As the elders from Castries were coming to Vieux Fort on Monday (preparation day) to spend the day with our elders we took advantage of the morning to pay some bills and do some shopping. Before leaving the apartment Sister Faux wondered if we ought to eat a little something before just in case the elders came to use the computer before we got back. Elder Faux assured her we would have plenty of time. Bad call. On the way back to the apartment we get a telephone call from the elders asking if it would be OK if they came to use the computer. We arrived at the apartment and four of the six elders are on the porch awaiting our arrival. Eventually the other two elders arrive and then, even later in the afternoon, the two sister missionaries from Castries also arrive. They had accepted an invitation to have lunch with President and Sister Nicholas and were now wondering about e-mail as well. The elders had lunch at Scooby’s so we didn’t have to be concerned about them. So for the afternoon we had a houseful of missionaries, which we did enjoy, except for the hunger pangs. We had district meeting on Friday rather than Tuesday and glad for that as we had the chance to spend some time with Elder and Sister Whitehead. They are the mission humanitarian couple and were in Castries to finish up a project. We met them once before and it was good to see them again. Our most exciting event of the week was the baptism of eleven year old Gabriella. Elders Westover and Brague have been teaching and working with her so this will be Elder Brague’s first baptism. She moved in with her grandmother, Celina and her nine year old aunt, Shazi, a few months back, both of whom were baptized in June. She has wanted to be baptized but the main delay was in finding her father to get his consent-which he readily gave. At another time Celina had two other grandchildren living with her that became quite interested in the church. Their father became aware of this and immediately took them to live with him. Elders Packer and Welch were also planning a baptism on Friday of a twenty three year old young lady. She is a member of a paramilitary unit which had a planned excursion to St Vincent. The baptism was to take place before she left but, typical of the West Indies, last minute plan changes were made and she ended up in St Vincent rather than in the waters of baptism. Needless to say the elders were disappointed, especially Elder Packer as he departs for home on Tuesday and was hopeful of a baptism to end his mission on. We have been impressed with Elder Packer’s dedication and work ethic. His shortness of time has not diminished his zeal for furthering the work. He has been a great example to us.
Sister Faux: Last Sunday we invited the Sister Missionaries and Elder and Sister Treseder , the couple from Castries to speak in our Sacrament Meeting. That turned out good except Elder Treseder did not speak because the president felt the time was up. So he will have to come later and speak. After the meetings were over we invited them to come and have dinner with us. That was nice and we became better acquainted with them and had an enjoyable day. Monday I bought some material for a dress and was able to work on that at different times during the week. Have I complained about being tired of all the clothes I brought—well that is what I am doing so will have to find time to sew a little for myself.
I will tell you a little of our day Saturday. We picked up the elders a bit after 7 am to get ready for the baptism. That turned out nice and Gabriella is a very nice young girl. After the baptism we came home and had a little breakfast and then went back to the church to sew. Sister Nicholas finished a skirt and blouse for Olivia and it turned out nice. It was for the holiday today, Jounen Dweyo’l, They wear some very pretty plaids and look nice. We took some pictures of the young girls in the branch today that had the basic dress on. Back to Saturday—I stayed at the church until four, then we had to clean it, Elder Faux and I, We delivered Jeanette’s skirt to her that I finished. Came home for a few minutes and ate a bit, back to the church for Temple class lesson, then home again to pick up our neighbor and take her grocery shopping. I don’t know if you can follow or not but we were up and down the church steps, which are very high, six times—Elder Faux more than that as he came to check on me. Busy day. Today was the holiday Jounen Dweyo’l, and it is the celebration of their heritage and I guess there were celebrations all over town for that. We celebrated by having a lunch at the church. Most people brought dishes to share—a huge pot of Boulron ? (crab & dumplings in sauce), smoked herring , bread fruit, green fig salad (green bananas) avocado—ferine and pear, fresh fish (tuna) and that was quite good. Some kind of apple drink. That is what we had and they enjoyed all of it. I ate a small amount but Elder Faux ate most of his. Enjoyed it???. I took some great American food called brownies…
I thought I would tell you about how the houses look here. Many are built on stilts very high and they sometimes climb about three floors to get to the house. I always wonder about that as I would think as they get older can they manage that? Many of my friends have bad knees, does that not happen here? People are always visiting on the streets, day and night, they have no book to read, no hand sewing to do, sometimes they are with friends or family, sometimes alone. They usually don’t have a nice place to sit but they are always out on the streets. They walk everywhere—it must be miles each day. We go for about a three mile walk and I am tired, I really admire them. They walk alone many times, women alone on dark streets and does not bother them. We Americans must be pansies. Elder Westover and Brague came by tonight to check a problem with our computer. Nice for us when they come. Fixed our computer problem and then we had a banana split. Fun!
