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.

Eight Months!

We've been out eight months today.  It's hard to believe we have less than a year left.  We are enjoying St. Lucia.  It is a beautiful Island and the Branch members are so warm and loving.  It's hard to believe that it's almost Christmas.  As I said before, after being in snow for every Christmas, the season is different without it.  I kind of miss it.  We attended a baptism early this morning at the beach.  Some of the members came with jackets and sweaters and I was in a short sleeved shirt.  I asked them how they could be wearing such warm clothing and they said they were freezing.  They even said their cooking oil freezes. Believe me when I say it doesn't freeze over here.  I think what they meant is that their oil hardens instead of being melted all the time.  I did singing time with the Primary today and asked if any of the children had seen snow.  All except for one had never seen snow before. Of course, we had to sing "Once Their Was a Snowman".  It was fun being with the Primary children.  

Elder and Sister Gartz left last Saturday, so we have this Island to ourselves as the only Senior Couple.  It is fun getting to know the members and working with them.  Our time is split between the Vieux Fort and Castries Branches.  They are both small and I feel they appreciate our help.  My time is spent teaching music in the Primary.  I have also been asked to teach Seminary.  They are doing home study Seminary, so I will teach it once a week. They are out of school for the holidays, so I will start Seminary the first of the year.  I'm excited about this.  It's been a long time since I've had any teaching assignment in Church and a long time since I have worked with they youth.  They are studying "The Book of Mormon".  I am also teaching piano to a young girl.  I hope to get more students.  Elder Gubler and I are hoping to be very busy in St. Lucia.

Last Monday we spent the afternoon with Sister Simone and her daughter, Christine and granddaughter, Carrise.  Elder Gubler the computer whiz set up their computer with a Magic Jack and also set them up with email accounts.  He showed them how to use the internet.  He searched out their names and pulled up some information on Christine.  She was so excited. Carrise, the granddaughter was familiar with facebook, but Elder Gubler taught her a few more things.  We enjoy helping the members and visiting with them.  They love the Missionaries.

We are planning a Christmas party for the Missionaries on Christmas Eve.  We want to go caroling and have a dinner afterwards.  It all depends on whether we get our van or not if we go caroling.  It is in Castries and we've seen it.  It's even been paid for.  We are waiting for a waiver of Custom fees from the Government.  So, who knows how long that will be. 

We hope that you all enjoy this Christmas Season.  We're thankful to be serving the Lord by doing this great Missionary work.  

Overlooking Soufriere.

Pitons are tall mountains.

A view of a dormant volcano near Soufriere.

Soufriere

Beautiful coastline of Gros Islet

Another view of our apartment.  We live

at the bottom.

Our humble Christmas tree.

Kitchen

Living room

Bedroom 

    
  



  

   

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a belated happy Thanksgiving.  This was our first and only Thanksgiving out in the Mission field.  We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner for the Missionaries on Tuesday.  I helped Sister Gartz in preparing the meal.  I cooked a turkey and made stuffing.  I had to improvise on the stuffing, as I couldn't find any sage.  I found a poultry seasoning with sage in it.  I thought it tasted pretty good.  Elder Gubler went down to the church to attend a District Meeting with the missionaries while I stayed at the apartment.  We cook with propane and I'm not use to it yet.  In Suriname we had a bigger tank than here.  Nevertheless, I ran out of propane during the cooking.  Our landlord left us an extra tank, but it was also empty.  I tried calling Elder Gubler, but no answer.  Dinner was being served in two hours and I still had 1 1/2 hours left on the turkey.  Luckily, I caught my neighbor who was just leaving and she gave me her extra tank of propane.  Oh how I miss my kitchen.  The dinner was good and it was fun being with the Missionaries.  They are great.  As I have said before, the best part of our mission are the Missionaries.  We had all the normal food that is served.  The Missionaries brought the desserts and we even had pumpkin pie.  Elder Schroeder actually cooked a pumpkin and made pumpkin pie.  It was pretty good.  He told us later that he didn't even have measuring cups or spoons.  I was very impressed.

On the actual Thanksgiving day (Thursday) we went with two Elders to Soufriere  It is a beautiful village down by the Pitons.  There currently aren't any Missionaries in that area.  The two that were there were moved to Castries.  It takes a little over an hour to get there.  The roads are very narrow and windy, up and down mountain passages.  The last time we took the Elders there, our borrowed car got a flat tire and also broke down on the way back.  This time we took the brand new car.  The Missionaries taught three discussions to different people.  There was a 27 year old gal that has been searching for a church that answered all her questions.  She has been very impressed with the message, saying she has never heard anything like that before.  She has visited numerous churches and has felt that there is something else out there.  As of now, President Mehr has said that the Castries Branch needs to grow more before opening up that area again.  In other areas where there isn't a Church, the Missionaries hold Sunday Meetings in their apartment which are called group meetings.  We were hoping to do that in Soufriere, but more work needs to be done in Castries.

Today was the last Sunday for the Gartz'.  They leave next Saturday.  Elder Gartz was acting as a Branch President for the Castries Branch.  A local member, Brother Debeauville, was called as Branch President.  President Mehr came out and set him apart.  Since this area is small, President Mehr is the Ecclesiastical leader over the two branches.  He has asked us to oversee these two branches and make sure they are operating properly.  He has asked us to train the members in the different organizations.  So our time here will be split between Castries and Vieux Fort. 

The Christmas season has started here in St. Lucia.  The shops are decorated and Christmas music is playing.  It is a little strange because it is so hot.  Elder and Sister Gartz gave us a small Christmas tree, so I will put that up shortly.  It will be nice having our own Island to work in.  We are looking forward to working with the members and getting to know them better.  As Thanksgiving has passed, I am so thankful for so many things.  Mostly my family and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I miss you all very much and am so grateful for all that you do for us while we are out here.   We love you all very much and hope that you all enjoy this coming month as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.     

   

Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving dinner

Baptism yesterday

Elder & Sister Gartz

Sister Gartz is wearing a St. Lucia

native dress.  Their last Sunday

Poinsettia tree outside our apartment.

Our view

Some more of our view.