Child #1: Micah, Family, Family Life, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Happy Saint Valentines Day 2013!

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Happy Saint Valentines Day! Feb 14 is the day St. Valentine was martyr. His heart is apparently somewhere in Dublin (meaning that he’s buried here). He was killed because he was performing marriage ceremonies for soldiers and young coupled even though marriage was not allowed at the time. What a great reason to have a holiday!

We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that marriage between a man and a women is ordained of God. We believe that a man and a women can be married in the Holy Temples for time and all eternity.

For Valentine’s day, Micah and I decorated the bedroom to surprise daddy when he got home from work. Of course afterwards, I had to do a mini photo shoot for our guy:

Ireland, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Travel

Dallin’s First Post

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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“)

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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.

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Main Dishes, Recipe

Best Easy Veggie Burgers EVER!

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Veggie Burger

I’ve been always afraid to make veggie burgers because I don’t know how they would turn out. I thought it’d be hard and that it wouldn’t taste very good. Well today I succeeded in making a veggie burgers that both my husband and my toddler loved! This recipe is SUPER EASY and it taste super good! It’s not vegan because it contains eggs and cheese but it’s 100% meat free. However, we commented at dinner on how it smells like meat and even kinda taste like meat too.

Serving Size

  • 9 patties

Ingredients

  • 1 can of cannellini beans, drained
  • 1 can of butter beans, drained
  • 1 can of red kidney beans, drained
  • 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs (That’s all they sell in Ireland… they don’t have the dry stuff. I bet the dry stuff work too or take some white bread and shred it up yourself.)
  • 4 green onion, chopped into scallions
  • 1 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella. I’m sure the more cheese you add the better it taste or you can cut back on the cheese if you’re trying to be healthy.)
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • Burger buns
  • Burger condiments: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, ketchup, mayo, ect.

Instructions

  1. Put the beans in a strainer and rinse throughly. Make sure they are very dry after rising by using a paper towel.
  2. Mash the beans in a large mixing bowl using a potato masher until the beans are like mash potatoes. Some texture was fine. I couldn’t get all of the beans to mash.
  3. Add breadcrumbs, green onions, cilantro, egg, salt, pepper and oregano. Mix well.
  4. Pre-heat a frying pan to medium heat. Add the olive oil into the frying pan.
  5. Divide bean mixture into 9 portions. Using clean hands, shape and press each portion into a chunky burger.
  6. Fry each burgers ~5 minutes on each side or until light golden brown. Cook it until the burger is cooked all the way through and piping hot.
  7. Put the hot burgers in a bun and add your favorite condiments!
Ireland, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Taxi Ride and 35 Euros Pooer

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We had an exciting adventure on Sunday. We woke up a little late. I was trying to get Micah ready for Church. Dallin was still sleeping at 10:00 am. Our train was going to leave at 10:25 am to get to 11:00 am church at the Bray Branch. We planned this perfectly to get to church right on time. We leave our apartment sprinting to the train station. I was standing in line buying a round trip ticket for 5.50 Euro. Dallin already scanned his transportation card which keeps track of how many stops you go and then deducts money from the account. The train went by right before our face.

Great! The next one doesn’t come for 30 minutes. We would miss sacrament meeting. We hesitated for a few minutes then Dallin thought we could go catch the bus. There was no way the bus was going to get us to church on time. We left the train station looking for the bus. Dallin forgot to scan off his transportation card so it automatically deducts the maximum of 8 euros.

Hmm ok 13.50 Euros down the drain. Now what? The bus doesn’t come for another 15 minutes and it’ll take another 30 minutes to get there. That won’t work.

Can we call anyone? No everyone is already heading or headed to church! What are we going to do?! Taxi!

There were about 10 taxis lined up in the taxi line.

“Can you take us to Bray? Do you take a credit card?! We don’t have a car seat!!” we asked.

“Yes. No cash only. We can buckle the tad in.” said the driver.

We needed to find cash! So we sprint to the ATM to get out cash and it charged us 2 euros for ATM fees.

15.50 euros gone!