We did not go to the William home tonight. Betherlie has a bad cough and we felt she needed the rest and we did not want to catch the cough—so no picture of the famous Miss Boom-Boom. Good night and have a wonderful week. Love, Sister and Elder Faux

Our main event of the week was attending zone conference in Castries on Wednesday. We actually drove to Castries early Tuesday morning so we would be there to help transport the sixteen elders/couple arriving at the Castries airport that same morning. Sister Faux, now that Sister Collins is gone, spearheaded the planning, purchasing, and preparing the food for the zone conference lunch so we needed to in Castries to finalize this as well. With President Gamiette, and his two assistants, plans were made to serve thirty five people. Once we had everyone transported from the airport to the church Elder Faux was given the assignment of taking Sister Faux plus the other three senior sisters shopping for luncheon supplies-mostly. They found a few other places they wanted to shop at as well. One place we shopped was Super J’s, St Lucia’s counterpart to our Albertson’s, Smith Food & Drug, Macey’s, etc. while the sisters were shopping Elder Faux wandered by the in-store pharmacy-where else? The pharmacist, Christopher, by his attire, looked so proper and professional Elder Faux just had to stop and compliment him on his appearance. President Gamiette and the assistants arrived about 2:30 p.m. at which time he started his interviews. Once we had done all that could be for the luncheon we, the couples, waited patiently for President Gamiette so he could join us for dinner. It was not until about 8:30 p.m. that he was finished. As he was staying at the Bay Gardens Resort, and couples Wheeler and Rasmussen were checked in there as well, we decided to eat at the restaurant there since we were already there and it was late. It turned out to be a fine choice-good food, quiet and peaceful atmosphere- looking out over the beach-and reasonable prices. We were thankful that Elder and Sister Treseder had invited us to stay with them for the night as it was 11:30 p.m. when we finally got to bed. A very good zone conference on Wednesday. President Gamiette is a masterful teacher. He divided us into four tables, selected five verses of scripture from the Doctrine Covenants, which at first did not appear that profound, then ask each tablet to search these verses, analyze, and how we could apply them. Each table in turn was then asked to give an analysis with the president and the other tables’ critiquing their report. When finished it was amazing how insightful these five verses turned out to be by using these three principles. The luncheon Sister Faux spearheaded was a delight for the missionaries. It was a joy to see them relish it the way they did including the freshly baked brownies with ice cream for dessert. On our drive back to Vieux Fort a dish in the trunk began to rattle so we stopped to make some adjustments. A few miles later down the highway it was noticed the trunk lid had not been closed tight. Stopping to close it we realized one of Elder Westover’s gym shoes was missing. So we turned around and drove about eight to ten minutes back up the highway before we found it. Upon arriving at the elder’s apartment and starting to unload Elder Brague noticed his backpack was missing. And as soon as he mentioned it I knew it was so because the spot it had packed in was vacant. We really felt bad that one lost gym shoe diverted our attention from Elder Brague’s backpack.
