The two most notable events of the week were district meeting in Castries on Tuesday and Thanksgiving Day remembrance on Thursday. We are impressed with the preparation and worthwhile teaching/training that takes place in our district meetings. Tuesday’s meeting was most notable however. When we entered the room we noticed that Elder Christensen, the district leader, had it all set up for the meeting with a projector and screen in place. After the opening formalities; hymn, prayer, reciting of the mission theme, a review of last week’s accomplishments, and the missionary reports, Elder Christensen read a letter from President Gamiette in regards to the importance of being obedient. A couple of observations were made in regards to the letter, which resulted in a few more comments and then you could almost sense the transformation in the feeling that permeated the room. The lesson subject became the blessings that are ours by being obedient. Scripture references and promises were read and discussed. Some personal experiences were shared. Elder Christensen conducted the lesson as though it had been what he had prepared except the projector and screen was never used. After the meeting Elder Christensen was complimented on the great lesson and his reply, “That wasn’t me doing that”. There is no question he was following the promptings of the spirit. The original plans for Thanksgiving were to have the Castries missionaries come to Vieux Fort and we would celebrate together. But in a directive from President Gamiette the missionaries were told if they were invited for dinner they were not to spend more than one hour in the home. To comply with this directive our plan was cancelled since at least three hours travel time would be involved in addition to the dinner time. So we had dinner with our four elders, Randy, and our neighbor Sharon. Dora prepared a scrumptious dinner of fruit salad, sting beans, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes and gravy (you don’t have any idea how hard it is to find a potato masher), cranberry sauce, hot rolls, and chicken in lieu of turkey. She couldn’t find any pumpkin so for pie she prepared a banana cream and a coconut cream. Needless to say It was thoroughly enjoyed and in a way cruel. The elders would have preferred sitting in the shade and letting their meal digest rather than hitting the road-in the sun and on a full stomach.
Sister Faux: When I look at the menu it looks pretty normal—but—as Elder Faux said the potato masher was one great problem. We hunted everywhere to find one and not one anywhere. So the next best thing was to borrow one and that was also a problem. Finally the landlady’s worker said she had one we could borrow. It was plastic and Elder Faux had reservations about using it. It did work fairly well and we had mashed potatoes. The sweet potatoes we prepared the night before we had the masher and they were different-red outside and white inside and very firm. He mashed them with a fork and they were still firm. Finally I looked on the internet and found a recipe that said to add a cup of orange juice –so I did and with that and more butter they tasted somewhat like home. For the pie I couldn’t find any half and half or cream but did find real milk so used that and Jell-O pie filling. Not too good but it had to do for this year. The elders are all good sports as they act like they enjoy each meal. Speaking about the elders I will tell you a bit about them. First we have Elder Westover from Corona, California. He is a good elder and is soon on his way home. He will leave for home next month and arrives home I think Dec 23. He is going home a touch early so that he can get back into college in California. We have enjoyed him finishing his mission here. He has been In Guyana for some time and was zone leader and I think district leader also. He has wonderful feelings about his success there. His companion is Elder Morris from Mesa, Arizona. I think he has been out almost four transfers (six weeks each transfer) and he has been transferred each time. He is a great young man also and is very good at meeting people and explaining the gospel, especially in Sunday School Class or our Wednesday night class. Our next transfer is Dec 9 and we wonder if he will be moved again. We hope not. Our next elder is Elder Welch from Farmington, Utah. He is a happy young man and nice to have him around also. He attended college at Rexburg, loved it there and plans to return as soon as his mission is over, in about one year. He is a great trainer and is working hard to get people baptized. His companion is Elder Thomas from Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand. He has been out about five weeks and is doing a fine job. He is large young man, 250 lbs, and makes our back car seat seem very full. The other elders are not as big in size, but big in spirit. Elder Thomas’s Mother is Tongan and his father is British. He is a handsome man and his skin is almost as dark as most or our natives. These are the young men that serve here and we love them and can feel their sprit every time we are around them. From all the young elders we have met we feel our Heavenly Father has saved the best for last. They are very inspiring. Have a good week as you prepare for Christmas. Who would have thought we would be spending our holiday’s here on a wonderful tropic island. It is great.

