Dear World…. This is my first blog post! Hooray. I wanted to write to my family and friends and tell them about my experience in Ireland. It is amazing and fun, as well as trying. The castles, greenery, ancient cathedrals, and accents are neat. It’s much more expensive, and learning how to do things in another country can be a challenge. I can’t count how many times we’ve been lost already. But we’ve been able to get where we were planning to go thanks to broadband cellular internet and May Bo’s faithful navigating with a laptop and google maps It has been a blessing in a lot of ways to come here. May Bo and I have a lot more time with each other. She doesn’t have school, callings or social outing to go too anymore. It’s been nice to be able to spend evenings together again. I feel like this part of Ireland has been a “best” (See Elder Oak’s talk on “Good Better, Best“)
This week May Bo and I went to see Newgrange. It is a 5000 year old mound of rock built about 3200-2800 B.C. (older than the pyramids) that has a long narrow passage leading to the center of the mound. In the center there is a cross shaped area with 3 stone washrooms and a bunch of ancient carvings. Every Dec 18-23 during the winter solstice the rising sun shines directly through the entranceway down the long narrow passage and into the center chamber and illuminates the entire room! It is supposedly a spectacular event. You have to win a lottery to see it (100 slots/30,000 applicants). It is an amazing mound, estimated to have used 200,000 tonnes of rock just for the center chamber alone! There must have been some amazing engineering going on to make this monument. There is no consensus among experts about why this monument was built, but I can’t help but notice the similarities between such a monument and the LDS temples of today. The Salt Lake Temple must weigh a lot too. I’m sure it took a lot of work to build, similar to this ancient monument. It would not surprise me that such edifices were raised for the same purpose the Saints raise temples today: to unify families and to worship the “God of the whole earth,” even Jesus Christ.
Hubbard's Cupboard 
Your pictures of the mound are better than the ones on the mound website! It’s interesting to research “mound cultures” of the world. They have a lot in common.
jh
I don’t know if you remember me – I was an exchange student at West Jordan High (2002/2003). I’m so glad to have found your blog – reading about your experience in Ireland is so neat! I loved Newgrange – such an amazing site! I hope you enjoy your time in Ireland 🙂
Hi Annika! I do remember you…. I believe you stayed at Whitney’s house… am I right? Or was it someone else? Glad to catch up with you! Add me on facebook and we’ll be friends 🙂
One theory is that they moved the stones over snow in the winter. What do you think?
Yea, if it was frosty enough the ground would be slick and they could just tug it along. Snow is rare here, and frost is rare too. They get mostly rain and some snow occasionally, but it could have been colder 5000 years ago. Some people think they might have carried them on the bottom of boats and floated them up the river. It must have been a task for sure!