When It Rains It Pours

We've been enjoying more sunshine this week then we did last week. I do so love it when the sun shines!

We have found the people here to be very friendly and helpful wherever we are. They're wonderful.

I like that we are warned with a yellow light when the traffic light is going to turn from red to green as well as green to red. That the kids here wear uniforms to school. They look really sharp and they don't have to impress anyone and spend a fortune on their 'school' clothes.

I enjoy our washer/dryer combination. It does about two articles of clothing, so yes, it's a wee bit on the small side. It takes about 90 minutes to get your clothes not even semi-dry, so we have resorted to drying them on clothes drying racks in our bedroom.

We went on several walks this week. We are so impressed with the houses and yards around here. Very neat, tidy and immaculately kept up. Just about every property looks freshly painted, the big pained windows are always sparklingly clean. I take Elder Blickenstaff along so that when we do get lost at least we'll be lost together. :D We are having fun exploring our neighborhood. We heard of a walking/hiking/ biking trail near a 1700's five arched stone bridge (Shaw's Bridge) over the River Lagan not too far from here. Beautiful trails. Amazing that we are so close to the City of Belfast and yet it seems so rural and remote. Took some great photos that I'll send along soon.

We had our first zone meeting yesterday. We were taught about The 4th Missionary. It was a great presentation and a great reminder of the kind of missionaries we should be striving to be. President Griffith's is a great teacher. We enjoyed a lesson from our zone leaders as well. Then we had to leave there and go to where the Young Single Adult Convention was starting. The kick-off was a Halloween Dance. Around 110 youth checked in at the convention. They are here mainly from Belfast, but from all over the UK as well. Most of the youth came in costumes. There were some great ones! (Again, more photos to follow.) They went out street tracting this morning, they are currently at some water activities where they are going on banana boats (?) and inner tubes, where they love to get bumped off into the not so warm water. (They are a lot hardier than we are! It's a good thing we aren't suppose to participate anyway.) It's DANG COLD!!! They will go disco roller skating later still today. That I would like to see!!! but I'll be helping them out as dinner draws near by browning hamburger meat for Sloppy Joes. We will have church here in the centre tomorrow morning. Elder Blickenstaff and I have been given the responsibility of teaching the Sunday School lesson. We will have a question and answer discussion. (Discussing answers to questions that the youth wrote down during registration yesterday for us . . . so . . . never a dull moment!)

All is going crazy, busy, good.

Love to all,
Sister Blick

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Hello to all my fans in America:

The big news here is that it rains. A lot. Daily.

In other news, of a less liquid nature, we had to activate our U.K. Bank Card and set up U.K. Internet Banking. In Europe, the debit cards have what is called Pin and Chip. Rather than using a magnetic stripe on the back of the card, the card has a smart ship imbedded in the card itself. The card is inserted into a reader (instead of being swiped) and then you enter your Pin Code. You are never required to sign a receipt. If you go to the bank itself, you can use their Express Banking machine and your Pin and Chip card to pay all your bills electronically. It took us several hours to set up and work out all the kinks and we still need to go to a bank branch to get some money into the account.

We also discovered that our order for broadband in the flat has been assigned to Elder John Blickenspaff.

Last Saturday night, we drove to the Portadown Ward, about 45 minutes away, to attend the baptism of Michelle Silcock. She will be disowned and shunned by her family when they learn that she has become a Latter-day Saint, but she feels strongly that she wants and needs to do this. There were about 30 people at the service. Afterwards, we visited with the Bishop, Joseph Bridgewater. He is a very nice man and this is the fourth baptism in their ward this year.

When we arrived back home, about 21:00, we had to make our obligatory run to Tesco for some groceries so we wouldn’t have to break the Sabbath on our first Sunday in Northern Ireland. This took an hour. When we got to the flat, we discovered that our natural gas account was locked up as we had let the amount of prepaid gas get too low. Here, instead of getting a bill for the gas used during the past month, we must purchase our gas in advance. I had to run to a local convenience store, where I paid for £20 worth of natural gas to be put on my smart card. I then took the card back to the flat, where I inserted the card into the meter and transferred the £20 credit to the meter. This amounted to the prepayment of approximately 38 cubic meters of gas. I have no idea under Heaven how much gas that is or how long it will take us to burn it up. This process took about an hour and then I was finally able to have a wee bit of supper. I had some grapes from Italy, a clementine from Spain, two cherry tomatoes from Holland, some English cheese and some kind of Irish smoothie concoction of mangoes and passion fruit.