The highlight of the week was in the happiness, the blessing, the joy, the delight of wishing Dora (Sister Faux) a Happy Birthday! on Saturday. We started the day by participating in the baptism services of two young converts, Brandon Harding and Jasma Lubin. Jasma was baptized by her father Andy, who was baptized last April, so he was excited; not only in her being baptized but that he was able to do it. The baptismal services took almost three hours. One candidate was late in coming; and since President Nicholas is in England for a few weeks that left Elder Faux with the only vehicle to shuttle people from the church to the baptismal site and back again - so one thing we are learning is patience. For lunch we bought pizza and other than our Temple Preparation Class in the evening just had a quite day together. Zone conference was on Wednesday in Castries but we drove there on Tuesday. Sister Faux and Sister Treseder had to put the final touches on the Wednesday zone conference luncheon- 46 people to feed – in addition to something for their breakfast Wednesday morning. Elder Faux was needed to help shuttle from the airport to the church and/or their accommodations four couples, twenty elders, President and Sister Gamiette and three children, plus his two assistants. Elder Faux had to chuckle to himself when the elders, who are doing things way beyond their years, approached his auto they would began calling out “Window, window”. Just like the family in days past when they loaded into the car. Once again a motivating conference as President Gamiette, and we have said this before, is a masterful teacher. And we must also report that all the work in preparing the luncheon paid off as it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Elder and Sister Faux accepted Elder and Sister Treseder offer to use their extra bedroom on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We were planning to drive back to Vieux Fort Wednesday evening until Elder Treseder provided us with one reason why we should stay. It was a good choice as we were really tired and besides on Thursday morning we went to the beach to swim and lounge in the waters of the beautiful Caribbean Ocean. At the conference we met for the first time Elder Manwill from Annabella, Utah, a neighbor of Bishop and Zanette Sorenson and family when they lived there-a picture enclosed-and for Sister Mele two pictures of Elder Vi.
Sister Faux: Last week was a busy week starting out Monday, preparation day. The Elders come to our apartment to do their emailing and since there are four that takes some time. Then we usually serve them lunch that takes some time but is fun. while Elder Faux took the elders to see the Dennery Falls, a one hour drive one way, I started to do some preparations for zone conference, making cinnamon rolls for their breakfast and also preparing the meat for Taco salad. I make the Taco seasoning for the meat and it is pretty good and less expensive. We provided cinnamon rolls, bananas, and milk/juice for the elders Wednesday breakfast. The milk was for breakfast and the juice for the mid-morning snack but somehow they did not know, and it didn’t matter anyway as it was all gone at the end of the lunch. One thing I thought interesting was if the elders had been in Guyana they were not used to milk as they cannot buy it there. They use the milk you buy in cartons and will last a long time on the shelf before opening. Those elders were concerned about drinking milk as they said it makes them sick now as they have not had any for so long. But six gallons of milk disappeared over the course of the two meals. Oh, the many joys of serving a mission. Tuesday we left early so Elder Faux could help picking up people at the airport. That day we went to lunch with the couples and also to dinner. For dinner we went to their hotel, the same place as last time. The menu was completely changed from six weeks ago and ready for the tourist season-fewer items on the menu and much more expensive. We had a good time and it is fun to get to know the other couples. As Elder Faux said we stayed over two nights and it was fun. Thursday night when we arrived home I was so tired I went to bed at 8 pm and woke up the next morning at 7:30 am. Another joy of a mission. The rest of the week was rather quiet and that is nice on occasions. I don’t know if you know the countries of our mission so I will just write the list. We have St Marten (French) St Marten (English), Guadeloupe, St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad /Tobago, , Guyana, (all English) Suriname (Dutch speaking) , French Guyana and Martinique (French). For zone conference the missionaries fly in from St Martin, Grenada, St Vincent including four couples. I hope this is all correct.
Well I must go for now—Last week we ask for names for our mission guess how many we received. That is right - none! I am a little disappointed. Have a nice week…The Church really is true. Love Elder and Sister Faux --

Dear Family and Friends, This may be a very different way to begin a mission blog but we have a request to ask of each of you. Our Mission President has ask each couple in the mission if thry will submit a list of twenty names of couples that would be would be able to serve a senior mission. This would be in the West Indies Mission and could begin as early as January 2010. We currently have 22 couples serving but from January to September of next year we will lose 14 of our 22 couples. Can you think what would happen in this mission if we only had 8 couples serving 148 young missionaries? This information was sent to us by Sister Myers of the office staff. Would you please take a look at your family, friends or acquaintances and please help us out. We need the names, phone numbers and/or email addresses and the office will take it from there. Please don’t deprive those you love from receiving the many blessing that can be theirs if they have a desire. Thank you very much. Just send the information to our email address ddfaux@gmail.com. Thank you once again.
