50 Year Anniversary!

Sister Cardon reports she has had a wonderful week. They had a special anniversary Sunday. The chapel in Londonderry is the first chapel built in Ireland. It was the 50th anniversary of this special day. They had a big celebration during the church service. In the 3rd hour of church the bishop got permission to have an additional service that included the mayor speaking, and Jason Smyth, the ""super duper fast" Olympic runner. Sister Cardon reported that the chapel was full! In addition, she was pleased that two of their investigators came. 

The wild winds and rains have calmed and the weather was nice for a few days this last week. The missionaries were able to have a city tour for free. Sister Cardon said that people in Ireland are short. The average man is the average height of an American women. 

Ten to Twenty Hurricanes a Day!

Sister Cardon reports that she is staying in Londonderry for another transfer and will continue to train Sister Pitcher. She is excited to stay where she is. They are teaching several investigators. She also reports that the weather has turned very crazy. Apparently it is Hurricane Season in Ireland and they can get 10-20 Hurricanes a day!! This week she felt like she was going to be blown away like on the Wizard of Oz. Sister Cardon also says the weather can change in 5 minutes from sunny to a full blown hurricane with crazy wind and rain. She is struggling to keep warm and dry but is happy and working hard!

Rain Rain Rain and an American Kitchen

Trainer Cardon and Trainee Pitcher

Sister Cardon's Pole

An American Kitchen!

Sister Cardon reports that training is going well. The Autumn is upon her along with lots of rain. She reported 12 inches of rain in one day. She said she is wearing lots of layers and people comment on her cold hands when she is out meeting people. They have found two new people to teach and are continuing to work with the special people they have been working with for the last few months. They are so happy to be in their new flat. She loves the fact that there is an "American refrigerator" unlike the last flat.

A New Flat and Zone Conference

Zone Conference

Sister Shead and Sister Cardon with matching bags

This last week Sister Cardon attended Zone Conference and saw President Brown. She also had Zone meetings with the Zone leaders and she said it was fun and exciting.  She reports training is going well, and she is even enjoying. She is nervous for Smart Start. Smart Start is basically where you get together with all the other training companionships in the zone and practice with the zone leaders. She was able to move into her new flat that is "posh" according to her along with being safe because it's right next to the police station.

Playing a Tin Whistle

40 Shades of Green

Sister Cardon shares:

"The work here is going really good. Sister Pitcher and I had a really good week. We got 4 new investigators to start working with and even more on the way. It has been such an amazing week where we just keep finding all of these prepared people to work with. I love it.. We got a new flat right by the police station in a nice and safe area. It is nice, has 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and an America kitchen! So we are being really spoiled. We move in a week from today! Training is going good. Sister Pitcher is still very shy, hopefully over time she will come out of her shell a little more. This week we get to have zone conference so I will be able to see president which is great!"

Londonderry Packed with People

The Fleadh

SIster Cardon reports:

 "Over here we had a bit of a crazy week. The Fleadh was going on and so the town was packed. They estimated there would be 300,000 people at the Fleadh over the week and they said they got more then that! I don't know now much more but it was packed. We spent a few hours of the week helping out at the Family history booth we had up, though the Elders ran it most of the time. It was kinda like Swiss Days but with a lot of more food stands.  There was a lot of crazy drinking to at the end of the night so we stayed away from the city after 6 PM. You would think it would be easier to talk to people when there are lots around but is actually harder to find people to talk to in a sea of humans. Lucky me and sister Pitcher were able to teach 22 lessons this week even with the big crowds. Everyone tells me that being in training is the slowest time of your mission and being a trainer is the fastest. I can already tell how fast these next few weeks are going to go by."

 

Outnumbered 23 to 1

Sister Cardon traveled by train, plane, bus and ferry to pick up Sister Pitcher from the mission home. The best part of the journey was flying by plane and being able to see both Ireland and Scotland from the air! She loved staying in the mission home and having some "home made meals!" There were 23 training Elders picking up their new missionaries. She was the one training Sister picking up her new missionary! After getting back home again, she had to find a new flat  in Londonderry.
  Sister Cardon shares, "This week in Londonderry they are having celebration of the Fleadh Cheoil. We usually just call it the Fleadh (that Irish for Flah). Anyway the Fleadh is a week long huge all Ireland music festival. So basically there are go to be hundreds of thousands of tourist in Derry for the next week. The Church is going to have a Family History stand that we are going to be working at and/or handing out flyers a lot of the week. So this week will also be really interesting. It's different not having Sister Ryan there to rely on her to guide me and tell me what to do.  I am responsible for the area now and the success of the area. Its kind of a scary thought, but really very humbling knowing that I basically have no one to turn to for help except the Lord."

Sister Cardon Stays in Londonderry with new Trainee!

Sister Cardon in St. Columbus Park

Sister Cardon reports that she is staying in Londonderry. However, she is going to be training a new Sister Missionary! There is only one Sister missionary coming to the mission home with 23 Elders this week. Sister Cardon will spend two days traveling by bus, train and ferry to pick up her new companion. She is getting a companion from Utah that also has red hair! She thinks it will be great to have two red-headed missionaries walking the street of Londonderry Ireland!
She had a fantastic week and taught 23 lessons! She is excited to continue to work with Winefred, who will be getting baptized soon. She can't believe she is already training a sister but is looking forward to growth it will afford her.

Giants Cause Way and a Baptismal Date!

Sister Cardon enjoying the sites of Ireland!

 Sister Cardon reports:
"This week I went to Dublin for an all Ireland conference where Elder Teixeira, from the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us. We had some amazing talks given by Pres. and Sis. Brown. Basically, President Brown gave us a talk about having more faith. He reminded us of the promise we have as missionaries to baptize here. 

 Sister Ryan and I were inspired by the conference. The next day we had this lesson with Winifred and we were going to invite her to be baptized on the next Sunday, in like 8 days. I can't explain the preparation we did for this lesson and how it went but just know it was one of the most intense lessons I have ever had. Winifred has been feeling really sad and depressed, she describes her feeling as "Wretchedness." Satan is just trying to bring her down. After a very long lesson of talking about things, we invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We have a baptism this week!!!! So amazing. It's not that she isn't ready and we had to over come challenges, it was all in the timing. We were definitely guided by the spirit.

Besides that amazing and wonderful miracle, our week has been really really good. Last Monday we went to Giants Cause Way and I have attached a picture of me sitting on the cool rock formations. We went with a Senior couple who served in Limerick, but who also served with Sister Ryan. So it was really nice to go and see some of the sites. It has been really warm these last couple of weeks, warmer then it has been in decades supposedly so we have had some really nice weather."

The Most Prepared Person and Bonfire

Bonfire for Protestant Holiday

Sister Cardon reports that this week was also full of miracles. They now have two investigators  with a baptismal date!!! One investigator is badly burned. She states:

"Two years ago someone threw a smoke bomb into his house which then caused his flat to explode. He said he shouldn't even be alive and is completely thankful to God for saving his life. It was only recently that he gained a testimony of Christ and he has an amazing experience about how he was guided to know to the gospel. We invited him to be baptized on the very first lesson and it turns out he hadn't been baptized and was so delighted! He said, "Are you serious?" like we were joking because we were offering him something so great! He basically just wants to be a missionary, and says things like "I would die for Jesus." The most prepared person I have ever met!"

The other investigator is a lady and she knows the church is true. She and her 8 year old daughter want to be baptized. The Protestant Holiday on July 12 came and went without incident. Sister Cardon had to stay inside all day for safety and spent the day reading the BOM!  The attached a picture is of people building a bonfire for the 12 of July celebration and they were filling it with  tumble weeds.