Puerto Rico

Great Lunch

Tuesday this week was a special day for our missionaries here in Caguas. As we are preparing to return home from our mission we have found that our cupboards are not empty. Our apartment will probably be closed after we leave for home next week, so to help us reduce our food supply Sister MB went to work.

Using her great cooking skills she prepared a scrumptious lunch for the six missionaries serving in the Caguas Ward – four sisters and two elders. After their district meeting was concluded she served up spaghetti, corn, bread and a very nice green salad. They ate it all and still had room for a Pistachio dessert.

During the meal they were asked to share with us their feelings about the importance of their missionary service. What a treat it was for us to listen to them and feel the  spirit they carry. As servants of the Lord they are working hard to share the gospel message with the residents of this beautiful valley and are seeing success.

What a blessing it is for us to be able to serve with them. We love all of our missionaries.

Puerto Rico

Changes and More

Last week was sad because two of our fabulous “Senior” couples finished their mission and left us. We will really miss them! We were already sad because our wonderful mission president had to be released early because of some family health problems. President and Sister Smartt will be sorely missed by all the missionaries in the Puerto Rico San Juan mission. On a happier note, we are privileged to have Elder and Sister Zwick come to guide our mission until the new “permanent” mission president comes in July.

A few days ago we had an “All Mission” conference. President Zwick told us that soon there would be 90,000 missionaries serving in the world. Wow! He reminded us of the importance of humility and unity in all we do in “hastening  the work”. He stressed unity between companions, members, and investigators. He said that we need a culture of obedience in our mission, we need to serve with exactness and teach by our example. The people of Puerto Rico are praying for a temple of their own, with unity and hard work between members and the missionaries, that goal can be accomplished.

Sister Garcia in our Cagaus ward asked Sister MB to come and help the third graders at her school make greeting cards and especially a Mother’s Day card. The students at Escuela Elemental Pedro Millan Rivera were very enthusiastic and a lot of fun! We took two “young” sister missionaries along to help and it was just a great experience for all!

Puerto Rico

Fun Things

Creating Cards

We have a wonderful new YW President here in our Caguas ward who just returned from her mission to Mexico 3 months ago.  She asked if Sister MB had any fun ideas. One suggested idea was making greeting cards that the girls could give out to members of the ward. The girls enjoyed the activity and you will notice in the photo that a couple of Sister Missionaries even joined in. They were all very creative with the cards and really enjoyed the evening. Also, the girls tried out their English skills and Sister MB tried out her Spanish. It was a fun evening.

After the Test

Part of our assignment here in Puerto Rico is to oversee the Companionship English Language Study Program. Two weeks ago we had a wonderful Elder from Guatemala who needed to take the Language Proficiency test before his departure from the mission. He was assigned in the city of Adjuntas but needed to take the test at the chapel (with high speed internet) in the city of Utuado. Last week we went up to transport him and his companion to the Utuado chapel. We were happy to do it, the only problem there is an extremely curving, winding, narrow road in between cities.  We made it, just a little dizzy when we got there! Good thing Elder NB was NOT dizzy when he was driving! Elder Delcompare did an excellent job on his test, he scored an “Advanced” score on the certificate we gave him. Gotta love those Elders!

Standing above the Dish

We were able to visit the Arecibo Observatory which is built into the mountains south of Arecibo, PR and is 1,000 feet in diameter. It is a radio telescope that has been in operation since 1963 and has made a number of important discoveries. The observatory has also been a couple of movies including a James Bond 007, the movie Contact and Species. It is a very impressive piece of engineering.

Puerto Rico

Holidays on the Island

Thanksgiving Day, 2013, was great. We spent the day at a missionary zone conference attended by President J. Devn Cornish of the Caribbean Area Presidency, and President and Sister Smartt. We received great counsel and words of wisdom that inspired us to become better missionaries. MB added some little turkeys to the luncheon.

Our Christmas Holidays were made so special by the fun visit of Elder Costley’s sister, Kevon and her husband Brent Miller. They were so much fun! We did lots of traveling including the Island of Vieques . We were able to attend church there and enjoyed visiting with the four elders assigned to that island. We finished up their visit with a trip to “Old San Juan”. We love you Kevon and Brent!

Elder and Sister Costley and the four “young” Elder and Sister missionaries in our Caguas Ward were asked to share a talent at the ward Christmas party. NB got to work with the scissors and we all did the silhouette puppet show to the song “Mary’s Boy Child”. It turned out great.  We so enjoyed the dinner and visiting with the ward members – in English.  Our Spanish is still very limited. MB contributed the little “Reindeer” cupcakes.

 

 

Each “Zone” in our mission was invited to Pres. Smartt’s home for a lovely Christmas luncheon of good old American food. We had a great visit with the president and his family for a couple hours – a Christmas treat.

