Friday, June 28, 2013

Tortola

Driving on the Island 

We have been in Tortola now for a couple weeks and have found the island has some very steep and narrow roads with beautiful views of the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. You can imagine that there is little flat ground here and what there is, is occupied by buildings. The main city, Road Town, has some very nice buildings – the government buildings all look good.

Driving here, like all of the little islands in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission, is on the left side of the road – like in England. However, unlike St Kitts where our car – a Toyota, Rav 4 had right hand steering, our car here – a Suzuki, Grand Vitara has left hand steering (like the USA). This has led to some interesting moments for MB who sits closest to center of the road – she has to tell me to ‘move over’ and it is usually said with some urgency!

This past week, on Saturday, we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary – we had a special dinner on the waterfront. On Sunday, after our Tortola Meetings, we boarded the ferry to travel to the island of Virgin Gorda. Pictured in the photo with us are the young Elders and the new Tortola Branch President, Pres. Lyerly and his wife Toni. They live on Virgin Gorda. We held a second sacrament meeting for the members living there.

We are continuing our member and leader support roles here on Tortola and have found and talked to some members who have not been to church for quite a while. They are very friendly toward us and have invited us back for more discussion.

The branch is having a send-off party this weekend for the recently released branch president who is returning to Hawaii – he has been in a leadership role for about 14 years here so he will be sorely missed!  We are grateful to have been able to work with him for these two weeks before he departs for his home there. He has helped prepare missionaries to serve from this small branch – he has four in the field now with two more going out by September and another waiting for his call. Seven full time missionaries from a branch of about 110 – WOW! What great work.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Tortola


Transferred
We are on the move and have been transferred from St Kitts, West Indies to the island of Tortola, British Virgin Islands.  We are out near the east end of the island in another apartment that has a fabulous view of the Caribbean Sea – check it out.

Tortola has a population of about 25,000 and a church membership of about 120.Tortola doesn’t have its own chapel, the branch uses a rented building in the main part of Road Town. We are on the island with a set of young elders – one of which we served with on St Kitts. The Tortola Branch has sent out four missionaries of their own with two others soon to serve in NY and the Dominican Republic. A seventh missionary is waiting for his call. WOW! All from this small branch. We have a number of dedicated families here that love the gospel and have sent their children into the world to share it.

Our apartment is one of six in the building that is set up on a hill and overlooks a safe harbor (during hurricane season) called Paraquita Bay. The best view is of Sir Francis Drake Channel – this is where the cruise ships maneuver as they are coming into the main port of Road Town. Across the channel is a view of Peter Island – a private island where we wish some of you would come and stay for a week and we would slip over to visit – check it out at peterisland.com.

MB had started teaching piano keyboard lessons on St Kitts and continues to do so here. The YM/YW are pretty good at it. They also lead the music on Sunday. They are a joy to work with. It was really hard to leave the sweet branch members on St. Kitts but we know we will grow to love and appreciate the members here on Tortola.
Picture of the main port city of Road Town, Tortola from the hills above.