It's been awhile

I noticed that it has been awhile since I've written on my blog.  Time has gone by quickly. We hit our 11 month mark on March 15.  We continue doing our routine duties here in St. Lucia and are preparing for the first of the 2015 Celebration, celebrating 25 years since the West Indies Mission was organized.  The celebration will be held in Vieux Fort.  Sister Nicholas is in charge of it and she told me the other day that she can't wait until it's over with.  I had to laugh when she said that this will be the first and the last time she will do this.  I told her she'd better not say that, because more than likely she will be in charge of some other event in the future.  She is doing an excellent job.  Elder Gubler and I have let the members organize this event and have only given them a few suggestions.  It is their celebration and it is exciting to see them working as a committee in getting this organized.  They have already decorated the Vieux Fort Church and the event isn't until April 15.  I really enjoy working with the members.  I have grown to love them.  We all greet each other with a big hug and a kiss.  They are such awesome people.

Transfers are coming up next week.  We will lose a few of our missionaries, but at the same time we will gain a few.  We had a P-Day activity last Monday in Soufriere.  We all wanted to climb the Pitons, but the price was so high that not everybody could afford it.  So we decided to go to the beach and hang out.  The missionaries played volleyball and Elder Gubler and I took a boat ride.  I packed a picnic lunch and we had a good time.  It is such a beautiful area and I'm always in awe when I see it.

We will be hosting Zone Conference next week.  The missionaries from St. Vincent will be coming over to St. Lucia for the meeting.  They fly in on Friday and leave Saturday evening. We have to house 16 missionaries, 14 Elders and 2 Sisters.  The Elders in Castries will house the Elders and we will house the Sisters at our apartment.  We are in charge of the lunch during Zone Conference.  I thought about making the lunch myself, but I don't have the kitchen facilities or the cooking utensils to cook for a large crowd.  We decided to have it catered.  There is a Chinese restaurant that we enjoy that will provide the food.  Zone Conference is always an uplifting meeting.  President and Sister Mehr do such a wonderful job instructing the missionaries.  

The next two weeks will be really hectic as we deal with transfers and Zone Conference. Elder Gubler is a taxi service transporting missionaries to and from the airport.  Driving is insane in St. Lucia.  Most of the roads are one lane roads. Elder Gubler says he's always rubbing mirrors when he drives over here.  But, he's such an excellent driver, no accidents. Most of the driving is up and down mountain passages.

We love serving the Lord and are so grateful to Him for all he's done for us.  I really enjoy studying the scriptures and have developed a love for "The Book of Mormon".  It is a powerful book and a testimony that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God.  Until next time.

Sam, Shannon and I about to board small boat 

in Soufriere

View of the Pitons with Shannon

Sister Shelton and Smith make sand

Pitons

Vieux Fort Elders eating

More Elders

Group picture

Group picture with Pitons in the

background

Crazy Elders

Side trip to Martinique

Elder Gubler in Martinique

Elder Byron, ready to

leave on his Mission.

We took him to the

airport.  So exciting to see

these young people from St.

Lucia serve missions.  He will be

serving in the London South Mission.

Cute seminary class 

We were invited to a wedding of an investigator

and his bride who took a cruise down to St.

Lucia to get married.  Her cruise ship is in

the background.  She had to say goodbye to

her husband not long after the wedding.  Hopefully,

they will be reunited soon.

With Elders at the wedding

Elders fighting for the bouquet

Transfers

The Missionary work continues.  We had transfers a couple of weeks ago and replaced about half our Missionaries.  Four missionaries left and six new ones came in.  We now have a total of twelve Elders and two Sisters.  There are an additional two Elders in Vieux Fort and they are currently living in the same apartment.  We will know in six weeks whether or not we need to rent another apartment in Vieux Fort.  It's been fund getting to know these young men and women.  They are outstanding missionaries and they work really hard.  It was sad to see the four that left us.  We have been busy getting their work permits ready so they are legal here in St. Lucia.  St. Lucia is an easier country to work with as far as visas and work permits.  We found out from the Vanderbeeks, the Senior Couple in Suriname that they still haven't issued the work permits for the missionaries that we came out with.  

