Hey, those that I love!

Halloween is celebrated here pretty much like it's celebrated in the U.S. (The origins are from Ireland. It was an "ancient Celtic festival" don't ya know? :D )

Our support team went home this week. (The Holts, whom we're replacing). We're glad our paths crossed and that they were able to show us some of what our responsibilities are here at the Youth Center. But now we're on our own! Wish us luck!

We had our first district meeting this past week. There are only 6 of us in our district, Sister Chichoni, Sister Oswald, Elder Beal, Elder Sutherland, Elder Blick and me. What a great little bunch of sharp missionaries. (Them, not necessarily us.) Elder Beal taught us how to be successful missionaries. We reviewed 'The 4th Missionary' presentation that President Griffith's presented to us last week. He also taught using 'Preach My Gospel.' What an amazing manual that is!

We got a major hankering for some Mexican food this week. We heard from some of the young singles that the missionaries love a place in downtown Belfast called Boojum's. (not your typical Mexican sounding place. Don't know how they came up with that name) . . . Anyway, we both enjoyed a HUMONGOUS burrito, and we were both a little surprised . . . It was darned good Mexican food!

I'm loving my gospel study time each day. I'm studying Preach My Gospel in depth, memorizing/re-memorizing scriptures, studying the conference issue of the Ensign, studying the Book of Mormon with the attitude, "So what?" "Why was that recorded?" "What was the message these prophets were trying to get across?" I love the scriptures they give me such strength and comfort!

Weekly we go to a leadership training institute class taught by our stake president. He works for the seminary and institute program in this area. He's a great teacher. He has a great love for the young singles and it shows. It's good that he feels so strongly for them. That helps us out tremendously. Anything we want for them he's all for.

We go for daily walks. Since Elder Blickenstaff goes with me we don't get near as lost as when I have gone by myself. We make our way through a quaint little neighborhood up on a hill and walk laps around a soccer field next to a Primary (Elementary) School and have quite a beautiful view of Belfast and the harbor. (I keep forgetting my camera to get some shots from up there.) It's quite lovely from up there.

Went to a stake variety show. Amazing talents in this Belfast Stake. From a drum solo, to dancing, to piano, to comedians, to singing . . . Very entertaining and also for a good cause, partly asking for donations to help out with cancer research. To top it off we had scones with icing and jam for refreshments. It was grand!

We did some very fun sightseeing up through the Antrim Coast. We couldn't have hand picked a more beautiful day to see some beautiful sights. Stopped at the East strand on the Causeway Coastal Route, wandered around Portrush, stopped to see the remains of Dunluce Castle (built between the 15th & 17th centuries.) Went to the Giants Causeway- Very unique cracked lava that creates columns. Quite picturesque next to the ocean. Drove by Dunsverick Castle, then on to the town of Ballycastle where we had a great dinner of fish and chips. (The biggest portion of fish and chips I've ever seen!) Could have, and should have shared just one order!

Took an hour and forty five minute drive one way up to Londonderry to have a fireside with 3 YSA's from up there. Brought 7 from around here (Belfast). Had a great discussion on Personal Revelation. Just lovin' these YSA's!!!

Thus ends another week!

I'm trying to bone up on my Irish slang.
Thought I'd share a wee bit of it with you.

"bucketing" - raining heavily
"cake hole" - mouth
"cheesed off"- angry/annoyed
"cooker" - stove
"crisps" - potato chips

Love to all!
Sister B.

October 29, 2011 – Saturday

Today it rained. But not while I was outside, which I count as a great blessing.

Day 2 of the Belfast YSA Convention started at the Centre. We had about 90 YSA, divided up into groups for service projects. One group went out to pick up litter. Another group went out with the full-time missionaries (the young ones) to street contact. Another group made blankets for a humanitarian project. Our last group wrapped shoeboxes with Christmas wrapping. Later in the year, we will fill those boxes with items to be delivered to the soldiers from Northern Ireland who are fighting in the War Against Terror in the Middle East.

