7 March 2010

Many of the homes in St Lucia , especially the more modest to the affluent, will have 400 +/- gallon water tanks plumbed into their system. From what we have been told the culinary water is collected from the various rivers. At times the run off after a heavy rain will overwhelm the collection system so it is shut down. Thus homes lacking a water tank may go without water for a day or two. Now that St Lucia is experiencing a drought these water tanks are even more of a benefit. Branch President Nicholas decided it was prudent the church have such a tank as there have been a couple of Sundays wherein we met for only sacrament service as there was no water in the building. So last Saturday was the day to get this done. With the help of the elders, especially Elder Morris, the plumbing for the pump and tank was installed. While this was being done Elder Faux was given the assignment to find a tank. This was almost like looking for ‘hen’s teeth’. None were to be found and of the six suppliers in the vicinity only one implied they may get more in. Therefore on Monday President Nicholas scouted the entire island with no success. One supplier did promise him a tank in a week if he would pay for it in advance-which he did- so let us hope…
Last week was also transfer week so we said goodbye to Elder Morris, to St Vincent, and Elder Welch, to St Maarten’s , and Elder Brague from Castries, to Trinidad. Technically this is the second time for Elder Brague as he served in Vieux Fort when he first arrived in the mission then transferred to Castries. The elders had to be at the Castries airport by 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning so we drove up Tuesday afternoon and stayed the night with Elder and Sister Treseder. By Wednesday noon our new elders, Elder Harris and Elder Barker, had arrived. Elder and Sister Faux were ready to start for Vieux Fort but when the elders expressed their apprehensions that there may not be food to eat when they arrived at the apartment we took the hint and detoured by Burger King in Rodney Bay before our drive back to Vieux Fort.

Sister Faux: Notice the map of the West Indies Mission. It was drawn by a missionary, I don’t know his name but thought it looked good. You can see why they travel so much. Suriname is the Dutch speaking part of the mission and part of St Maarten’s is French speaking. Guadeloupe is also French speaking. Our mission president’s family first language is French so the children are learning English as they now go to school in Trinidad.

Since Monday was our last day together with our elders we had a farewell dinner, chicken enchilada casserole, green garden salad, French bread and German chocolate cake. It has been fun to feed them as they make me think I am a good cook. The next morning they came over and just hung around a bit and finally ask if we had any leftover casserole. I told them just a bit and then ask them if they had had breakfast. They said no and that they were starving (at the end of transfer funds are low). So I showed them the cold cereal and let them help themselves. They felt better after that. As they ate dinner the day before it was also fun to hear them talk of their future wife and how they will marry a girl that can cook. They have been good elders that we have enjoyed. Our new elders will be much the same and we will enjoy them also. It is interesting to listen to the elder’s talk of their family and how much they love them, especially their Mothers—they can hardly wait to talk to them on Mother’s Day. Tonight I thought I would tell you a small bit about some our friends we have met while we have been here and have learned to love each of them. First our Branch President Nicholas, he is a good kind man and the member’s love him. He tries to be good to them and wants to help them be active. He lived here as a child and then moved to England but felt he must come back just a few years ago. He joined the church in his teenage years. He has been to the temple in England. He was married before and has 5 (?) children in England. Sister Nicholas, his wife is very friendly to members and investigators. She is known for her good cooking and cooks dinner for the elders each Sunday. She is expecting their second child in June. She will be leaving for England the last Sunday in March and will stay for a few months -maybe six. She is leaving her daughter, Olivia, here with her husband. They have a girl Shanna that lives with them and is also a member of the church. I have helped Sister Nicholas repair and remodel many of her dresses and that has been very interesting. She has not been to the temple but has a recommend and will use that when she gets the chance. Sister Cotter is another wonderful lady. She was the first member baptized in St Lucia. She is widow and has a store n downtown Vieux Fort. She has a daughter that lives in Kentucky and she goes to visit her occasionally. Her son lives in Castries; she has a recommend and hopefully will use it soon. Then Evans and Betherlie, we call her Beverly. She was just called today to be Relief Society President. We are excited about that and know she will be very good in that calling. She works in management in a super market and must work every other Sunday, so she will work out a schedule with her counselors. They had lived together 25 years before they were married a year ago so they could be baptized. Evans has been called to be Elders Quorum president. They have three grown daughters. Their daughter Swancy has a baby God child that she is raising and the family love that baby so much. She is Boom Boom that we have sent so many pictures home about. We spend each Sunday evening with this family and so we know them well—very god people. There are many more friends and will tell more about them at a later date. I must tell you about some other people that we love—Kris Pence is our daughter///no not really but we feel like she is. She is the daughter of Elder Faux’s business partner, Craig Smith. She always worked in the drug store that Craig and Elder Faux owned together. I taught her as a Laurel and have loved her since that time. She is the person that sent our name to mission president Robison and because of his request to the missionary department we here. Her son was serving in Suriname at the time. She is wonderful and does our blog for us. Thank you Kris. Some other friends that we love are Dennis and JoAnne Wilson. They are our neighbor’s in Pleasant Grove, Utah---Liberty Grove. They have taken care of our home and our flowers (which are many) since we left also all of our mail and whatever that entails. They have been very busy doing all of that and more. JoAnne has had, and still has some health problems so we know it must be difficult for them. We really appreciate them and all they are doing. Thank you Dennis and JoAnne. Well that is it for today hope everyone has a great week. Love from Elder and Sister Faux