Mission Blog #6 - Week 2 in Dundalk

 What Is A Missionary?

Missionaries come in all shapes, sizes, ages, ethnicities, backgrounds. Towards the end of this blog edition I'll give you a definition that we heard tonight from Sister McCrudden, one of our Mission Leaders. For now, just think about and noodle on that question.

Our week hi-lites have been attending the Dundalk Branch Sunday worship services, last Sunday and this. As previously mentioned, the premises are leased from what had formerly been a shoe factory, and now re-purposed. The two peaked bays shown are the lease property - chapel, office, kitchen, classrooms. Last week there were about 40 in attendance and a few less today due to it being a long-weekend. We met some new people today, and a member of the Stake Presidency, Ian McManus, was the main speaker.

In the Branch we have individuals from Honduras, Lithuania, Ukraine, Cameroon, Canada, UK, Ireland, France...it's an interesting cross-section.

This smiling lady just returned from her very first trip to the Temple in Preston, England. She was baptized 43 yrs ago, here in Dundalk, Ireland, and I couldn't even believe it when she told me who it was who baptized her.... Bernie Orr. When I was just returned from my 1st mission I worked for Alberta Treasury Branches, first in Cardston then transferred to Fort MacLeod, Alberta in 1981. Bernie Orr was one of the young single adults that were in the area including me. In fact I dated his sister, Norma Jean. What? Yup. Then, about 20 yrs ago I bumped into Bernie as our family visited Head-Smashed In Buffalo Jump near Fort MacLeod. I hadn't seen him in probably 20 yrs. Today, another 20+ yrs have passed and we have met Ita, who has kept in touch with 'her missionary' Bernie, the one who brought her the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, Bernie was just here visiting in Dundalk about 3-4 weeks ago, so we just missed him. Ita is flying to Calgary in December to spend Christmas with Bernie who now lives in Raymond, AB. What a small world.

Another lady in the Branch has a son who lives in Calgary, Brian Matthews. We don't know him but maybe someone who is reading this blog, does??

Early in the week, we had a call from the Housing Coordinator in Edinburgh telling us that Elder & Sister Kitchen in Belfast would be coming down to us on Thursday - they brought us a desk, but took 2 single beds, 2 small dressers, and lamps, 2 desks, and bedding out of a spare room here and would be taking it to an unfurnished apartment in Mullingar for 2 young missionaries who would be moving in this coming week. We made some soup, and had some salad and some baps (Irish bread, so good) before doing the grunt work. It was a good opportunity to gleen from them some things they've learned in their first 9 months of their mission. Cool fact: they know my sister Valerie and husband Scott Johnson because they were in the Missionary Training Center together. Kitchens are from South Carolina, but Elder Kitchen was born in Ireland. His family joined the church in Belfast in 1968. His father was the first person baptized in the Hollywood Road church in Belfast (photo of the church below). Cool stuff.

This is us sweating after having figured out how to open the side door on this Mercedez cargo van, and doing the loading. 

Who knows if it looked like this when they arrived in Mullingar. Elder Kitchen said, 'You get what you pay for!' (Referring to free labor)

Hollywood Road LDS Chapel Belfast. Sorry but it was raining too hard to open the window for a photo. There are 4 LDS buildings in the greater Belfast area. 

We took the Kitchens up on an invite to come to Belfast and let them show us a few things. The drive is about 1hr 15 minutes. They live in a nice modern flat in a nice quiet area. Next time we come for touring we'll just jump on a train which will bring us right into the city.

John Long's Fish n Chips - the best in Ireland so far.

The Kitchens really know Belfast well - they both drove part of the day; soon they'll need to take their driving tests so they can keep driving lawfully - their US driver license gives them 12 months privileges in N. Ireland. For us Canadians, we are from a list of 'Approved Countries' that allow a simple exchange of our Alberta driver license, in exchange for an Irish license. I bet it's green!

It's always interesting to see other churches - places of worship of any faith. The Belfast Cathedral was wonderful to visit. Of the Church of Ireland, a protestant denomination. When we came in, wearing our missionary name tags bearing our church's name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it invoked a very nice conversation with the hosts at the front desk. One was a young lad of say 19yrs, and two older experienced gents who teased the younger one (he had nice hair, and he was from an a-fluent area of the city). One was a former vicar. He gave wonderful descriptions of the meaning and symbolism within the cathedral. Example, in the supports under the baptistry there are red columns representing sin, with a black base representing repentance. He was very fluent in all aspects that he pointed out, and at the end he expressed if we might object to any of what he'd described being that we are missionaries of another faith; and of course, we did not. We talked about the commonality between our faiths, the strength that our faith in Jesus Christ provides, the love we have for the selfless sacrifice of His atonement, and how the world could use stronger faith in Jesus Christ in these troubling times. These were great people and I'm sure we all gained something by having stopped to discuss these meaningful things together.

The ceiling of the baptistry is made of 150,000 tiles, depicting God's creation. I asked if he had counted them personally so he could be sure of the number. He said that he was about half-way through once but his coffee break interrupted him and he never got back at it. Lots of humor and fun had.

In the Sundance Ward Primary Presentation today, that we watched thanks to technology, we saw our granddaughter, Desirae, give some awesome remarks on how to do missionary work. "The best way to do missionary work is by being kind to others." Thanks Desi. We will try to remember this always.

So, What Is A Missionary?

Sister McCrudden told us in an all-mission fireside this evening, that a missionary is someone who leaves their family for a short time, so that they can show other people how their families can be together forever.

And we agree with Sister McCrudden. 

We have volunteered to leave our family to be here for a short time so that we might help others come to know Jesus Christ, and to teach how, through the ordinances of the Temple, their families might be sealed together forever. 

We are grateful for the blessings of the Temple that our family enjoys. It has been 10 years since the Calgary Temple was dedicated and being that close to a temple is something not to be taken for granted. The Edmonton and Cardston Temples also mean a great deal to us, and every temple we have ever been in remind us of the special promises we have made there.

Have a wonderful week.

  Elder & Sister McMurray