IRELAND-"He sees you clearly."‏

Hey there family!!

 

Well hasn't this week been eventful? Its been eventful out here and it looks like its been eventful back at home! Love it!! Being busy means time moves quicker! hope all is well back in Utah! :) oh and p.s. it is flipping HOT!!! its September 29th and I'm sweating in Ireland...that's unheard of! haha 

 

So this past week was great! I'll update you on people real quick...So Sharnon the less active is good! We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is keeping all of her commitments which is a huge plus! now we are just working on setting a date for her to come to church! 

 

Stuart is good! We also taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are being more bold with him and the member whose house we teach him at are helping us be more bold. I think this is going to be the last straw for us and the members because he's been getting the lessons on and off for the past 8 years. We can only do so much ya know. But he's coming to general conference this week so thats good!

 

This week was really good numbers wise. We were able to get two referrals which was a blessing and so unexpected! So that was great! We also taught that Romanian family English! Only the mom was home but we're going back this Wednesday! It was an adventure! haha I loved it though! On Friday, we were able to go to Newcastle. Its not in our area but a member lives there and she wants us to teach her friend. We were out there all day and it was a blast!! Sis. Martin, Nicole the member and I walked on the beach! It was glorious!!! It is so pretty there! Another place we have to go see fam! The investigator, John, cooked us dinner and we taught him all about God and who he is. He has some pretty strange ideas haha but hopefully we'll be able to help him! 

 

Then, that night we went to this alcohol awareness thing at the church. There were tons of non-members there. It was great! We sat next to this 14 year old girl. She was really nice to us and I really want to teach her so we're going to talk to the girls in the ward! 

 

Yesterday was so fun! We got to teach sharing time in primary and we did it all about missionaries, of course! :) We gave all of the kids mission calls, badges, and committed them to hand out a mormon.org card to one of their friends! So it was a lot of fun! :) Then last night we went to the General Women's Meeting! Wow is all i can say!! It made me really miss the temple but I loved the meeting! Two quotes I loved were....

 

"We are known and loved each individually by Him"-Jean A. Stevens

 

"You are dear to your Heavenly parents. He sees you clearly." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

I could feel the spirit so strong the whole meeting. I don't know why but I was teary through out it all. I love knowing that God knows me perfectly. He knows my strengths, my weaknesses, my sorrows, my pains, my fears, my joys, and my successes. He knows it all. And he can help me with it all. I loved how President Uchtdorf talked about closing your umbrella for Heavenly Father's blessings to pour out upon you. I'm definitely going to work on that. I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have of loving Heavenly Parents. It's hard for me to put into words the gratitude I have but I know with out a doubt that He sees me clearly. I just need to let Him in more so He can help me and receive those blessings. 

 

Well fam, I love you a lot!! 79 days left and counting....wahoo! oh and guess what else...9 weeks until December 1st which means it's Christmas season!!! Ah I cant wait!! have a great week!! loves! xoxo :)

 

love,

Sister Firth :)

p.s. us with the primary kids, me by a Hillcrest sign...go huskies!! :) and it was really bright...we couldn't see haha but that was newcastle!

IRELAND-sick week...

Hey fam bam!!

 

How are you all? Mom and dad that is so cool about the Utah game! Go utes!! whoop whoop! :) and ash, thanks for the necklace!! I've worn it every day haha i love it! and mom, thanks for the flash drive!! it was AWESOME!!

Well this past week was a slow one. I got sick on Monday and got worse each day. By Friday I had a fever, cold, cough, sore throat, etc.! So that was a bummer but we still went out for half the day so that was good. And, after sleeping for about 14 hours straight, I felt a lot better!  

Last Monday we went to St. Patrick's grave and to the Windy Gap. It was soo fun! I've never seen such beautiful scenery and such cool buildings! Wow I loved it!! So not too much to report. Christopher was busy all week. We spoke with his mom but wasn't able to get an appointment set up. Hopefully we'll be able to see him this week. Andrew is MIA...he wont call or text us back so he's pretty much dropped. And Stuart is good. We saw him on Saturday. Two kids in the ward were getting baptized and he came to it! So it was good that he was there and we're seeing him this Thursday! We'll see how it goes! 

Saturday was a fun day! We got to take out two recent convert girls from the Newtonabbey ward with us for the day! They are 16 and 14 and were such great missionaries. So that was fun to be with them! 

Today we went out to lunch with all the elders because elders hanson and carter are leaving to go to Scotland. I cant believe all of my friends go home this week. Man, I'll sure miss them all! 

