"The smile on his face was enough, no greater reward."

Let's start off this email with the craziest experience so far on my mission.

I witnessed a man having a seizure. Scary.

So Mickey is epileptic, as he's told us quite a few times. He has seizures, or "epileptic fits" every few weeks. We went to see him on Thursday. He let us in, and he seemed happy to see us. 

But something was off we could tell. He couldn't really answer our questions. We'd ask him something, and he'd say "Well, you see, it's just...ya know...well..." and filler words like that, never actually responding. 

It was getting worrisome, so I asked him if he remembered his name. He did the same thing. So we knew something was up. This went on for about 10 or 15 minutes, with us trying to figure out what was wrong. 

I feel dumb in hindsight; I was saying a silent prayer to figure out what to do, and several times I had the feeling that maybe this was a sign leading up to his epilepsy. I felt like I should call 999 (911 equivalent) and tell them the situation, but I kept putting it off.

Then after about 15 minutes of us asking him questions and me shrugging off spiritual promptings, it started. 

He was sitting on the couch (luckily) and he started staring off into space and his lower lip began to twitch. As soon as that happened, I knew that my feelings were confirmed. His hands started to shake a few seconds later, and then his whole body started convulsing. Then he started yelling uncontrollably as if he was in some extreme pain. It was probably the scariest experience of my life. 

As soon as we knew what was going on I called 999. When the man picked up he was asking for the phone number and address where I was calling from, and a bunch of other questions. 

Panicked, I asked "This man just had a seizure, what do I need to do?!" He told me to just let it subside while the ambulance was on its way. 

Once the trembling had stopped, and he was breathing heavily, the operator guy told me to keep an eye on him, make sure he's breathing and let him know if anything changed. 

So basically we sat there on the phone watching Mickey breathe and cough until the paramedics arrived. They sorted everything out; gave him an oxygen mask, took his blood pressure, and eventually he came to. 

His eyes were open and he would look at whoever was talking, but just as before he wasn't saying anything. They took him to the hospital and we went our separate ways. 

Still gives me chills imagining the look on his face when it all started.

We went by his house on Saturday to see how he was doing. The paramedics told him what happened. Apparently he thought we looked in his window and saw him laying on the floor after the seizure, but we told him the whole story about how we were there and we saw the whole thing. 

Looking back on it, elder Gomez and I realized that the timing was perfect. Our weekly planning session took longer than expected, so we showed up at his house later than we planned. If we had showed up earlier, maybe he would have been mentally sound at the time and we could have left right before it got weird. 

Not sure if we saved his life by being in the right place at the right time, because I figure he's probably been on his own before and he's survived. But you never know. 

Luckily nothing bad came from my ignoring spiritual promptings. I was reminded of a story President Monson told about a similar situation with a man in a hospital. I can't imagine how I would feel if Mickey had died or been hurt because I ignored those thoughts. 

Whew. Really made me think.

Alright. So other things that happened this week:

Elliot Cathcart is putting in his mission papers!!!! So excited and so proud of him.

Gertie is struggling. We had an appointment to teach her at Tom's on Tuesday...but she didn't show up at the place where we always pick her up. And again, not answering phone calls. 

We drove out to her house on Friday, and she wasn't there...we knocked on the next door neighbor's house to find out if she is ok. The man, Tony, was super friendly. 

He told us that Gertie and he are really close, and she often goes to him in times of hardship with her family. He said that basically Gertie's kids, the husband, and her in-laws are all giving her hassle about the separation still. He said she told him about us/the church, and he told her that she can't really have two religions, which is quite true. Also he told her that if the family found out about the church and how she's investigating, they would blame the break-up on the church and maybe even US. So that was kinda scary. 

Finally she answered the phone Saturday, and practically broke my heart. She started talking about that sort of stuff, and how she can't be a Mormon because she was raised Catholic and her whole family is Catholic and they wouldn't be happy if she changed religions. 

She kept saying, "I respect, 100%, the Latterday Saints...but I don't think I could be one" and stuff like that. 

