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.