We are enjoying the two branches that we are working with.  I am amazed at the Vieux Fort Branch as they have two missionaries out and two leaving shortly.  President Nicholas has done amazing work with these young people.  I've been working with a young Elder who will be going to the London South Mission.  He has been a member of the Church for about two years and is excited about his mission.  A young sister just got called to the Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic Mission and will be a great missionary.  

We are also preparing for the 2015 Celebration, celebrating 25 years since the West Indies Mission was created.  It will be a fun event for the members.  Yesterday, St. Lucia celebrated their Independence Day.  They became independent from Great Britain about 35 years ago. It seems like there have been a lot of countries get independent from Great Britain.  We spent the day at the Castries Branch President's home with the missionaries doing service work.  President and Sister DeBeauville are a great couple and have a wonderful family.  We enjoyed spending the afternoon with them.

There are now two Districts, which is a group of missionaries, and still one Zone.  There use to be only one District.  What that means is each week the missionaries hold their District Meeting and before the transfers, they were all meeting together.  Now, there will be two separate meetings, one in Vieux Fort and one in Castries.  We will alternate between the two each week.  They will all get together once a month for zone conference.  We enjoy these meetings.  They go over their successes and struggles and have a training meeting.  I feed them at the end of the meeting.  I've enjoyed doing it and the missionaries seem to appreciate it.  I'm running out of ideas of what to feed them though.  So if anybody has any suggestions, please let me know.  As I've said before, working with the missionaries are the best part of this Mission.  It's a privilege getting to know them.  They have all strengthened me and have inspired me to do better.  The Church is true.  This great missionary work has strengthened my testimony so much while I've been out here.

Two more baptisms, Wilma and Krisshona.

President DeBeauville is in the middle.

    

Sister DeBeaville on left and Wilma's mother.

Brother Joe and Brittany.

Service Project at the DeBeauvilles

Elder Morrison on the roof.

Denzil DeBeauville

The roof is off

District Meeting in Castries

Elders Pierson, Bechan, & Fiame

Elders Jacobson & Schroeder, they

transferred out.

Elder Glade

Our new van

Catries church house

    

Life as a Senior Couple Missionary

It has been awhile since I have written on my blog.  It seems as though on Senior Missions, you get into a routine each week of what needs to be done.  This mission is different than the younger Elders and Sisters who go on Missions in that we don't spend the amount of time that is spent proselyting and teaching.  Our main duty is to take care of the daily tasks that are involved in making sure the missionary work in St. Lucia runs smoothly, enabling the Elders and Sisters to keep their main focus on the Missionary work.  That is; paying bills, taking care of the mail, visas, providing transportation when needed, and basically providing for the needs of the missionaries.  We also assist the Branches in whatever needs they may have.  We have also enjoyed visiting with the home bound members that are unable to attend Church.

Our time this past month has been spent down in Vieux Fort teaching Family History to the members. We have taught the class each Sunday for the past five weeks.  It has been quite enjoyable. It's a good thing that we were called to work in the Family History Center in Mesquite before we left on our Mission as the Church has changed the Family Search Website a lot and it seems to constantly change for the better.  We became familiar with Family Tree in Mesquite.  It's very difficult for the members to do their Family History in St. Lucia because the archives charge a high price for every document they want a copy of. They have to have correct names and dates to get a document and they will not allow others to search the archives.  Another problem is that the family unit all around the West Indies is chaotic.  As I have stated in my other blogs, mothers have different last names than their children. Brothers and Sisters have different last names.  Fathers have several children with different women and mothers have several children with different men.  Many members do not even have a relationship with their father which is sad.  Basically as a former senior missionary stated, the family unit has been destroyed in the West Indies.  We are thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church as we are starting to see those traditions change in the Church.  It will probably take the next generation or two to see a real change come about, but it will happen.  We told the members to do their best and the Lord will do the rest.  We're hoping that the Church will be able to come into these countries and record Government documents which will make them available to do Family History.  We offered our services to enter their Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets into Family Search for Temple Ordinances.  We're hoping to do many before we leave.

