Cork 1/18/2016

Hello!

It’s been another crazy but really fast week!  I can’t believe that I  have already been out for 4 months.

Monday:

We taught a Family Home Evening lesson to the Dunphys family.  It was crazy because 4 out of their 6 children were there plus two of their friends. We taught a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ then played a crazy game of charades.

Tuesday:

We had district meeting. It was really good and we worked on teaching skills. The senior couple missionaries in the Cork district , the Wingets, made some really good white lasagna.

We did some street boarding in the city after that. We did it for around 5 hours which was tiring, but fun. I met two students from Texas A&M-International school which was cool!

Wednesday:

We drove the Tralee elders back to Tralee.  On our way back I picked up my packages from DHL and the post office! The sweaters grandma got me are really nice!  Thanks.

Later in the evening we went to our Investigator, Bethan's, house. We watched “Meet the Mormons” with her so she could see the standards and values we have in the church. I love Meet the Mormons, I've seen around 6 times on my mission, I especially love the part with the Navy Football coach and how he goes to church instead of going to work on Sunday and it blesses him and his family!

Thursday:

We did some try bys (visiting less-active church members). We got some really good fish and chips for lunch!

We did mostly finding and knocking on doors because most of our lessons fell through.

Friday:

We went to do service at a soup kitchen called Penny dinners. It was very busy there but I loved serving there because I love the spirit that comes from serving others.  After that I was feeling ill so we went back to our flat to do weekly planning.

Later on we went to a man name John who referred himself, but he wasn't there. The rest of the night we went knocking doors, which was fun.

Saturday:

We had our missionary coordination meeting in the morning which went well! It has become more organized which makes it more effective.

Afterwards we went street boarding in the city. We met a lot of cool people. We met a man from France that loves the Houston Rockets!  There is a man named Saint Anthony, also known as Crazy Catholic man, and he loves to argue with us. He interrupted us and then he spit on me then walked away. I just smiled because I didn’t do anything wrong!

Later that day, we watched the video “Joseph Smith The Restoration” with some investigators. I love that movie and it always makes me happy!

Sunday:

We had Branch Council in the morning. We discussed the 2016 mission plan for the Branch. We came up with a lot of ideas for bringing unity to the branch!

Church was good as always and Elder Christensen taught the Elder’s Quorum lesson. He taught about the life of Howard W. Hunter. It was a good lesson and the spirit was strong as we watched some conference talks from him.

We ate at President Stapleton’s house for dinner. It was a fun as we had interesting conversation on the word of wisdom over dinner.

More Fun Stuff:

I have grown to love Mexican food more on my mission!

They play the song “Praise to the Man” a lot.

I have a cardiologist appointment on Friday, so hopefully that goes well.

I loved your emails this week.

Have a wonderful week

I love and miss you all.

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

Cork 1/11/15

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a very interesting week!

Monday:

I got a new suit! It was originally 300 pounds but I got it for 120 pounds.   It’s a really nice suit and I'm glad I got it.   For dinner, Elder Olsen and I ate at a French Crepe Cafe. We got these crepes called Extreme Strawberry. It had a load of strawberries with home- made chocolate sauce and strawberry ice cream. It was really good.

Tuesday:

We had district meeting which was good. We were instructed by the sisters missionaries on being bold and stating who we are (Representatives of Jesus Christ). It was really good!

Afterwards, I went on exchanges with Elder Jameson, from Tralee. We went street finding for 6 hours. It was long and tiring day, but it was a good! I only brought one book of Mormon with me that day but I should've brought more because I was able to hand it out in the first hour and there was some more people that wanted Book of Mormons. The moral of the story is Be Prepared

For dinner, Elder Jameson made me some special grilled cheese (Cheese, bbq sauce and mayo). I never really had mayo on a sandwich, but it was really good!

Wednesday:

In the morning we drove the Tralee elders back to their area.  It was pouring rain when got back to Cork. We went tracting in the rain for about an hour. The rain was intense, but we talked to a lot of good people.  We taught a lesson to Bethan, our investigator.   We resolved some of Bethan and her Dad’s concerns. 

Thursday:

In the morning we got picked up by President and Sister Thompson because they were talking me to the doctor. We got to ride in President Thompsons nice Mercedes Benz!  The doctors are still trying to find out why I keep getting dizzy. 

After the doctor appointment, we taught a less active named Stephen. We taught about the restoration of the Church, I could feel the spirit so strong as I testified of Jesus Christ and the Restored Gospel.   It was a very good lesson.

Friday:

In the morning, we drove to Limerick because we had Zone Leaders Conference for Elder Olsen.   We also went on exchanges with the Zone leaders.   After the Zone Leaders Conference, Elder Ensign and I went tracting in Limerick.   It was a good intense couple of hours of talking to a lot of people

For dinner, President Thompson and his wife invited us to have

Subway with them at the Church.    I don't know what was on the sandwich, but it was really good.  We stayed the night in Limerick.   Elder Ensign gave me the package that you had sent me.

Saturday:

We went back to Cork.   We taught a man named Paul that afternoon. He is a Chemical Analyst.  He knows a lot about pharmacy,  he talked to me a lot about that.   We talked about the Holy Ghost with him.   He is very interested in the church.

The rest of the day we went spent talking to people on the street.

Sunday:

We woke up and it was really cold. Our car was frozen and it took a while to get to church.  The heating at church wasn't working.  It was so cold that after Sacrament meeting they told everyone to go home.  After our short church meeting, we went and knocked doors for a bit. Only one person, slammed the door on us so that was good!

For dinner, we went to President Stapleton's house. We had some good potatoes for dinner.   He started talking a lot about Kolob because he likes his doctrine.   We had a good time with him. 

The rest of the night, we spent fixing our area book.  Thanks for the emails,  I love hearing from everyone.

Cork 1/4/2016

Hello Family,

Happy New Year!!

We finally started pushing through our sicknesses!

On Tuesday, Elder Van Staden and I went to dinner with Brandon Ashcroft (from OKC) at a Chinese buffet for his birthday.

On Thursday, we went to the Ababon family from the Philippines. They fed us a really nice meal for New Year’s Eve! They have 4 children.

On Friday, New Years, we went the Peter’s family house. They fed us some really good Irish breakfast.

On Saturday we got a visit from President and Sister Thompson (From the mission presidency). They were checking up on our health. They also came by because they are planning on splitting our flat because they are trying to get rid of four man flats in mission.

Other than that, we have been trying to power through our sicknesses. I am supposed to have a doctor’s appointment to check up on my low blood pressure.

On Sunday I bore my testimony on the Savior and the Atonement. I shared how He has held me up so much and helped me overcome my weaknesses.

I'm glad everything is going well back home! I enjoy reading your emails each week

I love and miss you!

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy