Jeralie celebrates her birthday in style

Many of you may not know my feelings about birthdays but I think they are all about creating memories. So here is what we did at the end of Feb. for mine. I called it a ladies day out. And boy did some husbands grumble. The mission president hates to know there is a party going on and he wasn't invited. Anyway, I invited all of the senior sisters missionaries and the mission presidents wife and 2 daughters and a friend to go on a boat ride, which was free, to a restaurant for lunch. It was such a pleasant day. It took about 45 minutes to get there. Very peaceful and unhurried. Then, on the way home, some of us stopped into to Maggie Moos for ice cream. We had a great time.

Young Single Adult Snorkeling Party

The St. Kitts branch recently organized their Young Single Adults. They are a great group. There are about 8-10 in the branch. Mostly girls. We planned activities for the next 6 months. Last month they went on a hike organized by the one non member man of the group. It was a smashing success. That young man Ricky, was baptized last week. Yahoo. The Elders quorum have scooped him up and are becoming fast friends. Then, yesterday, they had their second activity. They planned a snorkeling party. They were encouraged to invite their friends. So they did. And 20 people came. They spent the afternoon eating, socializing and snorkeling, which many of them had never done before. They can hardly wait for their activity next month. Way to go YSA St. Kitts.

Great Sign Ehh?

Monkeyin' around

As we were driving around the island, we saw this rare sign. Monkey crossing. Nevis and St. Kitts are among the only islands on our mission that have monkeys. They were brought over years ago as pets by the English. When the English left the island, they left their pets. Monkeys are actually a problem to the people because the monkeys steal their mangos from the trees before they are ripe. And many people depend on mangos as a staple. But I must admit, they are sort of cute.

The Allen Family on Nevis

After church, we went with Brother Croft to visit the Allan Family. The Allens have been members of the church for 25 years. They cannot afford to take transportation to get to the family group. So we visited them. Brother Croft is a priest. We invited him to prepare himself for the Melchezedek Priesthood and then prepare to go to the temple. He got excited about those ideas. Then we asked his son Evenson if he was interested in serving a mission. He is 19. He said he was. We spent a little time explaining that missions take sacrifice and hard work. We also explained the blessings of a mission that will come to him, his family and the members on Nevis by his serving. If he and one other person from St. Kitts serve missions, the mission president will send full time missionaries to their island. Evenson does not have a penny to his name and is looking for a job. Jobs are so hard to find on this island. We will come back next month and see if we can find a way for him to prepare himself to serve. With the help of the nearby branch and a miracle from the Lord, I'm sure he can have the desire of his heart and bless others along the way.

Went to the small island of Nevis today. It is just off St. Kitts. We took the ferry which took about 30 minutes and drove to the Croft family home. They are the family that holds the family group meeting each sunday. Sister Croft picks up the members and brings them to their home. Today, only 1 lady, Franchesca came to church. We sat on their porch and enjoyed a lovely lesson by sister Croft on the Priesthood. After a great lesson (yes, with the whole family) we had sacrament meeting. We sang, prayed, Brother Croft blessed and passed the sacrament and we all shared our testimonies because it was fast and testimony sunday due to general conference. What a sweet spirit that resided there. Unfortunately, the Crofts will be moving in two weeks after Brother Croft graduates from Medical school. We will need to find or activate a priesthood member to keep the family group going.

Starting a new mission

We have now been on our new mission for almost 5 months and apologize for not updating our blog. We are serving in the Puerto Rico Mission. It was two missions, until this last July, but has been collapsed into one. This mission serves all of Puerto Rico, and eight other islands. They are Dominica, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, St, Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola and Virgin Gorda. Nevis and Virgin Gorda have family groups that are associated with neighboring islands. Scot is in the Mission Presidency serving with President Jorge Alvarado. Though we have a nice apartment in San Juan, our assignment takes us to the six major islands each month. We spend 3 days each month on each of these islands where we get to know the members, work with the missionary couple on each island and train the local leadership on the area priorities. It has been great to get to know the members through out the islands. We also enjoy our time with the couples in San Juan. The things we have learned in St. Lucia, Guyana and Tobago have been valuable and helped us in being familiar with both mission and island culture. We are settled and ready to share our adventures with you. So stay tune.