my week....

my week.... blah it was CRAZY!!!!!

tuesday: we taught Patrick! It was soo good we taught about the plan of salvation and told him to pray about it! He promised to say the closing prayer next week! he has such a sincere desire to know!  We had District Meeting which was good too! then we went to the Branch Presidents home for dinner:) He gave us ice cream!! YAY!👊👌👍

wednesday: we went and got my garda card (garda is police, it's a card saying you are legal to live in the republic of ireland) and got all my passport stuff sorted! I know have to the end of my mission to be in ireland, so don't worry! then we went and taught Aodhan (agon), he is so funny! He just wants to be close to God, and was so grateful that he could be baptized and accepted a date to be baptized! OH MY GOODNESS! then we taught this man named Mark, who previous sisters taught, we ran into him and the grocery store on Monday, and arranged to meet with him. He got there and we were explaining what we did as missionaries...he is like "what's your first name?" and I usually don't give that out, because #missionary #immasister
so i say we just go by sisters on our mission.
"what's your name?!"
sister buhler?
"no!!! (*seems to be getting quite mad) what's your name"
me: looks at sister skagen
who makes an attempt to explain it..."umm it's nothing against you...we just don't give it out. sorry"
gets awkward...and i'm like well here's a book of mormon...did the sisters give you one?
"no."
oh well...
"can you have boyfriends?"
not in ireland but back home
"do you have a boyfriend"
me: umm (then i get a feeling to just say yes) yes, sister skagen and i both do back home.
"oh well...thanks" AND STANDS UP AND LEAVES

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW! LIKE WHAT GOES THROUGH SOME PEOPLES MINDS!?!?!??!?!?!?!?😲😨


blah. our joint teach was dying! 😱
then we got Mcdonalds with a member...Virgine
then we went and taught Agetha! hahah we are reading the pamphlet about the Word of Wisdom, I read a paragraph and ask so what did you like in that
Agetha: oh. i just like your voice
me: ummm okay then

*later in the lesson

agetha: you are really mature sister buhler. where do you learn from?

hahah

sister skagen: you should see her at the flat
😅😅😅

thursday: we borrowed the Elders car to go out to west cork and visit a less-active who is in her 70s and lives on an island...her name is Ingrid😁

we are driving there and we keep getting this feeling like we shouldn't go....we talk and don't know why so we keep going...then we pull over and are like we should not go...how weird...so we decided to go use the bathroom and head back into the city...sooo we pull into Clonakilty...we are literally walking into this cafe and this lady is staring at us, we say hello and she is super friendly (which is unusual) so we are like oh have you met missionaries before? she then explains she was baptized a year and a half ago in finglas (dublin) and moved here a year ago, and has been praying everyday to meet the missionaries because it's too far and no bus will get her to church. tears filled her eyes, and we sat and read a scripture about God answering prayers! He works in mysterious ways, and calls the weak, we just have to listen! We then prayed about visiting Ingrid and felt we should. so off we went. Ingrid is amazing! ah we just love love LOVE HER!😍

then we went and taught Ann-Marie and her kids, Jayden and Jonah! They are darling kids!

friday: we went to penny dinners (feeding the homeless) and some man told sister skagen she'd be the perfect wife! hahahahhahha😅 we wear fake wedding rings because sometimes it gets pretty bad, but sister skagen forgot it and borrowed the elders ctr ring to wear. hahhaha😅

then we went to powdermill which is an old people home and talk to this lady mona...then this man came out and started playing the according and mona got SO MAD! it was so funny though, she was like kick him out, he's doing that just to bug me! and he just kept playing, then he wanted to teach me how to play....yea fail...and mona got all mad at me saying she thought i was her friend! hahah she is so funny! so i had to apologize! haha

then we say Laura and Hannah, and went to the Branch activity!

saturday: we gave Patrick a church tour! branch meeting. then the Elders had a baptism! the spirit was so strong. this man Mark met them this week, and lives in china, he explained he'd been looking for the missionaries, because he wanted to be baptized, they taught him everything, and he is going to back to china today, where he wouldn't be able to be baptized so they had a baptism and he recieved the aaronic priesthood too. I was such a cool story!

sunday: church and the peters for dinner! nothing too crazy!

today we went to blarney castle and kissed the blarney stone!!!!!

 

Cork Ireland

blah. sooo sister skagen and i have been down right sick with the cold! i know it's ridiculous! and so we didn't have lots of time to go find new people to teach but we did get out to teach people!

tinyiko: he is really nice, he is from south africa and is being prepared to get baptized in 2 weeks!
patrick: is irish, super nice. just started teaching him, he is just willing to give it a try! super awesome
augon: we met him, we were heading home from an appointment with patrick (it was like 5 pm) and we asked him where he was heading, he said to get a pint and asked about us, oh we are just talking to people about God. he literally stopped in the middle of the street and is like i need god. so we went into this really posh hotel, he bought us posh diet coke and we talked about god and the word of wisdom
nicholas and his friend cosmen: they are from Romania and we talked to them about the book of mormon oh my nicholas was like i'm not reading that. we are like why!? and he compared it to being hit by a car...he was all i dont' need to jump in front of a car to know it's going to hurt...um what?! no...like no..but i rolled with it, i was like well you can see other people get hurt but you don't know how badly...you can take our word that it does good or you can see how much good it can do. he wasn't convinced. but his friend cosmen was like i want to try it!!!! YESSSS. so goal teach cosmen!😁
George: he was baptized and has cancer:( lung cancer so he is struggling...😔he is really nice though and is so funny to teach
mick:  met this guy heading to church to teach tinyiko, he is in a wheelchair and we talked to him briefly he was in a car crash and was ejected from the car 600 meters.....and has brain damage, he is so lovely though we met him at McDonalds and he bought us diet coke ( i realize it sounds like lots buy us diet coke, it's just the safest thing to say when they offer you alcohol and or coffee...play it safe) and we talked to him about answers to his prayers. he told us he hitched hiked everywhere because buses dont' go as far as he lives and he can't drive anymore and all that. we invited him to church but he was like sometime i have to wait 3 hours for a lift. then sister skagen was like i promise you that if you go out at 10.30 sunday morning you will find a way to get to church. and he was like no...and the spirit was so strong and so i was all we are messengers of god and we know that if you show the faith and go out on sunday morning you will get to church...AND GUESS WHO WENT TO CHURCH!👊  yes..mick.
god love us.