Sister Faux: As Elder Faux has mentioned we enjoyed our time at Zone Conference. It is interesting to prepare the food and watch as the missionaries enjoy it. We have some really great missionaries and we have a nice time as we visit and watch them. It is fun to hear them talk about before their missions and then see how they change and develop in to great men. I ask our four elders last night if they sang in Sacrament Meeting when they were Deacons—most of the comments were that they had not. If you watch in your wards are your Deacons singing? The elders sing loud and clear now and set an example for all of us. Last night we were at the William for family home evening once again. Little Boom Boom will be 10 months old next week and she is walking all over now. We all enjoy her and her cute personality. She takes to the elders and they are cute with her. Well it is getting late and since Elder Faux has covered most of the week’s activities so I will wish each of you a good day and have a great week. Sister Faux

Elder Faux went with Elders Packer and Welch Tuesday afternoon to show them a couple of homes where lessons had been taught before but no follow-up. Our first stop was at Bob’s. His appearance somewhat that of a Rasta man (long hair either in braids or just matted in a big wad, unshaven etc) but he claims not to be. Over the last couple of years he has attended church three times. He claims his reasons for not attending now are due to health problems-diabetes, congestive heart failure, coughing spasms, weakness in the muscles-the list goes on. Also he is friends with an evangelist church minister and feels somewhat obligated to attend there off and on. Our next stop was at Alison’s. One of her first comments was, “I have been wondering where you were and why you haven’t been back.” She lives in the home of an elderly neighbor man who is for all purposes bedfast and whom she takes care of. She was most receptive to the lesson and the elders quite happy with the visit. Wednesday morning the elders came to our apartment for a telecasted zone meeting which included the two districts on St Lucia plus the districts on St Vincent and Grenada. For all purposes it went quite well. Following the telecast it was time for lunch at the local and renowned “Scooby’s”. Then again Elder Faux went with Elders Packer and Welch to do some more visiting. The most interesting visit was with Wirebrush. Finding his home was quite an ordeal. He gave us a general idea of where he lives (there is no such thing as a street address-you live in a general area like La Tourney, La Ressource, Contonement, Cedar Heights ) adding, “Once you are in the area just ask for Wirebrush and anyone can tell you where I live.” We did so and it was interesting that most people were aware of him but not quite sure where he lived. One person would ask another and they another and eventually we found his home. He is somewhat of a ‘born again Christian’ reciting the exact date of his deliverance. We had a fairly good discussion- at whatever time we could get him to stop talking long enough to get a word in. It is fun and interesting to go visiting with the elders and to take part in the teaching. And to be remembered as was the case when we re-visited Bob and Alison.
Sister Faux…Monday after the elders had finished their emailing Elder Faux drove them to Ladera to see that wonderful resort, the ocean scenery and the Pitons. I did not go because I have been several times and no going would make the ride more comfortable for them with only three riding in the back seat. They thought it was beautiful and Elder Packer may come back for his honeymoon—if he can just get a girl friend when he gets home. When the girls find out how nice he is they will be standing in line. Thursday we drove to Castries to meet with the Elder and Sister Treseder to plan the food for zone conference. We had a nice visit and bought some of the food and had lunch together. Zone conference is this coming week and that is always interesting as we hear from President Gamiette and the assistants. Usually we end with a testimony meeting and that is very enjoyable. It is nice to see all (about 22) young missionaries and four couples as we meet together. All 20 elders stay in the apartment under the church. You would have to be young to do that. Our food will be taco salad, brownies and then we buy things they can make for breakfast and we also plan a snack. So we have quite a bit to plan for. Friday afternoon I took the sewing machine to the church to see if any sisters would come there to learn to sew. We had three first timers and then Sister Nicholas. It will take some practice for some to become REAL SEAMSTRESSES. But it was fun as usual even if I was there for almost seven hours. We had Relief Society also and taught about 8 sisters to quilt-making pillow size quilting pieces. We had four pillows that I took and then I made some extra pillows so they would not have to buy new ones. I also made a pan of cinnamon rolls and took the recipe so they could make some if they wanted. We had a very fun evening. As Elder Faux mentioned we have no real street addresses here. The streets are called gaps and sections of the town have different names. When asked where the Church is you explain it is on St Jude’s Highway by the True Value hardware store. It is very confusing. As I have said before it is very humid here and your skin feels moist- only it is really WET not just moist. The water is very soft, for instance as I put liquid soap in the washer I count to six and that is all the soap needed. Do that at home, hold the container over the washer and count to six as the water drips in. Is that enough for a good wash? Oh, an investigators brother made me a dress pattern. I have not tried it but it looks good. That is about it for this week—we still have wonderful elders, and they liked the cinnamon rolls as well. Sister Faux--

We were just about ready to go pick up the elders Monday morning for a preparation day activity when our next door neighbor, medical student Sharon, came bursting through the screen door (whenever we are in the apartment we always keep the main door open so we don’t feel so enclosed). Sharon never knocks, just shouts a hello and walks on in. This morning she was in a panic as she had missed the bus that takes her to school, the first big test of the school year starting in 10 minutes, and no way of getting there. So without waiting for her to ask we volunteered to drive her there. We were glad to help and she told us later that she being just a few minutes late they were somewhat reluctant in letting her in to take the test. So if she had been really late probably no test for her. Picking up our four elders, and cramping the four of them in the backseat, we drove to Soufriere to meet the missionaries from Castries for a preparation day activity. We were pleased to meet Elder and Sister Treseder, the new couple in Castries, who replaced Elder and Sister Collins. We were glad we could spend some of the day with them and become better acquainted. Our activity for the day was touring the Botanical Gardens and viewing the Diamond Waterfall. We have been there before but for those new to the island this is always a must see attraction. We had lunch at nearby ‘Fedo’s’. We thought everyone like to eat here but from the comments we received afterwards we may have to find another eatery. In the evening after the elders finished their e-mails we played water dominos. One person sits out a game taking the place of the loser. The penalty for losing is to drink three 8 ounce glasses of water. The tally for the night: Elders Brague and Faux-six glasses each, Elders Westover-twelve, Elder Welch-fifteen, and Elder Packer- eighteen glasses. A fun evening being with the elders. On Wednesday we drove to Castries for our district meeting. At times , as the lesson is being presented, the material well organized, pertinent scripture references provided, you just look at the district leader and wonder in your mind, “Is he really 19/20 years old?” We tend to associate such teaching skills with older more experienced members. We were happy to be able to watch both General Conference sessions on Saturday-couldn’t get the priesthood session however. Our neighbor, Sheri, invited us and the elders to her apartment as she had a better set up than us. on Sunday we held fast and testimony meeting then for the balance of the schedule watch a video of the morning session of October 2008 conference. After church we were able to watch the afternoon session.
Sister Faux—Along with watching conference, and enjoying it, comes the eating…Saturday we had tacos and I thought that was a good choice because we had them before and they (the elders) seemed to like them. I cooked the largest container of hamburger I could buy and thought that would be plenty, but they ate all of that and said that they had more hamburger at their apartment so I looked in freezer and found another package and cooked that and that disappeared too. I think they were full when they finished. It is good to feed people that like to eat. Today the menu was chicken, sour cream (funeral) potatoes, carrots, fruit salad, fresh homemade French bread and apple pie. That sounds pretty good. I tell you about my cooking and you don’t realize the kind of cooking utensils I have to deal with. Maybe I have complained about it before, but to have you sympathize with me I will tell you again. First of all I have no rolling pin, but a vinegar bottle works, no mixer, no blender, no decent place to roll my pie. I do have a cookie sheet that we bought and two pie plates, a Pyrex casserole dish, almost a 9 x 13, but not quite, just an odd size, I have four plates, 6 cheap silverware, two dull knives, not a decent spatula, like to get brownies or cake out of a pan. And a bunch of more stuff I could do with. Oh, and no bowls, except mixing bowls. We had a nice two days with the elders. We were to have zone conference last week but our mission president was sick so they cancelled it. We will have it the 13/14 October so have to start planning food for that. I have been keeping a note about things I was going to tell you but I can’t find it and my mind is blank, as usual, so this will be short tonight. One more thing- We received a letter last week that was written on Father’s Day so you can see how long it takes some mail to travel. I talk of cooking, sewing and cutting hair as if it were a mission call on its own. However I do know the reason we are here, I know we have a Heavenly Father that loves and takes care of us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior; I know the Holy Ghost is our comforter and friend. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and the President Thomas S Monson is our president and prophet this day. That is the reason we are here and hopefully we can be an example of what we believe. Best wished to all---If you feel guilty about not writing us ---please do so. Love, Sister Faux and Elder Faux
p.s. (Elder Faux) the food was delicious and all the thanks Sister Faux really needed was to see how the elders relished their meals. They were most appreciative, and said so over and over, in addition to washing the dishes both days. Cheri joined with us for each meal as well.