Mission Blog #18
Winter Arrived - for a minute!
Yes, it snowed! Kids are yearning for snow so much that we saw a couple of young girls doing snow angels on the sidewalk, on frost the other evening. There was no snow anywhere but they improvised to have their winter fun.We visited Graciellie and Tommy in Drogheda and had a wonderful meal, of her homeland, Brazil. Grace is a returned missionary and Tommy is not of our faith, and we had an amazing evening with them. Grace's journey to Ireland, finding work first as an 'extra' in movie productions, TV advertising (currently an ad for Health Services reminding anyone feeling ill, to stay home), and now as a stunt double and actress, is pretty amazing. You might be familiar with 'Foundations', 'Krypton', and 'Disenchanted'. Patrick Dempsey helped her launch a bit - he learned she was a Brazilian born 'extra' but he loudly announced that she was the new Brazilian actress. Then she started getting more parts. Tommy has an office job in Dublin as a regulatory compliance manager. Tommy will be coming to our Branch Emergency Preparedness seminar on Saturday.
Blayney Castle, on a very calm day in Castleblayney, on a walk with Daniel.
Yesterday an industrious man cleaning the gutters of homes in our little cul-de-sac, came knocking looking for new business. Referred him to our landlord, but then talked about where we're from and what we're doing here. Turns out he has 2 sons in Canada - Halifax and Toronto. One is a professional golfer. I explained about Calgary - foothills, mountains, horses, cattle, clear streams for fishing... He then mentioned he lives in Cavan and has an amazing trout stream running through town that he is about the only one who fishes - caught a 9lb brown trout awhile back. I may need to figure out a way to get in that river with him one day. There are many angling opportunities in Republic of Ireland.
Mary is one of the long-time members of the Church in Dundalk, and is such a nice friend. We visited again to finish the puzzle we started earlier in the week - we talked about her family, the challenge she had of raising 3 children on her own, and staying faithful in the gospel. She's an inspiration.
Can’t get over what a beautiful country you’re in! Summer will be so gorgeous!!
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