Dear Family,
This past week has been such a memorable one, for sure! On Wednesday, February 20th, we flew to Dublin, Ireland, where we were met by our AAA there (Brother McGrath), who just happened to be a taxi drive for over 18 years. He was so very kind to us and, of course, he took us everywhere we needed to go, including taking us around to some of the sights after we came into Dublin.
We just looked at each other and scratched our heads as we were in meetings, as well as on the streets, because even though we were all supposedly speaking English, the Irish brogue sometimes makes it almost impossible to understand what they are saying! Hah! Brother McGrath even drove us over to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland and about two hours away. We had a wonderful training meeting over there with the Stake President, his counselor, several bishops, the Stake Clerk, some ward clerks, and several auditors.
We felt it went very well until I made the huge mistake of saying, "When people pay their Euros--", suddenly I was turned on when they said, "You mean pounds!" I laughed and said, "Oh, I am so sorry!" I had even been reminded about that by Brother McGrath when we crossed the imaginary line between Southern Ireland, which is the Irish Republic (an independent country) that uses the Euro, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and they use the pound as their currency, just as everyone in the UK does. But, who knows what will happen when Brexit comes about! We couldn't believe the feelings there are in both Northern and Southern Ireland, as well as in Scotland, where some want Scotland to be an independent country and draw out of the UK altogether. It is amazing the many feelings that everyone has there. We loved getting everyone's take on it all! It was so interesting how different the two parts of the same country were--Northern Ireland part of the UK using the pound as their currency, and Southern Ireland, an independent country that is part of the European Union. We had such a wonderful meeting with the entire stake there. Here is the Stake President and his counselor. There were about 15 people total there.
The next day, we visited Trinity College Campus and saw the amazing Book of Kels.
Bank of Ireland - Windows covered.
We toured St. Patrick's Cathedral and heard intriguing stories of its history.
Flying into Dubin . . .
A humongous walled park that lies just about 2 miles from downtown Dublin, Phoenix Park is more than just your ordinary park. In fact, aside from the long stretches of green and multitude of incredible trees and plants, it is also home to the Dublin Zoo, a sports field, and both the Presidential Residence . . .and
The U.S. Ambassador Compound, but at the present time, there is no Irish Ambassador.
and the Wellington Monument. In memory of the Duke of Wellington (born in Southern Ireland), it is the 2nd largest structure of its type in the world next to the memorial in Washington DC.
The Ha Penny Bridge built in 1816 over the River Liffey, named for its former requirement for costing half a penny to cross!
We then went to St. Stephen’s Green, filled with lush green grass, a variety of plants and flowers and some marvelous bodies of water.
Since most of the Georgian housing complexes are built to look the same (and each individual house has little room in between each other), most home owners will paint their door an original color in order to set them apart from their neighbor’s house.
It was so fun seeing all the brightly colored doors!
This is the most photographed door in Dublin.
We then went to the Brazen Head, which goes back clear to 1198, where we met Brother McGrath's wife.
We just looked at each other and scratched our heads as we were in meetings, as well as on the streets, because even though we were all supposedly speaking English, the Irish brogue sometimes makes it almost impossible to understand what they are saying! Hah! Brother McGrath even drove us over to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland and about two hours away. We had a wonderful training meeting over there with the Stake President, his counselor, several bishops, the Stake Clerk, some ward clerks, and several auditors.
We felt it went very well until I made the huge mistake of saying, "When people pay their Euros--", suddenly I was turned on when they said, "You mean pounds!" I laughed and said, "Oh, I am so sorry!" I had even been reminded about that by Brother McGrath when we crossed the imaginary line between Southern Ireland, which is the Irish Republic (an independent country) that uses the Euro, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and they use the pound as their currency, just as everyone in the UK does. But, who knows what will happen when Brexit comes about! We couldn't believe the feelings there are in both Northern and Southern Ireland, as well as in Scotland, where some want Scotland to be an independent country and draw out of the UK altogether. It is amazing the many feelings that everyone has there. We loved getting everyone's take on it all! It was so interesting how different the two parts of the same country were--Northern Ireland part of the UK using the pound as their currency, and Southern Ireland, an independent country that is part of the European Union. We had such a wonderful meeting with the entire stake there. Here is the Stake President and his counselor. There were about 15 people total there.
After the meeting, we drove by the H & W Shipyard where the Titanic was built and see the outside of the huge museum they have built there with all things about the tragedy of the Titanic in it. Too bad it was too late to go inside!
We toured St. Patrick's Cathedral and heard intriguing stories of its history.
ate wonderful Irish food in the busy Temple Bar District. We literally ran out of time and energy!
(Continued on next post--Scotland)
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