"...so we gave her a little push by going on a wee walk with her that day, and she felt loads better.."

Hello family and friends,

This has been a real good week like. (Some people here say that...they add "like" to the end of a sentence.) Maybe I'll subconsciously say it in two weeks when we Skype!)

For real though, very good week. 

Before I move on, Gertie's baptism will take place on Saturday May 11th, instead of the 4th. She made it to church, but we felt like another week to prepare would be good, and she felt the same way. 

Also she had a cup of tea Sunday morning, so we literally had to reschedule. I guess we weren't clear that the Word of Wisdom was to abstain from tea, coffee, etc, not just to cut down the amount. She's good now though.

Tuesday we exchanged with Derry, so Elder Eastham and I stayed in Omagh. He played the trombone at Alta High School, so we chatted about band life for a good while on the drive back. 

That day we taught Beth, the 83 year old lady who loves to chat with us but says we won't convert her. A lot of people say that here. She's still good crac though, we'll continue to visit her occasionally.

We taught Brian J. this week as well. We talked about the principles/ordinances of the gospel. (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end.) As soon as we mentioned baptism, he said "I'll not be baptized again." But we'll see... 

He came out to church this week and enjoyed it, so slowly but surely he's coming along. I think he likes attending our church over his Methodist church...I hear a lot of Protestant ministers preach about hell-fire and stuff like that, but our meetings are real chill compared to that. Plus they're funny. The 2nd counselor in the N.I. stake presidency came to our branch yesterday, and he told this joke:

There was a bishop of a ward who got a set of false teeth. That Sunday he only talked for eight minutes. The next, only 12. But the next week he talked for three hours. Some one asked why, and he said, "My teeth were so sore I could only talk for eight minutes. Then they were still sore so I could only speak for 12. But the third week I accidentally put in my wife's false teeth, and I couldn't stop talking."

Sexist but funny. Brian went up to him afterward and said "I loved the joke about the teeth...Hahaha!" So we have him hooked with our humour.

Thursday we had Zone interviews/training. Each of us got to meet with President one on one to discuss the work, our lives, and anything we needed to talk about. He's so great, his accent and his attitude and his spirit are so inspirational!

Also on Thursday we were invited to Youth night to watch their video that we all made. It was a success! Then they fed us chicken curry with rice and chips. (chips=fries, but specifically the wedge type fries.)

Saturday the Zone leaders came down from Bangor to interview Gertie! She passed, sort of. As I mentioned earlier, she didn't fully understand the tea thing. 

Then we blitzed Omagh with the zone leaders, which is when we swap companions for the day and literally double the work in the area. I enjoyed it. Our zone leaders are way cool...serious and spiritual when they need to be, but when we're walking around we have good fun!

Also on Saturday we visited Vera. I think I mentioned this before, but lately Ian hasn't been over at her house hardly at all. So she sits all day watching TV, but she doesn't even watch it! She just zones out, so she says. This is causing her to be depressed, which causes her to miss church. So we encouraged her to find something to do with her time. 

She said she used to go on walks around the neighborhood, so we gave her a little push by going on a wee walk with her that day, and she felt loads better. She came to church the next day! She was borderline "less-active" before that, so we're getting her back on track. Ian's still a case though...

Sunday was real good, seeing Gertie and Brian there was great. Gertie still hasn't told her family, other than her sister and mom who were fine with it. She's just scared to tell her daughter and son. So she still depends upon Tom for a lift to church. She lives in Dromore, which isn't THAT far away. It's working out though. Can't wait for the 11th!

Well that's our week. We're going to Derry/Londonderry to have a district P-day! We're gonna bowl, and do stuff around the city. Should be fun.

Love, Spencer.

Picture: The Omagh church building!!!