Happy Easter from Barbados

 

Happy Easter!  We're really cruising now.  It's been a busy few weeks so let's catch up on Missionary Life in Barbados.  Just to let you know....it's still sunny and 88 here!  Had a few rain clouds, but no rain.  The Sargassum in the ocean showed up again this week, but no worries because there's no p-day this week.  

Note the sargassum on the beach

Elder Jones is Grenada bound

It's transfer week, so it has been back and forth to the airport a few times.  It also means changes to many zones.  Elder Motley returned home last week, so we welcome Elder Walsh from Kaysville as our newest AP.  He hit the ground running.....literally because it's transfer week and they have a big responsibility coordinating the airport runs and inner island transfers.  

Took the APs on our lunch date. Elder Roberts (Cedar City) & Elder Walsh (Kaysville)

We had to say good-bye to a few more this week, which is always difficult.

Sister Lewis returned to Jamaica
Soeur Nwaka returned to Ontario

Soeur Monteiro returned to France

Today we welcome 5 missionaries from the Provo MTC and 2 returning from medical leave.  We are also getting a new MLS couple for St. Lucia that arrive on Saturday.  We will do young missionary orientation on Saturday and then they will start departing for their various assignments.  The MLS orientation will be on Monday and then they will head off to St. Lucia for 18 months.  

Winter getting anyone down?  We are looking for an English speaking missionary couple for St. Maarten in May and French speaking couples for our French islands starting in August.  Come join us in the great Barbados mission!


Last Saturday, we had a great time at the local Brighton's Farmer's market and then a trip up the coast to Speightstown.  We had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed the calm waters. On Sunday, we confirmed a new District Presidency for the Barbados District.  There are 3 districts in our mission:  Barbados, the other English islands (St. Vincent, Grenada, & St. Lucia), and the French side (St. Maarten, Guadeloupe, Martinique & French Guiana).   

Easter in Barbados is a BIG event.  Good Friday everyone disappears from work and the kids are out of school.  I heard the choir from St. Matthias church practicing for Sunday as I walked to work.  Stores are closed and many restaurants as well.  They open a bit on Saturday and then close Sunday & Monday.  This is our first and only Easter in Barbados, so I'm excited to observe their traditions.  For our Happy Easter, we will celebrate with a baptism on Sunday and then a special Easter Sacrament meeting.  We will meet as a mission after Sacrament for a late lunch with the zone at the mission home.  We love these missionaries, so it is truly a blessing to be with them on holidays.  It is almost as good as being home...

In our doctrinal devotional this week, we studied a talk by Elder Worthlin from 2006 "Sunday Will Come."  Lessons learned: sometimes we get into the thick of things that seem so overwhelming.  These "Fridays" of our lives are difficult to navigate and require every scrap of faith we can muster.  We can and should always have Hope through Jesus Christ that Sunday will come.  Rely on the Savior.  He keeps all His promises.  

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