Stuffed by Thanksgiving!

This was a pretty chill week as we are prepping for zone conferences this upcoming week. We'll be in Belfast and Limerick for a couple days.

We had 4 exchanges this week. I was with Sister Clarke, Sister Jorgenson, Sister Sly, and Sister Plummer. I love these sisters so much! We had so much fun and saw so many miracles! 

Our friend Bruno is getting baptised this next Saturday!! WOOOOOO!! He is such a boss, and honestly one of my best friends out here. He is so excited for his baptism, it's been a long time coming! I'm so grateful we got to meet him!

Thanksgiving--what a day. We went to this wonderful family from Utah's home and had a proper American Thanksgiving dinner. there were a couple families there, and man, it was glorious. We had ham, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie... it was hands down the best meal of my mission. I felt like I was back in the states :)

Friday was amazing because our friend Polo got baptised!!! Her husband, Wellington, was baptised back in July, and Polo started learning right after that. She is soooooo amazing, she has such a strong testimony. Wellington was able to baptise her and he said it was the happiest day of his life! They are going to be sealed in the temple next year :) :) I love them so much!! They are like my African aunt and uncle. 

Sunday, we has another dinner appointment :) I love the members here so much, they take such good care of us! 

I'm so excited for Christmas :) It's so soon!!! Ahhhhhh, we've been blasting Christmas music, decorating our flat, and counting down for ages! Also, thank you so so so much for the package!!!! I'm so excited to open the presents on my birthday and Christmas! And the food you sent....oh my days. Literal heaven. Not gonna lie, I'm saving a bunch of it until closer to Christmas :) As well the advent calendar....it's amazing!!! It's set up like a little living room with presents to start opening on the 12 days of Christmas. I'll send a pic :) I AM SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

 Speaking of Christmas, have you seen the 25 ways in 25 days to Light the World? It's this really cool advent calendar online! Everyday there's ideas of something you can do to be more like Jesus Christ and bring more light into the world! It's so cool, I'm excited to try it out for myself! I'd love to invite everyone to try it as well, then shoot me an email with a cool experience you had with it! Christmas is the best time to share a little more light :)

Love you all loads! Thanks for everything, all the support and prayers. I'm so happy, and I know that I'm supposed to be here. God's plan took me a much different direction than I thought, but I could not imagine a better place to be right now. I am sooooo thankful for this opportunity to serve here in Ireland and Scotland, and I know that my Father in Heaven is continually leading me. 

Love you!

-Sister Stapley

Burgh for the day!

This week we flew to Edinburgh on Tuesday morning for a Leadership meeting. We actually made it to the airport with time to spare. I've flown to Scotland about 6 times now,  this is the first time we weren't sprinting through the airport!  Score.


 

 
 It was so nice to see all of my friends, and it was a very uplifting meeting! We talked about how we can always set high but achievable goals. We did a lot of practice and it was really fun and helpful!

I had two exchanges this week, one with Sister Bradley serving in Waterford, and one with Sister Palmer serving in Lisburn. Both of them are BOSS missionaries, even though they are both pretty new. We had so much fun and met a lot of really solid people! 

Monday, we went to Howth for the day. It's a cute little coastal village! We explored along the beach. We didn't stay long though because it smelled absolutely minging.  I'm pretty sure a giant whale crawled up and died right where the wind passes into the bay. It was fun anyways :)

I got the Christmas Package from home!! Thanks so much for everything :) I won't open the wrapped presents til my birthday or Christmas, I promise. It's taking a lot of self control!  haha I'll send pics! 

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving break! I'm thankful for my amazing family at home, my Scotland/Ireland Mission family, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is there for all of us, I cannot explain how grateful I am for Him. 

Love you all so much, have a great week!

-Sister Stapley

Dia duit teaghlaigh Meiriceánach <----- Irish

Monday we went to the beach! We threw a Hurling ball around. Hurling is the coolest sport, it's like lacrosse and baseball put together. Look it up, it's so fun! The beach was absolutely freezing though! We walked to a really cool lighthouse, too.  Honestly, it is so beautiful here, I am so happy for another transfer of Dublin!

Tuesday we were helping move sisters to their new areas.  It's sad to see some of them go, but we got some great new sisters back to Ireland! I am soooo excited for this next transfer.  Miracles are gonna happen :)

Sister Garner and I are having the time of our lives. Luckily, we are both super into Christmas, so we've been blasting Christmas music for the past 2 weeks. Because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, "after Halloween"="Christmas season". It's the best! 

On Saturday we got to help clean the church building. It was fun to get to know the members better and work along side them. We got Burger King afterwards :)

I've been studying the scripture Mormon 9:31 lately. It says

"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you your imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."
I love this scripture! We all have imperfections, but it's not something to be ashamed of or something to get us feeling down. Instead, we should be thankful anytime we recognize another flaw we have, because it gives us the chance to improve on it! I am so grateful for all the imperfections I have been shown on my mission, it's helped me to learn and grow so much!

Mo ghra' thu'!---Stapley deirfiur

Feels like home.....RAIN!

Stayin' in Dublin!

Woot woot! I'll be here about 6 more weeks with Sister Garner :) I'm so excited to spend Christmas season here!

So on Halloween, we went and checked out Powerscourt waterfall! It looked so cool and the drive there was beautiful!! It is Ireland's highest waterfall and the gardens are named National Geographic's 3rd best in the world!  It is amazing!  After that we went hiking around the estate for a little bit. It looked so sick! We had to be in by 6 because Halloween is crazy here, so we went to the church after that and finished up some stuff. 

 

Tuesday we drove to Limerick for a training. It was so nice seeing all my friends there, and again, the drive was amazing!

Thursday we went on exchanges with Bray! Sister Hoover is from near Tacoma, so it was nice to get to chat a little about Washington. 

 

Friday we exchanged with Antrim, I was with Sister Fisher. She is so sweet, I love spending time with her! 

Saturday we got the phone call telling us what would be happening to us for moves...and we're staying! Literally I'm so happy, Sister Garner and I are such good friends! It's going to be a great transfer :)

This week we are helping move sisters around, so we'll be kept busy! I'm so thankful for my Dublin squad and family, and I'm excited to see what can happen when we work hard this month. Sorry this is short...moves week is super busy.

 

Love you all!

This is Halloween, this is Halloween!

Halloween fireworks over Belfast!

 Happy Halloween!!!!!! Today, we don't have anything planned....haha we have a switched p-day, so we'll be working in the morning and have the rest of the day off. Halloween here is pretty crazy, fireworks galore! We're trying to come up with a funny costume, I'll send pics next week.

Exchanges with Sister Hall.

It's been a pretty long week, and not too much has happened. We had some great exchanges, I was with Sister Whitthread from England, Sister Muller from Switzerland, and Sister Hill from Arizona. They are all so amazing! We were able to go spend the day in Belfast, and I bumped into one of my best friends from the time I served there! That was a miracle :)

We have a friend named Bruno that we started meeting with this week. He's going to be baptized sometime in November! He is from Brasil and is literally one of the funniest human beings I've ever met. I am so thankful to be able to teach him.

Another picture with KEVIN!

Love you all! Thanks for the support :) Have an amazing week!!