ST PATRICK’S DAY

March 19, 2011 Saturday

Yep, it’s 2 days late, but we had a good time. Tonight about 5 pm when I was just going to get dinner ready, we received a phone call from Adam Mortly inviting us to dinner at 6 pm. Adam is the middle brother of the 5 Mortly brothers and lives in a house that backs onto his mother’s property. He’s single, an RM, tall, good-looking, and probably has every YSA girl in Perth chasing him. As we visited, we discovered he served in Sydney South Mission when Sam was there. He remembers Sam even though they didn’t get well acquainted since Sam was in the Chinese program. And he remembers seeing us at church when we toured Perth after Sam’s mission. Small world—even in Australia!
It was amazing—when we arrived, his front room and dining room were totally decorated for St Patrick’s Day with shamrocks and leprechauns on the walls, two Irish flags hanging from the beam of the high cathedral ceilings and 2 tables with all kinds of Irish memorabilia. One of his grandmothers was Irish, and he had visited Ireland at the end of one of his brothers’ mission to England. He was busy making 2 different kind of potatoes and stew; he’d already made potato rolls. His mum, two brothers and families, the bishop and family, and several other ward members and more food showed up until there was a group of 25-30 and the table was full of food. After dessert which included a yummy trifle, he played a CD with a bunch of Irish folk songs. Everybody sang along to the ones they knew: “Molly Malone,” “Danny Boy,” “When Irish Eye are Smiling,” “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary,” etc. It was a lot of fun. I even got to hold the bishop’s 4 week old granddaughter—she’s about the same age as Sam’s new baby, Lexi, so it was extra special.