Loving St. Lucia

Good Morning,

Poor Sister Hodge got Chickunguyna.  She has been sick since Friday and has been resting a lot.  Hopefully she gets better soon and I don't get it.

There were a few activities at the church this week.  The Relief Society had a baking activity where Sister Gubler came and demonstrated how to bake cookies.  It was a lot of fun.  Then on Saturday we had branch Karaoke.  It was also fun.  A lot of people came and sang.  I love how close the branch is.  They are like family and are very united.

Even though Sister Hodge was sick we still got some good lessons earlier during the week.  Wee showed the Restoration movie to scuba man, Victor.  He loved it and was smiling the whole time.  He said "interesting" a lot.  Then he said the movie made him happy and brightened his day.  He is one funny man.  He loves learning about the gospel.  We also had some great lessons with Kisha''s family.  They are such a great family and want to progress.  They just have some family challenges to overcome.  she wants her son to be baptized but he lives with his dad and is only with her on the weekends.  We can work with that.  We saw George the Fisherman at his Fish Shack.  He gave us another fish, let us each have a bake, and gave us...octopus soup.  It was chewy and delicious.

Eating fish

Eating Fish

Octopus soup

Eating octopus soup

Miracle of the Week:  Niki.  We met Niki about a week ago at her friends house.  She is about thirty and has a son.  She was very interested in the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation.  Last week we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and life after death.  She said it brought her a lot of comfort.  We asked her if she would be baptized if she came to know that what we share is true and she said yes.  We were not able to see her this week but we called.  She read from the Book of Mormon and loved it.  She is amazing.

Thanks for everything you all do.  I love being here in St. Lucia.  The people are amazing and I love te4aching them the gospel and helping them live it.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Lentils and dumplings made by Sister Shirts

Learning to cook in Trinidad has paid off.  Trini meal made by Sister Shirts

Coconut

St. Lucia Beach

Sunset in St. Lucia

Flooding the Caribbean with the Book of Mormon

Good Morning,

The West Indies Mission is flooding the Caribbean with the Book of Mormon.  We are teaching about the Book of Mormon and from the Book of Mormon more than ever before.  We have already seen so many miracles as we focus on this volume of scripture and we are excited to continue to see results.  We are placing many each week.  The response is great.  I love the power of the Book of Mormon.

We met a cool guy named Victor.  He holds the record for the most scuba dives in the world.  He is famous :).  He was grateful for the copy of the Book of Mormon we gave him and is excited to start reading.

Unfortunately there is a mosquito disease called Chickunguna going around the Caribbean.  Several elders have it and a lot of members got it as well.  I hope I don't get it.  Mosquitoes love to bite here.

Sister Shelton came from St. Vincent to show us around the area.  She is great.  She was here for a few days and now we don't get lost anymore.  I love St. Lucia.  It is beautiful and the people are great.  Sister Hodge and I found a way to get to their hearts and gain their trust.  By learning their language Patwah (creole).  They love teaching us new words and phrases and several have even said it helps them feel more comfortable with us because we are embracing the culture.  It is sweet.  It is like a broken French.

Miracle of the Week:  Tyson.  Tyson had met with missionaries for a while but decided to take a break.  We found him in our area book and gave him a call.  He was super excited to hear from us.  He is 18 and is searching for the right church.  We talked about the Restoration and the spirit was very strong.  Awesome potential priesthood holder.  He has a lot of great questions that can be answered by the gospel.

Well...We had an amazing week.  I really enjoy it here and I am glad I get to serve here.  Thanks for all the support.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Fish with guava jam

 New Apartment

 

P day at the beach

Holding a sea sponge

Greetings From St. Lucia

Good Morning from St. Lucia!

My last few days in Chaguanas was great.  On Monday I got my last doubles.  They were delicious.  Saying goodbye was sad as expected,  I am going to miss everyone.  Brother Deonarinesingh and Sister Geeta cried, Brother Patrick gave me a crab head he had been saving for me, and everyone fed us a lot of food.  I met a lot of great people in the area.  I was there for eight months.  I am excited for Sister Herrick and Sister Reddy to see a lot of progress.

Brother Patrick made us curry Tilapia and the Deonarinesinghs made us curry mango, chicken and roti.  Satesh got up extra early one morning and made me some sada roti and delicious breakfast aloo and brought it to the house meeting.

I got to St. Lucia on Friday morning.  Sister Hodge didn't come in until after lunch so I spent time with the Gublers (the senior couple).  Then they showed us around the area so we knew where the church was and where to get groceries.  We spent the afternoon trying to find places, cleaning the apartment, and getting food.  Our apartment is huge and is awesome.

Sister Hodge is a great missionary.  She really wants to work hard and can teach very well.  She has been out for about six months.  She gets to drive so I don't have to :).  This is her first time driving on the left side of the road.

Miracle of the Week:  We had an amazing lesson with the branch mission leader.  He has been a member since February.  He really wants the area to progress and you can see a light in his eyes.  He told us about how he really had to change his life around and he is very grateful for the gospel.

As always...thanks for everything.  The work is going great here in St. Lucia!!

Love,

Sister Shirts


Last pictures from Trinidad:

With Brother Patrick in the same place as the first time she met him and took a picture

Brother Thomas

Last Yougurtland on Pday

Last Doubles

Pictures from St. Lucia:

Making cookies on the stovetop because the oven wouldn't light

View from the church

Last Days In Trinidad

We had two holidays this week.  Eid and Independence Day.  Eid is a Muslim holiday and a lot of people fed us food.  The usual Indian food:  curry aloo and chana, curry shrimp, curry chicken, roti...the usual good stuff.  Sawine is also very popular on that day.  It is pretty much noodles in a cinnamon milk stuff.  It was pretty good.  Independence day involved a lot of people partying and drinking but we were able to stay away from most of it.  It was a great day to teach because a lot of people were home with their families.

Sawine

Eid dinner

Sister Reddy is an amazing missionary and I am glad we got to serve together in a trio for a few days.  She is a great teacher and I feel like I am leaving the area in good hands.

I had a bad head cold for a few days bit I am pretty much better now.  Just have a cough left.  We all got sick.  Probably from all the rain ;).  We had a combined sports day with Couva ward in Couva.  It was fun and we played cricket and football.  My favorite was playing football on the muddy football field.  We were all slipping and sliding in the mud and we had some great food.  The members and investigators really enjoyed it.  Activities really help the church come together and is also a great tool for missionary work.

Brother Patrick shared his testimony with us.  The spirit was very strong as he shared his short simple, sweet testimony.  I am going to miss him a lot.  He talked about how his life has been changed since he met the missionaries and how thankful he is.  He really turned his life around.  He drank a lot of rum before and smoked a lot and now he doesn't do any of it and is a church going man.  He is an example of how powerful the gospel can be.

Miracle of the Week:  We found three great young men to start teaching.  Potential Priesthood holders!  They were excited to hear about their potential as sons of God and how they can become like him.  The branch really needs them and we are excited to work with them.  We also found two great families to start teaching that want to follow Christ.

I am excited to head out to St. Lucia on Wednesday morning.  Great things will happen!

Love,

Sister Shirts


Opening coconuts