Sunday in Dublin

So at this place we have been staying they do breakfast. The first day the guy running the place asked us if we wanted breakfast, and we hesitated because we are really trying to be frugal and so he said he would give us breakfast. We got toast and juice and an orange that first day. Since then he has just been bringing us breakfast every day and it has gotten increasingly more ellaborate each day. This morning eggs, muffins, juice, toast, pancakes, oranges, two kinds of cheese,yogurt! What will tomorrow be???
After breakfast I set out walking to church. I didn't think it was that far. So I was walking down the street and saw two young guys in black suits talking to a crazy guy on the street....the missionaries. They told me that it would take me about an hour to get there walking...

So I hopped on the bus with the Elders and they told me that they were reorganizing the Dublin stake and that Elder Bednar would be there to make the new callings. Bonus!!! He is such a fantastic speaker. It was nice to hear him speak in a more personal setting than conference.

He said some really great things, of course.

-He explained the process of calling a new stake president. He and another regional authority arrived saturday morning and interviewed 30 or so men and from them were able to see who the new president was to be. He said that revelation was like the sunrise. When the sun rises before the actual sun comes up the sky begins to illuminate until the sun finally comes over the horizon. He said that the sun always comes up, but sometimes there are clouds and sometimes it is clear. So revelation is always the same and it is always there but it comes differently some times. He said that there have been times when he has done his 30 interviews and then had to pray to find out who the new president will be and other times he knows when he shakes his hand. It was of course much more elloquent than that. One funny thing that he said was that he percieves that most members of the church recieve text message revelation from above...not like that so much I guess.

-He also talked about the importance of sustaining our leaders. He said that we don't raise our hand to confirm that we think the right choice was made...becaue God chose that person, but we raise our hand to say we will back that person up and help them in their new calling. He said that the church is a laboratory for the perfecting of the saints and not a museum for perfect saints to be put on display. He wanted to get across the point that the new stake president would not be perfect and that the members of the stake would need to remember that he is trying out being a stake president on them. I thought this was a really good thought.

He then went on to talk about true conversion and missionary work. He talked about 1 Nephi 8:12 and how once Lehi had partaken of the fruit he wanted his family to have it too. He said that we really need to stop running around talking about missionary techniques and ways to talk to our friends about the gospel, but that we need to focus our energies on our own personal conversion. Once we are truly converted to the Lord it will be all we can do to contain our testimony from seeping out of us, and that others will notice the difference in our countenance and want to know about it. I really loved this/hated it. I loved it because it really changes how I look at missionary work and I hated it because it really says something about my personal conversion that I have such a hard time sharing the gospel with people.

What a marvelous opportunity to be in the presence of a prophet of God today!

When I got home from church all this mayhem was going on. There was a huge national gaelic football game going on. Another unusual Irish sport...we watched a little of it and it is a mix between football and soccer. There is a soccer goal and you use a soccer ball but you can pick it up and run with it and kick field goals. These Irish are very creative with their sports.
We finished off the night heading back to the hotel we went to last night to catch some traditional Irish Dancing. Now my Irish experience is complete. The whole time I was watching them do their riverdance stuff I was thinking of my cousin Jordan and how he learned river dance for his beauty pagent in high school....and how the whole family got a retake of it this summer at Bass Lake....haha....Love you Jordan! You should have been up there with them.