I have also been teaching a Seminary class each week in Castries.  I have a small class which I have enjoyed teaching.  Some of the members are too young for Seminary, but it will give them a good start when they are old enough.  The Mission does the Home Study Seminary in this area.  They are studying The Book of Mormon this year.  The lessons have been great and are fun to teach.  I love these kids.  They face a lot of peer pressure as they are the only members of the Church in their schools and among many of their friends.  One gal said that she is constantly questioned and bombarded with anti Mormon untruths.  It makes you wonder why the Church is persecuted so much by others, especially by members of other Religions.  It just strengthens my testimony that the Church is true, because Satan is working his hardest to destroy it and draw others away from it. 

I am thankful for the opportunity to serve here in St. Lucia.  It is a beautiful country and I love the people we are working with.  We've grown to love the missionaries.  It is sad when they transfer out, but we're happy to meet new ones.

The country has gotten back to normal from the devastating flood that happened Christmas Eve.  The Church's donation of hygiene kits finally arrived and the Government was very grateful for the donation.  The Church has also helped the members with losses that they sustained in the flood.  And, we finally got our van.  It is nice to have a 12 passenger van, when we need to transport many.  We are able to transport all the Missionaries in Castries down to Vieux Fort for District Meetings every other week.  Elder Gubler is an expert driver of such a big vehicle on these narrow windy roads.  

We are praying for moisture in Utah and Nevada and hope that it will come and alleviate the drought.  We hope all is well with our family and friends.  We miss and love you all very much.

Baptism of Telly.  He was a contact that was made

at the Dealership where we purchased the car.  What

a great member.  He has really embraced the Gospel.

Telly's baptism

Sylvia's baptism.  She has been a great missionary

and has given the missionaries many referrals and

contacts.

There were three members baptized on this day, Sam,

Shannon and Daniel.  What a great morning.

P-Day at Pigeon Island

View from Pigeon Island

Baptism of Silas

Sister Marius is a bed ridden member who

we enjoy visiting. (she is so funny)  She was

baptized two years ago and just loves the Church

and the missionaries, especially the Elders.  She

calls them her grandchildren.  

   

Our Christmas in the Mission Field!

Many people have asked what it's like to celebrate Christmas out in the mission field.  Well let me tell you, this Christmas was a "memorable one", that's for sure.  Christmas Eve was spent putting on a party for the Missionaries in St. Lucia. We held it at the Church in Castries Tuesday afternoon.  The day started at 1:00, with the Missionaries making Christmas cards to give to their investigators while they visited them on Christmas day.  The Mission President and his wife held a special Devotional for the whole Mission over the internet. Afterwards, Elder Gubler took the Elders and Sisters over to Sister Marius to sing Christmas carols.  She is a member of the Castries branch and is bed ridden.  I told her we would bring all the missionaries over to sing to her, and she was so excited.  We invited a single Sister, Andreya Nicholson, who is from the U.S. over here teaching music in an after school program.  She and I stayed behind to put the finishing touches on dinner.  After dinner, the missionaries were permitted to watch a movie.  A torrential rainstorm had started, but I didn't realize how bad it was until we took Andreya home. Up towards her apartment, as Elder Gubler drove, the front end of the car started to disappear in the the water.  Realizing that we were driving into deep water, Elder Gubler stopped and started to back out.  The cars behind him were slow to let us back.  It was dark and hard to see with the rain.  Luckily, we found another way to her apartment and were able to get her home.

