Earlier this month we had a mission tour from one of the area presidency members. His name is Elder Anderson. We had the pleasure of meeting Elder Anderson once when we were in Guyana. This time, he and his wife were here to tour the mission. He requested a meeting with all of the couples in the mission. We had about 6 or 7 couples that are serving as service missionaries from Puerto Rico in attendance. We had 2 sets of service missionaries from the islands and 6 sets of full time couple missionaries fly in for the meeting. We flew the couple in the day before. They had a little time for shopping, going to dinner and enjoyed a little socializing. They don't get many opportunities to get together. later The next morning they enjoyed Elder and Sister Anderson remarks at a zone conference, went to lunch, had a little personal time in the afternoon, and that evening, came to our place for a little island specific meeting where we discussed the area focus for the next few months, the importance of seminary and institute enrollment and graduation for the youth and young adults as well as some new in field training guidelines to help them teach the lessons of the gospel. It is great to get together. Sorry we didn't have the people in the back stand up to be seen. At this point, the Steckers are in Antigua, the Hadlocks in St. Kitts, the Icelys in St. Croix, the Babcocks and sisters Walthers and Cooper in Dominica, the Vickery's in Tortola, and the Murdocks in St. Thomas. What a great group of servants we get to work with.

These two are the Hanleys. He was just released as the branch president after several years. He and his wife were just called as new service missionaries. Sister Hanly served a mission as a young lady. Serving a mission for her husband has been a dream for a long time. He is thrilled that his dream can now come true. They have been married for several years and just had their first baby a month ago. Lots of new changes in this little family. They will be learning about humanitarian aid projects that can be done on several of our other islands and helping those projects become realities. We are soooo excited to have them serve in this capacity. Their official missionary name tags are in the mail. We had them over for dinner and their setting apart for this new assignment and calling. They will be a great addition.

Baptisms are the best thing. But it is even more sweet when the local members help with the teaching, fellow shipping and participating in the ordinances. That is the gospel at it's best. These two tall Nigerian men will be a wonderful addition to the branch.

Of course the highlight for any missionary is a baptism and we were lucky enough to attend one in St. Kitts on this visit. The couple in the picture are the Hadlocks. They are doing a wonderful job on the island. In addition to missionary work, they are finding humanitarian projects for the islands. Their first mission to Jamaica was as humanitarian missionaries. The two good looking men in the picture were being baptized this day. They are both from Nijeria. One is attending medical school and the other was attending Business school here in St. Kitts. One of them has a brother in Nigeria who had joined the church and so when he got to St. Kitts, wanted to learn more about it. It is sooo great to belong to such a world wide church!

I made it a point to sneak a little snorkeling in between meetings. See my catch of the day?

Brimstone Fort

We have been doing several branch conferences on the islands lately. Earlier this month, we were on the island of St. Kitts. While Scot was in meetings, I asked Sister Hadlock, the senior sister, if she would go with me to see Brimstone Fort. I was told it was really great and lucky for me, she had a pass for us to get in at no charge. We had a lovely afternoon exploring the Fort and enjoying the views. Here are some of those pictures. I had lots, but this gives you the idea. There is a lot of history in these islands of forts that protected the islands. Sometimes they were possessed by the British, sometimes the French. For some of the islands in the Caribbean, the Dutch and Spanish fought for possession. St. Kitts was won by the British.

The Flower Show

One day, Sister Edwards, who works in the Employment Center, took me to an annual flower show. Here we are enjoying our Pinapple colatas. A sweet highlight. We were on the street enjoying the flowers and atmosphere. But in so doing, we didn't even realize we missed the real flower show that was held indoors a huge hall. We had a great day none the less. Orchids everywhere.
We tasted this little weird fruit from Asia. It was great. It was soft and sweet.
Orchids are plentiful here. They even graft them on trees and they bloom for months. I have never seen so many kinds and colors. It was a wonderful day.