I was about to die! Luckily thanks to the spirit I resolved her concerns the best I could...convinced her to not put this off forever, but to just wait till things die down with her family troubles. She said she knows what we teach is true and that the Book of Mormon is true, but she can't change. 

But I talked with her about how if she knows this is the right path, what would God say if she didn't follow it? She took that well, and was more open to the idea of changing someday at the end of the conversation. I was SO scared!!!! We can't lose Gertie. That was a stressful hour or so on the phone with her. But hopefully it's resolved for now.

Other big part of the week: DUBLIN! 

We went down on Wednesday for an All-Ireland conference with President Brown. Good stuff, very inspirational. Beautiful drive too. Took the whole day though with travel, the conference, eating, taking elders to the bus/train stations. 

The Derry elders crashed at our flat Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Good fun.

New name for elder Gomez: Elder Gobaz. Ian McConnell, our hilarious and sometimes insensitive and profane less-active friend, was calling him "Elder Mexicano" and "Elder Gobaz" just to get a rise out of him on Tuesday. I was dying. I am so tempted to call him Elder Gobaz now, but I'm sure he wouldn't be happy with that.

On Friday Elder Dustin went on an exchange with me. Such a great leader, helped uplift me and gave me some tips on how to deal with companion trouble.

It's been super hot here, around 23 degrees C. Not sure what that is in F, but it's hot. Lots of guys around town just walk around shirtless. 

Funniest part: Tom Henry, who loves to work in his garden, was shirtless as well. And he's not a skinny man. 

We were near his house so we dropped by to say hello, and he was like "Oh, I wasn't expecting visitors!" all embarrassed. He's hilarious. 

Quote of the week from Tom: (referring to his baldness) "An empty house has no need for thatchin'!" Hahaha. Good crack so he is.

Another Mickey story: on Saturday when we went to check up on him, he told us basically that he had no food, and that he wouldn't get paid until Tuesday. 

He never actually asked, but he kept saying "I get paid 400 pound on Tuesday so I'll have NO problem paying ya back!" 

We told him we couldn't, but that we could bring him some food if he really needed it. He said yes, so we brought over a bag of cans and frozen food and stuff we didn't need, and gave it to him. 

The smile on his face was enough, no greater reward. 

We told him that to pay us back he could come to church with us and then we'd be even. He said definitely, but when we went to pick him up with Tom Sunday morning he said he had a bad headache. Darn it.

We actuallly had a good chat with Ian yesterday. As usual, he promised to come to church and didn't. 

We went over with Tom to do hometeaching with them, and Ian was obviously drunk. 

We shared the little message and visited for a while. When we left, luckily Ian came out with us without Vera. 

Before I got in the car I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Ian, what are you doing?" He says, "Oh, not much" I said, "No, what are you doing with your life? We can tell you're drunk." He admits, "A wee bit." 

So we, along with Tom, have a good talk with him about it. Finally. I was so sick of tiptoe-ing around it, but it felt good to be blunt with him. He knows what's true, he knows what's right, he knows what he needs to do. He just needs to DO it.

Well, that's it for this week. Crazy stories.

Love yous all!

Spencer

Photos: 

Chillin in a forest.

Oh yeah. 

We found clovers (shamrocks?) in Ireland! Not four leaf, but still.

"...it was just such a nice thing for her to say, and I felt like it was inspired."

It's June 3. Today marks five months in Omagh. Next Thursday will be six months. Wowzers.

This week was grand. Starting with Wednesday, after I emailed yous all:

We went to Castlederg to home teach the Bogle family with Tom. I think I've mentioned them before...the grandma is real old and suffers from memory loss of some sort. (dementia?) She is hilarious though. She couldn't understand a single word Elder Gomez said. She said to me, "Does he speak English?" I told her yes..."Well then we better be careful what we say!" hahahaha. Another funny thing: Tom Henry, who spends more time with us than any other member, can't pronounce the name. He says "Gormez Costello." And even when E.G.C spells it out and says it slowly, Tom says "Gormez." Makes me crack up every time.

Other interesting thing on Wednesday: After the Bogles we stopped to see Dominik. We had set an appointment with him for this time since we would be in the area. 