The next day was our first Sunday in Northern Ireland. It rained. We attended the Holywood Road Ward, which is the ward in which we live. In a brilliant nod to common sense, church services in Northern Ireland start at 10:00 a.m. We were introduced as the new missionary couple, Elder and Sister Blickerstaff. The members were nice, the bishop was a lovely, tender man and the experience was wonderful. It was rather cold in the building. The heating system, after decades of use, has finally gone out and is being totally replaced. The ward will start meeting in the Youth Centre in a few weeks, for six months while the repair work takes place. Before today, I thought to myself that changing the heating system out during the winter sounds a bit odd, but after today, I can see why they need to do it now, and I totally concur.

It was the annual primary program and it was very nicely done. The entire primary consists of 6 children: 4 girls and 2 boys. The singing was energetic and well done and the talks were brilliant. One of the boys said that his mother had served a mission, his dad had been converted to the gospel because of the missionaries, his grandparents had served a mission and he hoped to someday serve a mission himself. It was the best, to the point, two minute talk about missionary work I have ever heard.

Afterwards, we gave the young sister missionaries a ride back to their flat. It was raining and the distance was close to 5 miles. They were meeting with President Griffiths in their apartment and he waved to us as he got out of his car. We drove home, a distance of about 2 miles, where we got soaked from the car to the flat. The place was very cold but we cranked up the heat and had another meal from the nice people at Tesco. We also had a salad or something.

That evening, we went back to the Centre for the Sunday evening fireside. We had 25 YSA in attendance, as well as the entire stake presidency. The topic was the recent temple trip the YSA organized to the Preston England Temple. Four of them spoke about their experiences and then the YSA choir sang. They were fantastic. Sister and Elder Holt spoke about the Centre, the Temple trip and their love of the YSA. Most of the YSA were crying. The stake president was the final speaker. He thanked the Holts and welcomed us. He said he had been practicing saying Blickenstaff all week.

After the fireside, the stake presidency met with the Holts, Nobles and us. President McCrudden asked us all to take a few minutes and introduce ourselves. He is a former police inspector. For 30 years he was the head of the weapons training division for the police in Northern Ireland. He had 300 trainers working for him. He was responsible for training in every firearm, rifle, grenade, cannon and sniper weapon in the arsenal. A few months ago he retired and was hired by the Church as the CES Director for Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Liverpool. He has been the stake president for 3 years. He joined the Church when he was 19, was basically kicked out by his parents for doing so and served a full-time mission, to Washington state.

His first counselor, President Napier, joined the church when he was a young man. In answer to prayer, he dated an LDS girl whose father asked him if he would listen to the missionaries, who turned out to be sister missionaries and he felt the Spirit.

President Boyd is a former bishop and has been in the stake presidency for 4 months. He is responsible for YSA.

Brother Noble joined the Church when he met his future wife, who was a member. He was in the army.

It was a great meeting. President McCrudden welcomed us to the Centre. He asked us to attend a meeting tomorrow with Elder Sonny Donaldson, of the Seventy, and Brother Richard Hawks from CES. They are coming to see the Belfast Centre.

After that meeting, he asked Sister Blickenstaff and I to stay behind. He told us that he was so pleased to have a missionary couple to replace the Holts. He told us to visit everywhere in the stake and help the members hold on to the YSA. He said that when he was called him to serve as the stake president he was told there are two holes in every stake: the youth and the YSA. He was instructed to cover those two holes. He said that he wanted us to travel with him to the Republic of Ireland when he goes on CES business so we can meet another couple, serving in Dublin and see what they are doing with their YSA.

In the course of the evening, we were asked to bear our testimonies at the YSA Convention next weekend, as well as teach the Sunday school class. We are also teaching family home evening tomorrow and providing the treat.

Sister Blickenstaff said to me, “Well Elder, I don’t know about you, but every once in a while, this mission just absolutely terrifies me.”

The next day it rained. Again. All day. Sweet! In between getting drenched, here’s what we did:

We attended a meeting with Elder Sonny Donaldson, an Area Seventy. He brought Brother Richard Hawks and Brother Mike Somebody from CES in Salt Lake City. They wanted to see the Belfast Centre for Young Adults. Four of our YSA came the Centre and they were fabulous. They talked about how much they enjoyed having the Centre, how many less actives they had reactivated in the last 12 months, how many temple marriages had occurred in the last 12 months between YSA that met each other at the Center and what a wonderful response they were getting from the YSA. The meeting lasted more than two hours and was wonderful.

We then drove to our local bank and spent an hour trying to figure out how to get money out of the ATM and into our account. We had a lovely time, but I had to talk to 3 people in the States about my Wells Fargo account before I could actually transfer some cash. Wells Fargo may be big, but they don't know nothing about efficiency.

