Happy Halloween

Don't get too scared!!!

Creatures from the West Indies Mission:


A Caribbean creation from Elder and Sister Collins in the mission office

French (and last) October Zone Conference

We finished up a wonderful mission tour with Elder and Sister Vinas with a final stop in Guadeloupe


with the great missionaries from the French side (Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St Martin)


Many of them wore suits in honor of Elder Vinas' visit - a sight not often seen in the West Indies Mission (Elders Snow and Ison)


the Elders provided a fabulous musical number, as usual


After the conference, Elder Biver helped Elder Vinas with some French translation


so I had time to take a few pictures

Elder Maihota and Pahio



Elders Julian, Ison, Jones, Roberts, and Wright


Elders Alexander and Vogel


Elder Larson


Elders Tycksen and Neff showing what real men do



Huddling up

Island Zone Conference - October

It was small (10 Elders, 5 couples) but powerful. We receive wonderful instruction from Elder Vinas.

Here is the group - Hurrah for the Islands!


A little closer:




Island Couples with Elder and Sister Vinas (second couple from the left)


We had to say goodbye to Elder and Sister Sherwood - they made a huge contribution to establishing the church in St Lucia


They helped get a new building rented and now an extension because the church is growing so rapidly in Castries (Vieux Fort is growing as well!)


Won't this make a wonderful chapel?


Elder and Sister Hymas arrived Friday to replace the Sherwoods. They will be great!

Couple missions are cool

even to 10 year olds!

Sister Lang, mother of one of the West Indies missionaries, said I could share this:

Sister Robison,

Thanks again for the wonderful service you provide us families through your website and blog. All of my friends whose sons are serving missions wish they had the wonderful glimpses that we enjoy through you. It is so wonderful to see such diligent young men serving with smiles. Today as we were watching the slideshow my 10 year old son said “I want to go on a couples mission to the West Indies.” Thank you and President Robison for sacrificing and serving.

With much appreciation,

The Lang Family

Trinidad Zone Conference

We have been so busy during this mission tour with Elder Vinas of the Seventy. It has been wonderful! We just had a training meeting tonight with the Trinidad District leadership (hoping to become a stake). Elder Vinas said it is one of the finest training meetings he has ever done. We had 175 wonderful saints in attendance (in their seats a half hour early!) eager to learn at the feet of one of the Lord's chosen servants.

Because of our schedule I haven't been able to take many pictures and my time working on this blog has been limited. But here is a quick look at the Trinidad Zone Conference last Friday:

Getting settled - don't they look sharp?



The group with Elder and Sister Vinas


Closer



The Couples


The Farrers and the Leishmans provided a beautiful musical number (Elder Farrer and Elder Leishman served as zone leaders together in New Zealand a few years back)



President Robison and Elder Vinas


A stats consult with the assistants and zone leaders and me (Sister Robison) after zone conference.

October Slideshow

Hurrah for Israel!

This is exciting (at least for me it is) - you can now watch the WIM slideshows in fullscreen version. Just click on the icon in the lower right corner of the movie window (it will appear when you put your cursor on the movie).

*note - I am still trying to upload a clearer full screen version.




If you want to download a small version of this slideshow you can go to the gallery by clicking here

Put the cursor over the movie and a menu will pop out from the left side. Click on 'save' and then 'web'.

Let me know if this works!

If you don't know what 'Hurrah for Israel' means - look here

Hurrah! Dallin and Amanda liked it (grandchildren :)


Music from this slideshow:

"Oh Israel" - Greg Simpson, EFY 2003
"I Hope the Call me on a Mission" - Marvin Goldstein
"Hurrah for Israel" - group, EFY 2008

A BIG Guyana Zone Conference

All the missionaries in Guyana gathered in one place to hear from Elder Vinas, of the Caribbean Area Presidency today. I wasn't able to take many pictures but here is the big group shot we took after the conference:


I know - your son's faces are tiny dots - so here are a few more closely cropped glimpses:




These are a few pictures I took yesterday in the hotel lobby while the elders were waiting to be interviewed by President Robison:



This is the room where President Robison did his interviews - appropriate, isn't it?


Jomo Green (on the left) is working the reception desk - he is a WIRM!


One last picture. This is Elder Bishop. President Robison once told him that he was so nice that he couldn't hurt a fly. Elder Bishop wants to prove him wrong (that's a flyswatter in his backpack) but with that kind expression on his face I don't believe it for a minute.

Couples Success Story

I regularly post success stories on the mission website. This one was so fun, I thought I would put it here. It's from Elder Dayton and Moala:

We had a lady who was thinking about baptism this past week. she is quite a sharp lady and was thinking very hard about the decision to be baptized. We took the Myers teaching with us to visit this lady. At the beginning of the second lesson with them there, she had adamantly decided that she would not be baptized that coming weekend. (It was Friday when we were teaching her). By the end of the lesson, she out of no where said, "Elder Myers, will you baptize me tomorrow?" Elder myers did in fact baptize this woman and she will have a lifetime fellowshipper because of it...a pretty solid one too! I was reminded of a great lesson-the huge role that senior couples can play when teaching.

Here is a picture of the baptism from Sister Myers' blog

Suriname in October

We had a great zone conference in Suriname today for the Suriname and French Guiana missionaries. It is the only one we will have without Elder Vinas from the area presidency so we kept it kind of informal.

First we had a 'best practices' session where each companionship shared one thing that is working well. It was fascinating - I learned so much!



Then we discussed their study of the Atonement in the Book of Mormon

A special moment was seeing Larry Roseval open his mission call. He has been attending zone conferences in Suriname for quite a while in preparation for his mission.


He is called to serve in the Puerto Rico San Juan West Mission, Spanish speaking!

Here are the prospective missionaries of Suriname


Yves Verwey, just to the left of Larry, already has his call to the Belgium Brussels Mission, Mandarin speaking.

Here they are - the Elders of Suriname and French Guiana

French Elders Anihia, Tevaro, Garrett, and Doumbia


Elders Baantjer, Tholen, and Harding


Elders Swart, Holtz, Riding and Croese


Elders Ash, Muse, and Shakespear


Elders Pence, Kinghorn, Schroath, and Koenen


Elders Macintosh and Lines (French) and Elders Sorber and Jestice (Suriname Zone Leaders)


Prospective missionaries


Elder (I mean brother) Dinge who is the newest West Indies returned missionary!


Lunch time!