 

 

 

Puerto Rico

Good-by Song

Hello Puerto Rico

Good-bye to Tortola – we bid a fond farewell to you from the bottom of our hearts. We have spent five months on this beautiful island helping the members and the branch leadership. They helped us in return with their love and strong testimonies of the gospel. There are so many choice families here and we will miss them so much! They are just about ready to send their 7^th missionary out, that is just a fabulous record for a small island branch.

Good-by Poem

The night before we left we were called over to the chapel for a mysterious meeting. SURPRISE!  They threw a very sweet going away party for us. It was so fun to see everyone for the last time. There was lots to eat and a little program of appreciation. They had the Primary children sing to us and all our piano students played a piece. The Seminary students had all made cards and two of them read a poem they had written for us. Needless to say that our hearts were really touched with their love and kindness.

 

 

We have been transferred to Puerto Rico – assigned to the office but will see very little of it. The elders and sisters of our mission live in about sixty (60) apartments throughout the island and the first thing we have been asked to do is visit and inspect each one, each month. Yes, a big task – the island is 110 miles long by 40 miles wide - but we like to drive, see new places, and love meeting all the wonderful missionaries!

We live in the town of Caguas, PR, which is south of San Juan (depending on traffic) 20 minutes to an hour. Fortunately, we do not have to drive to San Juan very often and if we do, we leave early to try to miss some of the rush hour traffic to make sure we arrive on time.

The second thing we are to do is check and report the status of the Companion Language Study for the missionaries who are learning English as a second language. Page 128 in Preach My Gospel states that every missionary (wherever they are serving in the world) should learn English. This formal program helps the Latin missionaries learn English with the help of their English speaking companion during their daily study time. We are encouraging all of them to take advantage of this time – it will make a big difference in their lives when they return home.

We look forward to being with each missionary on Puerto Rico on a regular basis and are thankful for this new challenge.

Tortola

Halloween




Cupcake Walk

The Young Men and Young Women of the Tortola Branch were looking for a service project – it was suggested that they throw a Halloween Party for the primary-age children. With a lot of planning and hard work by MB it was a FABULOUS Halloween party in a country that doesn’t celebrate Halloween!! Everyone loves a good party, right?

Magic Tricks

The YM/YW manned the cupcake walk, face painting, magic tricks, decorate your own paper jack-o-lantern, Halloween memory game, skeleton scavenger hunt, and some other misc. games like musical chairs. The sister missionaries did a “mummy” wrap game using TP that was a lot of fun. The evening drew to a close with a presentation from a little drama group composed of half members and half non-members directed by a member of the branch. They presented “Little Red Riding Hood” with a Halloween twist. The play was great and concluded the evening’s activities.

Zip Zap

We had 51 people in attendance including adults and they had a great time. Every child received a “Trick or Treat” bag to take home which included goodies and (of course) fake Dracula fangs and a spider ring. We noticed that the adults on hand had just as much fun as the children in fact; one almost won the musical chairs. We love these fabulous members of the Tortola Branch.


Musical Chairs



Tortola

Primary Program

Sunday, October 20^th, the Tortola Branch primary children presented the sacrament meeting presentation entitled “I am a Child of God”. It was a delightful program and we believe that these children are the most darling ever! Sister Costley has been assisting by teaching them the songs for the program over the past few months and they have done a great job learning them. One hurdle to overcome is that their attendance at church is kind of sketchy, here one week and not the next (not their fault but their parents). On the day of the program four “new” children came for the first time but they just joined in and seemed to enjoy being in the program! One of their favorite songs and the one they sang the best was “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” which they sang with gusto. It brought tears to our eyes as we thought – here is the future of this sweet Branch – a second generation of strong and beautiful sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. The future will be in good hands.

The church picture we use that shows the Savior and his love and care for children is perfect for the Caribbean because the children in the picture are all different races. It has been so fun and a special privilege to teach the little children here and to tell them how much their Heavenly Father loves them and wants each of them to return to him some day.

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.

St Kitts

YW 'New Beginnings'

The St. Kitts Young Women enjoyed a great evening on Tuesday, April 2^nd.presenting “Once Upon a Time, a Night of New Beginnings”.  Before the evening began, the girls (and guests who desired) each created a royal crown. Sister Kristin Larsen, the YW President started the evening off with a talk about the importance of each woman to her Heavenly Father. This was followed by a very clever power point presentation entitled “Snow White and the Seven Values”. The girls were each featured as a YW value. Sister Costley gave a talk on the importance of the Personal Progress program. A special part of the night was the video of Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled “Your Once Upon a Time Story”. The girls sang “Happily Ever After” as a closing song. After the closing prayer, yummy refreshments were enjoyed by all.

It was really a lovely evening. St. Kitts has wonderful Young Women and great leaders!

