Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Emerald Isle

Dear Family,
How are you all doing? I'm doing fine. Galway is great and it is a new challenge. To recap how I got here. On Tuesday we drove to Aberdeen and then I took a train to Edinburgh and stayed the night there. The next day we then took a bus that we almost missed. We arrived at the bus station late. Thankfully the bus was just pulling out and one of the missionaries stopped it and we all piled aboard. The bus then took us to Stranraer where we took the ferry to Belfast. We then hopped on a bus that took us to the bus station where we were picked up by some missionaries. We then drove to the Dublin stake center where I was picked up by some other missionaries who took us to their flat in Lucan where I stayed the night. The next day we drove to Limerick where I met my new companion, Elder Ellett from Loa, UT. We then drove to Galway. Galway is a big city of about 100,000 people. Sure Las Vegas is bigger, but to learn an area this large will take some time. I'm just thankful that I'm not in Dublin. Dublin is truly massive.
So onto the area. Our area is quite large as well and we have a car as well. I'm just too spoiled. Things area a lot newer here as recently before the recession Ireland really boomed and the EU pumped a lot of money into Ireland. they spent it mostly on new buildings and as a result a lot of new housing developments were built. Unfortunately the recession hit, plus the money the EU gave Ireland was actually a loan so now Ireland is in a lot of debt. Many people are out of work, especially immigrants. Ireland is a very multicultural place. Africans, and eastern europeans are very common. They used to be as common as the Irish, but with the recession are less. Many people are hopeful to find work, but some are content living on welfare. Their accent is far more understandable. The difficutly is teaching those that english as a second language. Sometimes it is difficult for them to understand, but hopefully with the Spirit they can be touched. The work is a little slow here, but things are picking up from what I hear from members and Elder Ellett. We have three main investigators. The first is Hemerson. He's Brazilian and is a friend of a member. He is scheduled for the 19th of this month. Unfortunately I have yet to meet him nor did he come to church yesterday. The next is Keith. He's English and a talker from what I hear. I haven't met him either nor did he come to church. The third is Eric. He's African and I believe he's originally from Ghana. We are trying to get things going and hope that we can bring some people to church. 

My address is:

209 Dun Na Coiribe
Headford Road
Galway
Ireland

So please send all letters and packages here as it will take awhile for things sent to the mission home to get to me.

The weather here is, simply put, terrible since I arrive in Ireland. It wasn't until yesterday that I saw the sun. It has pretty much been raining since I arrive. On friday we had gale force winds that nearly blew us over. It was difficult to stand sometimes. I hear that Galway is the wettest city in Ireland and I can see why. We endure through it though, but unfortunately it seems that not many people want to stop and chat while it's raining and windy. Well that's all I have for now and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Elder Buxton

No comments:

Post a Comment