The service was all happily contributed. The street contacting group placed several copies of the Book of Mormon. They came back charged up and ready to proselyte. The YSA each made their own lunch, from food items we brought in to the Centre. After lunch, they divided into two groups to play. One group went to a water park and the other went to race go-carts. They came back for pizza and chips (french fries) and then all went out to disco roller skate.

We spent the day in the Centre, cleaning up after each feed and getting the building ready for Sabbath services tomorrow. It was a long day and Sister Blickenstaff did not get much to eat. I, on the other hand, had about 2 pounds of chips. I tried them with mustard, vinegar and U.K. ketchup. Of those three choices, mustard was definitely the best.

We change from British Summer Time tonight, so I am celebrating by eating some Henry Goode’s Soft Eating Licorice. Outside they are setting of fireworks. I don’t know if that is because we are going off of British Summer Time, or if they are celebrating Halloween two days early, or if the general populace is just thrilled that I am eating Henry Goode’s Soft Eating Licorice.

Also, we just got a phone call from our Zone Leaders, reminding all missionaries not to cold call or street contact on Halloween. We don’t need to get missionary efforts confused with a Trick or Treat visit. This good counsel did not change our plans as we will be closing up shop after the final day of our YSA Belfast 2011 Convention.

October 30, 2011 – Sunday

Today it rained. But it was before we got up this morning.

There is no way to describe today. We just had a marvelous spiritual feast. We had between 90 and a hundred people in our YSA sacrament meeting this morning. As we began to sing the opening song, I felt the power and enthusiasm of those young people singing. The Holy Spirit witnessed to me that God loved those young souls and that it was a privilege for us to be there.

The Holt’s gave their final sacrament meeting talks as missionaries. We were asked to share our testimonies. I shared my experience with the Spirit from the opening hymn. Sister Blickenstaff shared that she was a convert and talked about understanding the challenges of new members. She expressed how grateful we both are to be serving in Northern Ireland. President & Sister Boyd spoke. He talked about his addiction to playing with Legos. He compared building with Legos to our lives. We are each like a unique Lego block that God needs to build the perfect kingdom. President McCrudden spoke powerfully about how much the Lord loves us.

After the meeting the Stake President told Sister Blickenstaff how much he appreciated what she shared in her testimony. He said that mine was ok, but hers was wonderful.

Sister Blickenstaff and I taught Sunday School. We had asked the YSA to write down any gospel questions they may have when they registered on Friday night. We drew from those questions and answered 5 or 6 of them from the scriptures. We took turns and I thought it went quite well. At least no one threw anything at us or booed.

President and Sister McCrudden taught the joint third hour meeting. He shared video of a talk by Elder Holland about moving out of St. George to go to school as a young married father. He also played video of remarks by Elder Cook entitled, “Hope ya know we’re having a hard time.”

I really enjoyed the meeting block. We then fed about 120 people, counting the adults, in two shifts. After we fed everyone else, we ate. Then I did dishes for many hours (probably about 1 in actual counting time) while Sister Blickenstaff talked with several of the young ladies about their conversion experiences.

At 5:00 pm we reconvened for a fireside. Our mission president and his wife were the speakers. They opened it up for questions and got some good ones. We broke from that about 6:30 pm and fed them all again. Following that meal, we held a testimony meeting. It started at 7:45 and went for two hours. It was one if the best meetings I have ever attended. We had YSA from Northern Ireland, The Republic, Scotland, Wales, England, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, Botswana, Australia and the US share their testimonies. Each one was precious. After the meeting, I felt impressed to visit with two YSA from China. They both joined the Church as students in Edinburgh. One has been a member for 18 months, the other for two months. Both will return to China at the conclusion of their studies. They told me they could practice their religion after they go home but they are not allowed to teach it to others. It is ok for them to join the Church when they are out of the country, but if someone wants to get baptized in China, they can’t; they have to go to Hong Kong to get baptized. When I asked if their parents knew they were LDS, they both said yes, but that their parents did not understand. Not many people in China have even heard of Jesus Christ so it was difficult to tell their parents about the gospel. They told me that there were about 60 YSA in Edinburgh, one third of which are Chinese. When I said, “Americans don’t like English food,” one of them touched me on the arm and said, “Nobody likes English food.” They were very cute and we had a wonderful conversation with them. They invited us to come to their flat and they would cook some real Chinese food for us that was not boring.

We had a great, full day. We had to kick them out of the building at midnight.

October 31, 2011 – Monday

Today it rained. But it was before we got up this morning.

Today is the last day of Convention. It was a day for the YSA to hang out and chill and eat leftovers. It is obvious that none of them actually wanted to leave. They enjoyed the opportunity to be with one another, to laugh, to share, to give and to receive strength.

We spent the day at the Centre just enjoying their company.

Tonight Sister Blickenstaff taught Family Home Evening. We had 10 YSA attend, which is 7 more than the previous world record! We talked about the importance of keeping a journal. I thought the lesson was great. She seemed very much at ease and enjoyed the opportunity to teach. I am grateful that I felt inspired to restart my journaling when we entered the MTC. I know that when we take the time to record things in our journal, the Lord can use that opportunity to reveal something to us about the events we are recording that we would not otherwise know. It is one of the ways we can make ourselves open for receiving personal revelation. The Lord will share insights with us that we could not otherwise gain when we take a few moments to reflect on what to record about an event, meeting, feeling, decision, etc.

The YSA told us tonight about some of their Halloween traditions. Apparently, Halloween is a much more celebrated thing in England. They told us when they were children they had to recite a little rhyme at the door in order to get a sweet or money. They didn’t just say, “Trick or Treat.” Fireworks are always part of the celebration. They also told us it was a good night for missionaries to be indoors, as women in Belfast often dress scantily for the evening. We enjoyed having a good, safe place to spend Halloween!

I was asked to give a priesthood blessing to one of the YSA, Rachel White. It was a sweet experience and I was glad to be asked.

After we got home, around 9:00 pm, the Holts presented us with one last multi-armload haul of gifts. They gave us food, cleaning supplies, a vacuum, a duvet (combination bedspread comforter), floor mat, envelopes and oatmeal. They have been as kind as people could be, welcomed us lovingly and helped us learn as much as we could in the few days we overlapped with them. They leave us nervous but determined to carry on and build on what they have accomplished here at the YSA Centre. We cannot replace them, because we are different people than they are. But we can build on what they have done and with the Lord’s help, perhaps we can reach out and touch someone by just loving them and caring about their lives. We are so appreciative of the opportunity to serve a mission together. Although we do not feel qualified, we are somewhat comforted in knowing that no one is ever qualified for any calling when they are called. Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies, in time and after they have done all that they can do to rise to the call. One thing I know we will no have any difficulty in doing, is loving the YSA. We have already mastered that.

November 1, 2011 – Tuesday

We attended District Meeting, but only because Sister Chichoni called us this morning and asked for a lift. We had totally forgotten about it and were thankful for the reminder or we would have missed. Elder Beal, our district leader, taught us about the importance of personal scripture study. He challenged us to read Chapter 2 of Preach My Gospel and identify 3 things we could apply to our own scripture study before next district meeting. It was an uplifting meeting and I am thankful I was able to attend.

We took another attempt this afternoon at figuring out how to use our washer. It took us three cycles to get my white shirts white. This machine is not very forgiving. When you select the washing cycle and press the Start button, there is no going back. You cannot cancel a cycle or push a ReDo button. You can turn the machine off, but when you turn it back on, you are resuming whatever cycle you originally selected. It is too bad for you if you select the wrong cycle by accident. The only way you can get out of your original cycle is to finish the course.

Tonight, we attended Institute, with President McCrudden teaching. We had five YSA attend and we had a good discussion. It was a good evening. Rachel White was there and indicated she felt better since she received the blessing.

November 2, 2011 – Wednesday

It didn’t rain today, until tonight.

