Dear family,
In 5 days, I reach my year mark, which is unbelievable. Time really seems to have fast forwarded as the mission progresses. I remember how long days were in the MTC and my first couple moves. Now I have almost reach my year mark and days seem to just fly by. Anyways, how are you? I am doing well. We are excited to report that Brother McGoldrick came to church on Sunday. This was a main goal for the week and we really tried to saturate him with the Spirit. I also knew that if he didn't come to church, it would have been harder for him to be baptized. I am glad though that he came so that the promise in D&C 59:9 could be fulfilled, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself aunspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of bprayer and offer up thy csacraments upon my dholy day;" I know that as we go to church, that we can feel the spirit so that our cup might be full for the coming week. He really enjoyed church and said after sacrament meeting that it was such a quick hour. He is doing really well as he attends institute, reads a lot from the Book of Mormon, Our Heritage (which he finished), Gospel Principles (that he got yesterday), and the November Conference Ensign. He has also stayed strong as he has not drank nor smoked since last Monday. He will still have some challenges as his baptism comes closer, but we will do everything that he can so that nothing can prevent him from covenanting with God.
As far as other things go, we continue to find in hopes that we can continue to brings souls to Christ and find someone to baptized next month. We started teaching this man, but he wasn't sober when we talked to him on the street, nor at our appointment, but he wants to give up the drink and we want to help him if he has the sincere desire. We have some other people that we are meeting with this week and hope that one of them will have a desire to come into the fold.
As far as the ward and area is concerned, I quite like it. The new bishop is originally from Ogden, UT and came back over and got married here after this mission to Ireland. His accent is easy to understand, and I am now getting accustomed to it. It is really similar to Scottish except they blend some Irish words in and don't say "kin" (that means know). You can tell though that he has adapted some pronunciation (like when he says "adult"), but it still is American. We do get some dinner appointments. Jimmy McGoldrick feeds us some sandwiches and we were fed two other times, once was to Burger King (the wife was feeling well so the husband took us out to burger king). As far as my shoes, they hurt my feet sometimes, and I plan on getting some new soles and see if that works. They hold up okay otherwise. My other clothing is holding up fine, I just need to dry clean my suit since it really needs it.
As far as Belfast in concerned, sure i am in a rough area, but you just need to be wise and know where not to be at certain times and to avoid teenagers. Some people do give us some hassle, but we just ignore them and walk on. It really isn't much of a problem. Well, that's all for this week.
It's good to see that you're going to the family reunion in Albuquerque and I hope that you have fun and drive safely. Also say hello for me to the future missionaries Trout Twins.
Love,
Elder Buxton
Dear Michelle,
Also if you could send my greetings to Macey and Kiah. That would be grande (if you could also, suggest that they should write me, I'm having a post drought). Houston sounds fun as well. Are you flying there? Who paid for it? Tell them I say "Hullo."
So you were also wondering what the difference between Belfast and Galway is. So, Belfast is bigger and has many more members and 2 wards and 4 if you count some of the suburbs. This means that I am a lot closer to other missionaries (I am sitting next to one in the library right now and he's not my companion). They speak with a different accent, it's much more Scottish, but they still use some Irish words like craic and grande (usually a reply to how are you). Belfast seems a bit older as well. The houses aren't as new as they are in Galway. Also, most of the building here as made of brick so it looks really red. There are also so many more churches. In Galway you really had mainly Catholic, but also Mormons, Pentecostal, and JW. Here I couldn't really tell you all of them, but there are a lot. We pass them all the time. I don't know if you know this either, but for years there has been a big struggle between protestants and catholics and it is still going on. Sometimes, this leads to violent actions like bombs and there are periodic "bomb scares" that the police here have to handle. Well don't worry though as I am safe and I wish you well on your test. Study hard and pray hard. Good luck!
Love,
Elder Buxton
No comments:
Post a Comment