yea. i'm am the pianist at the branch, and i'm slowly settling into it, it's different but good. they are really good members!

ah yes and Valentines Day.

Sister Skagen did i treasure hunt for me yesterday and gave me some candy😍 she's so good to me and we had diet coke in fancy cups.

Life is a blast and I love Cork!

Ireland....oh sweet rainy rainy ireland! I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH RAIN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. literally.

so travel
yea. yikes i'll start from the beginning because a: i'm an idiot and b: so funny

so i travel to edinburgh onnnnnnn tuesday night. get there check. sleep on the floor with 6 other sisters. got up at 5am and they took me to the airport beucase i was the only one travelling via plane i was alone.  SOO i'm like hey i have this print out ticket to this nice man. and he is like oh. you have to check in. um how do i do that? on a mobile phone or computer. ya. don't have that. well then it's going to cost you 45 pounds to do it here...well i really don't have another choice....sooo i pay the expense fee and get over it..then my luggage cost money and he is like they are over weight but he is so nice instead like 200 he charges me less than 100. YAY. so yea i thank him yay thanks! and carry on. i go upstairs and wait in line to board the plane and i realize oh my goodness. i don't have my passport it's in the suitcase i just packed..no joke. what i am going to do. i pray and PRAY AND PRAY  and they come up and i'm like um yea so i don't have my passport they are so nice and call down for them to hold my luggage and pull in out. i go to the back of the line and everyone is talking about me as the idiot who didn't bring my passport i get escorted down to the platform and pull out my suitcase and grab my passport. me: i am so so sorry. them: don't do it again. me; ya. okay thanks. get on the plane get to sit next to no one becuase they were lots of seats...so i'm like cool. worst is over! BOY WAS I WRONG! so i get off the plane. find my luggage pulling it and go through customs, oh my goodness.
m=me
p=passport control RUDE man

p. why are you here
m im a missionary
p. why are you here
m. voluntary work
p. why?
p. go to the back of line. i'll deal with you after this people
m. ummm okay
(goes to the back of the line.)
p. why are you here
m. missionary?
p. where are you going to live
m. in cork.
p. what's the address
m. i don't know the church owns a flat there and....
p. go to the back of line. i'll deal with you after this people
m. ummm okay
(goes to the back of the line again..)
p. why are you here
m. voluntary work p. when are you leaving
m. may 31
p. to the uk
m. yes.
p. do you have you ticket?
m. to go back not on me?
p. do you have it on email on your phone
m. i dont' have a phone
p. how mcuh money do you have?
m. umm what?
p. how much do you have to live here
m...ummmm...like 200 a month
p. so you're getting paid?!
m. noo! i saved up and..
p. you are getting paid.
m. no.
p. leaves and goes talks to some other people.
comes back
p. what you are doing is illegal
m. what no. it's not.
p. you are getting paid for this
m. no ugh my parents send me money and
p. thats a good way to cover it up
p. i'm only giving you 90 days then you have to leave
(stamps passport)
m. okay?
p. it's illegal.
(me walking away. angry)
p.you're being illegal
(repeatedly as i walk away)
UGH.
so yea. made it to Cork good after that experiance in Dublin YIKES
it feels like i've been travelling all week!
on friday we had to take a bus to dublin for a conference with someone from the quorum of the 70 presidency Elder Hullsturm(sp?) it was really good! we then travelled back on saturday!
The branch is really small about 20 members! and 8 missionaries! the elders are really nice though they are funny! andddddd it rains a lot did i say that!?!
oh my but I LOVE SISTER SKAGEN. SHE IS SO FUNNY
I've never laughed so hard in my entire life. literally! we get on really well, she is crazy!!

we've had mcdonalds twice, subway once, and star pizze twice....yes. we have a problem and SHE LOVES DIET COKE! #meanttobe

i am the branch pianist, and have felt that cork is where I am supposed to be with sister skagen. It's been amazing!

IRELAND!!! HERE I COME READY OR NAE

well time has come for me to leave Aberdeen, I am going to miss it. 9 glorious months here and i'm leaving:(( But i'm excited for Cork, Ireland!

monday: we went to the gothers for dinner, my last dinner:( sad goodbye to all 7 dogs 

tuesday: district meeting....the last one...aka this week was full of last times....i know sad sad sad day. we did finding and had our meeting with the ward

wednesday: we did more finding spoke to a really nice guy named tudor! then we went to the Davies for dinner! 

thursday: we saw Maree and Alyssa they are so fun! I am going to miss them tons- they are getting all ready for the wedding!

friday:taught michael about prophets, he has some learning disabilities and so we are struggling to get him to understand! It was Elder Treases birthday so we had a surprise lunch for him at pizza hut, it was pretty fun

saturday: saw the Lamas, and met with Jude, saw Elsie and did finding in the FREEZING COLD! seriously it is freezing!!!!

sunday: church and saw rena and the geekies.