Who invited Elder Hymas to Enrichment night???? Oh, where there is food, there will his heart be also. This was a cooking class for the ladies. Sister Maria Joseph was teaching us how to make salt fish cakes. We also learned how to fry plantain. She was dressed in the traditional creol plads, as it was a special holiday here. We are still not sure why Elder Hymas thought he needed to learn this skill, but he was really into it. Good thing the ladies all enjoyed his company. He is a great sport. And so are they. They are anxious to see what I can teach them to cook. I'd better figure that out soon. Any recipes you want to email me would be appreciated. The pressure is on.

Our awesome young women

This is one of my favorite pictures. Ladies enrichment night was one of our first nights here. The ladies learned to make a bread like patti called bakes and salt fish cakes. At the end of the evening, the young women did some traditional dancing for us as entertainment. They were wonderful. They had bussles under their skirts and danced with brooms. They were so funny. They made us all smile. These girls are the back bone of the YW and the cream of the crop in St. Lucia. They have strong testimonies and really do stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all places. Samara, is 14 and investigating the church. Kacy is 18, leads the sacrament meeting music and is a counselor in Young Women. Rosy is 15, Jonelle is 13, D'Anne is 16 and her best friend Sarah is a 16 year old newish member. These girls are fun and happy and bring so much joy to everyone around them as they strive to live the Young women values.

Here I am with some of the Vieux Fort members. We raise our fists and shout Hurrah for Israel on this island. This is tradition, especially at baptisms. The RS president of the branch is 19. I have been so impressed with the members here. They are all relatively new in the gospel and yet they are willing to take on leadership positions and do their best. I'm learning that all it takes is the spirit, a testimony and desire. It really is just that simple. Go and do.

The day after we arrived, the Sherwoods took us to the southern part of the island called Vieux Fort. There, we met the other missonary couple the Williamsons who we will be working with. The Sherwoods spoke in church and we had a wonderful munch and mingle afterward. It was great. We enjoyed the saints in that branch. After we ate, we just sat around visiting and sang hymns. It was kind of a rocking special day. Here I am next to Sister Williamson and Sister Sherwood.

We were met at the airport by Branch President Debeauville and his cute wife Justina. They are the best and are the strength of the branch. Not only that, they made us feel soooo welcome as we all shared a wonderful dinner with them and the Sherwoods. Sister D manages to phone me every other day to see how I am getting on with my adventures. She is teaching me the town and the culture. She has a heart of gold. They're kids are pretty great too. Wait till you meet them on my blog.

We spent our first week with this great couple, the Sherwoods from Gilbert Arizona. This is the couple we will be attempting to replace. Although we learned right away that we will never replace them. They have done so much for the branch. They will be sooooo missed. Especially by us. They were so fun to be with and made us feel so welcome. In our one week together, they introduced to both branches, brought us to the branch beach party, let us help prepare the food for the zone conference, showed us where members lived, how to drive on the other side of the road, introduced us around to business owners around town, took us out to eat, gave us the city tour, gave us insights to each of the members, taught us about paper work and reports, cooked for us, helped us get our cel phone taught us the local terms and generally took such good care of us. They are so loved and will be so missed. It is up to us to keep going what they have worked so hard to establish here. We have big shoes to fill, but we will give it our best shot.

Just outside the batik factory and view point we met a steel drum player. He told us that he made this drum and that it is a common Caribbean instrument, but this is the only place we have actually seen anyone playing it. This fellow was actually very good. I wonder if we should consider lessons? Maybe a trade....... drum lessons for gospel lessons????? It might be worth a try.

During our first week here, the couple on the southern part of the island, the Williamsons took us to see this great view or our city. Castries is the capitol of St. Lucia and this is the bay where all the cruise ships come in. We are taking a picture of this view from a lovely little shop that shows tourist where they tie dye and print batik on fabric. It was a lovely little spot.

So there is a God and He knows Scots every need. Who knew that our Branch President is a distributor for Coke all over the island. Elder Hymas considers this an answer to his secret prayer. This really is paradise!!!