FOUR WEEKS!

I can't believe the time is arriving. I've been waiting for this moment; not to go home but to know that I've COMPLETED a full time mission. One of the hardest, most rewarding time of my life. As my sister told me a mission is life shaping-TRUE STATEMENT!

This past week was exchanges. I was with Sister Francis in Dublin again and we were successful.

Time this week is limited. Sister Nicoll and I are going for a hike with the Elders in our ward as well as a Recent Convert. We have been planning this hike for weeks and today is the day it works for everyone. My blog will be better next week.

Hope you all stay safe and well.

MY AREA

My area is amazing! One of the great things I love about Dublin is the fact there is always something to see, always somewhere new to go. My area is huge. We have to take trains and hour long buses to visit some of our members. The first set of pictures is our Preparation day with Gabrielle Wynne (Win).

We found a store called "Candy Lab" It has American sweets, soda and cereal in there. Gabrielle saw the Wonka bars and we just had to take a picture. No Golden ticket.

These are some of the buildings that we passed. Aren't they beautiful!?! Seriously, i'm so blessed to be around such beautiful and creative architecture.

Sister Nicoll and I make a Balbriggan day. Balbriggan is one of the towns we have to take a 30 minute train to visit some members. Once a week we try to have a Balbriggan day which really is our faith in finding day because most of the day we try by people.

This past saturday was our Balbriggan day and what a success we had. We visited a less-active who lives next to the sea shore, which is where the pictures have been taken. Sister Nicoll and I were blown away at the sight. The pictures does a terrible job of depicting the beauty of Ireland, but we tried our best.

Also we were able to contact a less-active and discovered that he wants to come to church and his non-member wife wants to be baptized. We honeslty walked in said hello and within the first couple minutes brought up baptism and she said she wants to support her husband. I believe her words went something like this "If my husband wants to go back to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints than I want to be baptized." I couldn't believe it. We taught her the Restoration and she came to church the next day and loved it!

It was a great way to end our week.

I know you all wish you could be with me, but I'm sure you are having fun as well ;)

Behind the Scenes of Sister Missionaries

A once in a life time opportunity. To see what Sister Missionaries do when no one is looking. This is a rare occasion so I hope you all soak it up like a sponge!

Ireland is cold and Nylons are required if we are to stay warm. We walk everyone (one of the things I love) which causes the nylons to sag a wee bit. When no is looking it's only practical to pull them where they belong!

Missionaries do their own laundry. It's a curse and blessing. A blessing that we are able to do our own laundry to insure that nothing shrinks. It's a curse when you don't have enough of light cottons and are forced to warm nude color nylons with darks. The result color is a faded purple which looks like a dead body. Sister Nicoll and I were laughing at my mistake and couldn't help but take a picture for memories. One of the YSA we were teaching was appalled when she pointed it out to her! SO FUNNY!

Companions are great! Being with a person 24/7 allows you to get to know them on EVERY LEVEL! One thing I discovered about Sister Nicoll is that she LOVES to take pictures of herself. I'm glad she is photogenic or I would be deleting pictures most of the day! These are two of her favorite pictures to take!


I couldn't tell you everything. That would be breaking the unwritten Sister Missionary code, but at least you have some of your curiosity resolved. Hope you have a great week

~Sister Garlock

FINAL MOVES CALL

Can you believe the day is finally here. Sunday was my last moves call of my mission. Every missionary says it comes quicker than you want, but I feel different. I feel like it's my time to get the call. It blows my mind that my mission is ending and that I have to put all my effort in these last weeks. Which reminds me, this transfer is 8 weeks instead of 6 weeks.

Due to the age change the MTC is only two weeks instead of three which interfers with our transfers. To get on schedule we have two extra weeks this transfer. Now that i've dragged I bet you are all waiting to hear where I'm spending the end of my mission. I've been moved......Just kidding. I'm staying in Dublin with Sister Nicoll!!!!!!!!

I'm looking forward to serving in Dublin a wee bit longer. I'll keep you posted on the next 8 weeks.

Hope you had a great new year

Til the Work is Done

The best way to end 2012

I have a little story to tell you. The past six weeks we have been teaching a part-member family. Little did we know that 9 yr old Victoria was not baptized, but wanted to be. Our ward mission leader gave us a push two weeks ago to find out more about the situation. We did and two weeks later Victoria was baptized and confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints!!!!

Victoria was glowing when she came up from the water. The baptism was amazing, the talks were never better and the spirit was SO unbelievably strong. No doubt that EVERY SINGLE PERSON felt the spirit.

We wanted the font to be spotless for Victoria on her special day. It's always worth the sacrifice to do what it takes to make ONE baptism special.

NEW YEARS EVE:

It was our day off so we spent the day with one of our amazing recent converts, Gabrielle. We toured a bit of Dublin
We went by the American Candy land

Stopped by a famous statue: Molly ( i can't fully remember her name, oops). Needless to say it was great to have an entire day and tour Dublin a bit.

Hope your New Years was amazing