Monday, November 25, 2013

GAH. I HAVE NO TIME TODAY.

But I'll try nonetheless. 
So! This week has been much better! Still no solid people we're teaching, and no one in Scotland keeps appointments we make... 
but it's been fun, and I've been having the time of my life! :D

Quick message on what letters mean to missionaries: THE WORLD
Even just a short message via email is great. Seeing that anyone remembers us is really nice. I love getting your letters! Thank you so much! :D 


Anywho. Here's a semi-typical view, when we were out kn ocking doors


And me and elder goldie! 
Cheers!



 Elder William Kevin Black

Fwd: Because I care

Here's a great shot of me and Elder Goldie being epic! 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, November 18, 2013

A Dash of sunlight

Well, I've learned that it doesn't rain every single day here! This has been such a good revelation! Still, it is very wet. And dark. BUT! This does not diminish our spirits!
But people never keep appointments. Ever. It's really frustrating. But it's okay - we still meet up with them - they just don't see appointments as important or binding in any way... x) 

Some of my favorite people in the world are atheists with good morals. They are so cool - they just decide to be kind and friendly just because it's a nice thing to do! They have been some of the nicest people ever. 

So! Exciting story of the week! A drunk man sort of charged at us, while I was on exchange in Irvine. It would have been terrifying if he weren't short, stout, and running like a penguin. I just stood there confused while my companion ran for it. But I'm alive! :D He stopped running after a few feet, as if he changed his mind about it... 

Scottish word of the day: cuddle [v]: to hug
A member asked my companion if he cuddled his grandma, which sounds funny to Americans, but the Scots couldn't see why we were laughing so much. XD So give someone a cuddle for me! 

European chocolate is so much better than American chocolate. It's much more pure and tasty and delicious and ... you really need to experience it for yourself. In comparison, our chocolate is really waxy and blech.  

I pray you're all doing well, and have a great week! Thank you for reading, replying, or just saying hi! I love even getting short messages from you - it's good to know that you haven't fallen off the side of the earth. x) 

Oh, and one more complaint: people who say they "believe in science" What the does that even mean? No self-respecting scientist would say that... I mean, believe in the results of science, but those who use that prase never know much about science. It's frustrating to have to deal with these people who try to teach me about the big bang and evolution, when I already believe in them, and know more about them than they do. It is hard to keep calm, and just pretend I don't want to slap them. But I'm getting better at it! :D I've been much more tolerant of the less informed recently than I was in the first few weeks in Limerick. 

So keep on being awesome! Sorry no photos today - I forgot my USB cable. >.<

Cheers! :) 
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, November 11, 2013

Guess what time it is! 
It's only two o'clock! :D 
This is about the brightest it gets here... As you can tell, the sun is very low... 
Cheers!
 Elder William Kevin Black

From the Land of Eternal Twilight

Cheers, my dears! 
I hope you're all doing well, enjoying your normal human lives... 
I've been enjoying being up north. The main downside of being so far north is the absolute lack of sunlight. At "high" noon, the sun isn't even above the houses, so it always feels really late at night. And the sun is completely gone by 4pm, so the night is long here... 

So welcome to the month of Movember, as it is called here, short for moustache-november. This is simply a lower form of No-shave-november, where citizens of the british isles grow out moustaches. X) 

So this week was a tad disappointing. Out of the 12 appointments with people we had set up, only one went through - and it was the one we were least confident would be there! *shrugs* Shows what we know. X) 

People here are /way/ friendly at the door! We've been instantly invited in at so many doors, whereas in Ireland, people hardly even open the doors, and are very brisk with you. Similarly, irish people are way friendly on the street, but so far scottish people are really cold on the street. Yet another mystery of life... X) 
On a similar note, it's perfectly okay to just chap* a door, and walk in, if you know the person. You don't wait for an answer even, and just barge in. XD So many times here, people have just called "Come in!" and we sort of awkwardly shuffle about until they come to the door like a normal american. X) 

