So first sorry for skipping soo many days of posting what has gone on we've been pretty busy with service and going out to various places. We took a tour on the west side of Ireland hitting a number of smaller towns and different signs. Galway was a nice port town.
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| In Windy ConnaMara |
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| Castle on the side of the road |
I will have to say that I've found a new love for hiking but with that being said I am very much out of shape it seems. We climbed a "hill" that seemed more like a mountain and I had to rest multiple times just to get to the top which was pretty sad.
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| Wicklow Beach |
We had an opportunity to go to Wicklow which was awesome I must say and is the south of Dublin below are some of the pictures that I had an opportunity to take while there.
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| Preben and Doug |
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| Docks in Wicklow |
We also spent the day with a brother that lives in the area, Doug. He really showed hospitality to the two of us and gave us a fabulous tour of the area. The next day we went ice skating which was Preben's first time. He didn't do too bad for someone that has never been before.
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| Two of Three lighthouses in Wicklow |
While there we had an opportunity to also tour the entrance and break room what use to be the Ireland Bethel. It is currently in the process of being sold. However brothers and sisters from various congregations come to take care of the maintenance needs of the building and there are still a few brothers with their wives that live there. The upcoming weeks they are going to have the school for Christian Couples there.
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| Water feature as you come in |
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| The building formerly known as Ireland Bethal |
In the evening we visited Doug's congregation which is downtown of Wicklow a beautiful hall and equally beautiful people with the exception of the constantly talking children... Brothers in Ireland seem to have the option of wearing facial hair.
Friday
We went iceskating which was fun this was
Preben's first time going and surprisingly he nor I fell not once. I was not looking forward to it at first because of previous bad experiences with iceskating but I had an awesome time. Afterwards we went to the
Gutierrez family's house (cute orange slices) and did some karaoke, played ping pong, and a few rounds of Mafia.
Saturday
We went to a part at Yvonne's house and met a special pioneer couple had had an opportunity to live in China for a while and loved it but came back to Ireland to become special pioneers. After serving for two years here they've decided to give up special pioneering and move back to China.
They really encouraged us to take up learning the language which we were debating between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. After speaking with them we've begun to lean even more so to the Chinese.
The next couple of weeks was spent predominately in the field service or going hiking or visiting friends.
Last Thursday
We went to hike a hill near a golf course and took some amazing pictures near the top. However as we were coming down the hill I had a bit of an accident while trying to record my journey back down by myself as i'd left the Preben, Luca, and Lee this was not so pleasant
Going down Howth Hill. Once again I am reminded that I am out of shape and really need to find more outside activities to do in Florida.
Friday
Was spent out in service.
Saturday
We went to Northern Ireland and saw the Giant's Causeway which was really awesome. We were told that we didn't have to pay if we went right to the causeway from a car park however if we went into the building we would have to pay for tickets.
Needless to say prior to going into the building this is what I told the group however I had to go back into the car to change my shoes and when I came back the group already paid for tickets... I was not happy with that however because we did pay we received an audio tour set. Which made the cost of the tickets worth it. This place was beautiful.
Apparently there are two stories of how this causeway was formed. (1) The Giant Fin McCool created it when we was going to fight a scottish giant turns out the Scottish giant was too big and he ran away. When the Scottish giant came looking for him Finn hid in the bead disguised as a baby and when the scottish giant saw how big the baby was he ran home thinking that the father must be really big
(2) because of volcanic activity the causeway was formed and changed over time due to weathering.
It was really nice seeing Jehovah's creation in such an unusual way.
It looks manmade but isn't. I actually enjoyed the causeway more than the Cliffs of Mohar because we could get closer to the edge and there wasn't as many tourist in this location.
We had to climb up something called the Shepherd's Passage which was mad
steep and a little scary. It reminded me once again how out of shape I was...
After the causeway we went to the Titanic Exhibit in Belfast which was pretty interesting. It reminds me of how people put so much thought and effort into a man made creation only to have it wrecked by one of Jehovah's creations...the iceberg.
On our way back we had an opportunity to see (from a distance) police activity as there was a protest that day because of issues with the British flag not being flown in certain areas. Unfortunately I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to take a picture.
Sunday
We went to the hall and played Ballderdash at a brothers and sister's house during dinner with friends.
Monday
Focus on doing return visits to let them know that I would be leaving and someone else will be by to bring them the magazines regularly. I have come to realize that Ireland is a place where it takes people a while to accept the truth however once they do they remain firm regardless of the persecution they may get from friends and family. The rest of the week will have a lot going on for sure from service to eating a friends house to packing. I will try to make sure I get back to updating regularly!
Tuesday
Was spent studying for the meeting and updating this blog! I am finally caught up which makes me a happy camper!!!
