As we didn’t mention much about President Gamiette, our new mission president, last week we thought we would say more this week. He is from Guadalupe, French speaking, and was the first missionary called from there. He served his mission in Florida and set all sorts of standards as what a missionary can accomplish. Prior to his call as president he was serving as the church CES director for the Caribbean Area and in March 2009, after serving a little over a year, was released as a councilor in the mission presidency. He is very youthful looking and just blends in when with a group of elders. His wife is from France and she served a mission in the Seattle, Washington area so both fluent in English. They met in college and have five children, three girls and two boys, ranging from 14 to 3 in age. French is their first language and they will now be living and the children going to school in Trinidad where English is first. With the three exposures we have had with him to this point we know he will be a motivating and inspiring president. For a preparation day activity on Monday we took Elders Sturdevant and Lang to the Dennery Falls. We had a district meeting there a couple of months ago and is so pretty thought they would enjoy seeing it. We were not disappointed since the rain over the week provided a beautiful water flow. We had the elders for breakfast and when we returned from the falls they used our computer for their weekly e-mailing in which time Sister Faux prepared pizza for lunch. After lunch we then took them to the grocery store for their weekly shopping so a full and fun day with them. Branch president Nicholas announced in church a couple of weeks ago a “branch movie night” and that we were in charge of it. We held it Friday evening and had a good turnout but a poor movie selection as a number of the audience ended up visiting on the balcony. Where it was a drama, and a true story, our audience would have enjoyed an action filled adventure movie. Sister Nicholas saved the evening however, with a most tasty after-the-movie-meal she provided. Saturday we were with the elders as they visited with Elsa. They invited Elsa’s mother, Cornealia, to listen in and when she found out who we were she became very vocal. It seems a neighbor had told her the previous elders had taught about Allah when they were there. She didn’t believe in him and she didn’t want anything about him taught in her home. When that issue was finally settled the discussion went quite well until the Prophet Joseph Smith entered… She told us she is going to ask her Pentecostal minister about Joseph Smith and see what he thinks. We can’t wait to hear his reaction. To soothe roiling waters Sister Faux managed to have a nice one on one visit with Cornealia before leaving.
Sister Faux: Tuesday we had District Meeting with the elders and the couple in Castries and had a good meeting and then went to lunch. That is always fun as we do not go out to eat here, only on very rare occasions. I love to eat out so that is too bad for me. Our Castries elders are both being transferred, Elder Endeman is going home and Elder Moala is going to St Vincent. Our Elders are both staying here this transfer. Church today was nice but when it started there were only 30 people. More came after it started but at times when it is time to start there are very few there. Quite a few bore their testimonies and that is always nice. We have started to use a room downstairs and that has made a difference in the noise level, much better. Friday morning I had a haircut-I am sure that is interesting to everyone, but after the cut no one was there to pick me up as Elder Faux had cone with the elders. So I walked to the main street of town and strolled down the busy street. You must realize that I am the only white person in the town. I did however see three people that I knew as I heard people calling “Sister Faux”…Two people from our branch and then a lady that works in the grocery store where we shop. Not much new has happened this week—except I told you a couple of weeks ago about how they cut the trees, shrubs, weeds and junk and leave things lying where they land. Now just a couple of weeks and you can hardly see the rubble as the trees and undergrowth have grown so fast it is almost completely covered all the trimmings. Sorry there is nothing more exciting to write about but we are still just happy to be here and see what these young elders can do. We enjoy them. Love, Dora and Dave (elder and sister)

One more week has flown by. We have been saddened this week with the passing of our friend Bud Kohler. We have been friends for many, many years. We have enjoyed doing so many things together over the years. We have had a good life together and have gone so many places with each other. Our oldest son, Craig, married his oldest daughter, Sue, and we share three wonderful grandchildren. I feel a real need to be home right now. We pray our Heavenly Father will give comfort to my friend Glenna and to all of the family.We have had some interesting experiences this past week. They started early Monday morning when we were getting ready to go for a walk, we could hear someone calling for help. We thought it was someone across the fence but then realized it was an American voice calling. As we went out to investigate we found it was the girl in the apartment above us. She had gone into her bathroom, locked the door and the key had broken off in the door. She has a front door and a back door with a balcony . She had both doors locked and bolted closed. No one could possibly get in either door. Dave was the rescuer so I will let him tell the rest. She came Friday night and brought us cookies, she is a medical student from Texas, and had a test at 9 am. Actually she had two tests and received a score of 95 on each test. We will send pictures. This week was also zone conference, also it was carnival week in Castries where we go to conference. The HUGE parade started Tuesday and we were told we would not be able to drive down the street after the parade started, and they were right. We left about 6:30 and arrived at the church before the parade began. Once it started the music was so loud and we were a few blocks away. To make a long story shorter we had to stay at the church all day until about 6 at evening. Dave had to go to the airport and help pick up elders and could not get back for quite some time. We had a nice meeting with President Gamiette and zone conference was good. He is a good man and will be a great president. We stayed with Elder and Sister the Collins Tuesday night and arrived home about 5:45 Wednesday evening, just in time for gospel class at our church. We were totally exhausted as were our elders. Saturday we were invited to our landlady's daughters wedding at the Catholic Church in Laborie-four miles north of Vieux Fort. It was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. but being true St Lucian it was 2: 55 p.m. when it was announced the wedding