Respect

The picture says it all


(from Elder Jailall)

Hello and Goodbye to Trinidad Couples

We gathered in Trinidad last night to welcome the Barnes and Palmers and say goodbye to the Farrers who leave Monday morning and the Colemans who leave December 16th.

How do we cope with change?

We chat


We eat


and eat


We celebrate a birthday


We enjoy making new friends

Palmers (Auditing and Training)


Barnes (South Trinidad)


And appreciate the blessings of serving with old friends

Colemans (St Martin and office)


Farrers (St Lucia and South Trinidad)


And then we shout

"Hurrah for Israel!!!"

They work hard in Trinidad!

It was zone conference today in the mission home - can you tell?

From Sept 08

The missionaries sure do work hard! Will Elder Shideler's shoes survive his last month and a half?

From Sept 08

They were well prepared and ready to learn

From Sept 08

In zone conference we study hard

From Sept 08

have fun (Elder Vance trusts his brothers!)

From Sept 08

and practice practice practice

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The senior couples make great role play partners for getting member referrals

These missionaries have faith to find!

Trinidad North zone

From Sept 08

Trinidad South zone

From Sept 08

And the newly named senior couples O-zone ('older' zone) minus the Colemans who dashed to the office. The Guyana couples have named themselves the 'twilight zone'

From Sept 08

Dallin's West Indies facts

We got the following email yesterday from our daughter-in-law Lisa (who happens to be expecting identical twin future missionaries!). I thought you might like to read some of the things she and her oldest son, Dallin discovered about the West Indies (with a few of my pictures and comments in green):

Here is the West Indies researcher - Dallin - our oldest grandson (9) and 'world traveler' standing in front of the Pitons of St. Lucia (his goal is to visit 10 countries before he is 10)

From Sept 08

(the May 2005 issue of Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine named St. Lucia and the Pitons as one of the "Five Places to see in Your Lifetime")

Dallin and I are spending our Friday night playing with his electronic globe. We are having fun learning fun facts about the places you visit on your mission. We wanted to email you the amazing facts that we learn. You probably know most of these.

- Trinidad and Tobago- They have a taxi called a maxi taxi that seats up to 25 people

That is what the elders ride - here's a picture of Elder Cotton and Elder Endemann in a maxi

From Sept 08

- Martinique- The 1902 volcanic eruption is considered the worst in that century

The eruption was from Mt Pelee - seen in the distance

From Sept 08

Mt Pelee is where the two missionaries, Elder Gray and Elder Swain, were lost for three days last December

From Sept 08

We hiked part of Mt Pelee - and it was NOT easy.

Here is what the path looks like

From Sept 08

Proof that I made it at least part way

From Sept 08

Because of the volcano, the sand at the beach nearby is black

From Sept 08

- Grenada- 2nd smallest independent country in the Western Hemisphere

I have posted lots about Grenada lately

- Suriname- pipa pipa . . . flat tongueless frog that only lives in suriname

I haven't seen that one - but we have frogs of all shapes and sizes in the West Indies - and some of them are extremely noisy

From Sept 08

From Sept 08

- Guyana- they have water falls 5x higher than Niagara falls (you have been there!)

Yes - Kaieteur Falls is the longest single drop waterfall in the world. You have to fly in on a small plane from Georgetown for an hour and a half over beautiful rivers and rain forest.

Here we are with the Dunns and Lockharts (missionary couples who have finished their service). Bob Evans of Fox News fame took this shot and said it looked like the place coca-cola was invented.

From Sept 08

- St. Lucia- Has the worlds only drive in volcano

We've been there - stinky but interesting

From Sept 08

The best part is a hot stream flowing near the volcano with the strangest softest black mud - full of all kinds of minerals. Rubbing it on your skin makes it softer than anything else I have ever experienced - really!

From Sept 08

Here are Dallin's parents enjoying the 'treatment'

From Sept 08

- French Guiana- Largest spider in the world . . .the bird eating spider. Dallin wants to know if you have seen one

I haven't found that spider yet - but I will look for one (right)

If you dare - take a look at a few spiders the elders have found

We're traveling again

After church tomorrow we start traveling again (feels like we just got home). Every six weeks (between transfers) we make the rounds of our very large and spread out mission to hold zone conferences. Here is the zone conference schedule for this transfer period:

July 29 - Island (includes Grenada, St Vincent, and St Lucia)
August 4 - French (includes Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St Martin)
August 8 - Trinidad
August 18 - Suriname (includes French Guiana)
August 20 - Canje Guyana (includes Canje and Berbice zones)
August 22 - Georgetown Guyana (includes Georgetown and Diamond zones)

Note - the French and Suriname zone conferences will be on Mondays this tour - that means that those missionaries may not be able to email on their regular day.

Also, internet is sketchy during parts of the tour so success stories and this blog may get an occasional rest.