I am absolutely convinced that sleep makes you more tired. I've been waking up earlier, and going to sleep later, yet I feel much more awake than I have for many years. 0-0 It's weird... But like the scriptures say, getting up early clears your mind, and invigorates your mind! (Assuming you're going to sleep at a reasonable hour) 

Thanks for all the letters you write! :) Even if it's just a line or two, I really appreciate anything I get! 
Enjoy life, my friends! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black

Monday, November 4, 2013

Kilmarnock

On a sunny day, that is: 

Kebabs!

Me enjoying a scottish kebab! [Sorry for poor quality]

Fwd: Photos


Fwd: Photos

A beautiful bridge over a root beer river: 

Derpy would be proud.

So. Kilmarnock is small. Very small in comparison to Limerick. 
And dark. As I type, the sun is setting at 3:36. And the first three days we were here, it was raining nonstop. So we were very wet. 
AND I MISSED HALLOWEEN. I don't mean I didn't get to celebrate it; I was ready for that. I mean the holiday didn't happen. The people of Kilmarnock celebrate Halloween on the fourth friday of october, so by the time I was here, it was over. So I missed halloween completely... 

So my new companion is Elder Goldie! I'll get yous a picture later, but he's cool. He's quite a bit like me, just a bit less nerdy. XD He actually has the same birthday as me! 4 March 1994! So we're exactly the same age! And he was at BYU the same time I was, in Fall 2012, which is why I remembered seeing him before... 
Unfortunately, he's quite a bit like me, which means we're both a bit more introverted and quiet, so it's a bit more of a task for us to talk to people on the street and in lessons. But we get along well, and have heaps in common. 

So my mailing address (just for post, not parcels) is: 
1/2 6 Jeffery St. 
Kilmarnock
KA1 4EB
Scotland

As for the title, I haven't seen more wall-eyed people in my life than I have in Kilmarnock. So many people have derpy eyes here... X) 
And the people are really cheeky. But they're way friendly, once you're talking with them. Before then though, they are pretty reclusive, and never initiate conversations on the street, and don't always reply if I say hi to them, which is pretty different from Limerick. 

So I hope you all have had a fantastic week! I love getting your emails and post, and I hope you're all doing smashingly! :D 
Cheers! :) 

* For exclusive content, check out the blog, at williamblackmission.blogspot.com
 Elder William Kevin Black

Fwd: Harley Davidson

This is a letter I typed for elder Walker, before I left Limerick. Enjoy! :D
 Elder William Kevin Black

Dear Family, this is Shaun. 

All right.  *clears throat* 
This week, in Limerick, was a great one! 
On Tuesday, we went down to Tralee for their district meeting. Tralee is a very small and pitiful branch, kind of like Sligo. Needless to say, the missionaries there sometimes struggle - but it was great to be there with them, and hopefully cheer them up a bit. 

---
Oh Brother. 
After we got back into Limerick, we drove to Kilkee, to someone who we thought was an investigator, but turned out to be the father of a recent convert. It was almost two hours away, but they did feed us. And it was raining really hard, and the roads were really narrow. They live on the west coast of Ireland, and you could see the ocean. They were very grateful to have us in their home. because of their distance, they have limited contact with the church. They are the Clark family. Tim, the father is not a member, but hopefully in the future, we will work with him. 
On Wednesday, we spent about an hour trying to print off our plane tickets at the church for mission leadership conference on Thursday. ... Church computers are terrible. Like this one. Maybe they are built to build patience in missionaries. Ha. Ha. Ha. 
After that, we went to go see the excommunicated man, who we are teaching, who is preparing for baptism. We watched prophet of the restoration with him, and he fed us the best spaghetti I have ever had in my entire life. 
And then, we left Elder Black in Limerick with someone from the other trio, and elder luna and I went to the club. I mean, I mean, Dublin Zone Leader's flat. I slept on a bed made of couch cushions. It was not the most comfortable. 
By the way, my companion, elder Black, is typing this email as I speak! He is a much faster typer than me. 