When I asked our stake president where I could find a notary, he told me that in Northern Ireland, certain public officials are empowered to notarize documents. Public officials include police officers, lawyers, judges, ministers and others. He said that as stake president, he was officially recognized as a minister and as such he could notarize documents. He said I could go get it notarized by a lawyer for £100 but he would notarize it for free. I know a deal when I see one, so I pulled out the Quitclaim Deed I had received from Mom’s attorney and signed it. President McCrudden then notarized it. Sister Blick and I then drove to a wee post office in the back of a convenience store and sent it off to America (assuming Monticello is still part of the Union) for £.76 or $1.22 (I don’t know how much it is in Confederate money).

Sister Chochoni, one of the sister missionaries, asked me to give her a blessing this afternoon. I don’t know what she is dealing with, but we experienced a sweet , calming influence from the Holy Ghost and Sister Chochoni seemed grateful for the words of comfort.

After a bite o’ supper we went to the Centre for Institute. We had a nice turnout of almost 30 YSA. I was also asked to give another blessing; this one to one of our YSA, Jared D’Hulst. It is nice to be asked for a blessing, as that is how we obtain the opportunity to use the priesthood.

November 3, 2011 – Thursday

Today was a day to catch up a bit. We did some laundry; it seemed like a dump truck load to me. We did some grocery shopping at Tesco. We also printed some photos that Sister Blickenstaff took of the YSA during Convention.

We then drove downtown to find Boojum, a Mexican burrito place that came highly recommended by Ryan Rodwell, one of the YSA who is a connoisseur of fine take-away. He said, “Elder Blickenstaff, Boojum makes the best Mexican food on the island.” With an introduction like that, we needed to run a personal test.

We found Boojum with our trusty Sat Nav, but what we did not find was a place to park. The area was quite close to Queen’s University and so we saw a lot of young people in the area. We drove past the place and made a few turns and eventually, found one parking spot left. It was on the left side of the road, and required me to parallel park from over there on the right side of the car. I am not very good at parking yet, so I had to run up over the curb and park with one wheel on the sidewalk to make things work out.

Eventually, we got out and found we were parked right under a sign that said,

Ticket Zone

Mon – Fri

8:00 am – 6:00 pm

4 hours

No return within 1 hour

Well, we are dumb Americans so we decided that this sign meant that you could park here for 4 hours between 8 and 6, but you had to park for a minimum of 1 hour or you would get a ticket. I remarked that it seemed like a dumb sign to me and that they shouldn’t ticket you if you only parked for 30 minutes. We locked our car and went happily on our way.

There was a long line of students waiting out the door at Boojum, so we knew it was going to be good. After all, there’s a line. It took us about 20 minutes to work our way to the counter. Boojum turns out to be a great little Mexican food place. They offered burritos, “fajita” burritos, tacos, filling in a bowl and salad (why can’t we ever have a salad our something). Sister Blickenstaff ordered a burrito and I ordered a fajita burrito. The only difference between the two is the burrito is served with your choice of black or pinto beans while the fajita style has no beans but is served with grilled peppers and onions. Both came with white rice with a little cilantro (as little as possible so that Cathie Miller would be happy, although I doubt she has any plans to come to Northern Ireland anytime soon), salsa, chicken, beef or pork, picante sauce and some kind of cheese. When we sat down at a little table in the back, we were both delighted. Boojum makes a great burrito! We enjoyed every bite, after which my companion said that she had not had Mexican food for over a month and she was pretty happy with her lunch.

As we walked outside, for some reason it suddenly dawned on me that I had misinterpreted the parking sign back at the car. I had an epiphany, no doubt fueled by a good burrito. What the sign actually meant was that I needed to walk to a parking ticket machine and purchase a ticket to display on my dashboard, proving that I was authorized to park there for up to 4 hours! After 4 hours you have to drive away for at least one hour before you can re-park for 4 more hours. We quickened our pace and quickly regained the parked car. No ticket on the windshield but perhaps in Northern Ireland you just get a ticket in the mail, which is how they process moving violations. We don’t yet know if we lucked out or not. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the magic beans in the burrito will protect us from the parking mistake of two dumb, but now slightly smarter, Americans.

November 4, 2011 – Friday

We got up and went for a walk today. It was sunny and warm and wonderful.

