First Sabbath in Ireland (26 June)

Today we planned to go to church in Dublin. We arrived at the church and no one was there . . . we figured it was stake conference or something. So we tried and tried to contact someone and figure out where to go, but couldn’t reach anyone.

About an hour later we went back to our hostel and found a big room. One of the professors called his bishop to get permission to administer the sacrament and we had our own meeting. I was asked to speak (which I secretly love), and we had a good meeting. It turned out well. I am so grateful for the priesthood. It’s interesting to think about the authority that’s in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We knew we couldn’t just administer the sacrament—we needed permission and priesthood. That’s the difference between our church and all the churches we’ve been seeing these past few days.

I spoke about desire (using some from E. Oaks’ talk) and connecting it to Alma 8:10 (thank you, Ryan). I love having the opportunity to share my testimony out loud.

After a small lunch, I went to Evensong with a few people. Evensong is usually a short midweek service that has a lot of music, but St. Patrick’s Church (Anglican) actually had an Evensong today, too. It was in a beautiful cathedral. We had a program to help us follow along with what you’re supposed to do (sit, kneel, sing, speak) and I had a very enlightening time. The music was incredible! It was a mens choir . . . with the little boys singing higher than I’ve ever dreamed of singing. The organist was amazing, too. It was the kind of music I’ve heard recordings of and absolutely loved, but it was LIVE. I’m so excited to attend additional such services.

St. Patrick's Church with Kathryn and Chrisse (don't worry, I did get a photo of the entire church without the steeple chopped off).

We walked back to the hostel making some stops along the way. There’s a lot to see in Dublin. It’s a big place—we walked 40 minutes to get to the church and took about an hour getting back a different way. It’s a good way to see the city!

I finally have my Elang ears back on . . . I’m hearing many different words, phrases, uses of grammar, and vowel sounds. I’m enjoying taking notes of these varieties of English. This morning, Peter (bus driver) picked us up for church and said (because we’re all in Sunday clothes), “You are all looking fairly smart this morning.” We’ll miss Peter. He’s like a magic man who makes everything turn out well. And he’s a fountain of knowledge and always willing to answer our questions.

I think I’ll write a bit about driving in Ireland. One of the most difficult things to adjust to is that they drive on the left side of the road here. This affects how we walk on the streets (we have to think hard before crossing the road). Most of the roads here are just narrow two-lane roads. The only exceptions are right around the bigger cities. Other than that, we’re driving right next to cliffs, hedges, etc. It’s pretty exciting. People here are much better drivers than in the US.

Tonight we’ll be making dinner (we bought groceries last night) and probably playing games, reading scriptures, journaling, etc. before going today. We have two full days here and the only scheduled event is going to see Riverdance on Tuesday night (that’s actually why we’re staying here so long—it’s the opening night).