 

Well fam, I sure love you all lots!!! Hope you're all doing great! Sorry this is so short. Miss you all!! Have a great week! xoxo :)

Love,

Sister Firth :)

IRELAND

Hey fam bam!!

How are you all? Well this past week was pretty good! Here is what we did each day to sum it all up...

Monday: We went bowling with our district and some of the newtonabbey district! Oh my it was a blast! It totally reminded me of Big City Bowling back at home with all my friends in high school. Oh man those were the days! I got second place! So it was pretty fun!

Tuesday: We had district meeting. It was probably one of the most spiritual district meetings I've been in on my mission. We talked about testifying. All of us trainers had to give our testimonies at the beginning of the meeting so the spirit was there right from the beginning. It was really great! I loved it! I also love to read Alma's testimony in the Book of Mormon. Those prophets know how to bear pure, bold, and simple testimony. Love it. We also got the opportunity to go to the Europe Women's General Meeting. Elder Ballard and Elder Bednar spoke at it. It was based in Germany so it was on screen for us but oh my, it was amazing! I truly love our apostles and Prophet. We are so blessed to be members of this church. 

Wednesday: So last week remember how i talked about how Sis Valadez and I went on exchanges and we got some potentials. Well one of those potentials is a ten year old boy named Christopher. We went to try by him and we got in! His mom was home and we ended up teaching him the Restoration. It was great! He is so smart. He knows his Bible inside and out. He asked the perfect questions and asked if he could get baptized the way Jesus was. We were in shock haha we of course said yes! He was going to come to church yesterday but his mom called us on Saturday and told us he wasn't going to come. So that was a bummer but we're not giving up hope. We're going to try by his house on Tuesday to see what's up. 

Thursday: So Thursday, we had a dinner appointment out in Drumbeg. It took us about an hour to walk there but it was the prettiest walk I've been on. So much green, country, rivers, ect! While we were walking to our dinner appointment, this car passed us and honked at us and gave us the bird for no reason. haha! oh the joys of being a missionary. We were laughing and were so surprised. So ya that's my funny story for the week. Oh and we're doing this challenge with a LA member. She's giving up smoking for 3 weeks and we're giving up chocolate. That's going to be really hard for me! The chocolate is sooo good over here! I'll make it though haha We also taught Stuart which was good. We watched the BOM dvd. He's doing good. 

 

Friday: So Friday we went to Derriaghy to see a LA. She wasn't home so we decided to chap this flat complex. It was 14 floors. We started at the top and moved down. Well, we didn't get one potential until the last floor! ha I think HF definitely has a sense of humor. It was worth it though. It reminded me of my first area. 

Saturday: Oh man, Saturday was THE most random day of my mission. It'd take a long time to explain but long story short, we chapped the flat complex next to the one we did on Friday and we got into 2 doors, when we got off the train we saw a guy totally eat it down the walk path. You know those moments when you see someone trips and it looks totally painful but you can't help but laugh....well ya this was one of those moments. I know I'm a missionary and I shouldn't laugh but hey, I'm human right? haha Man it was funny. 

So this past week was great! We chapped a lot and didn't have as much success as we'd like to have had but it was a good week. We also went to the Windy Gap and to St. Patrick's Grave today but I'll talk about that next week! We also got groceries from a member and chocolate chip and banana muffins from another member. People were just giving us things this past week haha why? I have no clue but I was really grateful for it! 

Life is good fam. Less than 3 months left....ah crazy! but exciting. I am doing good! Time is flying. Sister Martin is doing great. I love her lots. This week was a week where I'm grateful to be on a mission and to be a member of the church. Fam, we are so blessed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love it!! I love you family!!! I miss you all! hope life is good over in good old Utah! miss those mountains! Loves!! xoxo

Love,

Sister Firth :)

IRELAND-100 days left!!!‏

Hey family!!

 

Hope you all had fun at powell and that meg got to AZ safely! Ash, I got the package you sent me! Oh my thank you!!! I loved it! it was great! :) And, tell Katie HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week on the 12th!! the big 2-1! whoop whoop!!

 

So, can you believe I only have 100 days left? Crazy right! This past week was great!

 

Monday: We hiked up to Belfast Castle and then up the mountain to this cave! It was so fun! It was a hike though! Man, I am sooo out of shape! I cant wait to go running when I get home! So ya the castle was way fun!

 

Tuesday: We had zone meeting on Tuesday! It was soo good fam! It was a really spiritual meeting and two of my favorite people Elder Windhausen and Sister Rousseau gave their out-going testimonies. Tears were flowin!! We all got in a circle and discussed about the purpose of life as a missionary and as a person. It was so good! Ah I loved it!