When we told Tom he said he thought he had been taught by elders in years past...same situation. Met in town, went out to the house once or twice, seemed a bit special, then never heard from him again. 

So we knocked on his door, no answer. Went again yesterday to give it one last shot. Knocked and rang the bell several times. Heard a TV on inside, so we even knocked on the window because we didn't want to waste a trip without speaking to him. Never answered. So we probably won't make a special trip just for him again. Bummed.

I think my favorite part of Wednesday was seeing Isabel. Isabel and Maurice Short are mother and son living together (about 90 and 50 years old respectively). Both super nice. 

The Chamberlains met them somehow a while back, and told us to go visit them. We've been seeing them occasionally these months, and the other week we found out that Isabel would be reading the Book of Mormon if the print was bigger. 

On Tuesday in the Derry Ward building we found a triple-combination that's HUGE, and the bishop said we could have it if we order another one in a few weeks time. When we took it to Isabel she was overjoyed!! Felt so good. She was just so thankful and happy. She's always that way, but this time was even more.

Thursday we saw Mickey B. Have I mentioned him before? Well, he's an alcoholic we met on the street one day. Oh yeah! He was the one who opened the door the first time and had blood all over his face. Remember him? Well we've been kind of teaching him. It's hard, because he's usually drunk. 

Luckily he's a crazy-happy drunk, not angry or violent. Although one time when my companion told him he needs to stop drinking he bent over and made a fart noise at him. Anyway, he's a character. A Proud Mancunion (someone from Manchester). Sort of wants to change his life, but at the same time not. But he is grateful to have us over, and we're trying to help him the best we can. It's a crazy new experience every time though.

We saw Vera Duncan last week. She is fluent in Spanish...so she and Elder Gomez chatted it up for hours! Literally. 

When we showed up Vera and her husband Ian were cooking food for us all, so we had dinner there. Super good. I wonder if Joey and Dad's dinners at members houses were that good? The Brazilian-Brazilians are poorer and the Brazilian-Irish are rich. By comparison. 

But it was good, Elder Gomez was super relieved to be able to express himself completely. He keeps telling me and everyone else that he wishes he could speak better so he could express his feelings the way he wants to. I can't imagine what that would be like because he never stops talking in the first place.

Friday was good. We went and saw Alan and Nigel. On the way, we took that Friend magazine (that Mom sent a while back--Thank you!) to our less-active friend Claire. Her daughter is about seven years old and likes primary. She'll come with her grandma Marion occasionally, so I decided it would be good for her. Claire was very appreciative. Even though she has no intentions of coming back to church any time soon, she was happy to give her daughter the magazine. 

Also when she saw it she went "Aww" and looked like she was re-living memories of when she used to read the Friend as a kid. I might have imagined that part, but I dunno. Hopefully it makes a difference.

We then met a man named Darren. He is in his 30s, and knows the bible better than anyone I have ever talked to. But he doesn't belong to any church. We tracted into him, and we had a real good chat. 

We didn't really teach him much about the church, it was mostly answering his questions and hearing him out. But he promised us that he will be all ears next week when we meet with him, as long as we keep our end of the deal: If we put down the Book of Mormon for a week and only study the Bible. 

I told him that we couldn't guarantee complete abstinence from the Book of Mormon, because we teach with it and we read it together and at meetings etc...but I promised him I would dedicate my hour of personal study each morning to just the Bible, unless I NEED to read something from the Book of Mormon.

I figured it wouldn't hurt; I have been wanting to read more New Testament and Old Testament for a while but this gave me the drive to do it! 

He's super smart so I'm convinced that if he received a witness about the Book of Mormon then he would be baptized and never stray from the path. He's a stud.

On Saturday Elder Gomez and I had a HUGE row. It started of small, with something stupid, and then he told me to be open with him. I told him it was best if we just let it go, but he insisted. So I let him have it, and then he let me have it. The rest of our lunch break was silent and awkward, but then we resolved it before we went back out to work. It was no good, but it ended up fine in the end...