Sister Blickenstaff and I then spent the rest of the afternoon in an exciting assault on the Northern Irish National Health Service. I have developed an infection in my left eyelid that has painfully swollen the lid way larger than normal. We went in to a surgery (Doctor’s office) down the hill from our flat. We were told that we needed to fill out some papers and they would call us back within the next 2-3 weeks to see the doctor. Sister Blick started to cry, which was a tender moment for me. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she felt bad for me. It melted my heart, even though we had just come in out of the very cold and windy down pouring of rain. Almost immediately, the receptionist asked if I needed to see the doctor today. I responded by looking pain filled, which was no exaggeration. She whispered, “Why don’t you take a seat and work on these papers and I’ll just see if the doctor can take a look at your eye while you are here.

It was an immediate and clear manifestation of the tender mercy of the Lord intervening on my behalf. We sat down to fill out the paperwork. In a few minutes, the receptionist came out and told us that the doctor would see us in a few minutes time. She asked if she could make copies of our passports or driving licenses. We handed her our licenses. She looked at the them, then leaned over and said, “You two are with the Mormon Church aren’t you?’

I asked, “How can you tell that by our driving license?”

She replied, “You have a very clean-cut look about you and your driving license is from Utah, so I knew you were Mormons.”

I thanked her for noticing. Just then, my name was called for the doctor. He was a young man, who was very polite. He examined my eye for about 4 seconds and wrote me out a prescription for the chemist. He said I have blepharitis, which made me feel pretty special. Ten minutes later, I had myself some antibiotic eye drops made with loving care, just for bleparitic patients such as myself.

I am so grateful to the Lord for helping me out in such a timely fashion. I don’t want to look like Popeye, even though he was one of my childhood heroes. (I didn’t realize he was violent and smoked a pipe until later in my life.)

After a brief stop at home, we headed to the Centre for Family Home Evening. We had one YSA show up. Sister Blick taught the lesson and brought the treat. We talked about having a sense of humor. It was a good lesson, with some good humor and a good treat (caramel popcorn).

We were able to FaceTime with Jeremy in Essen, Germany for about 25 minutes. It was wonderful to see his bright smiling face.

We came home in the rain and were thankful to be dry inside.

The next day it rained. But then we saw the sun for about an hour! It was amazing. We had some blue sky after a wee shower. However, we have been told that it will start pouring again in a couple of days. Apparently this month has already set a record rainfall in Belfast. We’ve recorded an amount that is twice the normal for the month.

I spent the morning at the Centre waiting for a BT technician to come do magical Internet things. He never showed and I left at noon. While I was waiting, Elder Holt showed me his spreadsheet where he has been keeping tabs (get it?) on the YSA. It was complicated and I can’t possibly remember everything he showed me, but it was impressive.

My companion and I spent the entire afternoon at Tesco, shopping for groceries. And tonight she fixed us a wonderful meal of ravioli. I made the salad, because I said, “Why can’t we ever had a salad or something?” just like Nacho Libre.

That night, we attended the YSA institute class taught by the stake president. It was a good lesson; he is teaching the leadership class.

Afterwards, we had to hang around for a couple of hours troubleshooting the office email problems at Timber Lakes. I had to quit and go to bed before we got to the bottom of it, but we made some progress.

It turned colder after the rain let up today. As we drove home tonight, it was 8° C, which is 46.4° F or 281° Kelvin or 506° Rankine. But it was a humid Rankine, so it seemed colder.

Jason emailed us a photo of a house just down the street from our flat. It gave us a good laugh that he was trying to track us down using Internet cameras. We had better behave, as we don’t know who might be watching us, when or how.

We started off the next day with a brisk walk along Saintfield Road. We had some blue sky and every once in a while, Old Mr. Sun popped through to wish us well. Mostly, however, I wished I had brought a sweatshirt with me from the States. Along our way, I stopped in at the chemist (pharmacy) and asked about some cleaning solution for my Braun razor. They are able to special order such things into their shop and so if it turns out to be the correct size, I will be fixed in about a week. Everyone we have met here has been so nice to us and tries so hard to understand what we are saying. I wonder if it as enjoyable for a native to listen to foreign accented English as it is for Americans to listen to the Scots or the Irish speak.

The day before, I was able to find some contact lens cleaning solution at Tesco. The Ciba Vision brand is available here, but costs twice as much as it does stateside, so I will be trying another brand that is much cheaper.

We walked both sides of the road, looking for the house that Jason found a picture of on the Internet. It looks so much like every house around here, but we were unable to identify the exact match.

