Monday being preparation day the elders thought rather than using the entire day for preparing it would be fun to spend some time sightseeing. Therefore we selected as our destination the Botanical Gardens and Diamond Falls in Soufriere-about one hours’ drive north of Vieux Fort. Even though it was raining when we departed it was of little concern as typically it will rain for ten to twenty minutes then clear. Not so this day. It rained the entire drive there, it was raining at the Botanical Gardens, and at the Diamond Falls so we took a few minutes to do some souvenir shopping in Soufriere before returning home. Once there we salvaged the day by buying pizza for dinner and enjoying that while the elders did their weekly e-mails. (And by the way the rain lasted until nearly dark). At our district meeting on Tuesday we met for the first time Elders Williams and Cromwell as they were just recently transferred to the Castries Branch. They teamed up to give a well prepared lesson after which we dined at the world famous Vieux Fort KFC. Elder Faux had an interesting visit during the week. He was waiting in the auto while Sisters Faux and Nicholas (relief society president) were doing some shopping for an upcoming social when he began visiting with a fellow parked next to him. He introduced himself as ‘Elder’ Gustave, a missionary for the Vieux Fort area Church of God. For the next few minutes our view points on various beliefs were exchanged. The one of most interest was our view of life after death which was quite dissimilar. He envisioned a heaven of angels whereas Elder Faux spoke of eternal families and reuniting with loved ones. Upon departure he provided Elder Faux with their version of “The True Biblical Lunar Calendar” which places us in the year 2072. They don’t use the names of the days of the week nor of the months because they are of a pagan origin. Rather it is Day 1, Day 2, etc to Day 6 then the 7th is named the Sabbath, our Saturday. The months are biblical names except for the fourth and tenth, and start according to the new moon. Therefore on this calendar, for example, their eighth month corresponds to our August 20th through September 17th. In exchange for the calendar he received a Book of Mormon and the missionary tract “The Plan of Salvation”. Sister Faux:This past week we had a happy surprise as we received three letters!!! That made us so happy, one letter from our friend and neighbor, one from our co-worker at Smith Drug, Mary McKay, and one from our Grandson in Washington DC. It made us have a good week. A few weeks ago I talked about an investigator named Steven who I was hoping would join the church and I thought that would give him a better chance in life. Well to make a long story short he stopped by the other day and things were not going well for him. First his Grandfather had made him move out and he had been to stay with his parents for a night or two. That was a terrible experience. He has lost his job; he was working as a guard. We took him to his old job but they would not hire him back. They called his Grandfather and that was all bad. Anyway he has no place to live, he doesn’t come to church and life is not good for him. I feel so sorry for him and wish something good would happen for him. I think I should tell you about the dogs. Everyone, or almost everyone, has dogs---not a dog but dogs. They are rude and not the best dogs. They start to bark and no one tells them to be quiet, they can just bark for forever. They are everywhere, not good looking and not nice. Then there are horses, many people have large skinny horses that are staked everywhere. People ride them at times but it surprised me to see so many horses. Then we have ants, ant, ants they are everywhere. Very tiny, they do not bite but are so annoying. Yesterday we cleaned the church. When we picked up the elders it was raining so they ran to the car. When we arrived at the church they couldn’t find their keys. After cleaning we went back and searched for the keys but no luck. So to get into their apartment they had to climb through a window. They still have no keys but the president (their landlord) changed the lock on the door so they can get in there now. Yesterday we were called to meet Elder and Sister Collins in Dennery and pick up an elder on his way back to Trinidad. He has been in the field two weeks and started having trouble with his feet. They are sending him back to Trinidad to have a doctor look at them. So we brought him here and had dinner and then the elders took him home after nine and he stayed there last night. Today they brought him to church and after that we took him to the airport. Missionary life is very interesting. This week we went on a walk a different way, it was long and hot but Dave said it was good.??? I think it was just less than three miles but seemed much longer. We had our first successful Relief Society meeting Friday night. We taught them to make apple pie and provided all the supplies there for them. It was so much fun and we had an unheard of number there - 19. So each family made a pie to take home and bake. Sister Nicholas came to our house prior to the meeting and we made a couple of pies together to serve—actually we made three, two apple and one cream pie. I hope this will get them interested in Relief Society. Before we had no one come- not even the RS President. Things are looking up! Just a note about the pictures. The one of the town is downtown Soufriere, you can see how wet it is. Elder Sturdevant and his souvenir hat with Guiana flag on it. He just bought it in Soufriere—looks good on him. Lily, and her friend Chevon, who is investigating the church. Her Grandmother is upset with her and does not want her involved in the church. Elder Faux standing on the sidewalk as we were visiting a church member. Nice fences. Elder Lang, the first time he accompanied the congregation as we sang—we had to sing ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ as that was the only song (or part of a song) he knew—that was fun. Elder Sturdevant leading the singing, branch president usually asks him to lead. He is willing and happy to lead. We are in our chapel so you can see how it looks. Sister Nicholas and Sister Faux and Oliva, age three, as I am teaching her to make apple pie in my kitchen. Vena, age 15, looking happy as usual. Most of the finished pies. Many of the pie makers. Elder Faux and Boom Boom and another one as he feeds her ice cream. She is a cute baby, very happy. She is Swancy’s god child. You might think all we do is take pictures, but occasionally we do other real missionary work. It is nice to be here; hopefully we can do the things our Heavenly Father would like us to do. Talk to you next week. Sister and Elder Faux