Mission Blog #52

 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 brought us some 'essential oils' to help us feel better. 

Elder & Sister Stevenson Brought Some Light

One of the hi-lites for missionaries, is the chance of meeting with any visiting apostles or other general authorities of the Church. Since the Scotland-Ireland Mission is naturally divided by the Irish Sea, the unfortunate result is that the apostle can only be physically present in one place and it is not practical to have the entire mission gathered in one location - the other missionaries get to watch by use of the technology available. The missionaries in Scotland were the fortunate ones this time - a beautiful late summer day in Edinburgh for this group photo with an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Sunday Meeting Using Technology

By the wonders of technology, we were fortunate the last 2 Sundays, to participate at home and enjoy the Sacrament Meeting. Our Branch President, Loren Smemoe, was especially excited for the speakers today. The first was Vivian, a young woman whose family joined the church in Germany. The family is one of the very strong, faithful families in the church and she led off with talking about how she and her family are blessed because of the past missionary efforts of others.

Next up was this young woman, Sister Helena Portas Utrera. She has been in Toronto recently to visit family, but her parents, Jader & Ingrid Utrera, live here in Cork (two of our English students who we love). They come from Brazil, and are raising amazing children, Helena having just received her mission call to Brazil. She gave a very heartfelt talk on her personal journey of wondering if a mission was for her. When she finally put the question to God in prayer, she immediately knew through the spirit, that this is what she should do. 

The Smemoe family were thrilled to welcome their daughter, Arianna, home. She returned this week from serving 18 months in the England Bristol Mission. 

Arianna gave a wonderful concluding talk on our duties as followers of Jesus Christ, to be examples and share His gospel. She gave a powerful testimony of her Savior and of the many blessings she has received. She gave examples of some of the many tender mercies and miracles she experienced during her mission.

We miss the Branch so much. It was great when the camera was turned after the closing prayer so we could see our friends. We miss them, and now we'll only have one more week with them, before heading over to Scotland for the remaining period of our mission.

Receiving this made us smile - on our last Sunday, we'll get to enjoy a 'munch 'n mingle' - or Potluck after our Church meetings. What a great thing to look forward to. What word brings a smile faster than 'Potluck'?

This week we'll be purging things we don't need, getting our stuff reduced so I can actually see out the back window of the car with the rearview mirror when we travel.

And we'll be calling the Paisley Ward Bishop and other leaders to see how we can best serve the Ward leaders and members there.

We have had several Branch members call tonight and invite us to their homes for a last meal and a visit. We really feel their love and know it will be a good week in spite of it being a farewell week.

We're going to miss our two young missionaries, Elder Truman and Caswell and the rest of our District. We enjoy having them for meals, as we did this afternoon, and sharing thoughts and experiences that have strengthened our faith. We love them and will miss them but we have all the faith in the world in them. They are two of the best of this generation. We'll definitely see them again.

In the ups and downs of our lives, we remember our many wonderful blessings, the greatest being our family. It was wonderful to have a technology visit with them tonight. They are amazing people who when we think of them, bring a smile as quickly as the word 'Potluck'.

God bless.

Elder Eric and Sister Tina McMurray

Scotland-Ireland Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints