We walked into the building and I felt so humbled. There were about 30 chairs set up. There are 13 members including the two missionaries. A table was set up for the sacrament. They had a key board for the piano. The branch pres, his counselor, the missionaries and the branch pres. wife greeted us and were so happy we came to increase their numbers. They asked if any of us played the piano. Michelle had not played since her calling in primary in her ward in Washington. Many years!!! She was nervous, but did such a good job!!! She asked me to come lead. I figured someone would surely lead. Noone stood, so I went up. Michelle told me after that when I did that she felt calm. We were so happy to have served and to have helped out. That is when you are glad you made the decision to go to church. The missionaries blessed the sacrament and they each gave a talk, one of the missionaries also gave the closing prayer. The counselor in the branch presidency mentioned that every 5-6 weeks they give a talk. Amazing. The branch has been a branch for 20 years and there are 11 members. The work is difficult in Ireland because of the drinking. The missionaries are the only ones in that area. The mission is combined with Scotland. They get lonely but after church was over they commented how much work they do for this small branch! Michelle kept saying she felt like she was back on her mission, playing the piano for small branches is so important and needed. She inspired me and Drew to continue learning and practicing and it won't be an option for our kids.
The branch Pres and his wife enjoyed talking with us. They were trying to convince us to move to Ireland. His wife said her tries to sale everyone that comes and visits. He has been a convert for 4 years and has been a branch pres. for 2!!!! His wife has been a convert for 8 years. She was living in Utah and wanted to stay. She felt like she would never find a husband in Ireland. She was prompted to move back to Ireland. Her husband was baptized in July of the year she moved back. In August they met, dated and married and two years later they have one small toddler and an infant on the way. Her friends were taking the discussions and she was trying to convince them not to take the discussions and became converted. He always felt like there was something more had so many questions. Always saw the missionaries and felt impressed by them. When they arrived at his door he invited them in, he was ready.
We drove back to Killarney, changed and went to pick up Drew from the Killarney Train Station! He arrived at 1:00 pm I was so excited to see him!!! We all met up and went to the Muckross House and the national park, walked the grounds, ate lunch - Buffet style (I had Salmon and potatoes and Drew had the Roastbeef, Gravy and Potatoes and we shared a bunch of yummy desserts, we took a carriage ride through the National Park and hiked up to the Torc Waterfalls Torc Waterfall is a spectacular sight to see, it originates from the Devil's Punchbowl which is a Glacial Lake and meanders down from Mangerton Mountain to become one of Killarney's finest attractions. here are some images. Breathtaking beautiful. Our driver was a young Irishman. Super funny and told us all the history. Our carriage was ridden by John Wayne when he came to Ireland to film his movie The Quiet Man. The falls were beautiful. The forest was breathtaking. We found the coolest tree to take photos on. We loved the mossy green ground. So fairy tale like, fantasy land! So picturesque, a post card truely.
We loved Stacey and Dave's driver. They had an older Irish man. So cute and charming! Rustic Ireland.
After the carriage ride we looked on the map and decided to drive through the Gap of Dunloe Go here to read more. here are some images. Drew drove the entire way. Hit a few curbs and shrubbery. Very small windy roads. We all got super sick, but such a great drive. AMAZINGly beautiful! Lots of green, lots of stone and rocks, makes you wonder how they made fields from all the stone, super quaint villages and home deep in the mountains valleys and cliffs, quaint sheep farms. Stacey was able to chase some sheep. we loved hiking up the mountain side, dave found a leprachaun cave, he actually pretended to be a leprachaun! Kimber and I had fun bouncing on the Pea Moss, bouncy and super fun to walk on. We found such amazing places again fairy tale land, Lord of The Rings!! The guys had fun skipping rocks in the Lake. We eventually found our way out the other side and made our way to Dinner at the Black and White Pub. Great food - I got a yummy BLT and Fries, laughs and talking!
Drew and I were able to actually Skype Jaida and Ashton. It was fun seeing them online. They looked so good. We loved playing BOO with Ashton. He just sat and laughed and loved talking to us! Told us about church, his snake, cars and Jaida. Got all organized and went to sleep at Midnight!
THE GAP OF DUNLOE
Kimber and I loved bouncing on the Pea Moss it was really bouncy and squishy
This is all Stace wanted to do!! Hilarious!
Kimber wrote this on her blog "I have to add that Stacey almost killed us 10 times driving home. We got a little lost in the middle of this huge mountain range trying to get out. And it started to get dark. Notice the road in the picture below. It's barely wide enough for our car to drive on. We were going around all these twists and turns and you had no idea if a car was coming head on. And the craziest part we saw a speed sign that said 100km (which is about 75 mph) NO idea why they would put that on this road but Stacey took it literally and tried to go that fast. We were all dillusional at that point and I can't believe we made it out alive. Michelle and Dre were about throwing up in the car behind us."
Two I know this is a pretty old blog post, but I wanted to thank you for posting a picture of the door of the Tralee Branch building. My family is currently spending a month with my mother-in-law who lives in Ireland. She is not LDS, but my family is, so the picture of the building helped immensely in finding church last Sunday.
ReplyDeleteWe've attended for two weeks and will go once more before returning to the States. I love the little Tralee Branch! My 13 year old daughter is even planning to attend their mid-week activity on Friday. The Branch has grown to about 30-35 people. They still only have two regular missionaries, but about a week and a half ago they also got a senior missionary couple. They still don't have anyone who can play their keyboard. Sometimes they sing along with CDs and sometimes they sing a capella. Honestly, I prefer when they sing a capella. The spirit is very strong in that little building among those few members in this part of Ireland.