The rest of Saturday was good, just talking to a lot of people, tracting for a while...Ian and Vera....then I called Gertie to see how she is doing. One hour and 22 minutes later it was time for bed. Holy flip!

It was good though, at first she was being kinda weird, saying the sort of stuff I was talking about last week, but by the end she wanted to be baptized. Still no date set, but the desire is there. And she wants to bring her granddaughters to church, which would be a HUGE step in her deep Catholic family. 

I was exhausted by the end of the phone call, but I felt so good. She is really uplifting. I wrote down a quote from her in my journal that I loved for some reason: (Might not be 100% accurate) "Don't worry about your mum, don't worry about your dad, don't worry about your family back home. They're all ok. They're all happy. If they could talk to you right now, they would just say, 'I'm happy.'" 

It was so sweet. Not sure where it even came from, because we weren't even talking about my family during that time (sorry). But it was just such a nice thing for her to say, and I felt like it was inspired. Hope you are all ok, and happy.

To wrap it up, Sunday was good. I taught Primary. 

An adult female had to be present in the lesson, because they don't trust us men to be in Primary. But it was super fun. 

We talked about the book of Abraham, and also Moses and the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. So I made some wee scrolls for each of the children, pictures attached. 

Maggie was kind enough to sit in on the lesson, which was good because she had that mother authority to tell the kids to behave when I'm not so good at that.

Ian, the less-active man we've been seeing three times a week for the past five months, had promised to come to church. But he didn't. His problem is drinking. 

We're quite sure he was drinking the night before...he had a friend coming over Saturday night who, according to Vera, is nothing but trouble, and they always drink when together. 

We called him in the morning before church, he answered and hung up with out saying anything. Then straight to voice-mail after that. 

We went to see him, to sort of interrogate and call him out, but at the same time offer support. He promised he wasn't drinking last night, but his semi-slurred speech said otherwise. 

I was really bold with him, felt like it was led by the spirit though. Basically told him that I don't want to leave Omagh in a month (maybe) thinking that the time we have spent with him is in vain. 

He says we're definitely helping him, and his goal is to go to the temple and do the work for his family, but I told him honestly that that goal is pretty far off right now and he just needs to go to church every week. 

I felt like I was being harsh at times, but he took it well. I really really really hope that something changes in him someday.

Anyway, wow that was a long email especially for being only five days worth. Jeepers.

Well, hope you all enjoyed the Irish/N.Irish stuff I sent!

Love yous.

Spencer

Photos: 

Scrolls for primary class. 

Me trying to look tough (impossible) with my County Tyrone flag. (I might send that home for yous to keep safe...but for now I'm keepin' it!)
The counties are quite a big deal out here; mainly with Gaelic Football. Each county in Ireland has a team and they are very proud of it.

Weds. May 29

May 20

"Very spiritual experience. After, he sat in his chair quietly for a few seconds, just thinking."

Hiya family,

First off, Skyping with you all was lovely yesterday! It was great to see your smiling faces and whatnot. Wish we coulda spent more time! But at the same time, the limited communication is kind of a good thing because it helps us focus on the work, and also it makes each time we Skype more exciting! And also the eventual reunion will be even sweeter. 

Tom Henry is so great. I think Skype cut out right as he was saying this, but when you guys thanked him for taking care of us he said something to the likes of "No problem, we do the best we can! He's a good boy, you should be proud of him!" His words not mine haha :) 

Now the news you're waiting for...MOVES:

Elder Holm is being sent home, and I am staying in Omagh.

By that, I mean he is going back to Dublin, which is his "home" (where he was trained). Gotcha didn't I!

Anyway, he will be a zone leader there. And I will be staying here, as SENIOR companion (?!) Elder Gomez-Castillo, from Spain, just got done with his first two transfers so I won't be training, but I'll be senior. Definitely didn't see that coming! Super excited and a bit nervous too. He's learning English, so I'll also be helping him with that! Very exciting.

Now for this past week's stories. Wednesday after we emailed, we went to Castlederg. Our new investigator Lisa lives out there. I think I mentioned her last email. 

