Life in Barbados: September 4-11th

 

Typical Barbados home.  

It's the beginning of the month, so Elder Ellis has been knee deep in monthly reports that are due today.  Those reports take in all 8 areas that include 4 different currencies and lots of receipt tracking from 72 young missionaries.  What could go wrong, right?  Crazy stuff.  As for the medical side after having 640 students for the past 12 years, tracking 72 missionaries is MUCH easier!  (Knock on wood)

While y'all were celebrating the Labor Day Holiday, our week began last Monday with a pancake breakfast at our apartment complex for the Barbados Zone.  Our Zone consists of the office senior missionaries as well as 16 young missionaries plus we had the 4 still in transit going to their assignments.  It was so fun to see them all together.  They could have spread out, but they all genuinely love to be together and don't mind just sharing.  Our little complex has an outdoor kitchen area, so it makes for a nice gathering space with the missionaries.  

Barbados Zone Pancake breakfast

On Tuesday, our mission leaders left with the APs and the 4 in-transit missionaries to begin their French side Zone Conference tour.  We go about holding down the fort here in the office.  Luckily, all the storms that are slowly turning into hurricanes are turning north and missing our islands.  We were worried that the northern zones would surely have some of it, but so far they have stayed in the ocean away from land.  I've been busy trying to make sure that all the apartments have their emergency supplies including food and first aid that they are supposed to have.  I worry for them, so they can focus on the Lord's work.  It is definitely HIS work and he looks after his missionaries!  

Dinner on the Boardwalk to welcome the Whiteheads

We welcomed 2 new couples to the mission this week.  The Rogers (from Orem, UT) are Area Communication Specialists, which means they are actually called to the Caribbean Area.  Our Area authorities are based in the Dominican Republic.  The Rogers are then assigned to cover the Barbados mission specifically just like our Humanitarian couple, the Kirkham's.  We also welcomed the Whiteheads (from Burley, Idaho) who will be the MLS (member leadership support) couple on Grenada.  The Hellums will be leaving in the next couple of weeks.  We have orientation here on Barbados and then they will fly off to Grenada for the next 18 months.  It was fun to spend some time with them this week. We had a welcome dinner at the Mission Home on Sunday evening.

Welcome dinner at Mission Home
(L-R): Sister Stoffers, Fullers, Ellis, Whiteheads, Kirkhams, Rogers, & Sister Newell

We finally welcomed our new copier after months of waiting and praying.  I call it the "Grey Goose" because it is a nice sleeker version of the older dingy white copier and it's grey.  We also got the carpets cleaned on Friday after waiting for a bit.......remember "Island time"!  This meant we had to clear the office for a few hours while it dried.  After having assignments the last 2 Saturdays, we decided to take p-day on Friday.  That meant taking a 5 minute drive to Carlyle Bay for the day.  The water was just stunning and although we were in the water most of the time, Doug got a little sunburned....  He's surviving just fine!

Carlyle Bay by day.  The water is even bluer than the pic shows!

Carlyle Bay Sunset

On Saturday, we went to a local farmer's market to grab some local produce before heading on an airport run.  We love seeing what the local artisans make and grow.  It just makes us appreciate the local culture and people even more.

Brighton Farmer's Market

We took a drive to explore another part of the island and found expansive farm land.  If you want to be a farmer, the government gives you land to farm.  We saw tons of sugar cane fields and probably lots more crops that we couldn't see over the cane fields.  It was lush!  As we reached the top of a hill, we then saw the Atlantic Ocean spread before us, so of course we must go explore that too! 

Bathsheba:  "The Soup Bowl"

This area is called Bathsheba and is known by the locals as the Soup Bowl.  The Atlantic side of the island has much stronger currents, is rocky with lots of cliffs, and surfers LOVE it!  We watched several surfers catch their waves and enjoy the riptides.  

Our weekly mission devotional this week discussed Elder Renlund's Conference talk Abound with Blessings.  As we obey the commandments and build our foundation of faith bit by bit, we find the Lord blesses us more than we even deserve.  There are certain laws that when obeyed have not only spiritual blessings but temporal ones that are attached.  For example, if we obey the Word of Wisdom, we have temporal blessings of health or if we obey the Law of Tithing there are temporal blessings as well.  As we learn more about the gospel and become more like our Savior and develop those Christ-like attributes, we have been promised joy and happiness throughout this mortal journey.  I don't know about you, but I think this whole world could use a little more joy and happiness through Christ-like living!  If you have an opportunity, this talk is a good one to go find!

Barbados tip of the week:  Tourist season is November - April.  The month of September is pretty slow for tourism, so a lot of restaurants close up for the month.  It's also hurricane season, so although cheaper then there is a chance of bad weather and delayed airline travel.  So far, thank heaven for answered prayers, the storms are just that: rain storms when they pass over or around Barbados and so we get some rain; however, they seem to gain momentum as they move up the Atlantic.  This is a little gem of an island!  What a blessing that we get to serve here!

Life is better with sandy toes!