We returned to church  and told the Elders and Sisters that it was treacherous outside and that we needed to end the party.   It was decided that the two Elders and two Sisters from Vieux Fort would spend the night, the sisters with us and the Elders with a set of Elders who lived below the Church.  Elder Gubler asked Elder Larson who had driving privileges to take the truck with the other Elders to their apartment up North while we had the car with the Sisters.  It was difficult distinguishing the road with the other terrain as there was so much water.  We were half way home when we got a call from the Elders saying they had ran the truck into a deep ditch.  We quickly turned around and went back to the Church. The mishap happened down the road from the Church, so the Elders in the truck walked back to the Church.  After not being able to find anyone to pull out the truck, it was decided to have all eight Elders stay in the apartment below the Church.  We found out later that they all went downtown Castries helping push stuck vehicles and carrying people across flooded streets. 

We then proceeded with the Sisters back to our apartment.  On the way we went through deep water where a bridge was flooded and was so nervous about stalling the car as there were a number of cars stalled.  Then we encountered another bridge which was flooded and nobody was moving.  We thought about heading back to the Church but was stuck between the two bridges that were flooded.  We could not go North or South.  I called a member to ask if there was another way around, but there was not.  The power was out and it was completely dark.

We decided to go to a resort to see if we could spend the night there, but they were not able to accommodate us as they were also having major problems with flooding.  So we came to the conclusion that we would maybe have to spend the night in the car.  It was late and after a couple of hours, we decided to try the bridge again leading to our apartment.  Thankfully, it was open.  We arrived at our apartment at 11:00 p.m. and no power.  But we were so thankful to be home and to have the Sisters safe that we didn't care.  After a restless night and busy morning, we returned back to the Church to deal with the truck.  It looked like it was almost tipped over in the deep gully.  The night before it was half submerged in water. We were so thankful the Elders didn't tip it over.  Elder Gubler decided to try and get it out with 4 wheel drive.  With the help of the Elders pushing and Elder Gubler's expertise driving, he was able to get it out.  That was such a big relief, especially to Elder Larson who ran it into the ditch.  Four of the Elders from Castries decided to stay at the Church, so they could skype home.  The Sisters drove the truck to Vieux Fort, while we took two Elders to the Morne and the other two Elders to Vieux Fort.  On the way, we saw the devastation of mud slides and flooding.  The roads were covered in mud and homes and yards were full of mud and water.   We were heartsick after seeing the damage that was done. We traveled about 40 miles when we found that part of the road had been destroyed.  There was a big traffic jam and many waiting for them to fix a pass through. The Elders and Sisters didn't reach Vieux Fort until about 4:00 p.m.  Twenty four hours later, we were able to have a somewhat peaceful Christmas evening.  

The days after the storm, Elder Gubler worked with Church Headquarters in Salt Lake, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Trinidad, and Florida to get relief supplies delivered to St. Lucia.  There are currently 2000 hygiene kits on the way and money was supplied to purchase drinking water.  He has been working with the government who will help deliver these supplies.  We also want to coordinate with the Church the delivery of other items, such as clothing and blankets.  The humanitarian efforts of the Church are big.  I'm so thankful to be a member of this Church who helps so many countries around the world in times of disasters.  The Missionaries have also been giving service to others in need.  Many of the people went days without water.  The Vieux Fort Missionaries went a whole week without water.  Luckily, they had emergency water that they stored.  We thought that we would have to pull them out of Vieux Fort, but the water was turned on New Years Day.

This Christmas has been very memorable and rewarding.  We're thankful that we were here to assist the Missionaries and also help St. Lucia.  I have included a link showing the devastion of the storm.
  
http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/five-dead-in-st-lucia/

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and wishing you all a wonderful safe New Year.

Mission truck, thankfully, Elder Gubler

drove it out.  We were so afraid it was

going to tip over.

Driving through mud on the way to Vieux

Fort, Christmas Day.

Damage in Vieux Fort.

Damage to road to Vieux Fort

Picture from news article, we saw

several vehicles in strange places.

More damage

A lot of mud!

More damage

Christmas Eve party

Missionaries listening to devotional on

computer.

Andreya Nicholson

Zone Conference in St. Vincent

Zone Conference

The Sisters at Zone Conference

Telly's baptism

Telly's baptism

Sylvia's baptism

Sylvia's baptism.