From St Kitts

Easter Sunday

We had a lovely Easter Sunday here on St. Kitts.  We stopped to pick up Bro. Hodge from the Cardin “nursing home”.  Bro. Hodge is blind and enjoys it when Elder Costley reads to him from the Book of Mormon. It was Fast Sunday and Elder Costley asked him if he wanted to bear his testimony, he said yes and that he wanted to sing a song. He did a very good job and a few of the members even joined in the chorus.

In the evening, the R.S. sisters had organized an Easter musical fireside entitled, “He is Risen”. All the organizations presented musical numbers. The YW sang two songs. The R.S. chorus sang “All Creatures of Our God and King”, the Priesthood chorus sang “Redeemer of Israel”. Sister Avery Young (the Branch Seminary teacher) and I sang “If the Savior Stood Beside Me”. Bro. Hodge sang another great song, “Were You There”, and the evening finished up with several other solos and duets. It was a very spiritual and wonderful Easter Sunday. The St. Kitts branch loves to sing!

“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads”    (D&C 25:12).

From Nevis

Senior Sister on Nevis

Two weeks ago we were asked to support a mission action that stationed two senior sisters (they were serving on the island of Antigua) to our neighboring island of Nevis. The saints that live there are a dependent group and part of our St Kitts Branch with no full time missionaries. The sisters (one from SLC and the other from Layton) were being sent to assist in preparing a branch sister who was called to serve a mission to Trinidad, West Indies.

Our job was to pick them up from the Nevis airport (very small), get them settled into the mission apartment with groceries and then introduce them to a few of the members. We stayed one night because of their late arrival and ferry schedule then made them acquainted with the members and the area. Then we departed leaving behind the mission pickup truck that the young St. Kitts elders usually drive so that the sisters would have transportation.

The two sister missionaries went right to work in the community teaching and making contacts – following up with a list of contacts from the area book that the elders had left for them. They were very busy for two weeks helping the members, speaking in their church service and supporting the members in any way they could. They have been companions for a few months so they know how to work together. Unfortunately, the sister they were sent to assist had some complication with her work and was not able to depart on her mission as planned.

This past Wednesday we took the ferry back to Nevis and were able to deliver the sisters to the airport for their return flight to Antigua. They have left follow-up work for us as we are on Nevis at least once a month. What a privilege to know Sister Miller (left) and Sister Stoddard. Sister Miller is returning home in April, she will be greatly missed.

From St Kitts

Scrapbooking

Here in St. Kitts we just love a young couple from Idaho (the Larsens). Bro. Larsen is going to Ross – a really good veterinary school on the island. Three other members of the branch are here from the states studying at the same school. They all have major callings in the branch – what a great help they are. Brother Larsen is the Branch Mission Leader and is also a counselor in the Elders Quorum while Sister Larsen is the YW President.

We were chatting with Sister Larsen about the YW and how we love the girls. She asked if MB could do an activity with the girls that would help them develop new skills. MB went into her memory bank and recalled a cute little “mini scrapbook” that the Kaysville girls made at girl’s camp last summer. She was able to find the brown paper lunch bags at a fabric store (go figure?). Note: there was also a canned ham there J - WOW! She also found some ribbon and even some ric -rack at another fabric store. All the little things came together. There is no scrapbook paper to be found here so the next best thing – we used some cute wrapping paper for the outside cover. Before leaving home MB stuffed some flowers, brads and other things into her suitcase for just such an occasion.

The girls were very creative and had a good time spending over two hours making their scrapbooks. The leaders enjoyed making theirs as much as the girls. They may be a small group but they are just VERY excellent young women! It was really fun for MB to get to know them all better.  In the photo, Sis. Larsen is standing next to MB in the back and the two little YW are the younger sisters of one of the girls.

From St Kitts

Family Fun Night

Our assignment is to work with members and leaders in the St Kitts branch which includes two islands – St Kitts and Nevis. They are a sovereign nation with a population of about 70,000.

We are visiting member to help and encourage them in their callings and assist when requested. A couple weeks ago the branch held a family fun activity night conducted by the branch presidency. We attended and it turned out to be fun for even us old birds. One of the games we played was -  Do You Love Your Neighbor ? The person who is ‘IT’ stands in the center of the circle with everyone seated and he/she asks a person the question ‘Do You Love Your Neighbor’? The seated person answers yes or no. If yes then the ‘IT’ person asks another seated person. If the answer is no then the ‘IT’ asks what don’t you love? Then they answer that they don’t love something (black shoes, short pants, T-shirts, etc). Anyone having the stated item has to change seats and the new ‘IT’ person is the last one standing. The game can get really crazy at times.

Another game we played was the cookie game where you place a cookie on your forehead and move it to your mouth by moving your face. We saw some real character faces during this game – the children loved eating the cookies even if they had trouble moving them. The adults where more successful in completing the task of moving the cookie to their mouth and eating them.

We were able to get to know more of the members better during this “Family Fun Night”. We are looking forward to another one next month.