Transfer 4--end

Hello everyone! 

So we had some great experiences this week! We got to be in a lot of members homes for dinner, which was so good to get some personal time with them! 

We met with Ashley May, who is less-active, but is making an effort to be active in YSA and start putting her toes back into church! We had a fun birthday dinner with her on Monday and she planned a YSA Halloween party for Wednesday that turned out really fun :) Her little brother even got baptized on Sunday, which she was there for! :) Her non-member friend Tanya has quickly become our friend too :) 

We had a really good district meeting this week, where we set new goals in faith, including 50 JT here in the Cork Branch in November! Please pray for this effort! We learned about stewardship w/ faith, hope, and charity, which was really motivating, and would be a great in-depth study! 

The Peters are a great families of BOYS. :) Its like being at home with my four brothers again ;) At home there is James, Dean, Jeffrey, and Jason, who range in ages 12 to 30. Its definitely a fun home :) And they have the FLUFFIEST dog, Jack! "IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GOING TO DIE!" 

We had MIRACLES on Thursday! So one of our investigators, Tinyiko, has been in and out of contact with the Sisters for months, because of his busy business ventures, and he texted us Thursday morning asking where we were. We told him we were in the city, and we got on the phone with him and met up for a little bit, where we set a time later in the day to meet up. When the time came, we could only meet him at the church, but we didn't have a key or a joint teach, so we were going to sit outside and teach him spontaneously, with no lesson plan. When we get to the church and go to sit down, who should pull up but Sister Hale! She was there to pick up Elder Hale from some Branch Presidency business, but immediately volunteered to be a joint teach. We went inside and what unfolded was a conversation between Sister Hale and Tinyiko that was EXACTLY what was needed to get him to commit to meeting with us again, coming to church, and to be baptized on November 22!! Tinyiko is from South Africa, his brother is a member and he's been taught basically everything and attended church in SA and just happened to meet missionaries here in Ireland! He is SO prepared! He's been ready for baptism for a long time! If we would have called Sister Hale for an appointment that morning, she probably would have turned us down because she was busy, but God moves in mysterious ways! 

We had Hannah for dinner at the Kagari's again, which was awesome! The visiting teachers dropped in and shared the message, which was good, but it meant we didn't get to share a lesson ;P oh well, it was good for Hannah anyways. And we had s'mores! So good! 

Halloween day was pretty spontaneous, we did some service at a soup kitchen called Penny Dinners, which was so great. I could just feel the charity there, true concern for each other! I got a blister peeling turnips, and it was so worth it :)  We had dinner with the Hales at our flat, because we weren't supposed to go out, and it was like being at home, pizza, card games and pie :) 

Saturday we had a good missionary coordination meeting and got to meet the woman from Waterford, Kimberley who was being baptized! 

The Hales took Sister Oliphant and I for her nearly last supper at a carvery, which you pick your fresh meat and veg, hot from a line right in front of you. It was a pretty posh one. They are really great to us. 

We got to go to Kimberley's baptism afterwards, per her request, and it was so lovely :) members and missionaries from Cork and Waterford were there :) 

Then we had dinner with the Larssons, which was so great, and we had a great family lesson with them about listening for the Holy Ghost!

Sunday Tinyiko came to church, we had the baptism afterward, and then we went to Branch President Roy's home for dinner with the Elders and Tinyiko and had a great lesson about Tithing with him! Then Sister Roy took Sister Oliphant and I to the bus station where we got a bus to Dublin. When we arrived in Dublin 3 hours later, we got the call from the mission home informing me that my new companion will be Sister Morrison! She was trained by Sister Jones, my second companion, and if she's like her mum, its going to be GREAT! She's actually been in Scotland her whole mission so far, so she's excited to come to Ireland. :)

This morning Sister Oliphant left for the Mission Home and I will be out of my area most of this week, because of the late arrival of new missionaries this week, making moves day Thursday. I'll be in Dublin/Clonsilla with Sister Henkel and Sister Riesen, two Germans 8-) Should be fun! Hard, being out of my area, but fun! 

Love you all! Prayers are appreciated! Stay safe! 

Always,

Sister Mary Ann Kirkpatrick