We also did some laundry. We are experimenting with our machine. It is one machine, a combination washer/dryer. After it washes a load, it becomes the dryer. The loads are small, but the washer is efficient. The dryer doesn’t really dry anything; it removes enough water so that when you take the clothes out, they don’t drip. You hang your laundry on every available projectile in the flat and wait for Mother Nature to take her course. Synthetics dry very fast. For example, my socks are made from bamboo fibre and they dry very quickly. Some of Jennifer’s tops need 24 hours. We are experimenting with different settings to see which combination makes us the most happy, cheerful, cleanly clothed missionaries in Northern Ireland.

We did NOT go to Tesco that day. Instead, we tried a different store, Sainsbury’s. It had been recommended to us by Jason, who is trying to make sure we have the full experience. We liked it! They had some American foods that Tesco does not. For example, ranch dressing. They also had marshmallows, which are essential for Rice Krispy treats. They even had a few flavors of Brianna’s salad dressing, which the discerning reader will know, is made in Brenham, Texas, just down the road from Blue Bell Ice Cream.

I have no idea what we will do for entertainment once the thrill of grocery shopping wears off. I guess we’ll just have to see if there is anything else to do for fun on this island.

Sister Blickenstaff made a delicious slow cooker (Northern Irish for crock pot) stew this afternoon. It was very good and I wanted more, but she told me we were not allowed to eat the whole pot in one sitting.

That night, we went to the Centre for institute classes. The teacher for the Missionary Preparation class texted in that he was unable to attend so I taught my first institute class. I thought it went pretty well, but then I am a Redd and we tend to overestimate how much we charm other people who are not.

In any case, it was an enjoyable evening.

The next day it rained. But not much. We had a lot of sunshine as well. Thursdays are a bit quite so far. We went to a large (huge, actually) nature preserve and parked at a place called Shaw’s Bridge. The bridge itself is a 5-arch stone bridge that was built in 1709 using stones that were there from an earlier fortress. It was originally an oak bridge built by Captain Shaw in 1655 to allow Oliver Cromwell's gunners to cross the River Lagan. We walked along the river for a couple of miles. It was very peaceful and beautiful. Hard to believe we are in the largest city in Northern Ireland when we walk along the river bank and see the trees, undergrowth, cows and hills.

We spent the afternoon going through the records of the YSA left by our predecessors and studying the scriptures. I read the October Ensign cover to cover. It is a wonderful treatise on the Book of Mormon.

Yesterday we attended our first Zone Meeting. It was called “Interviews and Training.” Our district came at the same time and we were in training meetings, while the mission president called out missionaries one at a time and interviewed them. The training was excellent. The President led a discussion entitled, “The Fourth Missionary” and focused on the differences between missionaries that submit their hearts completely to the Lord and those that just go through the motions until they had endured all the way to the end of their mission. Sister Griffiths also led a discussion about receiving personal revelation (answers to prayers). The interviews stretched out long enough that the senior couples had to leave to get ready for a YSA event before any of us were interviewed so I don’t know what happens when one gets interviewed.

Last night was the opening of the 2011 Belfast YSA Convention. We had about 90 Young Single Adults come in from several countries. In addition to Northern Ireland, we drew YSA currently living in England, Scotland, Wales and The Republic of Ireland. In addition to where they are living, many originally came from around the world, including China, Sweden, Botswana, Mexico, Canada and the USA.

The opening activity was a dance. I did not ever even imagine that I would be going in a mission to attend a Church dance, but that is exactly what we did tonight. This dance had the distinction of lasting the latest. We closed it down around 12:30 a.m. But not before we got to eat some sandwiches, which were provided as refreshments. I was trying to pull open a drink box, when one of the YSA informed me that I needed a straw. Then he said, “If we don’t have a straw, we just turn it upside down and gnaw off the corner,” which I believe was a joke. When we left for home, it was raining like crazy at that time, which indicates to me that people our age should have been in bed several hours before the dance ended.

We did have a good time, met a lot of great kids and were happy to hit the hay when it was all done.

More on the rest of the Convention next week.

TTFNI (Ta Ta From Northern Ireland)

Elder Blickenstaff

Northern Ireland

Hello People That I Love!

The Blickenstaffs are safe and sound in Northern Ireland! And guess what? The wind blows here and it rains a lot. This is my careful observation after three days.

We are ensconced in our SMALL but very nice flat. It is almost new, only a couple of years old. The previous tenants were one of the couples we are replacing so they left us some treasures: two bottles of peanut butter, some jam, some canned and baking goods, some laundry detergent, towels, sheets and pillows. The flat is much nicer than any place I ever saw on my first mission.

