Monday, June 29, 2015

WEEK?....I have no idea... 8 months and a week.

 Our house (for Mama Howell)
 ice cream by the river

We made homemade pizza for Sunday Dinner

I am doing so good. It has been a pretty normal week in the missionary work. 
   Tuesday, we had District meeting so that was good. We went to eat cheeseburgers afterwards so I was happy. So right after we got out of lunch we went to teach Juan and Sonia our Peruvian friends and guess what!? They fed us lunch. It was so good! But we were stuffed and dying! We told her (to give us) just a little bit cause we just ate and boy did she pile it on there. She is so cute. We love them so much! Our English class is going so good! And I am learning some good Spanish. After Juan and Sonia, we ran over to Jeannette and Kirsty's house. I didn't know but I guess we were supposed to come over there for dinner and so we felt so bad because we just ate 2 lunches and there was absolutely no way that (any more) food could fit inside our tummies. But we will go back this week and bring them some cookies or something to make up for it! After we visited with them we drove out to a members house for dinner. Their family is so good!
   Wednesday, we had 8 hours of finding. So what we did is we took the branch directory that we have and picked out some people and we went to try by their house. A lot of them were not in and so we went and chapped their streets so it was good. We went over to the Allens' house (Members) and we had a delicious Irish dinner of chicken, veggies, taters, I forget what else... but it was really good! After that Josie Allen came to teach our lesson with us. We went to see "P"; He is from France and we have taught him 2 times now. He is really nice and he is open to talking about the church. So we will see how it goes! Something that we have been doing lately if we go and visit members is to leave a Book of Mormon with them and ask them to write their testimony in it and then pray about who they can give it to or a street that we can go and chap on to give it to someone.
   Thursday, we did our weekly planning but we were distracted like 10 times in the course of our 3 hours of planning. The Elders needed a lift from the train station to the church and then we had to meet the other Elders in the city. Bunch of troublemakers those Elders are...Not really though. They sure help us out a lot! They are great! 
   Friday, we saw Juan and Sonia again and we taught them about the importance of being obedient and following the prophet. They are so good. Seriously. Every time we go over there the spirit is so strong. They talk to us nonstop even though we can only understand about 20 percent of what they say. Thank goodness for google translate! After that we went to the Barros' family for dinner! They are so cute! Haha their girls just hug us and talk to us the whole time. So on Friday we did some finding. We were walking around the city center talking to people so that was good and after our long day of city finding we went to the Enokibaras house for dinner. We had some amazing BBQ. Some beef from brazil. It was so good. I love their family so much they are the best! 
   Saturday, was a normal day of chapping and finding people to talk to. We saw Juan and Sonia and the Enokibaras were able to come with us! We taught them about tithing and fast offering and they are still planning on baptism on the 25th of July
   And at last, Sunday. Church was good. The sacrament meeting talks were focused on how we can make the sacrament more meaningful. It was really good. We really can fall into a time where we are just doing things out of a routine. But Sacrament is something that should never be like that. I got a lot of good ideas so it was great! 
   I love church! I LOVE THIS CHURCH! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It is so hard, It is so good! I am so tired! I love talking to people! I feel like I can't do anymore but there is so much more ahead of me that I want to do! I love you all so much! And I hope You have a great week! We are getting our moves calls Sunday and so if you want to send me a letter please send it to the Mission home Address @ 51 Spylaw road. Ask my Mommy if you don't have it (: She knows. MUCHO AMOR~HERMANA STRIBLING (practicing my Spanish) I am good! 

 one of the 500 churches in limerick!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Adventures of Sister Stribling--Limerick

   
I had to go to a Dentist!
Some Random guy walked up to us and gave us flowers. What a nice guy.

   Well this week was so busy! So that is a good thing! We were only able to see "J" & "S" 2 times this week but they are doing good! They have a Baptism date for the 25th of July! What a good Birthday present huh?! (mom note: that is Sister Stribling's 20th birthday) We are so excited for them. We are still teaching them English and they are amazing! They are So funny! I have these hiccups EVERY time we go over there and "S" is always laughing at me and clapping for me. She is so cute! My Spanish is getting pretty good if I may say so myself... Not really. I know a few phrases though. So it is a success!  
   We had exchanges this week and so that was fun! I went up to Dublin...So much fun! We spent 2 hours driving up there and then our appointments all cancelled. The life of a missionary. So we walked around a park for about an hour and a half finding people to talk to and to share things with. We met this guy named "C"..? Something like that. He was pretty funny. He tried to tell us we need to watch South Park in order to really understand our religion. We told him that is the last thing he should do to learn about religion. Crazy kids now a days. I tell ya. 
 With Sister Wagner again!! (my first companion at the Provo MTC)

