21st Birthday in Ireland!

 We had a great week!!

My birthday was really fun :) :) 21!! That's craziness... We tracked down one of the two 5 Guys on this island and had lunch, we went to the Ludlow's for dinner, and we taught a lot of lessons! Sister Ludlow made my favorite blueberry cream cheese pie!!! It was soooo good, I haven't had it in ages!!! It was the Ludlow's son's birthday, too.  He had a Texas sheet cake with super heroes on it.   

We had our ward Christmas party. Now this wasn't any ward party, this French family took a whole week off of work to do this. It was the Polar Express, complete with costumes, carolers (that was us), the nativity, Samuel the Lamanite, and HAY! It was incredible!!

We had a couple exchanges this week. I was with Sister Hoferl from Austria. She is amazing!! She finished her mission this weekend and will be greatly missed. She's a boss! The other exchange was with Sister Brusseau. She is so great, it was such a fun day! 

Highlight of the week was definitely Jonathan. He is our friend from Brazil, and he's getting baptised on Saturday! His flatmates are interested in learning the gospel, as well, and they will be baptised by the end of the year! Sooooo many miracles this week!!  They are making us Brazillian food tonight!  They were the zone leaders' investigators until they moved into our area.  So, all 4 of us met together to teach them.  It was awesome!

Moves call happened yesterday and I'm staying here with Sister Garner! I'll be here until February. That's about 7 months total in Dublin. Wow that's a long time haha but I love it here! We are getting new Zone Leaders though. That will be strange.  Our current Zone Leaders have really become some of my best friends over the last 6 months!  We've worked well together. I'm excited to see what miracles happen with the new Dub squad!

 

So this week was dandy-- we had the best p-day ever! We hiked up to this old palace that has a really crazy background. It's called Hell Fire Club so naturally, we climbed all around and explored!  Then we got our Christmas tree and decorated it!

 

Christmas is coming so fast!! I'm so excited to call home on Christmas, it'll be so nice to talk to you! 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes as well, I really appreciate it! 

Also, if you have seen the Light the World video, Grafton Street is in the video.. just to say how awesome this place is.

 Have an amazing week, get excited for Christmas time!!!!!

-Sister Stapley

IRELAND IS HOME!

I just want to start by saying I flippin' love this country. This week we were in Limerick for a day and Belfast for another few days. Belfast is decked out, the Christmas market is so bomb! More on that later...

 

 Zone Conferences were amazing :) Sister Garner and I talked about the blessings of baptism. It went really well! A lot of people participated and seemed to like it. It was so nice to see  'me' friends again, some are going home soon, so that was kind of sad, but man, I just love everyone to pieces! 

I got to see 'me' friends in Belfast!! I met up with Telis and that was amazing :) He is doing so well! He has the priesthood and is passing the sacrament and everything. I also got to have dinner with Maud, Jane, and Clara!! These are hands down my favorite people in Belfast, it was just like old times!

Sunrise over Belfast!!

 In Belfast, we got dinner the next day at the Christmas market! They deck out City Hall with food booths from all over the world. It is so cool!! I ate a kangaroo burger. It tasted alright, but not gonna lie, it kind of went against my moral code. Like, that thing used to be an adorable kangaroo. I'm still repenting...haha  (See picture at top....yes, that's kangaroo burgers!)

BEST PART OF THE WEEK! Bruno got baptised on Saturday!!!!! It was soooooooo amazing!! He was so excited, he was jumping around and just being hilarious. Everything went great!! It's been so amazing seeing how happy he is coming to church and everything. I love the guy to pieces!!

Well I think that's it. OH last Monday, we went to Phoenix Park. There was this HUGE herd of deer! So naturally, we had to go out in the field and take a photo. It was so fun!

 

 I love the Light the World campaign! It's so awesome. As well, I wish there was a Nativity festival, like the one at home, here.  It sounds like it's an amazing missionary tool. Those missionaries are lucky to have that event!

 

  Sad about the Product 19.cereal being discontinued...like really sad. I'll live. Just save me one box and I'll eat it in July.  My friends from home will understand my pain. 

 

We're going to find a Christmas tree today.  We're going with the Zone Leaders, it'll be quite the adventure! I'm still in contact with several people that have already gone home, I love seeing how the SIM family lives on after the mission!  

 

That's all I can think of for this week, I'm quite tired, but so pumped up! We have another 3 or 4 exchanges this week, and my birthday, so it'll be a fun week!! Our mission is on fire right now to try and reach our goals. Life is just so good :) :) :) I love you all so much, thanks for all you do!! Have an amazing week, get pumped for Christmas!!!!!!!!