It has a combination washer/dryer located under the sink in the kitchen. We are told that the washer is good and the dryer leaves much to be desired if you, in fact, want the dryer to actually dry your clothes. We haven't tried it out yet.

We have signed up for broadband in the flat, but they are unable to connect us any sooner than November 10. They won't let me (or Brian Regan) come down and flip the switch ourselves this afternoon. They are only able to offer a maximum download speed of 33.7 Mb! This is a disappointing 8 times faster than any speed I have ever had at any location I have lived at in my entire post-Internet life. (My pre-Internet life may have been faster but I have no way of knowing.)

We have been here for three days and have been to Tesco at least once, and sometimes more, on each of those days. Tesco is the United Kingdom's answer to WalMart. I am the United Kingdom's answer to the question, "Who is your favourite (spelled in the UK way) new missionary at the Belfast Centre for Young Adults?"

We are learning how to drive on the left side of the road by driving on the left side of the road. We got in the car at the mission home and drove across Scotland from Edinburgh to Glascow and down the coast to a port on the Irish sea, where we boarded a car ferry for Belfast. When you drive on the left, and your steering wheel is on the right, you are totally confused. To turn on the wipers you play with the signals and to turn on the turn signals you play with the wipers. To avoid getting killed you listen very carefully to your wife and do exactly what she's says. For example, if she says, "Elder, you are going to hit the curb," you almost immediately hit the curb. I know this from personal experience and three days worth of practice. The curb you hit is on your left, and you can't see it from where you are sitting in the car on the right. It makes for some exciting times in the vehicle. Our car is a late model Vauxhall Meriva CDTi with 12,000 miles and a smoking hot diesel engine. It was made for speed and power, which is how we roll, baby.

After a 3 hour cruise (same length as Gilligan’s Island) on the car ferry, Elder & Sister Holt met us at the Belfast ship terminal, introduced themselves and we all drove straight to the Belfast Centre for Young Adults (the CFYA or the Centre), where we met some of the YS Adults for Institute. After Institute, we attended the CFYA Advisory Council Meeting, which started about 9:30 p.m. Eventually, around 10:30 p.m., we arrived at our flat and hauled our bags up to the second floor. The apartment is very nice and a little larger than I had thought, but still quite small. However, what it lacked in size, it made up for in temperature. It was very cold so we went to bed around 1:30 a.m. to keep from freezing to death.

Our first full day in Northern Ireland was cold and rainy. We figured out how to turn on the heat, unpacked, straightened up our apartment, made two runs to Tesco, filled up the car (with diesel, Gary Hume) and generally rested from our labors because we are too old to run with the big dogs.

The next day we started our efforts with scripture study and then went off to the Centre with Elder & Sister Holt at 9:00. We opened up the building for the annual fire and safety inspection. While that was going on, the Holts trained us in the operation and financing of the Centre.

The Belfast Centre was one of the first to receive authorization to open, and is the only Centre in Europe that has it own Church-owned building. Two Belfast wards were combined and the Centre was authorized to be housed in the ward building that was being vacated. There are approximately 300 YSA in the Belfast Northern Ireland Stake, with about 100 active. The definition of active is a YSA who comes to the Centre at least once per month. The group is quite strong compared to other Centers.

Here is a summary of the meetings and activities that Sister Blickenstaff and I are involved with:

· Monday night – family home evening at the Centre, we teach

· Tuesday night – institute class at the Centre, we teach occasionally

· Wednesday night – institute at the Centre, we attend, but don’t teach. Following Wednesday institute at the Centre, we attend and participate in the CFYA Advisory Council

· Friday night – YSA activity night at the Centre until midnight, we attend and participate

· Sunday – one Sunday every other month, 3-hour meeting block for YSA in the Centre, we attend, the YSA are serving in their home wards on the other Sundays

· Sunday evening – gospel discussion, we organize, attend and sometimes lead the discussion

· I serve on the stake high council with the assignment for YSA in the stake

· Each Sunday, except for the bi-monthly YSA 3-our meeting block, we visit one of the wards or branches in the stake. This allows us to get to every unit in the stake, once per quarter.

The Belfast Northern Ireland Stake encompasses all of Northern Ireland. There is also a stake in Dublin and a district in Cork.

We have a lot to learn and we are slow!