party had arrived. It was a hour plus ceremony with many things happening we didn't understand. But the fact they got married, and in a church, you pat them on the back. The reception was most elaborate, we needed a wrist band to be admitted, The food was good, the 'music' so loud it shook the ground, and the attendees all dressed so elegant. . It was quite a day and we came home once again exhausted. Hope all of you have a good week as we once again say goodbye for another few days. Love, Sister FauxYasmin is the name of the young lady we helped. Her apartment is two bedroom and is rented by the room and not as a unit. Therefore a deadbolt lock is on the bathroom door to assure privacy. As the girl she shares the apartment with is gone there was no valid reason for using the deadbolt lock other than 'that is what she always does'. The deadbolt lock reminds me of an old fashioned skeleton key type lock. When she went to unlock the door the 'teeth' of the skeleton key sheared jamming the bolt in place and locked. We provided Yasmin with a screwdriver and a hammer then with Elder Faux on the roof looking in we thought we could devise some solution. Taking the lock plate revealed nothing, because the sheared teeth jammed the deadbolt it couldn't be budged, the hinge pins had been painted over welding them in place so Martha, the landlady, said for her to knock a hole in the door so she could crawl through and she would replace the door. In Yasmin's defence, when they came to replace the door it was taken out in pieces it was in place so secure. Glad we were there to help. Elder Faux

Another week already. As was mentioned briefly last week it has been carnival week on St Lucia and this week in Vieux Fort particularly. We avoided the commotion for the most part except on Monday the elders needed to go to downtown Vieux Fort. We knew it would be close to parade time but thought they could accomplish what they needed to before it started. Just as we were ready to depart the police barricaded the only exit road thus we ended up having a ring side seat for the parade (?) The only ‘floats’ were three large trucks towing large trailers that were dispensing beer and whatever other alcoholic drinks, to anyone, by the plastic glassful. People of all ages filled the street, some in ‘costume’ of sorts, most however, in just there every day dress. The air reeked with the smell of beer so we didn’t waste any time leaving the first opportunity. The elders a little dismayed to spot three of their investigators taking an active part in the parade. Friday evening just at bedtime President Nicholas calls and asks Elder Faux to go with him to administer to his first counselor, Firmus Hippolyte, that lives in Choiseul, about a thirty five minute drive to the north. Once we left the main highway on our way to his home, Elder Faux was glad we were in a pickup, especially four wheel drive, as the ‘road’ was atrocious- narrow most dreadfully narrow, rough, bumpy, uneven, deep ruts from blacktop that had disintegrated and mostly washed away, two or three steep inclines that had the pickup lugging to go up. But the breath taker was a bridge that was almost wide enough for a car. To me, as seen at night by the one and one-half headlights of the pickup, it appeared nothing more than a slab of cement spanning the chasm - with no side rails, as if they would have done any good,. It didn’t appear there was any margin for error-you were either on or off. Thankfully President Nicholas negotiated each way so that Elder Faux is able to now talk about it. By the way, we did administer to Brother Firmus and he reported today (Sunday) he ended up having a restful night and full recovery the following day. The best part of the week was Saturday as Swancy William was baptized. We were introduced to Swancy the second day we were here and she was the coldest ice cube we have ever met. Each Sunday evening we meet with her family for family home evening and we have gradually (especially Sister Faux) gained her confidence. After two sets of elders, Elders Ash and DeMasters were the first to gain any real headway with her which Elders Sturdevant and Lang have capitalized on. She wanted to be baptized by her father, Evans, and in order for that to happen the services were scheduled for 5:00 a.m. At 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning is was raining, it was dark, and it was wonderful. The William family live on the beach so it was just a matter of walking 100 yards to the spot they had selected for the service. Evans has been a priest for about three months so it was exciting for him to be able to do this; and after it was through and he gave Swancy a big hug you just wanted to shout hurrah, hurrah.
Elder Faux has described the baptism very well—The only thing is you would have to know Swancy to understand all that has gone on. I pray that she will stay faithful because she could become a great leader ---what a girl. There are two or three things I would like to talk about that are not of interest in the church but are an interest to me. One thing is about the centipede, you will think I am captivated by them and that is not the case but the interest of the people here is fascinating. As we were taking the elders home last week we saw one on the cement outside our apartment six feet or more away. The elders stomped on it and we thought it was dead but when we returned home it was still alive. I had to go ask the guard to kill it. Elder Faux, as some of you know, does not kill anything and I am supposed to be a lady so I couldn't kill it. Anyway it is gone. This must be the season to prune and trim grass and trees, bushes and growing things. They do much pruning and just leave the limbs and etc where it falls. In time (I think a short time) the plants grow up around the leftover prunings and soon you can’t see them. I guess it finally disintegrates and goes back to the earth. You may be interested to know that only two of our members own cars-the Branch Presidency—everyone rides the vans/buses. The water here is very soft and the washing that people do is extremely white, very pretty to see. Sometimes they have a washer but very often they are washing by hand. Many homes do not have showers or even bathrooms in them, we see many outside toilets as we used to have. There are many public showers in different areas of the housing units..It is an interesting place to live. We are so blessed to have homes as we do in the states. We should really appreciate them. I need to tell you our elders are working hard trying to find people to teach. It is hard, but they keep going. They are good men and it is fun to be with them. Sometimes we are driving along and they just burst into song about almost anything. They both have nice voices so it livens up the party a good deal. Both of them spoke in church today and that is nice to be able to enjoy the presentation. It is fun to be here. We pray that you are all healthy and happy. Love, Sister and Elder Faux