One month in Norther Ireland. Amazing what a month can do! I no longer have that knot of anxiety in my stomach the minute we get in the car and start down the wrong side of a narrow road. In fact I have even changed my definition of narrow road. Some roads I thought were narrow, when we first arrived, I now see as quite normal. Narrow is when only one car can almost negotiate its way past what and whomever may be parked along the lane. We had a quick one day tour of the country as we were asked to do flat inspections, which means visiting the flats of the young missionaries and making sure everything is in order. We traveled to Omagh, then into the Republic of Ireland to Letterkenny, then back to Northern Ireland and on to Londonderry, then Coleraine and back to Antrim and home to Belfast. It was a 10 hour drive for us and unfortunately we did not have time for sightseeing. The roads are good motorways except for the dozen or more roundabouts we had to slow for. They are the answer to easy access to a busy road with no over pass. Just means you go for about a mile or two at 70MPH and then slow for a roundabout and then do it again. At one stretch for 8 times in a row. I started to feel dizzy. The county is beautiful green with hedges for fences. I loved the drive and know the next time we do it to schedule when we can use two or three days so we can take our time.
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| Between Bangor and Killyleagh |
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| Driving into Londonderry |
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| On the way to Letterkenney |
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| Road to Bangor |
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We are loving working with the Young Single Adults. We teach an Institute class on Wednesday nights. Right now the topic is Preparing for Eternal Marriage. We usually have 18-20 students and hope to double that in the fall. We not only have at least three activities a week with the YSA's but we often help out the young missionaries with teaching or taking them places etc. We have finally adjusted to the time difference and can sleep most of the night. Things like getting a bank account with a debit card and getting internet at our flat have been a drawn out process with so many kinks. The internet is finally hooked up but we still await the final arrangements to have a fully functioning bank account. Getting in to see a doctor, however was not difficult at all and I was able to get my Twinrix booster with no charge at all.
We have spent a couple of Preparation Days seeing some fun places, Killyleagh is a fun little town with this amazing Cinderella castle.
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| Killyleagh Castle |
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| The gatehouse. The castle can be seen in the background on the right. |
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| The castle as seen from the gatehouse. |
It is still lived in.
Another fun thing was a visit to the Titanic museum. Did you know the Titanic was built in Belfast? Very interesting place to visit.
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| The museum was built so as to be the same height as the Titanic. See Sister Forsyth in the middle in the foreground. |
It is nice to feel like we are settled in and starting to figure things out.