The Holts are the Centre couple we are replacing. They showed us their favorite restaurant this afternoon. It serves Thai food and we enjoyed a nice lunch together. After lunch, we made our obligatory daily run to Tesco to get more stuff for our flat. During the course of our discussions today, we discovered that the Holts are very well acquainted with the Wiests. Elder Holt and Joel Wiest were bishops in Minneapolis at the same time. Then they served together in the stake presidency. Later, Joel became the CFO of Target Stores and Elder Holt reported to him at work. Joel and I worked at the MTC together, teaching Het Nederlands. Small world.

The YSA here are terrific. I have had some wonderful conversations with them and we have already fallen in love with them. Hopefully, they will come to like us. They are obviously attached to the Holts, who leave in about a week.

I was called to serve on the high council this morning, by the stake president, who was calling from Germany, on his way home from a conference in Austria. Sister B and I are are jumping in and loving it.

Ta Ta for now, from Northern Ireland.

Elder Blickenstaff

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Went for a walk the other morning. At first I was going to go straight down the road we live on and come straight back. I then decided that I'd circle around our 'block.' Not that simple! The roads around here are mazes. No signs to tell you about dead end streets. I didn't pay attention to the way I went, so when I back tracked I just kept taking wrong turns and got really lost! I had told John that I would only be gone a half hour. When it became an hour he figured I was lost and had a prayer that I would find my way back. He was just about ready to get in the car and come looking for me. I was praying non-stop myself. So . . . lost in Belfast, no cell phone, didn't know our cell phone # if I would have had it with me.) Didn't know my address at that point. (I sure do now!) I eventually made my way back . . . in tears. Nice to know that the Lord answers the prayers of lost souls!

We just got through with a meeting with the Church Education System 'big wigs' from Salt Lake and England. There were about 10 of us (missionaries and YSA's) that showed them around the Centre and explained everything that it has to offer these Young Single Adults. Dad and I have been asked to teach Sunday School and bear our testimonies in Sacrament Meeting next Sunday. We went to Church at the Holywood Road Ward (pronounced 'Hollywood') here in Belfast. It was their Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. So cute!!! Only 6 children. 2 boys and 4 girls. (I noticed that they didn't have the Sunbeam aged littles participate). One of the little girls looked EXACTLY like Riley in 2-3 years. It made my eyes tear up several times during the program. She was so precious. They were all really well behaved, and since there were so few of them they each had many speaking parts. They sang like little angels but with much gusto. We went to the Young Singles Sunday School class. There were 12 of us in the room. We got to meet the sister missionaries that are serving here close by. One's from Provo and the other from Rigby, Idaho. We have been given so much information about the things we are going to be involved in, we think our heads are going to explode!!! Feel like we're on a roller coaster ride where we are feeling great and then we feel like we we are going to drown in all our responsibilities! ( I know, welcome to missionary work, right? )

Sister Blickenstaff

We'll Bring The World His Truth

Elder Blickenstaff with his biking buddies

Sister Blickenstaff following the Prophet

Elder and Sister Clarke - new friends who are going to the same mission

Dear ones:

After a stirring second week of training in the MTC, our experience here comes to a close in a few hours and then we are off to Northern Ireland. Eventually.

This past week, teaching professionals from the Church Educational System in Salt Lake City provided our training. We learned about teaching the scriptures to college-age young men and women. We learned two little gems that I liked. (We learned a lot more than that but I can only remember two.)

1. Perhaps the most important thing we will ever give to the young single adults with whom we come in contact is an example of two people who love each other and have been married for a long time.

2. If we only accomplish two things in the classroom, we will be successful: (1) teach by the Spirit, and (2) love the students.

Our last class of the week featured a security specialist from Church headquarters. He basically told us that regardless of where we were called to serve, we would be robbed, beaten and kidnapped so we should be careful. It made us feel very special and we are looking forward to...

We received an email, confirming our assignment to Belfast. The mission has secured a flat for us. We are replacing two couples. One is flying home the day we arrive, so we will not see them. They are driving a car to the mission home on their last morning, which we will drive back to Northern Ireland on our second day. We were advised to bring a GPS, as we would be guaranteed to get lost without one. The second couple will be there for about 10 days after we arrive and will show us everything we are capable of learning before they depart for home.

I celebrated my birthday this past week. I received many kind emails, texts and a few phone calls. I appreciated people remembering; they were all very kind. Even my brother-in-law, Mick, told me, “I love you. Sometimes.” Sister Blickenstaff gave me a card that she had personally purchased at the MTC Bookstore and signed with her own hand.

Sister Blickenstaff does not believe this happened, but she was not in the immediate vicinity and cannot testify one way or the other in a court of law. On one of our Preparation Day activities, I was in a shoe store, waiting for her. A lady came in and the following conversation occurred:

Lady: I need a shoe repaired.

