Eeef Yu Mash Ant Yu Fine Im Guts

"Eeef yu mash ant yu fine im guts" is  English Creole ( which almost everyone speaks here and which we cannot understand) that translates to "If you smash an ant you will find his guts" - which is a Caribbean proverb that means,  "You find out what you are made of, when things get difficult."  Much of the time we feel like smashed ants here and our guts aren't always looking too pretty.   We thought with our years of experience living overseas, all of our travel, decades of learning, teaching, and leading in the church, good health, and at least a moderate amount of general ability - that we would not find this mission too difficult.  Smashed ants.   If the sole purpose of our mission is to humble us, God is doing a pretty good job. But the worst of it, is when we start feeling sorry for ourselves and  we look around at the people on this island with  their very real struggles. Then we have to pull our "guts" together in gratitude toward God because we know are blessed beyond measure!

Take for example, the photo above ... not your  typical attractive tropical scene.  This is an area on the north part of the island where recent floods came down the mountains and washed out an entire village.  Someone will probably still live in what is left of this house for years to come - because that is how they manage here.  We will soon  be helping with a shipment of humanitarian goods being donated by the church to help the people in this area.  Thank you church members  in the USA - especially Utah, where a great many items arrive  from  Deseret Industries (the LDS Church welfare/ charity organization.) It's always fun to see the locals wearing t-shirts emblazoned with "BYU GO COUGARS" or "Families Are Forever".    We feel like smashed ants when we see so much need and can do so little to help alleviate it.

One thing that helps us feel a little less "smashed" is the handful of faithful members on the island.  There are about 130 that come to church ( when they can - transportation is difficult and none of them own a car ) in the three units.  This is the Relief Society Presidency in Calliqua Branch - Sister Nichols, Jackson, and David ( I took this photo in celebration of the RS 175th Anniversary).  Sister David, who is the president ( on right)  lived in England for 40 years and has come home to SV.  She knows how the church is supposed to work, but it is nearly impossible to have it function the way it should.  This  culture is not suited to commitments, clocks, or committees. We do a lot of training that doesn't seem to help much. But every now and then something goes well...

This is a photo of a Young Womens activity that we helped the local youth leaders put together for the three units.  We had twenty girls come - which is really amazing.  One of the things that is frustrating here is how many young unwed mothers there are.  Part of this  activity was to teach these teens the importance of following  an order in life: first education, then job, then marriage, THEN babies.  Not the other way around.  Staying faithful to the Lord's commandments is the best way to happiness.  If we can help just a few of these young people understand how to lift themselves out of physical and spiritual poverty - we won't feel so much like smashed ants.  

Goats in the gutters.  We also get depressed over the way the animals are treated here.  There are random goats, random cows, random chickens, and worst of all random malnourished obviously pregnant-for-the-100th-time scrawny dogs everywhere.  The trick is not to hit one of them on the highway ( the term for the  pot-holed two lane road that goes  the length of the island.) It is sad enough to see animals lying dead in the gutter - but we have also seen people there too.  Nothing could quite prepare us for the lack of respect for human or animal life here.  I know there are places in the world where it is worse than here - it just seems odd to be so close to the US and see so much of it.    If you want to see what a country looks like that loves its marijuana - come to Saint Vincent.  Thankfully, on the other hand,  there are plenty of good things that lift our spirits, such as ...

....getting to meet and teach with the missionaries this little jewel named Davisha Olliver.  She is just 11 years old but knew immediately when she was taught the restored gospel that she wanted to be a part of it.  She is quiet, yet determined and seems to understand that if she will stick with this, that her life will be blessed.  We were surprised but delighted that she asked President Booth to  baptize her! 

One thing that never occurred to us that would be a challenge, is being alone as a missionary couple on this little  island ( which is the case for most of the senior couples in this mission.)  We were thrilled to have the Harts ( an LDS Charities  couple that live in Utah) visit here for a few days.  We haven't had a social visit in  over five months. I think we talked their ears off.   We got to drive around the Harts  to the meetings they had with government officials as they were closing out the church  Wheelchair project here.  This is a photo of them as we met with the Minister of Health and his assistant.   

Anyway,  no  matter how much the challenging  experiences  on this island make us feel like "smashed ants" we do have this beautiful view from our apartment!  I think we can all relate to this  paraphrasing of  scripture by  the ancient prophet Nephi when he wrote, "  When I desire to rejoice, my heart sorroweth  because of my temptation to discouragement... Why should I give way that the evil one should have place in my heart to destroy my peace?  Rejoice, O my heart and say... Oh Lord I will praise thee forever, yea, my soul will rejoice in thee.  - 2 Nephi 4: 20-30     

Walking In His Path

Walking In His Path

One of the greatest blessings of serving as a Senior Missionary Couple is the opportunity to work with the young missionaries.  Sometimes we go with them  ( or take them) to teaching appointments. Here we are walking ( some of the roads are so bad we can't take a car on them) to meet a lady that Elder Alldredge and Monroe are teaching. A lot of the places we go, I can only describe as "tropical slums" ... there is a lot of poverty here. 

After following the goat trails through a hillside, we came to this little house

which is home to one of our church members - a family of six.  

We also help out with the missionary transfers  by dropping off and picking up missionaries at the airport.  This photo was taken during the February  transfer which went on for several days because planes couldn't land at the airport due to high winds.  The old airport closed this month as the new one just opened.  In the USA, missionaries transfer by bus  or car - in this mission,  it is always between islands by plane.  ( This photo) ...After their two year mission, these  missionaries were going home to Tonga - we understand it  took a week for them to finally get there.  