 

Wednesday: We ate lunch at this little old lady's house named Beula. Her daughter was there as well. Beaula's mom used to feed the missionaries back in the 1960's and when she saw us on the street, she invited us over for lunch. It was really fun and we were able to show her and her daughter Mormon messages. Her daughter is a widow and so we were able to talk about the after life with her. It was great!

 

Thursday: Thursday was so fun and exciting! The STL's came on exchanges with us! We all four went to a wedding that was in the ward. It was so cool to see and the bride looked so happy! And of course, you know me, I love weddings!! So it was great! I got to go on exchanges with Sister Valadez. She is such a cute girl. It was my first exchange with her and we got on so good! We are so much alike in the fact that we LOVE our families!! haha That's pretty much all we talked about. It was great! We got 2 potentials that night as well. So it was a good night with her!

 

Friday: The STL's left in the morning, and we taught our LA, Shanon, that afternoon. Before the lesson, we listened to Josh Groban's song, "To where you are" at her house. I'm pretty sure it was the song that was sung at Aunt Kathy's funeral. I'm not sure if Shanon or Sis. Martin could feel the spirit, but I definitely could. It made me teary because it just brought back memories. I felt as if Aunt Kathy was sitting right next to me. It was definitely a moment that I'll never forget.

 

Saturday: We had a lesson with one of our potential investigators on Saturday. We brought a member with us. Ask me if we taught anything? Nope!! haha The member taught the whole lesson and it was definitely a Bible bash so I guess you could say that it didn't go too well and that we dropped him. All sis martin and I did was testify at the end. We couldn't get one word in. It was kind of amusing! haha

 

So family, can I just say that I love you all! Sister Valadez and I talked about our families all night on Thursday and it was so fun! I know I've said this before but I truly have learned to love and appreciate my family so much on my mission! This week I've been feeling extra grateful for all of you. Not only my immediate family, but also my extended. I just love you all a lot and I'm so happy that I get to be with all of you forever!! Thanks for EVERYTHING you do for me! I'll see you in 100 days!!! I love you and miss you! xoxo

 

love,

Sister Firth :)

p.s. we hiked to the top!, our sleepover, and my new scarf from Jeff Glen's fundraiser, ( thanks mom! :) )

IRELAND-It's September!!‏

I can't believe that summer is over and this was our LAST Lake Powell trip WITHOUT Callie!!!!  Yay!!  She will be home on our next trip to Powell!!!!...even though it won't be until next summer! ......Lisa

Hey family!! :)

How's Powell? Man I'm jealous you are there AGAIN...without me haha It's alright though because this past week was great!! Much better than last week let me tell you!  

 

So I guess I'll give you the update...we have one progressing investigator! His name is Stuart. We taught him at a member's house last week. We taught the restoration. It was a bit rough haha I haven't taught a lesson in weeks, maybe months, and Sis Martin is a newbie so i guess you could say it wasn't our best lesson but it'll take practice right? The spirit was definitely there though so that was a plus! We are hopefully teaching him again this week! 

We also just barely got a new investigator...like 15 minutes ago! haha His name is Andrew. We met him at the library and we just taught him about the Book of Mormon. He is cool and so we hope to teach him again this week! 

We met a LA this past week and she wants us to teach her all of the lessons again and read the BOM with her so that should be good! Her name is Shanon. She hasn't been to church in a couple of years but she wants to get back and hopefully go to the temple to do her mom and dad's temple work. Exciting! :) She's a sweet lady! 

This past week we decided to fast on Thursday to find new people to teach. Well, we did a lot of finding in some outer areas and it was great! We found so many new potentials so we're hoping that they are really interested and will meet with us. Things are happening here in Belfast and its great!! 

Oh and some other exciting news...so the Newtonabbey elders are teaching this girl who is 16. Her boyfriend is a member and is actually in our ward but his family is on some kind of  assignment where they are in the Newtonabbey ward. Well, they are moving back here in October and she has a baptism date for November!! So we are hopefully going to have a baptism in November! We'll  see!! :) 

Today, we are going on a hike to a waterfall! It should be great! I'm excited!! well family, i hope you are all doing great! Can you believe its September already!! I love and miss you all!! Meg, be safe moving back to AZ! I'll be thinking of you! loves!! xoxo 

Love from Ireland,

Sister Firth :)

p.s. Us at the train stop, preparing to scrub mold off of our bathroom walls (nast, I know!!), and we made tacos!! It was great!