We have frozen this blog as a historical, yet informational view at what life is like in the West Indies Mission for all those called to serve. This blog was designed for the families and friends of those missionaries serving in the West Indies Mission from July 2006 to July 2009. Every six weeks, photos taken at zone conference as well as a new slide show including every person baptized were posted on the blog. All of the slide shows are also available on our You Tube channel. The current West Indies Mission blog can be found here. Posts on our missionary experience can be found here and earlier. And finally, if you are a returned missionary who served in the West Indies, there is a current blog for you. Click here or visit westindiesrm@blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Success Stories - April 6

We are traveling right now and the internet is slow. I'll post pictures as soon as I can but for know - here are last week's success stories


Success Stories – April 6

Elder Carlson - Martinique
this week my success is receiving three referrals in the last three days from members: i was informed of the difficulty of getting those here on martinique but as we simply taught doctrine to the members we visited; they were more than happy to give us referrals:

Elder Jones (Ben) - Trinidad
This week we went through the area book and pulled out all of the investigators who have ever been to church before. I was glad to see that we had a sizable stack. Last night we took these teaching records by the first councilor in the bishopric to see if he knew anyone. Almost immediately he pulls out one of the really old teaching records and says: "that is my cousin, he will get baptized."

Elder Harris – Guyana
Linden is just amazing. There are so many prepared people here. This Sunday we were really blessed by having 4 baptisms and 17 investigators at church. We have been trying to find men and this week we have found some potential Melchezidek priesthood holders. We were blessed that we found some this week. Linden is so close to becoming a branch.

Elder Ash – Suriname
Two weeks ago, we found a young guy named ***. He lived in America most of his life. He wanted to come to church. One sunday, he came, and there he met his aunt again for the first time in many many years. She was also in church for her first time. They greeted each other and talked about past times when his aunt was caring for him. I later find out that *** is a nephew to a man I baptized, and this woman, his aunt is a sister to the same man that I baptized. Yesterday, all three of them came to conference, and enjoyed it. The man that is a member is now so excited because if his sister and his nephew get baptized, then the rest of the family will soon follow! It is so interesting to see how the Lord does His work. I love it!

Elder Tholen – Suriname
*** seemed just to be another rasta, he was actually an investigator from the last elders in this area, and seemed best well interested in the message. After a quick lesson on priesthood we had to fly to the next appiontment. As we left he yelled that he would come to church and bring a friend. I mean how many times have we hear those words? It stayed in the back of my mind until sunday after conference when *** with his friend came walking throught the croud and greeted me, It took a second before i even recognized his face but he seemed a little different with a nice shirt and a smile he seemed to have just heard the voice of a prophet.....and with a smile he said my friend here wants to meet with you and when can you come back to my house i want to learn more. Is there a better way to feel the spirit and know there is a prohpet of God on earth than to hear his voice?

Elder Sarager – St Vincent
so on saturday morning i washed the white shirt that i was going to use that afternoon to baptized sister ***. i hung it outside on the telephone wire that was connected to the house and the telephone pole. the next thing i knew the wind had become stronger and started to blow the shirt on the hanger up the wire and eventually got stuck right next to the telephone pole. we had no idea how to get it down, then elder fisher decided to say a pray, so we did, and 10 mins later, the wind had changed directions and blew the shirt down the wire back to the house where we where at. everything else went great for her baptism.

Elder Moala – St Lucia
So we just baptized this person this last weekend, and when we were inviting the mother to come to church. She told us that she was already baptized 14+ years ago, when she lived Barbados. She also said that her daughter was baby blessed when they lives there, but never baptized. The Lord really knows who he wants in his church, and they will be found, no matter what country they live in. The Gospel is the same, every where we go.

Elder Huntsman - Guyana
This past week Elder Peterson and myself had the wonderful opportunity to blank into a new area. This was a great opportunity to help strengthen our faith. We decided to pray daily in order to reach the weighty goal we have set for this transfer. All though we have not reached our goal we did make a wonderful step towards doing so when we had 7 investigators show up to conference. They did not come because of our efforts but because the spirit touched them. If we will rely full in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and work our hardest, we will never have to wonder what to do next.

Elder Christensen – Guyana
Well this week was quite a ride, but what sticks out in my mind at the moment was General Conference. Right before General Conference we had a power failure so we all rushed out to the generator to get it started but for some reason it wasn’t starting up. So we said a prayer asking God to show us the way to get the generator working. So we started pressing the same buttons that we had been using before but something different came up this time and we were able to start the generator up. After we said a thank you prayer and got back in to watch conference. It really added to my testimony of prayer and how important it is and how much it can bless your life.

Elder Biver – St Vincent
this week we were preparing *** the 63 year old great grandma of *** (baptized last week), to be baptized. She really wanted to and had a lesson were we tried to organize the baptism. But her husband, ***, was surprised that she was preparing for baptism so quickly, and said that she could not get baptized this week. We tried to explain him that she was baptized, but he said that it was too soon. Finally Sister Hatton, who was teaching with us, said that he could pray about it and we could see him the next day. He said he would do it. The next day, even before beginning the lesson, he told us that her wife was ready for being baptized this Saturday. Later he told us that as he prayed the night before, he felt the spirit tell him that his wife was ready and should not wait. He is now preparing himself to be baptized.

Elder Scott - Guyana
this sunday we were going around trying to help people to come to conference and we had this one way sweet investigator named ***. we got to her place to talk to her and make sure she was getting ready and her nieghbors said that she was already gone. so we prayed extra extra hard that she was going to church and then went on our way. when we finally got across the river to canje we walked in just as conference was about to start and there she was. a member had come by her house and picked her up to come early. how sweet is member work?!

Elder Stebbing – Guyana
Well conference was a huge success for myself personally, and also for the investigators that we are teaching. 14 of them were guided by the Spirit to attend on sunday, and they loved it. As I listened to the inspired words of the prophets, I kept thinking "wow, this is exactly what Bro. So-and-so needs". I know that the conference was a spiritual highlight for investigators and members alike.

Elder Gilley –
I know that God will help us find those who are willing to hear. He might even have them bike right up to you and say Hi. The spirit is a blessing and when we feel it strong someone near is willing to be taught. God let us know it was ***, because he happened to bike right up to us and say hello.

Elder Schroath - Suriname
So last week as we were just about to walk out of the internet place after emailing this man walks in. He freezes, and stares at me. Then he asks are you a mormon? I said Yes we are from the church of Jesus Christ. His response, i've been looking for you! Brother ***, a chinese investigator from 7 years ago had been driving around on his motor scooter for a week looking for us. He was so excited to find us and told us that night he was ready to be baptized. This week we taught him everyday, he even stopped smoking after 45 years in one night. He went to China this week for 2 months to take care of his dad, who has lung cancer, but is preparing for his baptism upon his return. The Lord prepares his people!

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