Tortola

Safe Harbor

June 2013

You may remember the first picture from our apartment’s view here in Tortola of Sir Francis Drake Channel and other BVI islands. To the right is a safe harbor that can be seen on the right hand side of the picture – it is called Paraquita Bay. This is a harbor used only during the hurricane season to keep the fleets of sail boats out of harm’s way when the serious winds and rain come. The series of pictures show, over time, how the number of boats increase as the hurricane season approaches.



July 2013

Most of these boats are used in the charter fleets and there are a bunch – we do not know how many charter companies there are but it is said that Tortola is the sailing capital of the Caribbean. As the summer gets hotter and the threat of bad weather increases, the charter services move their boats into our harbor. It is fun to watch from our balcony as they have to negotiate a shallow, narrow entry point into the bay. Some of the sail boats have to wait until a competent sailor is available to bring them through the shallows.



August 2013

After the threat of bad weather has passed, the boats sail back to their original docks and are prepared for the sailing season which starts in November.



It is fun to live with a “safe harbor” nearby. It is ever so much more special to have the gospel of Jesus Christ as the safe harbor of our lives. It has been a privilege to teach the Plan of Salvation to our investigators here in Tortola. We are so blessed to have the gospel; it is truly our “safe harbor”.

September 2013



Tortola

Hastening the Work

Last Saturday, September 28^th, was a wonderful day. Our Tortola Branch was blessed with two baptisms. On the beautiful sparkling white sand at Long Bay Beach, 35 members of the Tortola Branch arose early to be there at 7:00 A.M. They came to witness the baptism of Selena, age 9 and also Chela, a beautiful young woman who is originally from Haiti. These lovely daughters of our Heavenly Father were baptized in the warm turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Two stalwart sisters from our branch gave the talks on baptism and the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Our mission president, Pres. Smartt happened to be in town and that made the experience even more special.

On Sunday, Sept. 29^th, our 2 newest members were confirmed. We had 50 people in attendance which makes twice this month that our attendance has been in the 50’s. We are thrilled because it had been in the 30’s this past summer. Things are looking up for Tortola and we are happy to be a small part of the work of our Heavenly Father.

Tortola

Missionary Transfer

Hello from the beautiful island of Tortola, BVI. It has been really hot here and humid of course! Tropical storm ‘Dorius’ came through this week which upped the humidity a lot! It rained a lot more than usual but didn’t do any wind damage. We passed ‘Dorius’ on over to Puerto Rico with our greetings.

After 2 months here, we have adjusted to life on this island. As we have said before, it is a very VERTICAL island with a lot of our members living “High on a Mountain Top”! Also, basically it is just a hugh rock so nothing much grows here in the way of produce. We really miss the Saturday “Farmers Market” on St. Kitts where we could buy almost any fresh produce. I could even make my Zucchini Chowder there!

We wanted to send a photo of our fabulous Tortola “keyboard” students. Because school is out, we teach keyboard lessons during the day and then every evening (because most people work) we are visiting less-active members and investigators. Not everyone is always thrilled to see us but we always tell them how much they are missed and how much they are needed! Only Tortola and one other island does not have their own chapel, we really need to increase attendance so that they can get the chapel they deserve!!

Two weeks ago we lost our set of Elders and for the first time ever, two Sister missionaries arrived on our island. One is the trainer, Sister Parker, and the second is a BRAND NEW missionary, Sister Calderon from El Salvador. Sister Calderon doesn’t speak much English, which is hard on an English speaking island, but she is really coming along. She is so sweet and humble, she has a strong testimony and really seems to love the work. Both have been members for only two years. They come to our apartment every Monday morning to read their weekly emails and do their laundry. Tuesday mornings we have a “District” meeting together. Not a huge district (4) but a great district none the less!

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 46^th 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.

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.

St Kitts

Visitors

The past couple weeks have been special for us. We have had the opportunity to have family visit us here on St. Kitts and we have enjoyed their company. You must remember that our social life here is mainly between us and the two young elders on the island.

Our daughter Melissa and son-in-law, Brady stopped by St. Kitts on their way home from the Dominican Republic (they spent a w
eek there) the end of April. We say on their way home even though they spent the entire day trying to get here from there. We were able to show them a few places on the island – Brimstone Fort and Shipwreck Bay with its monkeys and beautiful beach. They were also able to shop for tourist stuff at Zante pier – pirate items sell well.

They were here for only a couple days but we were able to do some snorkeling while at Shipwreck. There is a small reef along the beach and the fish and starfish are neat to see.

After spending only a couple days with us (sadly) they left with full suit cases to make their way back home to Utah. It was so great to be with them.

This last week, Chad and Sheryl (brother and sister-in-law) came to visit and take some R&R. Chad is a bishop and needed some time to relax – no phone service here – it was great for him. Arrived Monday afternoon and left very early Saturday morning. They stayed with us and at the Marriott for a couple days. Visiting the pier and snorkeling at Shipwreck was on our agenda. Elder Costley really enjoys the home-made cheese burgers at Shipwreck – what a treat and the best on the island. Some branch members had suggested we take Chad & Sheryl to “Reggae Beach” on Friday night for Lobster Fest. You have to make reservations well in advance – which we did. It was indeed a feast and a wonderful way to end a visit.

Both sets of visitors were introduced to a few members of our branch and spent time visiting with them. We were so happy to have them visit us here – what a blessing for our branch members to meet other members of the true church.

There is an on-going open invitation for you to visit us anytime!

Dominican Republic

Temple Trip

 

On Wednesday, April 10^th we flew to Puerto Rico. We were picked up at the airport by one of the San Juan couple missionaries and taken to the mission office. Of course we checked our mailbox first and found some mail and 2 boxes of goodies from our daughters. Aah – missionaries love to receive mail and packages!! We ran some errands in San Juan (have we mentioned that everyone speaks Spanish there)? Ha Ha! We stayed over-night with Elder and Sister Pietz again, they are so good to us!

Early Thursday morning, Elder Pietz drove the large mission van packed with senior couple missionaries to the airport for our trip to the Santa Domingo temple in the Dominican Republic. The flight took about an hour and then a pre-arranged driver drove all of us and our luggage to the temple “patron” housing on the temple lot, about a 30 minute drive. The Santa Domingo Temple was absolutely gorgeous! The temple grounds were so beautiful and well manicured. There was a cute lady standing by the door as all the senior couples got out of the van and she said, ”Oh, mucho misioneros!”

At the temple, we were so happy to meet up with the beautiful Persaud family from St. Kitts that we have been privileged to teach the temple preparation classes and help them to come to the temple. The next day, Bro. and Sister Persaud were sealed to each other first and then Theodore (11) and Tiffany (15) were brought in and sealed to them. It filled our hearts with joy to witness this event and they were so happy they were just shining. Our suggestion to our children, in an email, was to enjoy your temples that are close at hand because people here have to save up for years to be able to go because the airfare is so expensive. This temple trip will be one of the high-lights of our mission. We are so thankful that we were able to go.