Clerk: What is the problem?

Lady: My heel needs to be repaired.

Clerk: May I see the shoe?

Lady: I don't have it with me. I'm from out of town.

Clerk: Is it in the car?

Lady: No, I'm from out of town.

Clerk: Oh. Do you want to buy a new dowel and repair it yourself?

Lady: No. I want you to repair it.

Clerk: Do you have the shoe with you?

Lady: No, I'm from out of town.

Clerk: If you bring us the shoe, we can repair it for you.

Lady: I have to have it by Friday. We are leaving for Arizona.

Clerk: If you bring the shoe in to us, we can repair it for you.

Me (helpfully): You could try the shoe store in the mall. They might be able to repair it without the shoe.

Lady: Thank you. I'm from out of town.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.

As we leave the USA for the trip across the pond (which involves a 31 hour endurance contest) we are grateful for the mercy of the Lord in granting us such great family members and friends. The Lord has been so good to us and we are excited, scared and enthusiastic about trying to do something for him, in return.

Our next communication will come from the United Kingdom, assuming they let us get on and then off the plane(s).

Elder Blickenstaff

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Got through our last day of MTC training this past Wednesday at noon. This week wasn't nearly as traumatic for me (no more role playing YES!!!) We were given tips and lots of great information on how to be effective teachers. Got some fabulous ideas. We discussed Elder Eyring's talk 'Rise to your Call.' He said, "The Lord will magnify what you say and what you do in the eyes of the people you serve. He will send the Holy Ghost to manifest to them that what you spoke was true." We had a testimony meeting where all 38 of the senior missionaries in our group bore their testimonies. Amazing meeting.

Both John and I got haircuts here at the MTC. They've sure hired some beautiful girls to cut hair. Not exactly fair for these young guys.

Success!!! I bought a much needed pair of waterproof boots. Looked and looked on line, but found some in a little store on Center Street in Provo. Who'd have thought. Also got some toasty slippers to keep my feet warm. Even in the summer the temperature doesn't even get up to 70 degrees. Sunglasses, as far as I can tell, won't be needed very often.

It's a little strange to be finished with our training and still be here. Almost all of the 51 couples that came to the MTC the same time we did have left and are out in their various areas by now. We are ready to go ourselves. I don 't know how many more times we can say good-bye to our friends and family before they say to us, "Would you just GO away already!" I really should be more nervous about going on this mission. Having John for a companion, well . . . I have nothing to worry about. Wait! Maybe I should be nervous. : )

Life is good! Bye bye good old U. S. of A. and all those that are near and dear to us. We'll be seeing you in eighteen months!

Much love,
Sister Blick

Happy Birthday Dad!

How many missionaries get to say they had a birthday in the MTC?! I'm guessing not many. We love you Elder Blickenstaff and hope you have a very special day!

Also, Elder and Sister Blickenstaff recently learned that they will be living and serving in Belfast, Northern Ireland!

Mission: Week One

Well, Sister Blickenstaff and I made it all the way through one week of training in the Missionary Training Center. We have one more to go and then we will be experts! Not. With the end of the week, I am no longer serving as the district leader, so I have already had to give up my claim to power and authority. I am trying to cope.

We had a great week and the energy of this place is amazing. There are 2,800 missionaries here and when we all sing a hymn, it raises the roof! The young men and women are amazing. Today we went to church with a group of them from all over the world. Ten of them sang a hymn. They were each from a different country and this was the first time any of them had ever sung in English. I'm pretty sure it was the first time some of them had ever sung in public. They were wonderful. The meeting was translated into 4 languages, and was only one of almost 60 sacrament meetings taking place in various rooms at the Center.

This morning was the All The Cereal You Can Eat breakfast in the cafeteria. At our age, we discovered we could not eat any. They offered a banana for the cereally-challenged and so we did not starve. Other than the cereal, we have had excellent meals, with the only problem being they run them together, about every 5 hours. It seems like all we ever do is eat and carry 10 pounds of books from one place to another.

Starting tomorrow, we have specific training for our particular mission assignment so we are anxious to see if we are any more qualified for that than we are for general missionary service.

One of the leaders at the MTC is a man who was the student body president of San Juan High School when I was a young student there. We have run into him several times. His name is James L. Hacking. Tonight we met his wife and she testified that Blanding, Utah turns out great young men to marry. Sister Blickenstaff concurred, even though she is married to me. The Hackings are speaking at the MTC Fireside a week from tonight, so next week we can report as to the ability of boys from Blanding to deliver sermons.

