McMurray Scotland-Ireland Mission Blog

One Year Completed, Last Days In Ireland Every day of these last twelve months since we entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, have been pretty amazing. The people, the places, the sites, the weather, the language...and opportunities to serve in so many ways - home ministering visits, community clean-up, teaching English class, feeding the young missionaries, counselling with new members, participating in Branch Council meetings, teaching classes on Sunday, mourning with those who mourn, keeping contact with new friends with texts and phone calls, welcoming visitors at Church, giving training in District Council, providing Priesthood blessings...    And serving in so many places, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and on Wednesday we'll arrive at our flat, Anchor Mills in Paisley, Scotland for the remaining 6 months of our mission. From Giants Causeway to Mizen Head and many places in between; Newry, Armagh, Dundalk, Dublin, Moy, Belfast, Antrim, Dunleer, Duleek,...

 So Many Love To Serve Others When the word got out in the Cork Branch that we were ill, food began to show up each night. Sister Roy and her daughter came one night with a wonderful cottage pie. Claudia - one of our English Connect Class ' learners ', brought us an amazing chicken and rice dish.  Renat and Ilena Kashapov, two others who attend our English class each Tuesday, brought us a caserole sharing with us some comfort food from their home country of Russia. We also had a wonderful Indian dinner the first night, prepared by Deepak and Mary Sharma. We loved it - it added the spicy Indian curry that was needed to help clear up our nasal congestion. Unfortunately, one of the symptoms we experienced (and still getting over), is a loss of smell and taste. Although we know these meals were all delicious, we missed out on experiencing the aromas, and the flavors. But we didn't miss out on experiencing the labor of love to prepare and deliver the food to us. Someone even bro...

And Then They Leave..... Sister Kaitlyn Waltman, one of the young missionaries we've come to know and love, completed her 18 month mission two weeks ago. Her mother and brother came over to pick her up and do a 10 day tour around the mission before going home to Idaho. We were thrilled that they would take some time and meet up with us for a few minutes. After saying goodbye to the Waltman's, we began our drive to Dublin to attend what turns out to be, our last All-Ireland Zone Conference (I'll explain later). We stopped in Portlaoise (pronounced Port-Leesh), for a late lunch at one of the many eateries in the heart of the ancient town. Leaving Portlaoise, we were detoured around the site of one of the many music festivals we've heard about in Ireland - the Electric Picnic - and it took us up a narrow road with this gem just nestled against the oaks, furs and chestnut trees. An old relic reminding us of the grand and ancient history of this land. Rather than stay overni...

Apartment Inspections A few weeks ago I commented on the Elders' flat here in Cork being a bit of a dump... and showed photos of the very nice flat of the Sister missionaries, in Limerick - 7th floor, new building, looking out at the Shannon River. We made a strong case for our Elders here, to get a better flat. A few weeks ago, permission was given for the Elders to close down their old flat and move into the vacant Sister's flat a few blocks away. We then went and performed the apartment inspection, and boy, what a difference; open, clean, ski-lites, beautiful patio windows/doors and porch; new appliances including a dishwasher. This is more like what they should have. It's not overly spacious, but just enough to make a comfortable home. The apartment is about a 3 minute drive or 10 minute walk from our flat. We feel so much better knowing that their flat is a comfortable, safe, bright place for the young Elders. Brian Roth is married with 4 children at home here in Cork,...