 Walking through Stephens green with Sister Wagner

   So I came back to good ole Limerick and we went and had lunch with a member named Bernie. Bernie is AMAZING! Let me tell you. Bernie is so sweet and nice! She made us chicken and salad for lunch and it was so good! We shared 2 Nephi 31:18-19. She is seriously so amazing thats all I can say!
   Friday we had a really busy day! Had the earliest lesson of my life with our investigator named "M". We went and saw her at 9! In the MORNING! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she is very very faithful, it is so great! We had a few lessons cancel on us. SO sad. But welcome to our lives! We were able to see a new friend of ours named "C". He is so cool! He used to be Catholic but he isn't anymore and he is very open to religion he just doesn't know what he is looking for. After that we were able to go to the church and to have a sports night. We had 3 of our friends there and it was pretty fun. We played Yoga football with them and they are really good at football here! It is crazy! 
    Saturday, we were able to go to a Baptism for the Sweetest girl! Her name is "I" and she is 18 or 19, I think. She is so good! She has such a strong desire to go on a mission! It was such a great baptism! After that we had a lesson with this guy named "S". We were supposed to meet him in a cafe but he ended up having to work so we came and taught him in his shop. As I was saying the closing prayer some lady walked into the shop and up to the counter we were standing at because she wanted to buy a parking disc(to park on the street) haha it was too funny. Awkward moments. Our whole lives! 
   Church yesterday was good too! Fathers Day! I just love my Dad so much. I hope you all know that. I am sure that I have the Best Dad ever! He is so great! He is always helping and loving about it! He can get cranky sometimes but he only does the best for us! He is so good! I LOVE YOU DAD! And I LOVE ALL OF YOU ALL TOO! I hope your Monday is going good! Have an amazing week! I LOVE YOU! ~SISTER STRIBLING
 Just like at the MTC. Good times


Friday, June 19, 2015

Guess who got Sun burnt in Ireland...This Haole.

 Beautiful box from Cheyna & friends @ BYU-I (Rexburg,Idaho)  



   This week has been so crazy! There were so many things going on with All Ireland conference and our Zone Development day it has been great! 
   So lets start from Monday. We had our P-day and we didn't do much. We got our grocery shopping done and the normal P-day stuff. Went to the post office and picked up a box from Cheyna (: It was so great! After that we met up with the Elders (Buckley, Bailey, Patterson, Ilori) and we played football(Soccer) We played headers and volleys. It was pretty fun. It is acting like summer time over here in Ireland FINALLY! and it is so exciting! We have not been rained on in the last week! It is amazing! after that we went and saw "J" and "S". We taught them English and also a lesson about the importance of prayer. It was good! We walked home and we had our Pizza for dinner(We have pizza on P-days) LOL! 
 Sister Dias and I (my very 1st companion!)
 Us and Elder Macfarlane
 Sister Fescher and I 
 Sister Stewart and I
 Elder Bevridge and I (I don't know how to spell his name. I think that's wrong...) 
Glasgow Missionaries in Ireland
 Crazy Elders
 Elder Blaylock and Elder Cavallaro and me 
Elder Cook and I (Photo bombed by Sister Wilkin)

   Tuesday, we had our All Ireland Conference. We went up to Dublin at 6:30 and it was amazing! It was the last time that we will see President and Sister Brown. They will be leaving on July 1st and we will receive a new mission president...President Donaldson. It will be good but we are all sad to lose such amazing leaders! President and Sister Brown are the best people! They are so loving and caring and helpful. I saw Sister Dias and Sister Wagner at the conference so all in all it was a success! I just love them so much. They are great!  
 Picture with President and Sister Brown
   Wednesday was a busy day! We had a lesson in the morning with this lady named "M", She is from Ghana and she is so sweet! She has 3 kids and they are just the cutest! After that we went and we tried to see some former investigators we didn't actually meet any of them because they weren't home but we left notes at their houses. While we were chapping doors we were able to meet some cool people and we set up appointments with them for later on in the week. We also got to see "J" and "S". We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and they were very happy! They are so nice and caring. It amazes me. They fed us dinner also. They said it was a Peruvian Specialty. Pollo y arroz (Chicken and rice) haha it was really good!   
   Thursday we mostly did some finding and planning so that was fun. 
   Friday, we did street boarding. so that was good. We were able to talk to a lot of people. We met with a less active lady "G". Her kids are so funny. After that we went to our branch volleyball night. It was good. Kirsty came (: She has so much energy!
   Sunday was good. We had branch council at 9 and Sacrament was great! We are trying to figure out a way to participate more in the Gospel Principles class with our investigators. Tough job but we will figure it out. We had Salmon for dinner and then we went to visit some members and we brought them some treats! 

   Yesterday (Monday) for our Zone Development we played so many sports! Football( Soccer) Yoga football, american football(I made a touch down. No big deal (; Ultimate frisbee and I did some sun tanning. And guess what! I got SUNBURNT! In Ireland. Crazy huh. It is. Well other than being red for now I am doing good! I have 3 different tan lines on my feet now. One from my tennis shoes, one from my socks and one from my flats. Too funny!  