This has been somewhat of a slower week as compared to last week. Wednesday morning the elders came to our apartment for a zone meeting which was held via telephone/computer connections. Since our zone covers four different islands it is easy to see why this mode of meeting is used. The computer used for displaying the visuals effects and the telephone/speaker for the audio. For the most part it works quite well. Elder Westover gave us a bit of a concern for part of the week. He woke up Monday morning with his right cheek all puffy and swollen. It was not painful and no evidences of any kind of a bite. By evening it had subsided significantly so we hoped whatever it was had run its course. Alas, not so. Tuesday morning the swelling was back and involved some of his lower lip-again subsiding as the day went on. Wednesday morning when he arrived for the zone meeting broadcast his lower lip was so swollen it dominated all his facial features. Thinking it might be something to do with his pillow/bedding we bought him a new pillow and Dora washed all his linen. Thursday morning he looked more like Jay Leno than Jay Leno. We had been in contact with the mission nurse all this time and she concurred when we told her that branch President Nicholas had arranged for Elder Westover to see a FNP their family. So an appointment was made for Friday morning and wouldn’t you know it? There was hardly any swelling for FNP Mimi to see. Nevertheless she gave him a thorough examination finally deciding he had had an allergic reaction to something. Anyway, so good so far and we think the linen washing and new pillow went a long way in solving his dilemma. We were in Castries most of Thursday meeting with Elder and Sister Treseder. It is zone conference next week and with more than forty to prepare a meal for we thought we should get it planned. We had a nice visit, which of course, included having lunch together.
Sister Faux: I spent some time yesterday telling you about our week and then hit a wrong button and that was the end. We had a good week Monday the elders were here and two them did their washing as their washer was broken, they did emails, and had lunch, so that is always a good day for us. Friday I made 12 hot pads for those that came to RS that night and also made cinnamon rolls as a treat and then demonstrated how to make the rolls. It was an okay evening but need to find something that really interests them. Any suggestions? I thought I would tell you about the meat selection at the grocery store. Beef buys from New Zealand---minced beef, beef kidney, beef feet, frozen goat meat, boneless beef, lamb neck, frozen local pork, frozen pork ribblets salted, frozen pork tails, bangamary fish filler, butterfish fillet, tuna fish steak, dolphin fish steak, ring fish steaks, chicken backs, and chicken parts. Now that is only a part, so if anyone comes to visit us we will get some of these great tidbits if you have a desire for them. Hope you have a great week. Love, Elder and Sister Faux

You might say this has been a busy week for us. For starters on Monday evening the branch held its monthly family home evening. It was pleasing to note the number in attendance. A lesson was presented on “Loving Your Neighbor” and following the lesson the elders introduced a game to play entitled “Do You Love Your Neighbor?” It is a lively and fun game and the whole flock really got involved. We will not try to explain it but we wouldn’t be surprised if many of you have played it with a different name. As Elder Welch was still without a companion Elder Faux filled in all day Tuesday as such. During the course of the day we found a married father and mother with three children that we taught and were asked to return again. So an event like this brightens the whole day. On Wednesday we drove to Castries to pick up Elder Welch’s new companion, Elder Thomas, from New Zealand, and straight from the Dominican Republic MTC. Because of a visa misunderstanding he arrived at 6:50 p.m. rather than 10:30 a.m. so we were quite late returning to Vieux Fort. Elder Welch is thrilled however, to once again have a full time companion. A plus for Elder Thomas was being able to participate in the baptism Thursday morning of Duite Lionel, a 23 year old single man Elder Welch has been teaching. We are all excited for Duite as we know he is going to be strength in the branch. Thursday afternoon, along with branch President Nicholas, we boarded a British Airways Boeing 777 jet for a 40 minute flight to Trinidad to attend a training meeting conducted by the missionary presidency for all branch and elder quorum presidents, mission couples assigned to these branches, and the corresponding zone leaders. The mission presidency put a lot of thought and prayer into the preparation of this training as it was well organized and really focused on strengthening the leadership in the branches. In our first break-out session on Friday the missionary couples were told if they held a calling in the branch of any kind, i.e. teaching a class/seminary/primary, conducting the singing, playing