Toya's baptism went great!

Toya's baptism went great on Saturday! She was confirmed yesterday and received a calling. She is now the 1st counselor in the Young Women's Presidency!


Elder Barker, Toya, President Nicholas and Jonathan.


I was excited for my last baptism as a missionary.


Too bad I won't be around for more! The other baptism that we were hoping to have for Cindy (the lady from the hospital) isn't going to work out this week, but she'll be getting baptized soon. She is also moving up to Castries.

The most frustrating thing is that sometimes members do stupid things that they know are wrong. They can be bad examples for our investigators. I'm sure that what happened had an effect on Cindy's baptism not happening tomorrow like we hoped. It's good we have Christ's atonement and can repent!

These are a few pictures from last week:

Remember our Ugly Tie Tuesday? Guess who the winner was!


The Faux's took this picture of us at Sulfur Springs.


I was thrilled at my surprise party at last district meeting. Another great tie!




These are the last pictures of the Vieux Fort Missionaries before Elder Barker & I go home. Elders Bowles, Barker, Brenkmann and Jonathan with Elder & Sister Faux (they will be going home soon too).


We had to end it with a fun one!


For our last couple of days, Elder Barker and I are planning on showing Elder Bowles and Elder Brenkman where everyone we're teaching lives so that they can show the 2 missionaries that are replacing us. We have also started going through our stuff and packing. I would love to take some more pictures but for some reason my camera isn't working at the moment. It was fine on Tuesday but it hasn't worked since. We'll have to get it checked out when I get home this week!

I just found out that my flight to Trinidad on Wednesday goes to Barbados, then Grenada, and then to Trinidad. I'll end my mission with 52 flights! See you soon!

The scripture of the week is 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

Toya accepted a baptism date!

Toya accepted a baptism date for this weekend! We are really excited about it. We might have another baptism on Tuesday next week if everything works out.

We had a cool experience with one of our other investigators. Her name is Cindy. She called us this week and said that she wanted us to come visit her right then... in the hospital. It turns out that she lost the baby that she was carrying (she was 2 months along) and it was making her really sick. They were going to do surgery but after we gave her a blessing everything turned out just fine and she was released from the hospital that night! It was cool.

Last Tuesday was distrit meeting in Castries. It was ugly tie day!


We went to some sulphur springs today. This is one of the nasty black rivers of mud. It was warm!


Elder Brenkman and Jonathan. We ended up getting a lot dirtier. I couldn't take a picture of it though because I didn't want to ruin my camera.


I took this picture of the Petit Piton this morning while we were in Soufriere.


This is the ship that they used in the Pirates movies for the Black Pearl.


You'll be happy to know that I'm not trunky, I'm too busy! But I have found takers for some of my clothes. The rest of it will go to the branch and then they can pass them out to people as needed.

My ankle is doing well, it only hurts when there is a lot of pressure on it and it is twisting. It's getting much better though. The toe is doing fine.

I'm glad the steel pan finally made it. It is as authentic as it gets. It belonged to a pan-maker, named Daniel, who has been in the business for 20 years. It was his own personal pan that he used in performances and shows.

The scripture of the week is Alma 26:35-37.

We help people come unto Christ.

Happy Mother's Day everyone! It was fun talking to the family yesterday.

There was an article in the Liahona recently about converts in Africa. It was cool to read because a guy that Elder Montgomery and I baptized in Grenada last August, Patrick Onimisi James, is back in Africa. He is a great guy and will help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ back at home. When we were teaching him he told us that when he lived in Africa he would go by one of our chapels everyday on his way to school and wondered what it was. He has really progressed in his testimony and knowledge of the gospel. He was even teaching institute before his visa expired and he had to go back home.

