Letter To Dad

Hi Dad,

We are well and alive and this is the first time communicating with you!!!

We have had such great weather for the past 4 days. Today and tomorrow may be rainy and cloudy. Last night we had our first Ireland rain.

All the Irish people have been saying how LUCKY we have been with the SUNNY Ireland weather. Irish kids were out surfing on the coast in 1 degree ice water with wet suits.

We loved staying in Dromoland Castle the first night. Such a fun experience staying in the castle. There was only one King that resided in the castle, from Ireland. It is apart of their school history, they learn about it in school. The only time they added to the castle was when Pres. Bush came to stay. They added an entire new wing just for him. The castle is 1012 years old.

On Saturday we drove through the Beautiful Irish country side, green rolling hills, lots of sheep and stoney walls to the Cliffs of Moher. AMAZING. we hiked, yes including Mom, both cliffs. She is a trooper!! Breathtaking! We even hiked the part that said "DON'T HIKE" EXTREME DANGER, but we figured all the Irish were doing it so we did. Dave got pretty scared watching other people get SO close to the edge of the cliff. Stacey kept leaning over and getting close as well and we all kept telling him to get back. Great videos and pictures. After the Cliffs we visited a cute surf town and ate right on the water and watched the surfers and went shopping. Beauitful cost line, mom found sea glass.

That night we drove to Killarney. Such a cute town, one of the largest in Southern Ireland. we are staying at the Mountain Dew Bed and Breakfast. So cute, great breakfast and very nice Irish Host. She makes us popcorn!!!

Sunday we woke up and drove 20 minutes to Tralee to find the church. Such a typical European town, super small roads, tons of buildings close together. Fun driving through the streets. We were following the map and as we were driving through the streets Michelle says there it is!!! we saw a small sign on front of a building. We walked in, we were 15 min early. So small. There are 13 members, including the missionaries. There is one african Irish Family in the branch, 4 small kids, one elderly who has been in the branch since it opened, it has been a branch for 20 years (that says how hard it is for misssionary work here). They were so excited we were there. Stace and Shayna came with us!!! The branch Pres. wife asked if any of us played the piano, Michelle volunteered. There was a small keyboard set up and she played so good, the interlude and all the meeting hymns. She kept looking at me before we started and whispered "you lead the music" I shook my head, thinking someone would surely lead. Noone stood up when we started so I walked up to the front and lead the music. Michelle told me after she was so nervous, but as soon as started leading she calmed right down. She liked how I kept everyone in tempo. we had so much fun serving together. The two elder missionariers blessed the sacrament, said the closing prayer and gave both the talks. Each member gives a talk every 5-6 weeks. AmAZING.

After the great sacrament meeting the branch pres and his wife, super cute and young couple with one little boy and another on the way came up and talked to us and thanked us for helping out and serving and asked if we could stay. they were sad we could not. they told us how they met only married 4 years. The branch pres told us he was converted 4 years ago, was a member for 2 years and was called as branch pres. he said he had always seen the missionaries and felt something different, he was catholic. he wanted to know more, he was searching, they showed up on his door step and he said you must come in. His wife has been a member 8 years. her friends were taking the discussions and she was telling them to stop taking them and then became converted.

There are only two missionaries in the area, all the others are about 2 hours away, so lots of time they feel lonely. they said the missionary work is hard. Trying to convert Irish people and tell them they cannot drink is super hard. This mission is combined with the Scotland mission.

After church we picked up Andrew from the train station in Killarney and we went to the Muskross Manor and walked the gardens, ate lunch and toured the grounds near the mansion. We took a carriage ride to these amazing waterfalls. Fairy tale land.Than we took a long drive through small windy roads up through the Gap of Dunloe. WOW. you will have to see the pictures of this place. we hiked a mountain, not mom. She watched from below. We bounced around on the bog and dave hide in a cave pretending to be a leprachaun. Than we drove up some more, ReALLY small roads watching for all the sharp rocks and stones all around us and came to the Black Valley. This place was unreal, right out of a movie, fairy tale land. A place you see in movies and wish you could go there, Lord of Rings kind of thing. Dave, Stace and Andrew all skipped rocks for competition.

We drove all the way through it, long drive, super windy and sharp turns you actually could drive 100 kl through it, kind of crazy stacey tried, we didn't. Michelle and I got sick, michelle was worse. we stopped at a little PUB and had dinner.

Michelle has eaten a traditional Irish Breakfast which included black and white pudding, Irish blood.

Monday we woke and everyone went bike riding through the Killarney National Forest and we stopped at Ross Castle, again another beautiful day. mom and michelle didn't want to go bike riding so they walked through the town of Killarney. Walked through park, saw a Catholic Church, went shopping. Than we all met back at the bed n breakfast and got in the cars and drove to DINGLE. Michelle actually drove the entire day all the way up the coast to Dingle, on the LEFT side of the road and did so good!!! She didn't hit anything. No curb, not trees. We cannot count how many curbs stace has hit and trees. Such a good driver.

Dingle is A cute coastal town. The drive to DINGLE was amazing. We were so blessed to have such a beautiful day again. it was all along the coast, so pictureque. people were surfing, beautiful coast line. great pictures. amazing green country side, lots of stoney walls and sheep right on the cliffs on the coast. We drove the ring of Dingle and got to the town and enjoyed walking through the cute fishing village. Such fun cute colorful houses. we ate at another pub and had our first rain!!! we drove back down and stopped on the coast. Huge sets were coming in and lots of surfers. Dave and Michelle picked up some sand and Dave came back up to the car and mentioned there were lots of Sea SHELLS. mom climbed down to the beach, down the rocks, she even jumped from one rock to the other. She was excited to pick up so many neat beautiful shells. we got back to the bed n breakfast and relaxed for an hour and than Mom and Michelle has a surprise for everyone. We walked back into town and went to and Irish Pub and listened to a traditional irish band play Celtic Music. than we called it a night.

at the pub in Dingle I saw a mirror with our family name on it POWERS, I got a picture of it. in most of the little shopping stores we saw the family crest and names of O'Dwyer and Powers we each picked up a little something with our family name. it was fun!!!!!

We are having so much fun. We love you and miss you!!!

We all slept in and are taking it easy today on our 4th day in Killarney. Tomorrow we drive to CORK.

Love
The Family!!!!


Jennifer's response to the letter ""I know "ALL" the kids will be exceptionally excited and happy to have their parent/s back! (including me) :) So glad you guys are having a great time. Dad just read me your email. So wish I could have gone. I got all emotional hearing the story of you guys at that small branch. I asked James if he wanted to move to Ireland and help out the small branch of the church there. :) "


Dad's Response

"Eastman Bunch to the homeland of Ireland. Stace, Dave, Michelle and Deirdre have more Irish than Mom or me as they have from both sides. Deirdre did a marvelous job planning the trip and they had an unbelieveable time. They all said the Irish are the warmest, nicest, friendliest people they have ever met and were amazed at Deirdre's name from an old Irish Queen that is very popular all over Ireland.

They were also amazed about us being related to the 'Power' Irish line as they were powerful Lord's and wealthy land holders as well all over the country side. As Tamie found out from here investigation on the Internet they were quite a bunch. The Power name is on everything including the most popular drink in the pubs so I quess we are 'famous'. They also found Sharry's D'wyer name as well. They visited 7 castles and stayed in a couple. I will include the email Deirdre sent me from Ireland here as well. Pretty interesting especially the little church branch they found. Tal la la ! ! !

sroll all the way down for the information on Our Power Heritage"