We did a bit of shopping and then went to a doctor’s appointment for Jennifer (just a get-to-know-you appointment as we are being admitted to this particular surgery). They are only allowed to treat patients that live in a specific geographic area. Their office brochure says, “We are able to treat patients who live within four miles southeast and southwest of the main surgery and three miles north.” It is called the Mount Oriel Medical Centre.

The YSA Centre was closed tonight, in support of a stake variety show that was raising money for cancer research in Northern Ireland. It was very good. The talent was remarkable and we enjoyed ourselves very much.

As were introducing ourselves to some of the members, a man told us that his name was Brother Reid. He serves on the high council and welcomed us to the country. He asked where were from. Since almost every American missionary is from Utah, we’ve been answering that question by saying that we are from Texas. When I said that to Brother Reid, he asked, “You don’t happen to know any Redds from Texas, do you?

I said, “I know all the Redds in Texas; I am a Redd.”

His eyes opened wide and he asked, “Do you know John Redd?”

I said, “Not only do I know him, but he is my cousin.”

Brother Reid told me that Elder Redd was his favorite missionary companion but he had lost touch with him. He said, “Tell Elder Redd that you have found the leprechaun and he is well and active.”

Then he asked me if Elder Redd was still active in the Church. I had a spell of family amnesia and thought we were talking about Rob Adams so I said, “I’m not sure, but I am going to find out.”

Anyway, I hope I can reconnect Brother Reid with Brother Redd, that Rob Adams is still active in the Church, and that there is actually a pot o’ gold in the vicinity of this leprechaun.

November 5, 2011 – Saturday

Today was our first opportunity to do just a wee bit of sightseeing in Northern Ireland. We drove up to Portrush, on the north Antrim coast. It is a small town at the end of a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was a cold day, about 6C when we started out. It was quite foggy early this morning in Belfast, but the fog had given way to sunshine as we got into the car.

Driving north, we drove into a fog bank and thought that perhaps our day would not turn out as we hoped. However, we soon drove out of the fog, back into the sunlight. It turned out to be a glorious day. We parked the car in Portrush and walked along the beach. In spite of the temperature, people were surfing and playing in the water. Of course they were all wearing wet suits.

After making our way along the strand and then down the little main street, we got back in the car and drove about 3 miles east along the coast to the remains of a castle. It was built in the 13^th century and is called Dunluce Castle. It became the stronghold of Sorley Boy MacDonnell and his clansmen. Sorley Boy means “Yellow Charles” in Irish. The English ran Sorley Boy out of the castle in 1584 but he came back a few days later, hauled his men up the cliff in a basket during the night, annihilated the English garrison and reclaimed his castle. Everything was cool for half a century, but in 1639 a great storm swept the castle’s kitchen off the cliff top, along with seven cooks and the dinner they were preparing. War is one thing, but losing your cooks and your dinner is entirely another matter. The MacDonnells moved to a less precarious residence and abandoned Dunluce. The extensive ruins sat there until 2011 when they were visited by a couple of wee missionaries from Heber City and now you know the rest of the story.

We continued east and drove to the Giant’s Causeway. The Causeway is a World Heritage Site due to the unique nature of its geology. The site is composed of about 40,000 uniformly shaped basalt columns packed closely together as if to form a giant stepping stone pathway stretching out of the sea. Years, ago, way before Randy Thorn was admitted to dental school, cooling and shrinking lava formed the columns. Most of them are hexagons. Legend says that the Irish giant, Finn MacCool (I am not making this up – is that a cool name or what?), created the Giant’s Causeway (probably using a MacBook Air). We enjoyed walking to, on and around the Causeway.

From here, we drove on a few miles to a very unique and dramatic, small harbor at Ballintoy. From here, we could see Carrick-a-Rede, a rope swing that connects the main island with a smaller one, Whitepark Bay and Rathlin Island, where Robert the Bruce took refuge in 1306 after his defeat by the English. On this island, according to legend, he was inspired by the efforts of a spider to repeatedly reach the roof of a cave. He is supposed to have formulated the apothegm (look it up) “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” He did try again, returning to Scotland and defeating the English in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. But that is a story for another day.