We got in the taxi and he took us to Bray. Surprisingly the taxi driver knew all about the Mormons since he lived in Utah for a few years. We invited him to church but he kindly said no. He was nice. The taxi ticker when up and up. It reached 21.65 euros by the time we got to the Bray Branch. The driver was kind to cut it down to 20 euros.

35.50 euros later… we made it to church at 10:59 am.

*Sigh of relief*

All I wanted was to make it to church to partake of the sacrament. We didn’t do a very good job of keeping the sabbath day holy that morning and I needed to be forgiven of my mistakes. I’m so grateful that we can go to church each week to take the sacrament. By taking the sacrament we can renew our baptismal covenants, be cleansed again from our sins and have a fresh start. The Savior administered the first sacrament the night before he was crucified. The sacrament is to remind us each week of  the great sacrifice He made for us.

35.50 euros equals to $47.94; however the blessings of the atonement and taking the sacrament are priceless. It was definitely worth it. We were even blessed because someone offered us a ride home.

We learned our lesson to wake up earlier next Sunday!

Ireland, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Travel

The McDonald’s to Gospel Analogy

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Gotta love all the analogies that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make about the gospel. At church last Sunday I heard a really funny one and I just have to share it.

“The Church is like McDonald’s”

There is this really nice looking McDonald’s across the street from the Bray Branch’s building. Everyone comments about how it’s the best looking McDonald’s in the world.

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How is the Church like McDonald’s? 

  • Pretty much where ever you go you’ll find the same McDonald’s or Mormon Church

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  • You can recognize the same logo all around the world

  • They adapt to different cultures but in the end it’s still the same McDonald’s or it’s still the same Church

Irish Beef McDonald’s Burgers | The Church in Ireland

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McDonald’s Red Bean Pie in Hong Kong | The Hong Kong Temple

Big Bulgogi Burger — South Korea | The Church in South Korea

McPork — Japan | Elder Kikuchi from Japan, Emeritus General Authority

Full Vegetarian McDonald’s in India | The Church in India

The person making this analogy concluded by saying just like the McDonald’s corporation knows the needs of their customers, Heavenly Father knows the needs of his Church and each individual person. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located world wide but no matter what ward/branch you attend there will be taught the same gospel. The organization of the modern Church is run by Jesus Christ himself like it was back when Jesus Christ was on the earth. Jesus Christ delegates responsibilities to the prophet and his apostles. The prophet and apostles then delegate responsibilities to area authorities, presidencies, and bishops. The functioning of wards/branches around the world is flexible due to the size and needs of the congregation as stated in the newest church handbook. This Church is ran by revelation from God. Authorized Church leaders receive inspiration from God on how to run this Church.

The gospel is quite amazing and while this is a silly analogy I thought it was interesting enough to share it with you.

To find out more interesting international McDonald’s menu items you can check out these links:

To find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you can check out:

May be the next time you’re traveling you’ll stop at the local McDonald’s to check out their menu and also find the closest ward/branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to see what they’re up to! Let me tell ya… Irish beef does taste better than US beef but the gospel is the same where ever you go.

Ireland, Travel

Going to Church at the Bray Branch

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I didn’t think we would end up in a branch. I thought I did my research before coming to Ireland that we would end up in a the Terenure ward. We couldn’t find an apartment until we got to Ireland. The apartment we found is in South Dublin. When I typed our new address into www.mormon.org meeting house finder it popped up with Bray Branch! I was overcome by the spirit at that moment because I felt like that’s where the Lord wants us. I was so excited to go to church the next day.

Indeed, we love this branch! We’ve been to the Bray Branch for two weeks already. There about about 60 people who attend each week. The Church building is tiny! The primary class rooms are the size of a church closet in Utah and everyone is jammed three rooms for sacrament meeting. The hallways can only fit one person. Nevertheless, we felt so loved by everyone there. It’s a small branch so everyone knows if you’re new.

The Branch President immediately interviewed us in his tiny office (again the size of a small closet). The Relief Society President introduced us to families who live close by and told them to watch over us. To our surprise, the Elder’s Quorm President live on the street next to us and another member lives about a five minute walk away. We surely picked a good location for our apartment! The second week at church we also found out another member family moved in down the street and another member family will move into the city within the next few weeks. Can you believe it? There’s only 1500 members in Ireland and we picked a city that will have five Latter-day Saint Families!