Sometimes the missionaries make us a little crazy - like when they wreck a car.  It is a long process for us to get a car repaired here and very expensive and difficult to get a new one shipped in for the church from the states.  Honestly, the accidents are rarely due to their negligence.  It's just that the driving here is so dangerous - an accident is bound to happen to any of us.  We are always so thankful that missionaries are seldom hurt in these accidents. We avoid head-on collisions almost everyday we are out on the road  here in Saint Vincent.  This is our "Rav -cat" that we let the missionaries borrow while we were in Guadeloupe.  That was months ago. We are still waiting for it to be repaired.  Thankfully, a new car arrived for us  at the same time we did in December- it was ordered a year ago.   

We have a TV that we can hook up to the internet, so  sometimes we host the missionaries in our apartment to watch a missionary broadcast of some sort. Right now we have twelve Elders in SV.  

The best thing we ever get to do with the missionaries is to attend a baptism. Here is Bro. Samuel just  after his baptism - he was pretty excited! 

I hope these young people are always kept in our prayers.  What they are doing is unbelievably difficult.  Their desire to bring "souls unto Christ" is an inspiration to us everyday. The SV Zone Mission Statement is "We are inVINCYble! In: being positive, testifying of the Savior, and wearing the whole armor of God."   

2017 ...Two Weddings and a Funeral (and a Baptism)

This is little Julia Weekes.  Her parents have been taking the missionary lessons for years, and it was our great blessing to be here when they finally decided to be married and become baptized members of  Christ's church.   The concept of marriage and family here is not well understood or respected, so this was a big step for them.  It is rare to find an intact family on these islands, so the missionaries help them create one.  Before a couple can get baptized they have to get married in order to keep the commandments regarding the holy order of matrimony.  So Keisha and Julian got married at our little 

church branch house. We could feel their joy as they were married.

 

The next weekend they wanted to be baptized together. This was done at the beach just down the hill from the church. President Sutherland of the Kingstown Branch baptized them,  as the last set of missionaries who taught them, Elders Alldredge and Monroe ,were witnesses.  Several members attended  to enjoy the occasion, including us!

The next week we had a funeral to attend with President Booth conducting it as it was the Kingstown Branch President's father who had passed away.  Bro. LaBorde was a faithful member for many many years - one of the original members.  He was elderly and died of cancer.  The funeral drew a large crowd ( first meeting we have been to that actually started on time!). His casket was bright red with gold colored trimmings.  After the service at church we went to the grave side dedication.  The main difference between a funeral here and  one in the states, is that they covered the casket in the ground with the dirt as we all watched.  It took about 45 minutes and was rather depressing for his wife.  

   This is a view of part  of  the cemetery as we are standing near the grave site. It was quite steep up   where he was buried and we nearly fell several times onto ( into) other grave sites.  

We were blessed to finish off the month with another wedding.  This one was between two active church members.  After their beautiful ceremony,  they flew off to be sealed for time and all eternity at the Panama City Temple in Panama.  ( As in the UK, one has to be married in a civil ceremony and the marriage registered at the ceremony before being  married in the temple.)

.....There were a lot of other things that happened during the month, but these events were certainly the most memorable.  We had reconfirmed to us many times,  that God loves His children everywhere    and the greatest expression of that love are the joyous and comforting principles of the restored    gospel of Jesus Christ.                
                                                                 

 

A Tale of Two Islands

Guadeloupe

Beach at Deshaies on north end of island

Saint Vincent

View from church (house) at Calliqua

If you are like me, you never heard of these two Eastern Caribbean islands before. Neither one is terribly popular with the cruise lines.  It has been our privilege, however, to be called to serve on them during our mission.  So here is more information than you would ever care about  knowing concerning these two tropical hide-aways:

   

Subject.                              Guadeloupe.                                     Saint Vincent                                                       

Size.                                   630 Sq. Miles.                                  133 Sq miles ( 11 by 18 miles )

Population.                        400,000.                                            100,000

Language.                          French ( sort of).                               English ( sort of)

Money.                               Euro                                                  Eastern Caribbean dollars (3 to 1 US)

Economy.                           Doing okay ( France helps out).       Not so good - rather poor

Greetings.                           Bises ( 1 kiss each cheek -ladies).    Hand shake or hug

Temperature.                      Hot and humid.                                 Hotter and more humid

Best Shopping.                   One very nice a/c Shopping Mall     No Shopping Mall- small stores

Favorite shop.                     Boulangeries                                    The pharmacy in the hardware
                                                                                                      Store
Groceries.                           Very European/ French.                    American and local
                                            Bring your  own bag.                        Plastic bags provided

Feel of the island.               Busy but spacious.                            Dirty town, beautiful nature

Driving.                              Insane and intense.                            More insane more intense
                                           Potholes but lots of good roads,       More potholes. Two bad roads and            
                                           And highways                                   Lots of small dangerous roads

Traffic lights.                      4 on the island but most don't work  3 that never work

Animals.                             Lots of random cows                         Lots of random goats                        

Pets                                     Cats and some dogs                           Mangey dogs

Church                                2 Branches/ 1 Group.                         2 Smaller  Branches / 1 Group

Missionaries.                      Fantastiques                                       Amazing

Greatest Fear.                     Car accident.                                      Worse car accident

Apartment.                         Pretty Nice.                                        Very nice - great view but often                                    
                                                                                                       No hot water
Creepy things                     Cockroaches and mosquitoes             Mosquitoes and cute geckos

We are still trying to find our footing here,  but have the goal of helping the Group at the north end of the island become a branch.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for us, the missionaries, and the people of these islands.  They really need the gospel - they just don't know it. ( photos of children from Saint Vincent and Guadeloupe - always the same where ever you go - sweet and silly)