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.

A Week of Miracles - 3 Investigators at Church!

Beautiful Londonderry

Sister Cardon reports:

"We have seen many miracles this week and have truly witnessed the blessings of the Lord.

 Yesterday atchurch we had 3 investigators!!

 Basically we just met a lot of really amazing people this week on the street. We 

met Michael, Dylan and Patrick which are already or will soon be new investigators!

 Then we are teaching Maliky, Ronny, Janusz and Winifred.

 Yep that is correct we only have one female investigator, we can't help it if men like to

 talk to us better! :)

 But Winifred came to church yesterdayand she is completey ready to get baptized so

 hopefully that will happen soon!"

 Sister Cardon also reported they have seen a lot of rain. She has been told to take pictures 

when the sun comes out and now she realizes why people tell her that. She was taken to 

Subway Sandwich by some members in the ward. Then she even  met some people from 

Heber that were visiting Ireland and they knew Shane! 

A Blue House in Belfast and a Park in Londonderry

Blue House in Belfast featuring a waterfall in the backyard!

Sister Cardon and Sister Ryan in their favorite park in Londonderry

 

The three beautiful sisters in Londonderry received a surprise their mission president at 10:30 pm. to announce that their trainer, Sister Moore, would be leaving to go to Belfast. Sister Cardon admits they were in complete shock and scared as the prospects of being without their trainer. However, the week has progressed wonderfully and the two "greenie" sister missionaries seem to be handling Londonderry missionary work on their own. She said the transition has gone smoothly and they are feeling very effective in their missionary efforts.

 

Kebab-tized, an Olympic Gold Medalist and Obama!

Sister Cardon reports there are many people to talk to and they have been passing out many Books of Mormon as Londonderry has been awarded the City of Culture Award. This award brings many visitors for celebrations and events. She became a true Scotland/Irleland Missionary by being Kebab-tized by eating a delicious mystery meat wrap that all real missionaries eat! She was able to meet a Olympic Gold Medalist named Jason Symth. He has a "I'm a Mormon" profile on LDS.org. She encourages all to look him up. She also came very close to Obama. She did not see him, but his motor brigade passed her on the street and she waved!

Sister Cardon being Kebab-tized

Sister Cardon's District

Tracking on the streets of Londonderry with Sister Moore

Exchanges to Belfast

Sister Moore and Sister Cardon at the Hospital

Sister Cardon in Belfast

Sister Cardon reports another busy and productive week. She was surprised this week to be sent to Belfast on exchanges for two days. Usually a new missionary does not go on exchanges. However, she was sent to Belfast to help another sister learn how to train a "greenie." She loved being in Belfast and reports the sisters there live a "posh" life with a fancy flat! She has been working hard with her companions to get appointments to talk to people. The investigators they are now working with are "diamonds" according to Sister Cardon and she feels very blessed to be teaching them. Sister Moore had to go to the hospital due to a tight neck muscle that kept her from being able to move her head.

Mayhem and Miracles

The first question Juli asked this week was if anyone has seen the TV series "Hoarders" or "Buried Alive".
She explains that she had a first hand experience during service this week helping clean a house that could have made an appearance on one of those shows. She says that, "It was quite an adventure." she even got a brand new teddy bear out of it!

 

After mayhem however there's always miracles. During street contacting they were able to find a wonderful women who was ready to hear the message of the gospel. They gave her a tour of the branch building even the baptismal fount! Sister Cardon says, "that it was truly amazing"and that she knows that the Lord is leading them to find those who are really ready to recieve their message.

Yep, Not Oil!

Tracking on the streets of Londonderry

Sister Cardon reports she had a very busy week and even though their area has just opened, they have 4 investigators.They have two women and two men they are teaching. She explained  one investigator gave them an address, and when they went to the address they were in for quite an experience. Once inside, she and her companions were confused as to where they were and what was going on. They felt they should leave, so they walked outside with their investigator. She states,

 "After words we figured out it was a hostel, a place for convicts after they got out of jail and probably have drinking problems. (That made sense cause the whole time I was wondering why this guy was drinking vegetable oil from a vegetable oil bottle), yep not oil!"

This appears to be their FLAT

 

Two Buses, A Ferry and A Train to Londonderry!

Sister Cardon reports many exciting events over the last week. Upon arriving at the Mission Home all the new missionaries were taken on a hike up to Pratt's Hill where they were invited to make a covenant with the Lord regarding their commitment to their mission. She said it was a very spiritual experience.
Sister Cardon was then sent off to her first area. She said her trip to Northern Ireland was very long and exciting. She has opened up a new area for sisters with her trainer Sister Ryan and Sister Moore (another Greenie). She has already tracked in 8 hours of rain and reported that her boots are keeping her feet dry. However, keeping them warm is another story. She has already asked for those feet warmer packets! She and her companions had to Deputize their new apartment and make it Missionary Ready! She claims bleach works well and that we would approve of it now. She has met the bishop and in the new area and the bishop's wife picked them up after their long voyage.