But we brought Tom with us because she said she was the only one home when we called her. But when we got there she didn't want to let us in, because she was babysitting her three year old nephew and said he didn't take kindly to strangers. 

So we taught her in the backyard at a wee table and benches. Really I think she just didn't want us coming in when she was alone...weird though, because she left the kid inside the house for like an hour. Oh well, the lesson was really good anyway!

Wednesday is when we got the bad news about Gertie. She hadn't been answering our calls at all that day, or the night before. Then we got a call from the R.S. president, who said she just got off the phone with her. Basically there was just a lot of family drama going on. She hasn't mentioned the church to her kids or her husband (still separated). I think she told her sister and mom, and they were fine with it as long as it made her happy. But she's just a bit scared to tell the rest of them. 

So really the stress of the family stuff going on was taking a toll on her, and she thought that trying to be baptized in secret would just add to the stress. She still wants to, still loves the church and the Book of Mormon and the members and stuff. So she'll get baptized when the time is right. 

My feeling I get is that she shouldn't do it until she's told them, just so it's an enjoyable and memorable experience rather than a stressful one. It'll all work out in the end!

Thursday's highlight was teaching Martin. We knocked on his door several weeks ago, and he told us he really wanted to talk to us but was just busy. We finally caught him at a good time! He is great. 

First off, he converted from the Catholic church to the Church of Ireland, which is a HUGE indicator of his open-mindedness. He was very impressed with our commitment to serving, since we don't get paid, leave home for two years, and work ALL day. And he liked what we talked about and agreed to read the Book of Mormon. So he definitely has some good potential.

We saw Ian and Vera a few times last week. Their friendship is getting back to normal again, which is good. We also saw Alan and Nigel on Friday. (Photos!)

We visited Brian J. as well...went ok. We gave him an Ensign last week because he doesn't like reading books. But apparently the article he read was like three pages long, so he said he didn't like it and didn't want to read it any more. But we showed him the real short simple stories at the back, so he eventually agreed to read those. 

Also he said he didn't like it because it made him question what he believes, which he didn't like. But of course we loved that! Ah well. 

He was very blunt in telling us that if we were trying to convert him it wouldn't happen, but that he'll come to church occasionally if he feels like it, because he likes it there. No problem, once he comes to church enough he'll just be like "ah what the heck, baptize me." Probably.

Saturday was good...saw Tommy Reilly (the 92 year old who plays the fiddle) and Sister Deery. Tommy's was a very good experience. Every time we visit him the last few weeks, he's spent the entire time talking about how bad he feels, how weak he is, etc. Nothing we say to comfort him or lift his spirits helps lately...then as we were about to leave I felt like asking if he wanted a blessing. He said yes. 

I performed it. Very spiritual experience. After, he sat in his chair quietly for a few seconds, just thinking. He had a smile on his face after that, and I think I almost saw wetness in his eyes. Very powerful experience. 

The priesthood is REAL. Also I gave Maggie a blessing last week, which was another really good experience.

On Saturday we drove out to Newtownbutler, to see the Masons. They're an English retired couple who moved into the church branch (geographical congregation) a few months ago. 

They live super far away from any members, and they told us we were welcome to dinner any time. So we set up a time and went to visit them. 

Having a car is such a blessing! Also it was a good visit; we helped them come to terms with a family situation. Their daughter, who they moved away to be near her and her kids, was recently baptized a Catholic, and admitted it was just to fit in. We helped them realize that all they can really do is be an example to her, and pray for her. It was another good experience.

Then last night after Skyping, we went to see Kieron, the most recent convert in the branch (2.5 years) who is now semi-active. His fiance', Siobhan (Irish spelling...it's pronounced like Shovonne) has been more interested in the church recently, so we had a good chat. She agreed to pick up Kieron's Book of Mormon this week and to truly read it. So we'll see where that goes!

Well, that's this week for ya. Geez I write long emails!!!

I'm super excited for this new change in mission life. Wish me luck!

Love,

Elder Burt

Photos: 

Alan! And their dog Frankle

Nigel!

"...we told him what we can do to help him, and what he can do to help himself."

Hey everybody!

