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