We drove on into Ballycastle, where we found neither a Bally nor a castle. But by this time it was getting dark and we were getting hungry, having had only a Northern Irish Greek Yoghurt early this morning. We parked, found out we were in a Ticket Zone and parked again where we were not. We walked around the main street for a while and decided it was time for fish and chips. We went into a little place and ordered two fish and chip meals, which turned out to be enough food to sustain the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Conference weekend. The fish was a huge slab of white fish and the chips were a zackly enough to fill a small wheelbarrow. And I am not talking about a zackly, I am talking, precisely “a zackly.”

Forty-five minutes later, we wallowed out into the evening air and rolled down the hill in the general direction of the car. This little snack set us back £11.70 or about $18.72 (13.05 Euro, 18.05 Canadian, 1,511.12 Yen, 522.84 Rubles or 1,493.95 MSPT – Microsoft Points – the currency of Xbox Live Marketplace). In LDS dollars, it was about 20% of the cost of filling up the diesel tank on our mission car. Let me explain that. Diesel is running £1.40 per litre, or £5.30 per gallon, which is $8.46 per gallon. This means it costs me about $101.52 to put 12 gallons of diesel in the car, which would buy me approximately 10 orders of fish and chips, which would be enough to feed my companion and I for 40 days and 40 nights. I assume that Noah ordered about $100 worth of fish and chips when it started to rain and it lasted him until the weather cleared up again. He didn't need no stinking diesel. This is the gospel according to John (Blickenstaff).

Anyway, we eventually made it back to Belfast and actually home before Guy Fawkes impersonators started trying to blow up Parliament again. Remember, remember, the fifth of November (circa 1605). But that is a story for another day.

Tune in next week for more fun European history facts.

November 6, 2011 – Sunday

Today we made our first visit to Bangor, NI. It was a beautiful drive to the building and we enjoyed the meeting block. As I listened to the testimonies, I realized that these members were testifying of the same truths that members would be testifying of in Heber City or Humble or downtown Blanding. I felt the spirit and sincere gratitude from these saints for the blessings granted them by becoming acquainted with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

After the meetings, Brother & Sister Noble invited us to dinner. They are the couple from the Belfast Stake who are assigned to teach institute at the YSA Centre. They are had a houseguest from Wales, Anne, whom they met while they were all serving missions at the Preston Temple.

The dinner was lovely. We had meat and potatoes (mashed and roasted), cabbage and parsnips, with cherry crumble and ice cream for desert. The food was brilliant and I remarked that I had not had a parsnip since me own wee mother fed them to me as a boy. It was a wonderful reminder that mothers are indispensable.

We had just enough time to run home for a bag of crisps (potato chips) and head out to the far reaches of the kingdom to Londonderry for a YSA fireside. It took us about 90 minutes to drive to what the Protestants call Londonderry, the Catholics call Derry, the news media call Londonderry/Derry and the radio people call Slash. We met with 3 local YSA and brought 7 up from Belfast. The Nobles had been asked to talk about personal revelation. They shared some things for about 30 minutes and then turned it over to Sister Blickenstaff and I to lead a discussion. We had a great discussion for another 30 minutes. Sister Blick and I jumped up did our best not to confuse anyone.

We did get asked a question about who was Moses talking to on Sinai, Jesus or Heavenly Father. I answered in a way that opened up more questions and when we were finished, I could tell that we had not explained it well. I promised I would go do my homework and get back with an answer that was easier to understand.

On the way home, I called Joel and asked him to square away my doctrine, which he did, and that is one of the reasons that I am happy to be a Dad. Joel read a passage to me from Elder McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine, which properly explained everything.

True doctrine is energizing and exhilarating.

I was grateful that the 7 YSA drove up from Belfast to support the outlying area. There was a Snow Patrol concert so the fact that we drew 10 YSA to the fireside made me feel pretty good.

Well. that's it for now. We are alive and well in Northern Ireland. We love each of you and pray for you every single day.

Elder Blickenstaff