During Relief Society and Priesthood you pretty much sit in a circle powwow with about 6 to 7 people. The presidency makes up three of the people in the group. Everyone else has callings in the primary or young womens so they attend those meetings. During the lesson, the people in the circle, takes turns making comments and you can tell everyone are super close friends.

Unfortunately, my long time wait for Micah to be 18 months so he can go to nursery is no longer. The branch doesn’t have enough 18 months to 3 year old kids to have a nursery here but that’s ok. Micah likes church anyways. 🙂

It’s a very tight knit group at the Bray Branch. I’m super excited to go to church again today!

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Best Birthday Present

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My husband is really good at making me feel really loved on my birthday. His gifts are always perfect but his words are what means the most to me. I have yet to have a birthday without tears of gratefulness.

Today, on my birthday, my husband shared with my his testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ because I’ve been wanting to learn more about the atonement recently. Being a convert to the church (4+ years and counting), sometimes I feel embarrassed when I don’t know the simple stories of Jesus. When the Sunday school teachers says “Everyone knows the story of ____ “… I am usually the one who does not know that story but is too embarrassed to raise my hand. I admit that I have not studied the bible as much as the modern revelations of the church. My husband is very well versed in gospel doctrine and I feel blessed whenever he teaches me or answers my questions. However, it always comes down to the fact that I have to read, learn, and gain my own testimony.

I realized in order for me to better understand the atonement of Jesus Christ I need to study the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the words of the prophets, attend the temple, and also receiving personal revelation. If I only choose one of the sources, it is not comprehensive enough to understand the importance of this great event. Understanding the atonement is a lifelong process and it’s ok that I don’t know everything right now.

I’ve been studying and watching the new bible videos made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are absolutely amazing and they make it simple enough for me to understand.

Here are 10 interesting things I’ve learn about the atonement:

  1. Jesus Christ suffered in Gethsemane “the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21) He also suffered “temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great [was] his anguish.” (Mosiah 3:7)
  2. The suffering in Gethsemane was so much pain that Christ pray to God saying: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mark 14:36)
  3. Jesus Christ was also denied by his own disciples, who were his friends, during his greatest time of need. Christ took three of his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. The entire time that Christ was suffering in the garden, the three disciples fell asleep. (Matt 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:47-48, John 18:2-3)
  4. After suffering for all the pains of the world in Gethsemane, Jesus Christ was denied, mocked and spit upon by government leaders (Matt 27:2), chief priests (Matt 27:41), and a multitude of people (Matt 27:20). They all wanted him to be crucified. (John 19:6)
  5. Jesus Christ was beaten 39 times with a Roman whip (Mat 27:26). Roman whips had “had pieces of bone, glass, or metal on the ends of it to tear the flesh”. The reason why he was beaten 39 times is because anyone who survives 40 whippings are released from their punishment. (2 Cor 11:24) After whipping they put a crown of thorns on his head. (Matt 29:29)
  6. Jesus Christ carried his own cross to Golgotha to be crucified. (John 19:17)
  7. Jesus Christ allowed wicked people to crucify him after all the horrible events that have already happened to him. The unbelievers drove nails through the palms of his hands, wrists, and feet. (Ps. 22:11–18) Being in the position of crucification is the most horrible slow punishment and death anyone could ever experience. (Crucifixion)
  8. While on the cross Jesus Christ said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. (Luke 23:34)
  9. After being on the cross Jesus Christ, He said “it is finished” meaning the atonement was completed. He gave up the ghost which means he chose to die a mortal death. (John 19:30)
  10. Jesus Christ was resurrected and we will all be resurrected because of His atonement. Everyone who is willingly to have faith in Christ, repent of their sins, are baptized in His name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmation into Christ’s Church” and endure joyfully to the end will be received into celestial kingdom. Those who repent will not have to suffer what Christ went through and be able to have a happy life. (The Atonement of Jesus Christ)

What a great birthday it is to learn more about the greatest gift anyone can ever receive!

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