KEVIN!! (Said in Home Alone movie voice)

Wowza, whata week!!!

On Monday, the Zone got together and played frisbee! It's always nice to go out and get to run! 

Tuesday, we were in Cork, like. We say Cork, like because everyone in Cork uses the word "like" after everything, like. Man, what a great city!!! We talked to so many people, and I got to spend the day with Sister Esplin, my homie since Day 1 of the mission :)

We've had exchanges pretty much everyday this week! I got to exchange with Sister Hebbert, Sister Pinkston, and Sister Coons. They are all such powerhouse sisters! Literally, this mission has the best sisters in the world.

Highlight of the week.....Kevin got baptized!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! He is so solid. We met him 17 days ago, and he told us in that very first conversation that he wanted to get baptized! So golden. We met with him almost every day to get him ready. It was so amazing to see how ready he was to change and become closer to Christ. He said he felt he was missing something his whole life, but the more he prayed, the more he felt love from Heavenly Father and he knew that everything was going to work out! 

Also, it's basically the Christmas season, so we've started blasting Christmas songs on every road trip we take. Will I be burnt out by the time Christmas rolls around? No!

Well, that's all to report. We have another four exchanges next week, the work never stops! I love staying busy and doing my part to make a difference. I love my mission!!

***Shoutout to Chloe DeMille!!  #1 blog fan!  Miss you!

-Sister Stapley

WHOAAAAAAA WE'RE HALFWAY THERE!!!

Beautiful Glendalough

 

 

Nothing too crazy to report this week.

We went on exchanges in Antrim! It's sooooo beautiful up there!

We also had All-Ireland conference. It was so much fun to see everyone.  I love all these missionaries so much, they mean the world to me! 

Kevin is getting baptised on Saturday!!

This next week we go down to Cork and have 3 more exchanges! Life is so good :)

K, well my brain has run dry, sorry this is such a rubbish email. 

Oh ya....I hit my 9 months mark!! I'm halfway done! Oh my days....it's flown by. I'm excited to live it up in this final half, I never want to come home! 

Love you all so much!!​​

Fun, then MIRACLES!!

Monday-we played Frisbee with the zone at Phoenix Park! It was sooo much fun! All the new missionaries are a great edition to the Dublin squad.

Sintija joined us on visits!

Tuesday-we had a great district meeting and then got some quality work in! Our friend, Sintija, 21 and from Latvia, comes teaching with us a lot.  She just moved here.

To Edinburgh before dawn!

Wednesday- So we woke up at half 3 to go pick up the elders and make it to the airport for our flight. We got through security no problem (that's a first), and on our plane. Man, that plane was posh as all get out! Watching the sunrise from the plane was flippin beautiful as well!

Sunrise over Scotland!

We landed in Edinburgh and got to the mission home. The meeting was great, and it was awesome to see my friends as well. After the meeting, I got to catch up with some friends in Edinburgh and do some work there.  We then got to the airport to catch our 10:15 pm  flight.We were running to get there on time.  Aaaaaand it gets delayed!  We end up chillin' in the airport for a couple hours, just a bunch of missionaries eating crisps and candy, looking exhausted and trying to make lame jokes. Story of my life. We ended up getting on the flight and landing in Dublin around 12:45. Then we had to go through security, get to the car, drive the elders home, and then home ourselves. We were all so tried, it turned into an awesome party. Honestly, one of the funniest nights of my life.  We'd been up 22 hours by the end of the trip!

Headed back to Dublin

STLs at MLC

Friday-We went to Letterkenny and Derry! They are up north, it's absolutely beautiful up there!! The exchanges were super fun :)

Miracles though: We met this guy named Kevin! He's 21, originally born in the Congo, but has lived in Dublin for ages. He is so cool!! He's going to be baptised in a couple weeks :) :) :) We met him on the street, taught him right there, and he asked to be baptised! Like oh my days.....so great!  We enjoy spending time with him and talking about the gospel.  He's so cool!

Miracle II-Our friend Jason! We met with him once about 3 weeks ago, then lost contact. We met back up with him this week. Turns out he read the whole Book of Mormon during that time! He's traveling around Europe for the next 2 weeks, visiting temples, and will be getting baptised the Saturday he gets back. WHAT?!?!?! Honestly, I was so shocked! He is the coolest, he's going to go to church in Italy this next week, then London after that, then be back in Dublin in time to get baptised!! Oh my days.....

Love you all so much, hope you have a great week!! Heavenly Father loves us and is blessing ALL of us!!!

Companion hopping, Conference, and Carolina Reapers!

Moves week went great! All the new sisters seem super cool, I'm excited to get to know them better. There are now 13 Sister teams in Ireland, so we are kept quite busy!

Ok, we'll start with the most exciting story of the week. On Saturday, I ate a Carolina Reaper pepper with some friends from church. It's the hottest pepper in the world. Let me tell you, I believe it. I straightaway chugged some milk to try and save myself, but it was too late. I literally felt it burn down my throat. The best relief I got was by putting a huge scoop of ice cream in my mouth and just letting it sit. It reaches it's peak hotness at 6 minutes. After the first 2 minutes, I was crying, sitting on the floor, and awaiting my imminent death.  I couldn't breath out of my mouth for about an hour. My tongue felt bruised for about a day. It was the best thing ever :)

I had a fun last p-day with Sister Hall and Sister Petersen. We saw a horse and an old rock bridge by a river. So ya, Dublin is flippin' awesome :)

We have MLC this week, so we'll be flying to Edinburgh Wednesday morning and fly back Wednesday night. It'll be a super inspiring day, I'm excited to see my friends there! 

Sister Garner is a boss. We are going to get so much work done, and have fun doing it!! Throwing it back to the MTC days, woot woot!

Don't mess with Dublin!

Sister Garner didn't get here until Thursday, so until then, I was companions with Sister Petersen, Sister Hall, Sister Hoover, Sister Clarke, Sister Bradley, and Sister Pinkston all at different points during the week. It was awesome, I love these sisters so much! 

So it's been a random week, so I've got some random stories.

I am starting to learn how to say "I am Batman" in as many different languages as I can. Dublin is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world, so I am taking full advantage. I started on Thursday, and I'm already up to 10 languages. Boom.   I've made some new friends with this conversation!

Sister Petersen and I spent the day at the Ludlow's, where we did the travel arrangements for the sisters in Ireland.  They are a super cool family...hence the Carolina Reapers!

Our friend Boon, who got baptized last week, is the best! Every time we meet with him, he brings us some sort of asian fruit or treat to try. It has been quite the experience. So far, I've had rambutan, mangosteen, longon, tamarinds, mangoes, shanon fruit, jack fruit, and the most delicious coconut mochi in the world. Some taste amazing. Others are 100% disgusting. It's so fun! haha

My favorite conference talk was the one by Elder Robbins. He spoke about righteous judgement, and how we can become more like Christ through how we see and help others. I love how millions of people hear the same talk, but everyone can relate it to themselves differently. General Conference was amazing!

Love you lots!!!