So We Begin In Guadeloupe

On January 22 at 10:00PM we took the MTC shuttle from Provo to SLC for a 1:00AM flight to Atlanta and another flight to Barbados.  Hard to keep the eyes open at that point!  We stayed three nights in a little hotel leftover from 1962 - it was  overlooking a beach - very pink and turquoise ( the hotel not the beach).  We met our mission president and his wife that evening and loved them immediately.  President and Sister Herrington are from Vancouver so they are "not in Kansas anymore" either.  We had dinner in the mission home with them for three evenings.  While in Barbados we attended church in the tiny branch there and received training on our missionary duties ( We also met Senior Sisters Locke and Ray who run the mission office.  By the way, they need help desperately, so if you would like to go on a mission in the beautiful Caribbean - have they got a calling for you!). Tuesday we attended a district meeting and then caught the flight to Guadeloupe.  We actually left the mission for a while as we landed on the island of Dominica to drop off and pick up passengers.  The airstrip was in the jungle with just enough room to take off and land without falling into the ocean ( very Indiana Jonesish).  This was our plane.

The Guadeloupe airport is really nice and it was wonderful to see the young elders in their short sleeve white shirts awaiting our arrival.  After a quick stop at the French Carrefour grocery store ( we are technically in France now) we headed for our apartment.  Whoa - bit of a shock!  It was really a mess with a lot of dirt and black mold growing here and there ( and there and here).  In the morning we began cleaning every surface with Monsieur Propre.  The apartment sat empty for six weeks from the last couple who were here from Tahiti.  After a few days of scrubbing, it is looking pretty good.  We have air con so life is magnifique.  The Guadeloupe office  for this region of the mission is in one of our rooms, so we get to have missionaries popping in a lot. They are really wonderful.  Here are two of them,  Elder Sackley and Elder Savard.

Highlights of the week: Lamentin Branch Missionary Correlation Meeting on someone's porch. At night. In the dark. Sort of in a jungle.  My anti-mosquito spray and I are becoming good friends. The Branch Mission Leader looks like a young Sidney Poitier.  On Saturday, we went to a baptism in Basse-Terre performed in the ocean. We attended church today  and I actually introduced myself and Elder Booth en Francais.  Very scary for me, but the members are delightful and sound like they will put up with us.  During one of our classes, the teacher was presenting a lesson on family preparedness, during which we experienced  a small earthquake.  Great object lesson!   We met Elder Gamiette, the Area Seventy, who attends there. Finally, we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the home of President Eclar, the First Counsellor in the Mission Presidency,  and his beautiful family.  

This is the meeting house for Basse-Terre Branch (above).  Lamentin Branch ( below).

Here is a view from our drive back from Basse-Terre.  The island is covered with green tropical mountains, little villages, and  lots of palm and banana trees.  Our apartment is between a business area and  the ocean. The residence complex is called Les Paletuviers.  That means 'mangrove trees', which are common here.  These trees live in salt water - not an easy thing for a tree to do, but they manage to do it and even thrive.  I think they are teaching me that  when I am out of my comfort zone, I can still manage to find ways to feel at peace through the the Spirit.  And even thrive. 

Beautiful MTC

Beautiful place- mountains (view from our room window)

Beautiful people - our district ( Fawsons to Colorado, Jacksons to Guatemala, Nelsons to Phillipines)

Beautiful reason for being here- the Savior  ( the walls here are filled with inspiring art)

He Gave Me The World

We are posing in front of the 'world famous' map of the world in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah in which 85,147 LDS missionaries currently serving throughout the globe have been prepared to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are pointing to the islands where we will be serving. Our Faith takes seriously the Lord's commandment in Matthew 28:19 "Go ye therefore and teach all nations..."   We feel so blessed to be a tiny part of this inspired work. 

MTC Joys

A former missionary companion of mine from the New York Rochester Mission (1977-1979) learned I would be here for the week.  She lives in Provo now and asked about visiting me. I was thrilled to have her come!  Sister Skidmore and I served together in Watertown NY during a hot and sticky summer. It was the kind of town where doors were slammed in our face and dogs were invited to scare us away.  On Sundays, we met in a Masonic lodge where a large portrait of George Washington wearing an interesting yet familiar ensemble stared down on us as as we worshipped.  But all was not bleak.  We had the privilege of teaching the one unusually spiritually perceptive young man who lived there.  He courageously joined the church.  He later served a mission, married in the temple, and had children serve missions. The joy of being reunited with Sister Skid made me think of the story of joy that the sons of Mosiah experienced when they reunited after a long missionary absence. Service, adversity,  and love  intertwine hearts forever. 

A second joy occurred that evening as all the missionaries met together for a devotional.  Our guest speaker was composer Janice Kapp Perry.  She taught us how the Spirit can communicate through uplifting music.  The meeting closed with a few thousand missionaries singing the EFY Medley with Sister Capp and her husband leading us.  The word "Powerful " cannot describe it.

It's Official!

Do You Speak French?

Welcome to my missionary blog!  My husband and I have been called to serve in the Barbados Bridgetown Mission of the Guadeloupe French Speaking Region in the Caribbean.  On January 12, 2016 we left our home in beautiful Western North Carolina for beautiful snowy Provo, Utah.  For three months we have been studying on-line with LDS French tutors, and now, we have just finished two and a half days of French language immersion training at an extension of the Missionary Training Center. Today we will go into the MTC itself for a week of general missionary training using the book, Preach My Gospel. I am so excited to be here so close to Brigham Young University where I earned a degree in French about forty years ago.  I feel blessed to have come full circle to re-learn and  be able to finally use this language which I love so much to testify of our Savior and his restored gospel.