Because Eating Chicken Feet Isn't Strange Enough...

Good Morning,

Good news.  Sister Hodge is all better and ready to work hard.  Something we have found very successful is using Mormon Messages.  My challenge to everyone is to find your favorite Mormon message and post it on your Facebook page.  It is a great way to share the gospel and it is easy.

I love my study time as a missionary.  I have learned so much about the gospel and how to apply it in my life.  I have learned a lot about myself and about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and this knowledge will help me and my family throughout my life.  I am grateful for this opportunity to focus on studying the gospel.

Tyson is doing well. He has been reading from the Book of Mormon and has been praying. Kisha and her family are doing great as well. Every Sunday we have Family Home Evening at a member family's house with all the missionaries. They are awesome and are like our St. Lucia family. Kisha's family is becoming like our St. Lucia family too.

Patois is coming along well. The members love helping us learn new words and phrases. Tyson also likes to help us learn. We saw George the fisherman again. This time he gave us octopus and conch soup. It was good and chewy. He also let us help him chop turtle meat and let us try some of that too. It was delicious. It is kind of like steak and chicken mixed together. He had us try some of the green turtle fat and part of the turtle wing as well. Turtle fat isn't my favorite.

 

Chopping Turtle Meat

 

 

Eating Turtle

Turtle

Miracle of the week: Jack. Jack is Kisha's 11 year old son and he is super excited to be baptized.  Because he wants to be baptized it has helped motivate his mom and his sister to be baptized as well. His example is helping a lot of people. Another miracle out of the story is Kisha's sister in law also wants to be baptized on the same day and when her son turns 8 he wants to be baptized as well. Love that family a lot.

Love you all,

Sister Shirts

Pokemon door at someone's house

P day at Laborie Beach

Chicken on the beach.  They are everywhere.

Dead Pufferfish

Coconut

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