Monday was Preparation Day and since our elders planned to meet with the elders in Castries Elder and Sister Treseder invited us to come spend the afternoon with them, and the night as well, since Tuesday is zone meeting and we would we driving there anyway. We readily accepted the invite. Once with the Treseder’s we thought it prudent if we prepared as much as possible for our next zone conference. This conference will require unique planning as it is scheduled on a Monday. So where we have been able to do much of the purchasing the day before it won’t happen this time because of Sunday. Therefore food for the elders arriving Sunday evening, for the elders Monday morning breakfast, the mid-conference snack, and the zone conference luncheon will need to be readied two to three days prior. So we went shopping at Mega J's (the Costco of St Lucia) purchasing as many of the non-perishable items that will be needed. For the conference luncheon we decided to have Subway Sandwiches hence we drove to Subway’s in downtown Castries to place our order. While doing so we decided to have a sandwich as well for our evening meal. It was a good choice and if the sandwiches for zone conference are as tasty as what we had this evening the elders will be delighted. On Tuesday Elder Prince, the zone leader, presented a well prepared lesson. It is impressive how well these elders do in preparing and discussing principles of the gospel and the ways they can be incorporated into helping them be better missionaries. The one drawback to this meeting was its length-a little over three hours. Chairs tend to get quite hard in that space of time. About ten days past branch member, Denison Gustave, as a passenger, was involved in a motorcycle mishap while on his way to work in Castries. Luckily, and this may sound insensitive, his only injury was a compound fracture of the right leg. President Nicholas and Elder Faux had been contemplating going to his home in Fiette, near Choiseul, and pay him a visit. On Monday Evans William, the branch elders quorum president, contacted President Nicholas and suggested to him that they ought to visit Denison. This firmed up the decision so Wednesday afternoon the three of us, with Elder Faux driving, rode to Fiette to visit with Denison. We had a good visit but the highlight of the visit came about when Denison asked for a priesthood blessing. Elder Faux was asked to do the anointing and Evans to seal the anointing and give the blessing. As far as we are aware this was Evans first time doing this and he did a great job. It is really impressive to see the growth and progress Evans is making. He is most serious about his calling and is seeking to learn whatever is necessary to be successful. If you remember it was noted that in our February zone meeting President Gamiette reminded the priesthood brethren when acting in their calling they should look the part with white shirts and ties. In the pictures of President Nicholas and Evans you will note their obedience to this counsel.
Sister Faux: The rest of the week was not too exciting but a few things happened that made it pass fast. Wednesday we had our normal correlation meeting which was interesting as it started out with a big discussion about President Obama. People here love him and really defend him. Some places you will see many pictures of him and Branch President Nicholas thinks he is wonderful. It is a very interesting topic. Wednesday evening we also have a Book of Mormon class usually taught by President Nicholas. Last week Davis Thomas taught and he did a nice job so it was good to be in attendance. I spent part of the week mending some of the elder’s clothes; ties, pockets on shirts, and zipper in pants. Elder Lundberg’s zipper was broken and I told him I do not mend zippers. But he brought them over and it looked pretty easy so I fixed them without a problem. These elders think I can mend anything. I have forgotten how many precious ties I have repaired. They love their ties as I have said before. It is just fun to have them come anyway. Another thing we did this week was to visit Patricia---she is a member but has not been to church for who knows how long. Elder Faux loves to visit her. It is not a very comfortable visit as she is always upset about something. Many times it has been with the elders. This time it was about her renters and how bad they are. She showed us their apartment and as she took us around to the entrance we had to walk by one of her female dogs with two new pups. The dog came right at us, barking and snapping. It tried to bite but she only caught hold of Elder Faux’s pant leg. I was frightened and as we returned Patricia took hold of the dog and held it at bay. Everyone has a yard full of dogs—well not everyone but many people have them. Some are real watch dogs. At Sacrament meeting today we had all branch members bless and pass the sacrament. That is good, and unusual, as we almost always need some help from the elders. Brother and Sister Elliott, from Canada, were our speakers today at Sacrament Meeting. This is their last week here and they will go home next Sunday. They have come for the winter for many years as he has a business here. When they return to Canada they have a 15 acre farm to care for. Brother Elliott comes back and works but don’t know the details about that. They bring a great spirit with them as Brother Elliott teaches Sunday school and this year Sister Elliott has been the chorister and started a choir. That has been very fun to watch. The branch responds very well to them. To begin their talks they had the Hippolyte Family, Mother, Father, daughter and baby sing “Families Can be Together Forever.” It set the tone as the talks were about temple marriage. The Hipployte’s now have temple recommends they received after attending the temple class we taught. They are planning to attend the Santa Domingo Temple when finances are available. The talks about temple marriage were very well presented and makes me realize how blessed we are to have so many temples available to us. It is a big hardship for these members to prepare to attend the temple as it is so far away. The Elliot’s invited us to dinner this week and so we enjoyed that experience. They live in a nice home with one wall just being wooden shutters and no glass. On the way home there was a large forest fire close to the top of the mountain. So many areas have been burned so it makes us hope for rain soon. Saturday we enjoyed our Relief Society Birthday party activity. It was pleasing to see so many sisters in attendance. Part of my assignment as a missionary is to train members, like the Relief Society presidency. As I explained about celebrating for the March 17 birthday they were excited to learn about it. They may have been told about it before but anyway, they thought it would be fun. So we planned a party with everyone bringing potluck and having a volunteer program. So that is what we did and it worked out well. There were no decorations of any kind, not even a tablecloth or napkins, but no one seemed bothered by that. We had a nice program and the highlight was Sister Celina Noel singing, it was very beautiful. President Nicholas also did a dance that electrified the congregation. It is interesting that such simple things make them so happy. That is about it for another week. Hope you have nice spring days this week. Love from Elder and Sister Faux.