On Thursday, I woke up at 4am to get to the Dublin airport, uh once we got on the plane, I fell asleep for the whole ride. It was great. But my neck hurt when I woke up. It's only like 45 minutes. 
We arrived in Edinburgh and were picked up in the mission van in the airport by the Edinburgh Zone Leaders. They took us back to the mission home, for a delicious mission home continental breakfast. 
We were there very early, for the conference, so we helped set everything up. Most of leadership council was about logistical things, that we have to do as zone leaders, and how we can be more effective with it. Then during the council portion of the meeting, we talked a lot about the happiness of missionaries around the mission, and how we can help them... 
and at lunch time, we ate at a table with President Brown. It was just Elder Luna and I, and President and Sister Brown on a little table next to the giant mission home table. We talked about the excommunicated man we're teaching, and President Brown said he would make it a priority to get his records ---I don't know how to say that--- get his records of excommunication? So hopefully, he will be cleared to be rebaptised within weeks! 

After the conference was over, we had loads of time before our flight, so all the irish zone leaders ran errands for President Brown and the office staff. 
Luckily for Elder Luna and I, we were asked to pick up President Brown's car from the repair shop ---this is going to be my longest email ever!--- We got there, and elder Hansen, one of the mission office senior couples, dropped us off with --er-- and no, we had the keys. And we got in president Brown's car, and tried to turn it on for about ten minutes! hahahh We had to find the instruction manual, hahah. Needless to say, it's the nicest car I've ever driven. It was so posh, that you didn't even have to use keys to start it. 
I probably drove about five miles per hour all the way to the mission home. 
We got back, and Elder Hansen wondered what took us so long. 

Then we had dinner with President Brown, the assistants, the irish zone leaders, and President Brown's son, who is temporarily living in the mission home. 
After that, he drove us to the airport. 
We got back at like 10:35, and everyone was very very tired. 

On Friday, we had dinner with the Faloon family. They are from Australia and New Zealand. 
On Saturday, we sang hymns in city centre. 
I think Irish people hate hymns, because everyone was really mean. 
There was six missionaries there, four would sing, and two would go and talk to people, and get chewed out. We must have sounded really bad. I also played my trumpet in the city centre. It echoed a lot because of all the buildings. 
That evening, we celebrated MANOK which stands for moves anticipation night of kebabs! So while we were doing the district report, which is a report we send to the district president with all the various ... missionary ... things ... We ordered some kebabs. They were delicious. But the next day during church, I had to run for the bathroom! hahah
I hope everyone gets the blessing of consuming a kebab someday in their lifetime. 

Sunday was great: we sang for Elder's Quorum, and we went to President Murphy's for dinner (he is the district president). 
Before church, I called and asked a member if they would bring someone that we were working with to church, and he got mad at me, and told me that we [irish / european members] don't give rides to people to church. 
I was... pretty upset. Thankfully, most people in the branch are more willing to help. 

All Sunday night, I was a nervous wreck, waiting for moves, call, and I 
couldn't focus on anything. Finally, moves call came, at around half eight. 
Elder Black is moving to Kilmarnock, in Scotland; Elder Luna is moving - not too far - to Dublin; and I will be serving with a missionary whose name is Harley Davidson. 
Loads of people are moving this moves. 
Elder Thompson, who might move to Utah, with us, will be in my zone. I'll finally get the chance to go on some exchanges with him. 

Anyway. Today, we've been sitting at the computer for five hours! along with all the other Zone Leaders, arranging travel plans for the entire mission. 

Thank you for listening! Tune in next week ... That's it. 
Shout out to Elder Black for typing this! ahahh
The End. 
I love you all. 
Thank you and good night! 

could yo forward this to everyone?