  I love you all and hope that you are having a great week!!! I LOVE YOU! SISTER STRIBLING

Monday, June 8, 2015

My Lovely Week in Limerick

 DOUBLE RAINBOW IN IRELAND! Still looking for the Gold :-)
 Springtime daisy Sisters
We went and got Bubble tea with Azariah. (IT'S HERBAL) 

Well this week has gone by so fast! But at the same time it has been so long! 
   So we are teaching this lovely couple from Peru and this week we saw them about 3 times. They are seriously the sweetest people! We are still teaching them English and we taught them about the Restoration on Saturday. We were able to bring the Enokibaras to come and to teach them with us. They are able to speak Spanish and so it makes things so much easier! With them we can do like 3 lessons in one meeting because usually we are sitting there typing back and forth on Google Translate so it was such a blessing to have them with us! We also went to the Enokibaras house for dinner on Thursday! Guess what we ate.... Did you guess? We ate Cow HEART and COW TAIL and Cow ribs(Not beef ribs. These were little things with pointy bones.) Surprising enough it wasn't even nasty. I was expecting it to taste really weird and I thought I was gonna puke. But I didn't! 
 Cow's Heart 
This is what cow tail looks like

   So this week kinda felt like I was on my mission in South America for a bit. This week we were able to do a lot of finding. or to go and talk with people on the streets. Here in Ireland people are mostly Catholic so it can be tough sometimes to talk to them. But we try! We went over to the McCarthy's house for dinner, they are such a good family. Their cat had kittens and if you know me you know I love kittens. They are so cute! On Wednesday, while we were dropping notes off at members houses we got lost. We ended up like 40 minutes away from where we wanted to be and by the time we figured that out it was too late to turn around and go back so we had to just go back to Limerick. 
   Friday, we saw Jeannette and Kirsty. They are doing good. Kirsty's Birthday is coming up so she is excited. We also began a volleyball night on Fridays and this Friday a lot of people were able to come! So it was good! I didn't even get hit in the face this week so that was a definite plus! 
   Yesterday (Sunday) we were able to hear from Elder Holland! He is so amazing. He is such a great man! All of the talks yesterday were so good! The stake president from Edinburgh stake gave a talk about how we are like ships. Some people are the big Military fighters and they are able to help a lot of people. But other people are like little boats and they are able to get close to the shore to help people to be saved also. Both of them are so important. We need both kinds of ships! When the Big destroyers can't help the people on the shore then the little boats can go in and help them. Obviously it sounded a lot better when he was talking but it was so good! I learned a lot yesterday so it was good. We had a Munch and Mingle after church and that was so good! I made Cinnamon rolls and we brought them. Everyone said they liked them so that was great! I am doing really good! I hope all of you are doing good too! I love you all so much! ~SISTER STRIBLING

Walking down the Streets of Limerick
Driving and found a sheep just sitting on the side of the road!
Selfies with Sister Stewart
Eating Wexford Strawberries. We bought them on the side of the road. 
Teaching how to make Lasagna!  Instead of teaching I was taking Pictures

Monday, June 1, 2015

Cold & Wet here in Limerick...but the work goes on!

Chapping in the pouring rain with my new companion, Sister Stewart! It was so wet! 

Here in Limerick things are going quite smoothly. This week went by so fast and it took so long! I can hardly believe it! I don't know what is going on with that! This weather keeps getting crazier and crazier! I spent a day in Dublin waiting for Sister Stewart to come in and so we just wandered around and looked at a museum and then we played chair football. AND I didn't even break anything! WOO! Go Sister Stribling! So we picked up our new companions and I even saw Sister Dias! I just love her so much! So I was happy and we took two of the other sisters home and then we headed on back to Limerick. We got lost and ended up getting home at like 11:30 pm.  It was crazy! We ended up almost running out of gas and we found this Podunk little petrol station that was about to close in 2 minutes. So we lucked out! It was good! Sorry this e mail is so scattered! I cannot focus at all right now. So lets explain my week with pictures!!
Sitting in the park with Sister Martin on our last day in Limerick together. We were waiting to meet with someone 

 Walking home for the last time with our super sad faces on haha

 Unlocking our front door for the last time together
 We were singing along to our mission music while driving up to Dublin. 
We kept getting passed by Elders but we were still safe so don't you all worry. 
Driving around Dublin with Sister Wilkin and Sister Turner
 Sister Wagner and I at the Museum together. Haha we are too cute. 
I was so excited to see her all day Wednesday. She is so great
I am a professional gun shooter now. Everyone watch out.
The Zone leaders Friend Clodagh got baptised on Saturday. She is just so sweet. 
But she is moving this week so she won't be in our branch anymore. 

Well, I am sorry this email is so lame but I will do better next week! THE CHURCH IS STILL TRUE! Elder Holland Is coming to our mission this week but since we are in Ireland we won't get to meet him. We are all so sad but we will get to watch a broadcast on Sunday from him so it should be good! We just wish we could see him (in person)! I am excited to see what this transfer has in store! Everything is so new now and it will be great! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! ~LOVE SISTER STRIBLING!