First off, leaving the MTC was one mother of an effort. For one, we had to get up at 4:00am to get ready and get everything done so we could get on the bus and arrive in Edinburg on time. It really was a beautiful ride. At least for the times when I was awake. I was gonna take pictures, it was going by quick and the little yellow camera couldn't take it all in. I did, however, get pictures from the top of Pratt's Hill in Edinburgh and the view was breathtaking. You could see for miles.
 Elder Mickelsen and Elder West at the top of Pratt's Hill August 19, 2015 CODY'S FIRST AREA IS IN LISBURN, NORTHERN IRELAND 
My journey to Lisburn was quite an adventure. After we hiked Pratt's Hill, we went and stayed in Edinburgh for the night since we couldn't make it back to Ireland. We woke up at 5:00am and then we got ready and left for the bus station. We arrived at the bus station and it turns out our bus to Stranraer left early, and not with us on it. So we boarded the bus to Glasgow and they said they would hold our bus once we got there so we could board with the other missionaries and make it to Stranraer. Well, that didn't happen so we had to walk across Glasgow to a train station and catch the train to Stranraer. And when we finally arrived, we missed the ferry across the Irish Sea by 10 minutes so we had to wait 3 hours until the next ferry. We ended up talking to people and street contacting in Stranraer until we could catch the next ride. Finally, we boarded the ferry and we were off. It was about a 2 and 1/2 hour ride. Once we arrived in Belfast, we boarded a train which was going to take us to our area but the train broke down! So we had to call our Zone Leaders to come rescue us and bring us to our flat. Long story short, we were supposed to arrive in our area by 3:00pm and we ended up getting there around 8:45pm. It was an absolutely crazy day!
Then the day following the real work began. We went out and I'll you one guess on what I got to do all freaking day, you guessed it, TRACT!! Only here we call it chapping because we flick the mail slot to make a noise. Don't ask me why, I don't know. But it's effective. But tracting sucks! This is a walking area so we walk everywhere. I have the mother of all blisters on both my feet and it kills to walk. We walk to where we are going and then we walk back. It really is quite tiresome. But that is all I have been doing. All day. Every day. We have been yelled at, called blasphemers, told we don't believe, had doors slammed in our faces and some people are just flat out rude. But it's all in the spirit of the mission.
I've had some good experiences. On my second day, I invited a couple to baptism and they accepted. And I have been able to find a lot of people who say they are interested but then never show up when we call back. But I guess that's just the way it goes.
Now for the only maybe depressing part of this email. The mission is hard. I am scared out of my mind and there is an angry voice in my mind all the time telling me to go home, that I am not good enough, that I am wasting my time. It yells at me and it doesn't stop. I push it away and I focus on the work and that helps, and it has been receding but it's still just a little bit there. But I can beat it, I know I can. I need to go a little longer but I can beat it.
Now that I got that off my chest, it feels better. Anyway, in conclusion, things are going great. We tract and we have a lot of fun together. Elder Blosil is a good guy and he trains well. I am having fun and losing weight, too, haha! The food isn't bad. It's really quite good. But haggis is a Scottish thing so I've avoided that for the next twelve weeks, so that's pretty great. But the food here is good. I usually have yogurt and granola for breakfast, and then a BBQ chicken sandwich for lunch and leftover for dinner. But life is good!
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Talk to you all soon!
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Meeting the Mission President, his wife and his trainer, Elder Blosil Elders Mickelsen and Blosil August 31, 2015 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland |
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