When we were visiting with Toya last Monday she made the comment that she wasn't going to come to church any more once Elder Barker and I left the island. We literally stood up that moment and told her that we were there to help people come unto Christ and to teach them the principles and doctrines that would allow them to return to live in the kingdom of God. We told her that when she was ready to exercise her faith and show that she truly desires to change her life, then we would come back and teach her again. I know we surprised her. We kept our word and didn't make contact with her for 6 days! We were so happy when she showed up at church yesterday full of smiles and ready to learn. After church we went by her house with our branch president and taught her a wonderful lesson. We will be resuming our normal lessons this week and try to extend an invitation for her to be baptized on the 22nd.

I have reached my goal and finished reading the Book of Mormon 8 times now on my mission. The main things that I have learned include how careful we need to be of falling into pride. Also, reading it so many times helped me be able to remember and piece together so many different verses to use in the situations that we find ourselves in as missionaries. The Book of Mormon is the best thing that can help people out, but if we don't read it and know it then it doesn't do us any good.

I am trying to finish reading the Old Testament before I get home. I will start Leviticus tonight. I thought you would like to know that while I've been on my mission I've read the New Testament, Jesus the Christ, the Bible Dictionary, the Articles of Faith (the book not the list), True to the Faith, Our Search for Happiness, Our Heritage and a few other missionary books that I can't recall all the names of at the moment. Put it this way, I have always been reading something!

It is a little difficult sometimes with Elder Barker and I both leaving for home at the same time. We are actually doing much better than I expected and we'll keep working until the end! Elder Barker's parents and I believe 2 of his 4 siblings are coming down to get him. They are very excited! They will be in Trinidad for a couple of days, then spending a couple of days in Grenada and will spend the last few in Guyana. What an adventure for them! I'm excited for our family to visit the mission next spring.

My ankle isn't giving me too much trouble. It's just a hassle more than anything. We are having a district meeting up in Castries tomorrow and all of us have conspired to make it ugly-tie-Tuesday!

The scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 4:20-25.

Angels to protect me.

Things are about the same here. We have a nice new investigator named Toya. She is progressing rather well and she came to church this past week. We are happy about the steps that she is taking. We met her when we were wandering through a shabby looking neighborhood and she called us out. She wanted to know what "a couple of white boys were doing in the ghetto". We didn't have time to really talk to her then so we passed by again a couple days later and she let us in to have a chat with her. She can read but doesn't understand written language very well. It just doesn't click in her head. We have taught her 3 or 4 times and she came to our Book of Mormon study class at the church on Wednesday night. She is getting to understand things better and asks good questions. She has 4 kids. I have only met 2 of them, one is about 9 months old and the other is about 5 years old. She isn't married but her boyfriend died about 6 months ago.

On a sad note though, we visited with a less-active named Chervonne and she has been messed up by her friends. She doesn't even believe in Jesus Christ any more. We spent many hours this week trying to help her but so far it hasn't been working.

This picture is from Faux's blog:


Anyway, Elder Barker and I are really glad to be alive today. We had a really close call yesterday while we were trying to go to a lesson in town. Here is a video of me explaining what happened. (Just know that we are both completely okay. I was on the outside and was by far the closer one to departing this life. In my estimation I was only about a foot away actually. If I hadn't jumped...)



Basically the car was going too fast as it went around the corner and the driver lost control. That spun the car around backwards and it slid towards us doing about 75 kph. It slid through the place where I had been standing when I jumped and continued for another 20 feet before it hit a cement wall. By the time the dust settled my heart rate had returned to normal. I'm sure it looked cool to the people who saw it. There was a huge cloud of dust and then two missionaries walking out unscathed. It confirmed the line in my patriarchal blessing that says I will have angels to protect me and that I will have witness borne to me of their watchful care from time to time. The people in the car got out and looked fine so we went on our way.

My last zone conference is on Friday this week. Speaking of the end of my mission, all of the missionaries that came out with me made it through to the end. We'll all be going home on the 27th. (Actually a couple are being picked up).

The scripture of the week is Matthew 5:44-45.