So as you may have heard, Monday was a "bank holiday." They have a lot of those here. Not sure if it's a whole UK thing, or just N.Ireland. But anyway, you guys should try to find a list of all bank holidays in the future, so you'll know which weeks the emails will be delayed. Usually we email on Wednesday, because Tuesday is our day for district or zone meetings, so we use the less-productive morning time on Wednesdays to email. So yeah.

So now I have a week and a half to catch you up on! 

Last Monday we went to Derry! This was an interesting day. Very fun! 

We went bowling with our district. (Elders Mills and Eastham from Derry, Elders Dustin and Kinnard from Letterkenny.) 

Elder Holm thought it would be better to wear our white shirts and ties to bowl instead of casual clothes. I disagreed, but he insisted. When we get there, the other four elders have jeans and t-shirts on! Oh well...It seems Elder Holmes has changed a lot since becoming district leader...more strict, which is sometimes good, but sometimes unnecessarily so. 

Anyway, we had a real good time. Elder Mills (probably my favorite one to hang out with) and I played some skee-ball and some wack-a-shark at the arcade at the bowling alley. We got some tickets for doing so and got some wee prizes -- a rubber duck and bouncy ball! 

Elder Holm was very disappointed in us. He told me that night that it was very inappropriate, and even at district meeting the next day he subtly called us out by talking about how we are called as representatives of Jesus Christ's church at all times. He's kinda right in a way, but at the same time he made a huge deal out of it when it really wasn't that big of a deal in my opinion. Oh well. 

I also bought some cool Ireland stuff at the Derry/Londonderry visitors' centre! I'll send some home. Probably in like two or three weeks.

Tuesday I went on exchange with Elder Dustin to L'kenny. We taught this guy named Peter. He's had a rough past, but he seems like he really wants to learn about the church. He has a five year old son who is a cute chubby lil ball of energy. He's crazy! 

Then we taught Janis, a Latvian guy. I actually met him a while back, on my first exchange to Letterkenny with Elder Neilson (first district leader). 

He hadn't really been reading or anything, but at the end of our visit he seemed spiritually uplifted. We promised him that if he sets aside the time to read, putting it at the TOP of the priority list, everything will work out. 

I've actually promised that a lot to people lately, when they say they don't have time to read. I can promise that, because I know it's true. I definitely saw that in my pre-mish time.

Wednesday we saw Emma, and this time her mom was also there (Joan). Joan was raised Catholic, but hated it and didn't raise her kids with any religion really. 

Emma seems really prepared to accept the gospel. Joan seems like she'll take more work. Emma said she'd come to church, but she didn't...however they invited us over for dinner tomorrow! Pretty rare for us to get dinner appointments with investigators.

Thursday: Alan and Nigel. We had some extra time, so we decided to tract around their wee town, Lack. 

We met a few older ladies who said they were happy with their church, but they both accepted Book of Mormons and said they'd read. 

We're trying to do that lately--when we go to appointments outside of Omagh, we tract at least a little bit, because these people probably haven't seen missionaries very much, if ever. So far they are a bit more receptive, so it's nice.

Thursday we went to Pramod's house with the primary (four kids) the primary president (a girl about our age) and President Nelson. 

We had the idea a few weeks ago to give Pramod's girls, Simran and Priya (nine and five years old) a Book of Mormon Stories book. (The big one with simple words and pictures.) 

We finally got everyone together to do it, and it was a success! Hopefully the girls will be a good influence on Pramod, because they LOVE primary and singing, and he is just kinda on the fence. Good step hopefully.

Friday: We went to Vera Duncan's. Our plan was to watch the Book of Mormon DVD with her (Not the Book of Mormon movie, but a DVD they give us to give to people). 

It has Jefferey R. Holland talking about what the Book of Mormon is, then a Jamaican Bishop in London talking about his conversion, and then a snippet from Elder Holland's talk "Safety for the Soul." 

If you haven't' seen it, watch it. He basically yells at the viewer that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, in a way that you cannot possibly deny. We watched it with Vera, and she enjoyed it. Wasn't instantly converted as we hoped, but it had a bit of an impact we think.

