Life in Barbados week of June 24th

 


We are prepping for our first tropical storm of the season as we speak!  That's exciting and young missionaries have no clue.  We've trained them in preparation and now we hope they will take those into consideration and plan.  This storm may mess up their p-day, so they will need to figure that out now to make sure they have enough food to get them through just in case.  Luckily, we do have several days to prepare and it is just a tropical storm currently, but who knows what wind and rain can really do until it shows its hand.  

Sister Stone (jamaica) is back in Barbados

We made it through transfers, which is exciting and sad all at the same time.  Doug & I enjoy our airport runs actually, because it gives us some extra time to get to know the missionaries a little bit better.  It's always nice to see a friendly face upon arrival or departure in a foreign country.  

Sisters Arippeu (Tahiti) & Carlson (USA) heading to the French side

Elder Toledo (Mexico) heading to St. Vincent

Surfers Cafe for departing dinner

We had lots of last minute meetings and time with our mission leaders--The Bickmores'.  They have served valiantly for the past 3 years and now get to go home and enjoy being present for all the moments of their family.  It has been a pleasure serving with them and we look forward to our lifelong friendship.  President Bickmore's mom lives in Orem in Greg & Jeni's ward (formally Doug's parents ward), so that is a fun connection.  

The Bickmores 2021-2024

We welcomed The Burnhams on Monday.  An interesting fact is that as soon as The Burnhams land in the mission, they are the mission leaders.  It was inspiring and precious to watch that mantle change right before our eyes.  I think the Bickmores grew taller that evening.  It is also inspiring to watch and learn from the Burnhams already.  They truly were called for THIS time.  Their energy and testimonies are already felt, as well as their love for the Caribbean, the missionaries, and the members.  It will be wonderful!  

(L-R) Fullers, Burnhams, Bickmores, Toma & us

The Burnhams are already sharing some wonderful counsel that they learned from their mission leader training.  One of their favorites was a talk on Moral Agency from Elder Bednar, so I looked it up to read the talk in the Church News.  One quote we liked was: "We haven't been blessed with moral agency to do whatever we want whenever we will.....We have been given agency to seek after and act in accordance with eternal truth."  Sit with that for a moment and then go and look up the talk.  It's a good one.  In fact, we've been reading many of the others and they are so inspiring.  



Funny story:  Our downstairs neighbor is a teacher.  She will be gone for the next 8 weeks on holiday to Europe.  Her car is so small that it fits on her porch, so she got permission to leave it there.  Look closely at the following picture and zoom in on the note she left.  


That's funny, but what is more funny now is that our neighbor leaves that head on her porch year around.  She decorates it with costumes etc., depending on the season and holiday.  That head has scared me more than once coming around the corner and BAM I caught it out of the corner of my eye and my heart JUMPS right up into my throat.  She's got a sense of humor for sure......


President Burnham mentioned something in our Zoom meeting this week as counsel to the young missionaries but also all missionaries that struck to the heart:  Never at any other time in their lives (except while serving a mission) is the Prophet, the First Presidency, the whole leadership of the church, their families and friends, and members around the world praying for their success, their safety, and their well-being.  Their collective power and  ability to access that power of prayer remains on them to act and be who Heavenly Father needs them to be as a disciple of Jesus Christ.  With that, they can not fail! Thank you for praying for us....we feel those prayers and are grateful for that power that we feel in our lives.

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