February 8, 2016

Beaches of Bray

Hello again everybody! This past week has been pretty great! I have moved, traveled and been all over the place this week! I'll jump right into it since I know everyone is dying to know how things are!

MONDAY- We did the usual P-day things.  We emailed and then we cleaned the flat.  I also spent some more time packing all my crap.  I can't believe I had so much stuff.  Needless to say, some of it stayed behind in good ole Lisburn.  But other than that, nothing much really happened on Monday.  We did get dropped by this guy that let us in earlier that week, but it was all good.  He just didn't want to be associated with anything about Joseph Smith.  We encouraged him to keep praying and then we went on our merry way.  We also went over to the Reid's for dinner.  They made some dang good chicken curry.  It was awesome.  I really am going to miss the members here, but I am so excited to start a new chapter of my mission.

TUESDAY- was crazy.  First off, we headed over to the British Heart Foundation to fill out some paper work for volunteer work, but we didn't end up filling anything out since I am leaving and they said it would be better for Elder Tolk to just bring in his new companion and fill out the necessary forms.  

So then we went to Argos and I got a duffel bag to hold some more of my things to move so everything wasn't so cramped.  Then we headed home and finished packing.  We also had a dinner appointment with the Daniel Hamilton Family, which was really good.  They made this pasta bacon veggie dish thing and it was awesome.  Afterwards, we headed over to the Tesco deli to teach 'N' and to say goodbye.  We had a good lesson and Elder Tolk is going to start teaching her friend, 'A'.  I also went and took pictures with people and then we turned in for dinner and bed since we have a long day tomorrow.

Castle in Dublin

WEDNESDAY- MOVE DAY!! We got up flipping early in the morning to be able to make it into Belfast a little before 6:30am since Elder Plewe, who was staying the night with us, had to be at the train station by 6:30 to catch a ride to Scotland.  Afterwards, we had some crazy times driving around the city to get missionaries and their luggage rounded up so we could all be ready to make our moves.  Finally, at 9:00am, myself and the other Elders headed to the Republic and got on the bus to Dublin.  That is a dang long ride. But, we made it and then we brought all our stuff to the Finglas Chapel and waited there for our new companions.  

Train ride from Dublin to Bray

Once everybody was at the church, we still had half the day left so we walked around Dublin and checked out some of the stuff they have here.  DUBLIN IS SO BIG IT MAKES ME SCARED BUT IT IS SO COOL!! I will have to get some pictures sent off, but i will be working on that this week.  We went to this burrito place called Boojum, where I proceeded to unknowingly order a burrito that would be about the size of a rugby ball.  IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! I miss good Mexican food!  Then we went and stopped by some toy stores and stuff.  Finally we headed back to Bray.  

Bray Boardwalk

For all of you trying to find a good vacation spot, Bray is so cool!  The train ride to Bray is absolutely stunning!  I was dumbfounded! I was speechless!  My companion, Elder Bates, and I live less than 5 minutes away from the beach! And that is walking!  The scenery is brilliant!  I love it!  I then started to unpack and then we had a dinner appointment.  Ain't no rest for the righteous!  After the dinner, we traveled home and headed to bed.

View of Bray from the Cliffs

THURSDAY- was awesome! We had weekly planning and then we had a lunch appointment with our ward mission leader.  He is really a cool guy.  They made us burgers and fries.  It was delicious.  It was almost like America.  They live in this really posh area called Dun Laoghaire. (pronounced like "Done Leery") It was pretty fun!  I am excited to start teaching here! After we finally finished weekly planning, we did some finding, and then we taught an English class to finish off the night.  Speaking of which, if anybody has any good ideas on how we can teach an English class, give me a shout!  But that was Thursday.

FRIDAY- was hectic.  We had a couple lessons with our investigators, which were their first lessons.  So it went okay.  These two investigators are pretty talkative and have tons of questions.  They just think way too deep about stuff.  So we'll see how they progress in the future.  After the lessons, we traveled back to Dublin to stay the night with the Elders there since we had an All Ireland Conference the next day.  Once we arrived in Dublin, we realized that we forgot our suits so we had to go all the way back to Bray.  We decided to sleep in our own flat and left early the next morning to make it back to the Conference.

SATURDAY- was the Conference.  We had Elder Halstrom, one of the senior presidents of the Seventy, come speak to us.  So it was pretty great.  We learned lots of great things!  After the conference, we stayed in Dublin to blitz the areas with the Terenure Elders.  It was pretty fun.  Elder Perkes and myself taught a few lessons and we did some good finding.  I got a potential investigator named, Bob.  Only the  second guy I have met named, Bob, so it was pretty cool.  Especially since he was middle eastern.  But Saturday was a good day.

SUNDAY- was Stake Conference so we had to travel all the way back to Dublin, again.  It was a great conference.  The train from Bray left late so we got to the conference about 15 minutes late but it was all good.  After the conference, I met some of the members of our branch and then helped give the Melchizedek Priesthood to a recent convert in our branch.  Then we traveled home and did some finding for the rest of the night.

All in all this has been a crazy week! But it has been awesome!  I am excited for this next chapter in Bray and for all the things I will learn here!

Never forget how good the Lord has been to us and to our families!  Always be singing praises to him!

Love you all!!

Til the work is done!!!

-Elder Mickelsen