the keyboard, a member of a presidency, etc., we were immediately released and if the branch did not have someone as a replacement the calling would remain vacant until a member was found. Our role is not to have a calling but to train the members in the callings they receive. One senior sister asked if it were OK if she continued to play the keyboard for the singing and was told No! Until a member is found to do so they will need to use the discs with the recorded hymns. Therefore the theme of the training was: find, train, and perform; and was most instructive. The opportunity for role playing, question and answer sessions, sessions for just the elder presidents separate from the branch presidents was provided. On Saturday Elder Alvarado, an area seventy, joined with us (at age 38 he is the youngest of all seventies and lives in Puerto Rico). [He and President Gamiette served missions in Florida at the same time but in different missions]. As Elder Alvarado and President Gamiette (age 41) stood at the front teaching you couldn’t help but be impressed with these two brethren, their calling, their testimonies, and their dedication. The Caribbean area is in good capable hands. Our flight back to Vieux Fort was not until Sunday evening so we had the opportunity to spend the day with Elder and Sister Collins. We attended church in the Trinidad Stake Arima Ward. After church we accepted an invitation to have lunch with Elder and Sister Palmer. He is the mission executive secretary and she is the mission office secretary. Along with the business of the two days we enjoyed our time with President Nicholas in addition to meeting other couples who up to now had just been names. We are thankful to have had this opportunity to visit in Trinidad. It is much larger than St Lucia, almost as pretty, and most of the time does not feel like an island in that we drove on three lane highways and experienced some extended traffic delays.



Sister Faux: Today is Monday afternoon at about 4:30—we are enjoying a nice bright day, full of bright blue sky and beautiful fluffy clouds and a warm temperature. So you can tell it is a lovely day here in Vieux Fort. Our elders have been here today doing their email and also a couple of them doing their wash, as their washer is broken. Right now they have gone to town for a few things and I didn’t go so they have a bit more room in the car. We arrived home last night after our few days of training in Trinidad; we were tired and glad to get back to our apartment. We had a wonderful time as we were taught and trained. A little surprised about being told we were “fired” but know if we follow instructions we all will be blessed. We will have to meet with our branch president to find out what to do about seminary, elders’ quorum, and a few other things. Who will do FHE and our movie night? We have only three temple classes to teach and so plan to finish that up and have some people ready to attend the temple. That is a very interesting concept and makes you do some extra planning and preparing. For our trip we were met at the airport by the two assistants, Elder Palmer (my relative) and Elder Wright. They took us to the mission office and that was nice to see and meet some of the couples there then off to eat at KFC. We stayed at Norma’s Bed and Breakfast, which is in a nice area and most comfortable. It is landscaped very pretty and in a nice neighborhood. The breakfast the first day was very interesting as we were served fresh fruit, watermelon and pineapple (sprinkled with salt) in a small dish, very good. Then the main dish was cut up hot dogs (they called it sausage) in a red sauce with onions. You should try it sometime when you have a strong stomach….Oh, we did have two nice rolls that were tasty. The next two breakfasts were good-one morning scrambled eggs and an omelet the last day. We stayed at the same bed and breakfast as Tony Leishman’s (Dave’s college friend)cousin and they took us to the first meeting and home again that night. At the meetings each day they had snacks and catered dinner one day and lunch the next---I don’t want to sound ungrateful but they were probably the two worst meals I have ever eaten!!! The first day they had a piece if bbq chicken, potato salad with breadfruit (I think) baked beans and served on a bed of rice. The next day it was all of items I did not recognize or have any desire to eat, and so I did not eat it. Many others were talking about how bad it was so that made me feel better. We were happy to meet so many couples and enjoy their company and especially to get to visit with the Collins. Well, wish us luck for all the changes in the mission as it will be interesting as we try to be obedient ---some of the things we cannot do is transport members to the meetings using Church assigned vehicles. Members should attend meetings by their own means; it is contrary to church policy to pay for transportation to meetings. We have picked up the William family almost every Sunday since we have been here. Have a nice week, sorry we are late. We send our love, Sister Faux.