Change of Perspective

                

 

In 1988 when we moved our family from upstate New York to Hong Kong, I had moments of weakness during my battle with Culture Shock, during which I occasionally complained about our  new home.  (OK-  actually I complained a lot).  Then my husband had me join him on a business trip to India for a week.  After seeing India, I didn't complain about living in Hong Kong anymore.

I had a similar experience this month.  President Herrington asked us to visit the island of St. Vincent to  learn the duties of the senior couple there as they are going home in March. He may have us visit on occasion to help out the missionaries. I know you can't tell from this photo - but trust me- it was a lot more backward than Guadeloupe.  It's one of those many places that fell apart after the British left.  Anyway, now I am counting my blessings!  

Here are some of them:

1. We have potable water.  The mission requires us to have three  filters on our tap, but really, we have    been places where you have to keep your mouth closed in the shower.

2.  We have electricity. It has only gone out once in the month we have been here.

3.  We have a car.  With air conditioning!

4.  We have an apartment.  With air conditioning!

5.  Although driving here is an exercise in insanity, I think it is more scary in St. Vincent where the roads are more narrow and winding and have two foot deep uncovered gutters on each side.

The biggest blessings in the mission are the faithful members.  When we visited one of the church buildings  in St. Vincent ( actually the upstairs of a house in a town with no grocery store, gas station, restaurant, anything) we met a wonderful sister  who shared with us her desire to go to the temple this year.  She is very poor in material things but very rich in the spirit.  

We asked how she knew the church was true when the missionaries found and taught her family.  In answering, she related a story about her daughter, who when she was very little, had a dream about her deceased grandmother.  In her dream, the grandmother said that it was very important that she ( the grandmother)  be baptized.  This happened on three different occasions.  For years, the family didn't know what it meant, until the missionaries came to  their home. They  explained the Plan of Salvation and the ancient Christian ordinance of vicarious baptism for the dead which is performed only in LDS temples.  This sister had tears come to her eyes as she shared how much this meant to her, as she loved her mother very much.  It was not long before her whole family joined the church. 

This  story gave me a new perspective that made me feel gratitude for a doctrine I sometimes  take for granted.  A change in perspective ... one of the great themes of the gospel - one of the great themes of serving a mission. 

  

Adventures In Cleaning

This week we not only finished cleaning our own apartment, we did our first tour of duty inspecting the apartments of the Guadeloupe District missionaries for President  and Sister Herrington. Quel aventure! 

As we learned while living in South East Asia some years ago, keeping  a place clean in the tropics is no easy task.  There is a constant battle with black mold, orange mold, and just about any kind of mold you can think of, plus there is the unwanted stream of guests consisting of cockroaches, spiders, and mosquitoes. The Sisters' apartments were spotless:                                                                        

                 

The Elders' apartments... Mm not so much:

                                                                                       

This second floor apartment was in the middle of Pointe-a-Pitre, the main city in Guadeloupe.  It kind of reminded us of many of the 'Second' World cities we have visited throughout the world.  Not exactly Singapore or Paris. 

                                                                                    

At the next Zone Meeting, we will be giving out awards ... including the Golden Ajax Trophy ( " Elders are you familiar with Ajax?" ) and the Celestially  Clean Award ( " Awww...The sisters always win.")

Our other big learning experience here involves keeping track of and helping the missionaries with their visas, paperwork, and transport to and from the airport.  This has got to be the most expensive and complicated mission in the world.  Missionaries don't just drive to a new area - they fly to a different country.  The first day we were here, I got a phone call from a missionary  who said, " One of our elders is being held by the immigration officers at the airport because he doesn't have his card showing he got his Yellow Fever vaccination.  What do we do?"  Learning curve indeed.  Here is the board we started for some of this month's travel schedules. 

Finally, I haven't mentioned how we are doing with the French. Pas tres bien.  Today we visited the Abymes Branch ( they have an actual church) where we spoke with members who had accents ranging from Haitian to African. I can tell which members have lived in France because they are the only ones I can understand! 

So yes, right now everything here is an adventure for us; whether it is just helping the missionaries, inspecting apartments, driving around the island, or just visiting with members.  If we wanted an adventure in missionary work - we found it! ( God has such a great sense of humor!)

                                                                                   

Abymes Chapel