We had a pleasant diversion for an hour on Friday night. Our friends, Gary and Frances Hume, drove down from Park CIty to "jail break" us out and we had many good laughs. Gary was impressed with our missionary name tag badges. We also saw Aunt Cathie and Uncle Mick that night. Uncle Mick hopes that I am better looking by the time I get back from Northern Ireland.

We received word from our mission president's wife that Jennifer might want to bring a set of measuring cups and spoons so we don't have to guess about any recipes we bring from home. We are metrically-challenged too.

Yesterday, on our Preparation Day, we got special permission to run home to pick up the suit I accidentally left hanging in the closet. We did our laundry while we were there and almost froze to death. It was 51 degrees in the cabin. We turned on a fireplace and Sister Blickenstaff parked herself in a Cabella's Director's Chair in front of the heat. It had snowed several inches recently and winter seems like a nice time to get out of Timber Lakes for a nice break in sunny, warm, rain and wind-free Northern Ireland.

In case you need to know this for your own purchasing purposes, the laptop of choice among senior missionaries is the MacBook. There are also several iPads. Bringing up the rear, would be your trusty Windoze behemoths, weighing in at several pounds over the sanity limit.

We love you all and pray for you too!

The Bold and Testifying Elder & Sister Blickenstaff

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We had a great week . . . except for doing a bunch of role playing (which I don't enjoy in the least bit). Now we're starting another week and we hear that we get to do a whole bunch more role playing. (Oh goody!?!) I'm definitely out of my comfort zone. I guess that's good? That's how we grow, right? This week we start our Church Education System training. We'll learn how to be good teachers in case we get asked to teach Institute.

We attended the MTC 56th Branch today. Got to enjoy the song 'Army of Helaman' sung by missionaries from ten different countries. It was their first time singing in English, and they've only been here a week. It was pretty touching. I also got to sit by two young sister missionaries during Relief Society. One was from Mongolia and the other from Pakistan. This place is SO awesome!!!

Sister Blickenstaff

Off to a fabulous start!

Not that I am going to report in every day, but just wanted to quickly let you know that we survived Day One of being full-time missionaries. We've had a great day and are now relaxing in the Provo Marriott Hotel! There are so many senior missionaries at the Training Center that they sent half of us to the Marriott. Tough duty, but someone has to do it.

I was assigned to be the district leader of four couples. My first duty was to have everyone swap cell phone numbers. We have been instructed to keep our phones on vibrate while we are here. Quite different than what they are telling the young missionaries.

In our first orientation meeting, the mission president said, "We have a great toy store here in Provo. It's called Blickenstaff's. It's Jeremy and Chrissy's." Then he looked at us and said, "And you are Jeremy's parents aren't you?"

"Yes," we replied.

He said, "That is quite obvious. We did not know you were coming but we are so glad that you are here."

Free advertising! Jeff would be proud.

About 2/3 of the senior missionaries in our group of 102 are called to work in European Youth Centers, on Military bases in the U.S. or college campuses. That tells you how important the young single adults are to the Lord.

We've had two meals in the famous MTC cafeteria and I enjoyed them both. They even serve Coke here (caffeine free, of course). I managed to leave one suit home, lose my missionary journal and have a pen melt down and bleed ink all over my hand. Tomorrow I will probably get kicked out for leaving my brain home.

One of our speakers today congratulated us on going on a mission so quickly after Elder Holland called for thousands more senior missionaries last Saturday night. I am thankful to be here and to really like my companion. It's supposed to snow this week in Timber Lakes so I am glad we are here, and not shoveling snow.

Sister Blickenstaff and I do not know what we are doing, but that is not going to keep us from doing it.

Elder Blickenstaff

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We had an amazing first day in the MTC!!! What an incredible place! What an army of amazing young women, young men and older folks. :D this is!!! We're definitely some of the younger bucks and buck-ettes here, and we are definitely in the top 2 for amazing places to be called on a mission. We feel truly humbled and blessed. The spirit is so strong here!!! There is such a great feeling of being a part of something grand! A couple of Elders cleared our trays after both lunch and dinner. (So very sweet and polite) holding the doors open for us . . . (such gentlemen!) We had some great introductory meetings. Started plowing through Preach My Gospel and reading over all the information that we were given. There were 102 senior missionaries that checked in today. The most that they've ever had in one week. Pretty cool to be a part of that statistic! Tomorrow is when the real training will begin. We're going to do some role playing in the next few days. (Not my favorite thing to do) never did like play acting, and they are going to film us! We will be talking with "investigators" and they will critique us. Yikes! We're here now at the Marriott getting unpacked and settled in for the next two weeks.

Sister Blickenstaff