March Madness in Barbados

 I realize it has been a few weeks since our last update in Barbados.  We are alive and well.  The daily routine is just that and sometimes isn't exciting reading, but it sure is exhausting on this end.  

Barbados Zone

We had another wonderful Zone Conference.  We will be sending two of our Barbados Zone missionaries home at the end of this transfer, which is in two weeks.  One is our Zone Leader, Elder Osmond, who is from North Dakota.  He is a great missionary and has been a great leader.  He will be starting his semester at BYU-I in April, so we hope to see him again when we travel to Idaho next winter.  Our AP, Elder Motley, who is from California, will also be heading home after extending for a month.  He will be heading to Provo in April to start school at BYU.  We look forward to Sunday dinners with him when we return.  These missionaries are so wonderful and it is a pleasure to serve them.  We will also be sending Sister Lewis back to Jamaica.  Doug knew her father when he served in Jamaica as a young missionary.  Her father would have been about 15 then and would go on splits with the missionaries a lot.  It has been a very fun connection with her.  A few of the take-aways from ZC were:
  • Integrity is the foundation of our Character
  • We need a ROCK solid foundation
  • Christ is our spiritual foundation and our Rock
  • Elder Callister says, "It is hard to develop all the other Christ-like attributes without a solid foundation.  
  • Relationships + belief + experiences - lifestyle changes are the formula to why people stay in the church.
We have many people get baptized in the Caribbean, but for one reason or another, they don't seem to stay or find it important to come to church.  They feel that everything is just fine because they were baptized.  The commitment to our Savior just seems to wane and wane quickly.  Keeping the spiritual momentum is important and we are trying to help that effort here.
Elders of Barbados

When you start praying for what is needful, you can't complain when opportunities arise for one to serve.  I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had to give a talk in church and they asked me to talk on Commitment.  Well, while we were sitting in ZC on Thursday, Doug got a text from our Branch President asking him to ask me if I would speak.  Doug leans over and says.....didn't you just do this?  Do you want to do it again?  Like I said, one can't pray for what is needful and then say no......so I prepared another talk.  I guess there were things that I needed to learn.  I was given the talk from last conference by Elder Costa on Seeking Jesus Christ in our day to day lives.  As I pondered the talk and went back through my notes, the word REMEMBER kept jumping out at me.  Remember appears in the Book of Mormon 144 times.  It appears in the Bible 136 times. In the D&C 44 times and in the Pearl of Great Price once.  The natural man has a tendency to forget.....and boy have we forgotten more than we knew.  There is power that comes from remembering Jesus Christ though that will help make up our lack.  Every Sunday when we partake of the Sacrament, we promise to Always remember Him!  When we do, we definitely are blessed.  Elder Ballard said, "Don't govern your life by convenience (Satan distracts & helps us forget but provides no power) but govern your life by covenant (this is where the POWER is!).  Moroni 7:33  "If ye will have faith in me, ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. " 

About two months ago, I received a prompting that I needed to start organizing all my notes and reading journals into topics.  I use the Notebook app in the Gospel Library app to keep notes or quotes that I found interesting to ponder on different topics.  By having to plan for talks, that prompting has been very useful.  Doug told me that I needed to be prepared on a mission to be called upon at any given time.  He was right. Doug has had many opportunities to speak, teach Elders Quorum, and serve on the missionary correlation committee.  It gets him out of in front of the computer and into the thick of missionary work.....he's in heaven! 

Few "real life" pics of the mission:
Sunday dinner in our little kitchen

Life is better with sandy toes!

Bus Stops are so cool!


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