Also Friday we met with Brian Johnston, the dairy farmer. We gave him an Ensign, because he tells us every time that he won't read the Book of Mormon because he doesn't like books; he prefers newspapers. 

So we thought this would be a good way for him to read about the church and feel the spirit...and he loved it! He said he'll read it, and then pass it on to someone else...non-member Missionary haha!

Saturday we saw Tommy Reilly and Sister Deery, as usual. Tommy is deteriorating. He says he can't enjoy anything anymore. But every Sunday he is just fine and bright and cheerful. He's just lonely really. 

We met a deep catholic guy who we had a little lesson with...after teaching/semi-debating with him, we decided to just tell him to read and pray. He said he wouldn't; that would be against his religion. But he was very interesting. He said some weird stuff, such as "Jesus was a cool dude". We were very surprised at this, because this guy was like in his 50s and dressed in slacks and a plain white collared shirt. And when he said it he didn't even crack a smile. Weird. But funny. 

Then we met a girl named Lisa, who seems very prepared. She said she IS looking for something in life, and she seemed very interested in the message. She lives outta town in Castlederg, so we're going out there today to follow up and teach her all about Joe Smith and whatnot.

Sunday was nice. We went to the McKennas' house for dinner, tracted a bunch. Then we went to see Ian McConnel (the Ian who hangs out with Vera.) 

He was clearly drunk, and when we sat down and talked with him he started crying and said he needs to repent. It was a very spiritual experience; we told him what we can do to help him, and what he can do to help himself. He seemed very sincere. We were afraid that it was just the wine making him emotional, but we saw him last night and he was just as sincere, but sober. He really does want to change, and become active in the church again. We're so excited that he's taking the first step now!

Monday: P-day. We went to the Ulster-American Folk Park! It's a big deal here in Omagh; it has an indoor museum with exhibits on immigrants to America from N.Ireland. Very interesting. Took some good pictures. 

Also they had a bunch of replica cabins and stuff outside, and a ton of "rare breed" farm animals. 

Best part...we got to hold a lamb!!! (Pics attached). Unfortunately we weren't brave enough to ask if we could hold it on our shoulders, but we got some good pictures and we felt very Christ-like. That made it all worth it.

Yesterday we went to Belfast for a zone meeting. We had lunch at Boojum, basically the  Costa Vida of the UK/Ireland. Then a bunch of tractin', then dinner with the Cathcarts. Good day. Good week!

Other news: We've received several prank calls/texts from people these last few weeks. Twice we've woken up in the morning to voice-mails of drunk people saying "please call me back, I want to be a Mormon" or something like that. We always call them back, but they either don't answer or they hang up as soon as we tell them who we are. Also a few texts. 

We haven't' received a phone call from anyone who sincerely wants to learn more...not YET. Someday we will, and then all the hours we spent handing out pass along cards with our number on it will be worth it!

Also: You guys should watch the "I'm a Mormon" video for Jason Smyth on mormon.org. He's from Londonderry! He's a paralympic gold medalist. 

Watch it! Then you'll know what the N.Irish people sound like! He seems really cool. He is part of the push for the "UK Media initiative..." 

Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but the South Park creators' Book of Mormon musical is in London now, and so the church has done a big campaign with the mormon.org site. They actually made a new one --  mormon.org.uk, which places emphasis on the profiles of UK people. I think they're all English except for Jason. Very good video. Inspirational and stuff.

Also also: SKYPE! I think it would work best if we do it at 4pm here/9am there! That will work perfectly for us. We'll be at Tom Henry's house. Will one of you email me what username I called from last time? Just to make sure it works.

SUPER EXCITED TO TALK TO YOU ALL! 

Love yous, and see yous in four days!

Spencer

Photos: 

Bowling...in our white shirts

Gooo Grizzlies! (this is actually a black bear but close enough) at Folk Park

America!!! at Folk Park

AWWWWWWW at Folk Park

Full rainbow! No pot o' gold though

Rainbow with the Omagh Spires (Left: Catholic, right: Church of Ireland)

"...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!!!