Ten less-active members at church!

Yesterday was zone conference so that's why I didn't email until today.

Baby and her family didn't make it to church again this week. We haven't been able to get a hold of them so we hope that everything is still alright with them. We are going to see them in about 2 hours so we'll know more soon.

The greatest success that we saw this week was that Elder Barker and I had 10 less-active members come to church! It couldn't have happened on a better Sunday because our speakers were President and Sister Gamiette!

I know exactly how it feels to worry about not knowing enough to be a good missionary. That feeling only gets worse as the time to enter the MTC gets closer! Then after you have taught a few lessons you realize that you do know this stuff. Then you just let it flow. That's what I did and I am well known in the West Indies for being a missionary that knows and uses the scriptures. Who would have thought that about me at the start? Not me!

Read this talk. It helps when you're worried about not knowing enough.

The food here in Lucia is pretty much like Tobago. In Castries you can get about anything that you want but down here in the ghetto called Vieux Fort we have a very limited selection. The worst things that I have eaten here are definitely kidneys (real kidneys not the beans) and flying fish. The fish wasn't actually that bad which is saying something coming from me! The kidneys were absolutely terrible though. I literally had to gag them down. For the most part we have to make our own food. Our branch president's wife used to cook for us every Sunday but she left the island this week to go home to England and she won't be back until August so that tradition is over.

You always wanted to know what missionaries do while they wait for their laundry to finish... (The song is from Disney's A Goofy Movie)


My companion, Elder Barker, is in the back on the stool. Elder Lundberg is the fat guy in the white England jersey. The lead lip syncher is his companion Elder Harris.

My toes are doing fine. The one that was infected hurts a little bit right now but that's because it still doesn't have a nail and we played beach volleyball this morning for a couple of hours (obviously barefoot!)

The scripture of the week is Micah 4:1-2.

It was a sweet day!

Sorry that I didn't get to e-mail yesterday. We were going to go to Sulphur Springs but ended up not going because we met up with the Elliot's, a couple from Canada, that live here on the island. They invited us to stay with them for dinner even though dinner was at 5:30 and we got there at 2! Bob Elliot is the head of development at Jade Mountain which is a sweet resort. He took us all around the place and gave us a behind the scenes tour of the facility. He told us that an episode of the Bachelor was done here. I guess it was on TV about a month ago.

This is the front of Jade Mountain.


The rooms only have 3 walls and they range from $1800-2500 per night!


Me and the Pitons from the top of Jade Mountain.


The Pitons and their reflections in a pool from inside Jade Mountain.


It was a sweet day!

Things are going well here in St. Lucia, its just slow right now. We are trying our best and working hard to find solid people to teach.

Baby was sick this past Sunday so no one in her family came to church. That means that their baptisms have all been pushed back a week but that's okay. It just means that we should have 3 for next Saturday.

Michael asked someone to prom? Dang. I wanted to go on a double date with him for his first time. That would have been way sweet! Amanda is also starting to get old! I'm just stuck in the middle. 21 in 8 more weeks! Just think at how old that makes you, and especially Dad!!!

Sorry, I know that this e-mail isn't very helpful for posts on the blog so hopefully the pictures will help.

The scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 31:19-21.

P.S. I heard about the Aggies. Bummer huh? Oh well.

Shower using a bucket and a cup.

Finally, I am e-mailing on Monday!

Things are going great down here for us in St. Lucia. It rained today for the first time in about a month. We are in the middle of their worst drought ever and people are really starting to freak out about it. I don't really care if I have to take a shower using a bucket and a cup. It's not that bad. Besides, I can heat the water in the bucket whereas the water out of the pipe doesn't get warm until about 11 AM. That's because we have one of those solar water heaters. I used to think they were a good idea! After 2 months of cold showers I think whoever invented them was an idiot!

Elder Barker and I are getting along fine. We are working with some great people right now. Baby, Christine and Juaka are all doing well. We are planning on having them all be baptized on the 28th after church. It would be awesome if it happens. Most of our other investigators are brand new or are from part-member families so there isn't much else to tell you about them this week.

We had a youth activity on Saturday and I was teaching the kids how to skip rocks. It was fun. (This picture is from the Fauxes' blog from the branch youth activity. We're not 100% certain, but those bright blue shorts and that grey t-shirt look very familiar!)


Elder Barker and I did have a great week of attendance. We had 6 investigators and 4 less-actives at church. That was the best out of anyone in all of the islands. The branch itself is averaging about 50 people a week right now. A couple of weeks ago we had 70 but that was a 1 time thing. We also had 64 one week too. Most of the people who come are locals. There is only 1 couple and Sister Penrose that aren't from here other than us of course!

This morning we played beach volleyball and it was pretty fun. I was extremely rusty but my team dominated because of the play of their outside hitter (cough, cough, me, cough). I had something stuck in my throat there for a minute. We are spending the rest of the day hanging around in Castries because we have a zone meeting in the morning. My zone leader, Elder Prince, is awesome. He is also a hockey player! He played for Weber State before he came out to the West Indies.

The toe is doing good. I thought a couple weeks ago that the nail was starting to grow back but I don't think so right now. I have trouble keeping it clean sometimes but I am careful to wash it well and put the drugs on it. The other toenail that was ingrown has been taken care of.

Too bad the Aggies got beat Saturday. I am super stoked that they still got into the NCAA tournament. The first round against Texas A&M should be a good game. Go Aggies!!! USU Aggies of course, not those A&M Aggies.

The scripture of the week is Mosiah 3:19-21.

Things are looking great right now!

Things are going just fine here in Lucia. I was sick over the weekend but I am over it now. Lets just say that I became really familiar with toilets that normally I would never want to sit on. Thanks to the Fauxes bringing me some Pepto while we were teaching I was able to stick it out through the day.

Elder Barker is doing fine. So far it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. The only thing that has kind of bugged me is when he starts correcting people on their attire. I don't really feel that it is our place to tell everyone on the streets how they should dress. Besides, it is their culture and they aren't going to change just because one white guy from another country tells them to. If they are taught the doctrine behind why they need to dress more modestly, then they are more likely to change. That I have no problem doing.

Baby is coming along really well. She has a baptism date set for the 21st. She brought 2 of her kids, Christine 13 and George 11, which was pretty sweet. She also brought one of her sisters, named Jowaka, she is 16. They all have baptism dates for the 21st too! So things are looking great right now!

Samuel is doing okay. We have actually turned him over to the other Elders because the area boundaries have been changed. He was at church on Sunday with his sister, Leah, and they seem to be doing well. Last I heard they both have baptism dates set for the 20th.

Zone conference this transfer is on the 29th. That happens to be perfect because my temple recommend expires on the 31st and I have to get a new one. ZC will be in Castries again. We tried to convince them to do it in St. Maarten but we didn't succeed. Oh well.

I am super excited that the Aggie's are doing so well! Cheer loud in Reno!

The scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 11:32-39.

Jane got a calling!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to e-mail you guys this week. Things have just been nuts around here thanks to transfers and things like that. Elder Morris and Elder Welch are both gone so it's just Elder Lundberg and I here in Vieux Fort until our companions get here sometime this afternoon. Elder Welch is off to St. Maarten and Elder Morris is going to St. Vincent.

Elder Lundberg's new companion is Elder Harris. He's been up in Castries and he is a pretty cool guy. I will be with Elder Barker. Yup, my old MTC companion. I'm not too excited about that but we'll try and make it work. We'll just have to see how it goes. If it doesn't go well, maybe I'll ask to be transferred to St. Vincent so that I can serve in every part of the English side of the mission. There isn't an elder in the mission that has ever done that. If fact, there isn't anyone that has even served in as many of the countries as I have. That's cool!

Samuel still hasn't been baptized. I don't know what it is that is keeping him back. He's ready but just isn't putting in all of the required effort. As for Baby, she is doing fine. She was unable to come to church though so that sets us back a little bit. Jane and Sheba are both doing awesome. Jane got a calling this past week and is super excited about it. She is in charge of making sure that the building gets cleaned every week. It's funny how important it is to Lucian's to have a clean building!

For p-day this week the other elders all wanted to go fishing with our branch president. For some reason he is under the impression that you have to go hours before the crack of dawn to catch fish. So we were on the road at 1:58 AM! It was terrible. They only caught 2 fish the whole time we were there and we were there for 4 hours! I said "they" because I spent my time just tending to a fire that I started to keep the mosquito's away. I pretty much thought it was a waste of a morning. Oh well.

President Gamiette is still making new rules, changing them, and then changing them again, all within a matter of a few days. The latest is what qualifies as a member lesson. We have been given 3 different definitions for it in the last 10 days. It's frustrating to not know what we are supposed to be doing or which version of the rules we are supposed to follow.

I don't know what else to tell you about today. It was a pretty slow week and nothing much has happened so far week besides gettng our companions moved out.

The scripture of the week is D&C 20:29.