taken inside the fairy forest. Lower left is the monk's fishing hut, it was used during the winter months, there is a trap door in the floor. Upper right is a gatehouse leading to the grounds of Ashford castle. We saw this one lone swan swimming in the river.

After lunch we made our way past the ruins of an old church, across a river bridge, and through a stone archway into an enchanting forest where I half expected to see leprechauns and fairies dancing about. We were amazed to see huge sequoia trees here. We followed the path along to Ashford Castle.

Upper left a statue of John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara, lower left Elder's Crittenden and Meyer on the wall in front of the Ashford castle, Upper right - before you could count to two one Elder Crittendon was up in a tree, Lower right is the cottage where Quiet Man was filmed

Ashford Castle

The initial Castle was built on this site in 1228, by the Anglo-Norman, House of Burke. It was added onto in 1715 and again in 1852. It was completely refurbished in 1970 and turned into a five-star luxury hotel. The oldest part of the castle is on the left. 



This house by the river was so lovely I had to take a picture.





We hope you enjoyed our short tour of Cong.


Love, Elder and Sister Weber, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma