Settling in our New Surroundings

Dear Friends, we wish we could take each one of you on a little tour of our new city and country.

Waterford City Center

After having lived in Plymouth, England we are not quite so overwhelmed as we could have been as much here is similar.  Still much is different also.  Karen and I were walking around the "City Center" as they call it.  They use that term because many people do not have cars and a great deal is crammed into a relatively small area which makes it easier for them to walk to every place they need to go.  I suppose it all started way back when there were no automobiles and shops and businesses sprung up wherever it was convenient to put them. Roads were eventually made wherever the trails had been before, and therefore they are narrow and winding.  Now too much has grown up around them to make them easily passable for modern automobiles and delivery trucks, so many of them are one-way only, and there are no sidewalks and you learn to walk attentively.  The people are kind and thoughtful, and always smile when you smile at them.  Motorists often are quite courteous and patient because there are many pedestrians and one must be careful.  You don't dare take your eye off the road here.



Here is Waterford, the Quay (pronounced KEY) which runs for nearly a mile, next to the river, where many businesses have location.  There is also parking, but you pay a $2.35/hr to park.

All of this makes the city center a most adorable and wondrous place to be.  Many of the roads are completely closed off to anything except foot traffic. The young missionaries spend most of their "finding time" in the city center.  The sister missionaries are particularly good at stopping people and starting up conversations.

Waterford Meeting House

 Who can resist two lovely young ladies wanting to speak to you.  The Elders and Sisters always bring investigators to Church. Each week we have 60-75 in attendance and about 3 to 6 of them are investigators.

Karen received a Calling last week as a Family History Consultant.  She was very happy for the Calling, and we now visit members who want to work on their family history and she takes her computer and helps them get on the website and show them where to go and how to do it.  She is very good at that.
Gary also has a Calling as teacher of the "Teacher Training Coarse."  This is very fun for me.  We sit at a table and and discuss the material, and the 5 students are so fun to talk and discuss with. They really don't need me there, but they all pretend they do, and we have helpful discussions.

Here is Sunrise near Waterford.  When the sun is shining there is no prettier place on earth I think.






They have some thatched roof homes, but many fewer than we remember in England.  There are almost no "Row Houses" like we lived in in Plymouth, a good number of duplexes, and double duplexes.  Single family homes are the going thing here.  And grass, lots of grass.

Thanksgiving has come, and it is interesting that here in Ireland, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but they do go all out for "Black Friday."  I wonder how they get the date right for black friday when they don't have a thanksgiving to proceed it.

We had all of the missionaries over for dinner that day, and the sisters were very happy to help with some of the preparations.  Sister Henkel from Germany is whipping the cream for the pumpkin Pie.  She nearly made butter. We had one can of pumpkin somebody brought here from Scotland, you cannot buy it here in Ireland. Sister Knab is stuffing the mushrooms. Everybody was awed by he cuisine.  Elder Coombs always says "everything is wonderful
if it is made with love.

There is an american girl, Emma, here who we also invited, and an investigator from Spain, Solange, who works as an Au' Pare.  Karen cooked a very nice feast, but by the time we thought about taking a picture of it, it was gone.  We sent everybody home with an additional plate of food for the next day.  We really don't have room in the fridge for many leftovers.


The money here is the Euro.  It has been used here for over 10 years now, but many people refer to the Euro as the "Quid," which is the old word for "Pound" which they used when they were part of the United Kingdom.  Elder Coombs gave me this picture.

We have been looking into the Irish language, which nearly became extinct under English rule, but now is mandatory in school.  All Irish are proud to have their old language back, but only young children really can speak it.  They are taught in school, but after that they let it go.  We have asked many people what words mean and few of them know.  I will get some better pictures of signs for you at a later date.  Here they add the Gaelic word along with the English one.

In one very sweet ladies home, this sign was posted just inside her door.  The words are written "Cead Mile Failte" but pronounced it "Cade Meela Falcha." And many people know that phrase.  So I guess Irish (Gaelic) is a treasure to them, but a mostly unused treasure.

The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning

On the 7th, we had a baptism in the Pond.  These two Africans, one from Ghana, and the other from Nigeria, wanted to be baptized like Jesus was.  We either use the pond, or travel 2 hours each way to the nearest font. They really liked the idea.

Jonathan Agyeman Amofa

Look closely at Jonathan's face right after he came up out of the water.  He was shaking when he reached the shore where we were waiting with towels and blankets.  They held up blankets around them so they could change their clothes immediately then we took them home.  They were confirmed the next day in Sacrament meeting.

Karen and I got to speak in church the other week.  Karen was asked to speak on "The Priceless Riches of the Holy Temple."  and they asked me to speak on the "Divinity of the Marriage Covenant."  They seemed to go well.

What we love most to do here is visit members of the Branch, especially those who do not attend meetings.  We have always been received pleasantly, even by a couple who truly do not want us to return.  When we bring cookies, it works even better.

So Karen is baking today as I write the blog.  She seems to know just how to make things work.  We normally carry several   small bags of cookies with us at all times.  She experiments with different recipes and the altitude makes a difference, so I get to eat the ones that are not quite good enough.

Karen and I have a plan for our teaching.  We find a subject that needs teaching, then we find a "Mormon Message" video that goes with it, add a scripture or two, testify to the truth of it, Commit the person or family to live it, or read about it, Promise them blessings for doing so, start and end with prayer.  We pour over the videos to find the right one, Karen is best at doing that, I am best at ad libbing and backup. It works pretty well, and the possibilities are endless.  We learned this from the missionaries here and from Pres. Shamo who is working with similar things for the YSA.

Here is David and Janepher Mutebi.  She has recently been baptized, and we are teaching her the "new member lessons."  They have two very cute little daughters and one more coming this week.  They are so very sweet.  They also have moved house to another apartment nearer the church, and without the long cement stairs going in.

Billy and Katie Power

Here are the Powers, Billy & Katie.  They are stalwarts.  He did not marry until he was in his 50's, and she is 20 years younger.  She had a brain tumor when she was 19, and now functions perfectly although she walks like she had a stroke.  They are a most wonderful couple.  He wanted children, but when they married she was probably too old. He knows his time will come to raise children.

She drew this picture from a tiny postcard, and he says it took her over 3 years to do it.  Karen is teaching her family history and Billy and I talk about some of the Branch members that we are unable to find.  He has been a clerk a number of times and knows a lot about the older members.

Burglar Alarm?

Brother Michael Duggan is starting to come back to meetings.  The elders are working with him.  When we went to visit, he opened the door, and this is what we saw.  He is replacing his entry way flooring.  He has been struggling for some time with some aspects of he gospel, and is making progress.  Our Elders are good for him and he is doing quite well.


This young man, Kieran Dalton, is 62, He invited us in, and when I asked him how he was doing, he said, "I am hungry." I asked him where his money had gone and he said "I am not good with money."  What did you spend it on I asked.  He said "goodies."  So we took him out to dinner.  I spoke to him a little about the signs of the times, and he stated that he believed all of that, and when I asked him if he knew where the church was, he said he knew and he would be there Sunday.  We talked about how he needs to pay his electrical bill and tithing first before he buys goodies.  And maybe some food also.  He said he was going to start doing that this week.  We will keep in touch with him.  He seems to have a good heart and just needs someone to love him and help him find the way again.

We are so happy to be here and to be involved in such a great work.  I think we have found our rhythm and are now expanding our abilities.  There are so many things for us to do and so little time.  There is a major industry here known as Waterford Crystal.  We go by the beautiful building and showroom nearly every day, but are in to much of a hurry to stop in.  We will find the time, but not quite yet.

Bless you all for your good works and happy hearts.  We love you all and pray for your wellbeing.
Grammy and Grumpy, elder and sister weber, ma and pa.

Arriving in Waterford, Ireland

The flight was long, and when you fly West to East, against the sun, it shortens the days and makes it seem even longer.  The night came so quickly and the ocean is so wide.  It gets a little scary when you think that all there is beneath you is water further than the eye could see, if you could see.  By the time the sun thought of rising, we were already on the ground and in the terminal.  To my great surprise and relief, once again nobody was standing in customs to go through our things and tell us that we certainly could not bring in 18 months of drugs into their country.   So we walked right by and felt blessed.  And yes Allison, I worried too much about that.  But that's my job.

Elder andSister McKendrick

Elder McKendrick was waiting for us before we left the building.  He helped us with the luggage and drove us to his place.  Elder and Sister McKendrick  have an apartment on the Stake Center property, which makes it very handy for them because they are the YSA couple for the Dublin Stake.  We spoke with them for a couple of hours.  They thought we should stay and sleep a while and they had a meeting anyway, but sleeping there meant getting out the CPAP, and I knew that when I fall asleep, I would not wake up for some time.  We still had over 2 hours to drive to get to Waterford.  So we loved them and thanked them and took to the road.

Bleary-eyed Webers

I had prepared my GPS by purchasing a UK chip with maps and although I worried about it functioning, there was not anything else I could really do except have faith that my effort was enough.  My OCD was kicking in pretty good when we turned it on, put in the address and clicked "GO," because the first thing it did was say "no matches found."  I PANICKED inside for a moment then The Sat/Nav reconsidered and up came the satellites and the road was clearly marked.

Home Sweet Home

I was amazed at how quickly my hard earned English driving training returned.  As soon as the newness wore off, the tired took over and I started drifting over the lines on both sides.  We were too tired to really take in the wonder that is Ireland, but we arrived at our destination without incident and located our new home.

We are unsure exactly how long we will be here.  It may not be for the entire mission, but it will likely be for half of it.  Normally they leave couples in one of the two countries for a little less than a year, because of the effort and expense of getting a driving license.  You can drive for a year in either country on your US license, so they often shift couples from one country to the other.  I am uncertain if my English license will work here in Ireland, but I will find out. We have heard both answers, but none officially.

Karen's Cooker

We unlocked the door and looked around the house.  Not a bad place to stay.  We have 3 bedrooms, 2 with double beds and one with a single bed,  a large living room with a gas fireplace, a nice kitchen, and a garage accessible by inside door only.  A back yard with a huge hedge, situated in a very nice neighborhood.  I don't know how I will be able to trim the hedge as there is no equipment here to do it and no ladder to get up high enough.  I called the letting agency and they said they would make sure it was taken care of.  The owner came by later and told us that he had planted the hedge for privacy, and that he will trim it, but probably no more often than once every couple of years.

Big Hedge, No, not me, the Hedge!

The kitchen Queen

Karen says that the kitchen here has more cooking space than her kitchen at home.  I can see that the remodel we have planned for our kitchen will be top priority when we return.



About that, we think that if we are still able enough when we get home, it may be a short stay.  We think we should wear out selves out in the work of the Lord.

We may well be resubmitting missionary papers within a year of our return.

The refrigerator is small, but we are only two.

We were so tired and hungry.  The dear McConnel's had left some food, so we ate a little something and took a 4 hour nap.  When we finally got up, we fixed some dinner and went to bed and slept another 12 hours.

It took me nearly 2 weeks before I could get up on time and go to bed on time and not be dead tired all day.  Karen recovered more easily I think.

We met many members on Sunday, and they all seemed very pleased to have us there.  We made some dear friends already, and had good discussions with a number of them.  Good people these Irish.

We meet in an old refurbished factory.  We do not have a picture of it now and I will not wait to post this blog spot, so I will add that picture next time.  We take up about one-tenth of the building, and are busting out of it.  In a recent Zone Conference we met with Pres. Brown for the first time.  I mentioned to him that our circumstances were crowded there, and that we have had 63, 63, and 74 in attendance on the 3 Sundays we have been here.  Each Sunday, we noticed there were some of the very active members who are out of town, and that if they were all to show up, I was not sure we could contain them in that facility.  He was pleased and concerned, and made some notes.  He said, "I know just who to speak to." I believe there are plans in the works for a building of our own. It would make the missionary work here ever so much better if we had a building we could show investigators, it kind of gives permanence to our appearance.

We learned that the Relief Society Pres.  had already started circulating a dinner list for the missionaries for the holidays.  They will have us all covered for eating on Christmas @ 1pm, Christmas @ 5pm, Boxing day @ 1pm and 5pm, New years day a@ 1and 5pm.  How are we supposed to eat twice each of those days so close together.  And you know, the 1pm schedule will probably be late, and then OH MY for the 5pm one.

Waterford is in lower Center near the coast

We have 3 pairs of missionaries here, and the members are spread out far and wide.  Waterford is the largest city, and centrally located, but it does not have the majority of the active members.  There are 4 directions we travel from here and each one takes close to an hour.

What a good looking group.
Elder Coombs, Sisters Knab, Henkel, the Webers, Elder Edwards

We usually take one pair with us when we go to district and zone meetings, but we cannot take them all.  In our district, 5 of the missionaries have been here as short a time as we.  One elder has been here 6 weeks longer.  The two Sisters are absolutely amazing.  They have 3 investigators with a date for baptism already.  They are investigator-finding Magnets.  The Elders have one as well.  Because the Sisters cannot meet young men any place that is not public, they always try to have their discussions with members present.  We like to involve the Branch as much as possible.  We have a lovely living room and we often have them come here when nobody else in the Branch can have them over.

Sister Knab is pretty close to going home.  She is the best at finding and meeting people on the street.  They have a new position in the mission, and I believe all missions, called "Sister Trainers" She was one of the first Sister Trainers in this mission, and you can see why, she loves to meet people on the street, and she loves missionary work.  It just comes bubbling out of her and she literally bounces up and down at the prospect.  Her favorite time of year is street meeting during Christmas time.  Her birthday was the other day and we had a celebration for her at District meeting.


On one of our recent trips to the outer regions of the Branch boundaries we met with the Condemi Family.  The Condemi’s are a marvelous family. Mom and Dad are about the same age as our Ben and Ana. They have two daughters and a son. The oldest daughter, Leah, is the same age as Alessia,  and Tomaso is Sean’s age. They have a younger daughter, Emma, who is the second grade.

   The children are marvelous.  Leah, the 16 year old plays the piano for Sacrament meeting.  Brother Condemi runs an Italian Ice shop.  They fed us and my oh my was it good.  For dessert we had two kinds of Gelato.  We have to get to his shop and get Karen stocked.  You know she is a Gelato freak.  Just look at these precious children.  He will want to give us the ice cream, but I already told him that I would not go if he didn't let me pay.  He said "maybe I give you a little discount." I do foresee a battle here.

On our drive to their home, the GPS kept telling me to go "off road."  We had to put the GPS coordinates in, and then wing it when you get close.

Along the way we discovered a tree.  We had to stop and investigate.  It was truly a work of art, and Metallic, and huge, it must have been 50 feet tall.  And it must have been quite expensive.  We could not find anybody nearby to ask about it, but I think we will.  If you look closely, you can pick out images of a violin, pitcher, washboard, ladder, and a lot more.

We also saw a couple of other neat things.  Like this gas station in a small town.  Just pull over and "top it off. "

We have done a lot of shopping while we have been here.  There are so many things we need to have to run a house.  Although these places are "furnished," they do not have some of the things we really need.  A knife that actually cuts, a potato pealer, garbage can, spices, pepsi max, gary's nutmix, print cartridges, good pork sausage and on and on.  One thing that is an absolute necessity is German Chocolate
Lindor Balls.  We found a good one here.  The Lidl Store has all kinds of German goodies at Christmas time.  Look at this one. There are only a couple of large Name Grocery stores here.  Tesco being the largest and most plentiful.  So if they don't have it, you won't find it at all.  Like canned pumpkin.  Not available in Ireland.  I went on line to Ebay.Co.UK and was about to purchase some and have it shipped here at an exorbitant price when it said that they could not ship to our address.  That means Ireland.  We have a can in our cupbord, but it was brought here from Scotland.  We spoke to the Morgans and they are going to try to get us some from the UK and ship it to us from there.  They sounded confident that it an be done.

Well, that is all for now, We love you all and miss you, but are doing our best to do the Lord's will here and stay busy and involved.  We have friends to find and lives to help change.  What a marvelous opportunity to serve.  Gramma and Grumpa Weber

Karen’s Corner

On our drive from Dublin to Waterford, we marveled at the verdant, green countryside. It is truly picturesque, the rolling hills, the interlocking pastures with their green hedges and a herd of cows in the meadow. A picture doesn’t do it justice.

News From Waterford                     

On Saturday, November 2, Waterford celebrated All Souls Day in memory of deceased loved ones. It is celebrated throughout Ireland. I believe it is like our Memorial Day event. Candles are lit in memory of departed loved ones. It is interesting that it follows on the heels of Halloween, which the Irish also celebrate.  

The City of Waterford will be celebrating its 1100 birthday in 2014. “Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city and is also older than all of the Northern European capitals with the exception of London and Paris. In 914 the great Viking adventurer and pirate, Regnall, a grandson of Ivor the Boneless, established a base here and built a Long port or ships’ haven, which would in time become a modern city.

“The city was capture, by the Anglo Normans in 1170, and the Vikings were expelled bringing about a dramatic change for the city. Within a few years of being captured, Waterford was escalated to the status of Royal City, which owed allegiance to the Anglo Norman King of England, Henry II. Modern day Waterford City still retains six towers and long stretches of town walls from these periods which represents the largest collection of medieval defensive towers and walls in Ireland.”

Presently Waterford has about 50,000 people, with another 50,000 in the rest of the County. From reading the newspaper, I learned the residents here struggle with the same problems we have in the states. They also experience many positive happenings, created by individuals working to improve their community. One of these is a yearly tree day for primary school children. On this day they learn about trees how they help the environment and improve the air we breathe. They have class projects and participate in guided woodland walks. “Show a little Atreeciation for trees.”  Clever theme.

            We have found the Irish people to be very courteous and willing to help. If chairs are in short number, the young men will offer their chairs to seniors. - Karen

MTC - Week 1

Mon Oct 28 – Matt drove us to the MTC this morning.   We said our goodbyes then we were off to go through the registration process. It is very exciting to be back at the MTC again. I have never felt so much enthusiasm or seen so many happy smiling faces as there are here.  As we turned to say goodbye, we saw the Temple looking down upon the MTC.

Matthew drops us off

A missionary helped us with our luggage then willingly took a quick picture of the three of us, which Matt immediately posted on Facebook.

Provo Temple

As soon as the senior couples finished registering, we were diverted to the chapel next door. It was here we met for classes and training for the next 5 days. Our teachers were young excited returned missionaries. And oh my, did they exude the spirit! Each one seemed to be completely familiar with, Preach My Gospel, and each was so proficient in the techniques they were teaching us to do. It was an amazing experience. We found the training to be even better than it was five years. It was more specific or spot on. I think we were given better tools to work with as missionaries.

Tuesday night we went to a devotional in a large auditorium. The entire building was packed with missionaries. There was an all missionary choir of probably 300 youth. The speaker that night was seventy, Carlos Godoy. Elder Godoy related the story of his conversion as a youth. It was a rather remarkable journey for a sixteen year old, longhaired youth. His point was, “Never judge who will accept the gospel. The gospel is for everyone.“ It was an excellent example of what not to do with a new member of the Church.

Pincocks, Sister Clark, Webers, Wielands

            At the MTC, we were divided up into districts. We were with two other couples the Pincocks, heading to Japan and the Wielands, going to the Philippines. We had the opportunity to rub shoulders with many other couples and feel of their wonderful spirits. It was a great experience.

            We had several role training experiences, in which we posed as less active members, investigators or missionaries. I didn’t think I would like it, but I found it to be a fun learning experience and very enlightening. We would do it again and will at District and Zone training meetings.

            During the week, they housed us at the Marriott in downtown Provo. It was a bit out of the way and there was no internet service in our rooms, which made it hard to study our material. And then we didn’t feel good about leaving our computers in the room, so we had to haul them to campus each day. But other than that everything else was great.

            We enjoyed our meals in the cafeteria where we could visit with and enjoy the young Elders and Sisters. There is nothing like it, to see so many missionaries in together in one place.

            I so wish we could be a little fly on the wall to watch Cierra as she has this marvelous experience at the MTC. Have a great experience CC!!!
           On our last day as we walked around we noticed small groups of missionaries eating outside and in speaking with them we found out that this one group was heading to Korea,  6 lovely Sister missionaries all quite confident with their newly learned Korean were talking to us and very excited about their upcoming journey.  Another group were bouncing up and down and so excited to show us where they were going.

Sisters heading to South America and the Canary Islands

Korean Sister Missionaries

            When we finished on Friday afternoon, Matt picked us up and took us back to his place. We were busy all weekend finishing last minute details, shopping, packing, repacking and visiting with family and friends.

            Monday morning our sweet girls, Bonnie and Ali, were up early to fix us a fancy breakfast - waffles with different yummy toppings. Then they hauled us to the airport and helped us inside with all of our massive luggage, four huge suitcases and two carry-ons. I have a picture in my mind of the girls both smiling as we left to go through security. It was hard to turn and walk away.

            We flew out at about 9:50 a.m. The flight was uneventful, just long and very cramped. We arrived at Dublin airport about 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, a bit frumpy, but no worse for wear.

Gramma & Grumpa heading for the Emerald Isle

            On the flight from Atlanta, I sat next to a young Irish woman; we had a nice conversation about her holiday in the states, her boyfriend and Ireland.

            When we arrived we went through a passport check for individuals coming into the country. We walked right through customs without any check, just like we did in England. Brother McKendrick was at the airport to meet us. He took us to his home where we visited with he and his wife for a couple of hours. Then he gave us our car and apartment keys and we were on our way. They wanted us to stay and sleep for a couple of hours, but I knew that wouldn’t work for Gary. Besides, we were both anxious to get to our destination and crash. And so we arrived in Waterford about 12 noon. We brought our luggage in, ate something light then we napped for 4 hours. We were up for a couple of hours, had a little dinner, then went to bed and slept for another 12 hours. It took us most of the next week to get adjusted to the time change.

       We miss all of you already, but we are now on the Lord's errand and must find those He has prepared for us to find and teach and love.  - elder and sister weber-