Merry Christmas to All & to All a Good Night from Barbados

Bon Voyage

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!  This is our final letter, because SURPRISE we are HOME!  We surprised our kids and arrived at 12:35 am on December 25th.  Blake and Alexa were let in on the surprise at the last minute and picked us up at the airport.  They were really good to keep our secret.  We came home, slept a few hours, and then drove down to surprise Sam, Sydney & family Christmas morning.  To see their sheer surprise was priceless and to have our grands jump into our arms was sheer joy.  It is a memory that we will treasure.  Usually Mac & Ash are in Lehi for the holidays, but this year Mac planned a little family trip to San Diego, soooo Doug booked us on a flight to San Diego to surprise them.  Thanks to technology, we were able to track Ash's fam to the Zoo and Sam helped guide us to exactly where they were.  We were able to walk up behind them and completely shocked Ashlyn into squeals of sheer disbelief and excitement.  It was indeed priceless and I wish we had video to document it, but we were just so excited to see them.  

Christmas surprise

Family time at San Diego Zoo

The last few weeks in the mission field seem like a blur, but we will try and share our last few weeks in pictures.

Found Sushi on Barbados & enjoyed evening with Sister Nwaka

Dinner with Sister Nwaka to celebrate her successful first semester of Medical School. Sister Precious Nwaka was a missionary in the BBM on the French side.  When she left in March, we had no idea that we would be lucky enough to get her back and have her in our branch.  She is the recently called YW President in our branch.  She is one of a kind and we love her so much.

Sister Takapu from Tonga calls Doug her American Papa.  She called us up and asked if we could go to lunch together before we left.  Of course, we love spending time with the young missionaries.  Sister Temiana is from Tahiti and this is her first transfer to Barbados.  She started out on the French side waiting for her Visa and then transferred to Grenada.  It has been such an honor to serve with these sisters. We always have great conversations and experiences with them. 

The Barbados District Christmas party, which included all 3 branches, was a wonderful experience.  Nice program, good food, and wonderful people---triple threat!  We got to say good-bye to all those we don't get to normally see on a weekly basis. Here are a few that have been super special to us.

Maureen Ashby from Jamaica.  Fabulous cook & seamstress.
Entrepreneur for 2025: she's opening a take-out restaurant from her kitchen

Mario Eastman from our branch.

Barbados Zone and a few members

Can't miss a photo with Sisters Takapu & Temiana

For the past 18 months, we have served in the Oistins Branch.  This little branch building still doesn't have air-conditioning.....but they will in 2025 after getting a new roof.  We usually have anywhere from 50-65 members and friends in attendance each week, which is actually good for Barbados.  These members have become like family and have treated us as such.  They have shared their testimonies, their time, their love, and their homes with us.  A piece of our heart will remain with them.  It was truly a wonderful experience being a part of their world.  It is hard to describe the depth of our gratitude and love for each of them.  

Oistins Branch

The last two weeks of our mission, we were given a special assignment to go out and find lost members.  We have tons of people on the member rosters, but the rosters are really a mess.  There are often no addresses, working phone numbers, or pieces of information so it is like detective work.  We met with the District President, Owen Waldron; his counselor, President Christensen; Branch Presidents Taylor & Nelson; Elders Quorum President Corbin, and other members to try and get as much information of where people lived (what Parishes), updated telephone numbers, addresses (dropped pins inside the missionary area book so they go have accurate locations), and to invite them all to our special Christmas Sacrament meeting.  It was exhausting, but it was really fun as well.  Doug said it was like finding in his young missionary days.  We talked to a lot of people to find out where people were.  

The Cox Children.
Doug baptized Brandon & he wanted to say good-bye

Sister V. Cox, the mom
In 18 months, she will hopefully be a nurse. 

Andre

This is Andre.  We call him our Mad Scientist.  He really is a genius, but is quite eccentric.  He actually lives in that storage container pictured behind them.  Through a family dispute over land and some other things, he parked that container on the family land and has decided to live as simply as he can.  If ever Doug was late coming home from the office which was 5 minutes from our apartment, I knew that Andre had caught him in the street and they were talking about literally everything under the sun.

When we were in the MTC, my trainers would say, "Now, Sister Ellis, this isn't going to be a vacation."  Little did they know that Doug and I work hard and play hard.  You have to have balance.  Senior missionaries have very few rules, so it is a lot of governing yourselves with correct principles and completing your assignment.  Doug learned to love the challenge of the office.  He was able to make some great connections in the Area and in SLC, streamline many of the financial processes, and complete some special projects that will make future financial secretaries have an easier transition.  It is hard to describe the challenge it was, but in the end, Heavenly Father was in charge and the next senior missionary in this assignment will take it to the next level.  As for me, Sister Humphrey was able to catch on very quickly.  I was the first official mission health advisor for the BBM, so I got to set up the processes and now Sister Humphrey will take it to the next level.  Onward and upward.

Of course, our last few p-days were enjoying our favorite beaches.  Throughout the Caribbean, Barbados beaches are pretty hard to beat.  Now that Delta is flying to Barbados, the flights aren't as terrible as before.  

Port St. Charles

Carlisle Bay

We mentioned that we lived in a 150+ year old apartment.  To say that we had probably the worst apartment in the mission isn't far out, just ask any of the other senior missionaries.  In fact, we will probably be the last couple that lives there.  We had air conditioning and a washer and dryer, so the rest was just essentials.  To say that Heavenly Father gave us peace and comfort is an understatement.  He truly allowed us to just live each moment and be grateful for the experience.  We were safe and had the necessities, so the rest was all just about the experience.  

Featured from L-R: Steve & Gin Porter, and Veronica & George Rose.  These guys were the property managers and often maintenance for Karibou Gardens where we lived.  They were awesome!  

When it came time to go, we can honestly say that we gave it our ALL!  We had some amazing experiences.  We learned so much about ourselves.  We grew closer to our Savior.  We came to know Him more and love Him even more.  Our testimonies of God's plan and His Gospel have more depth than ever before.  We grew closer as a couple.  It was JOY!  

Sue & Scott Kowallis are our Angel friends!

They arrived just when we needed them most!

We are now home and our mission seems like a dream of sorts.  We were released on Friday morning by our Stake President, President Porter.  We loved sharing our experiences with him and hearing his counsel.  Later that day, we enjoyed our first temple session in 18 months.  Walked into the temple to be greeted by our long-time friend and neighbor, Heather Anderson.  I'm afraid I squeezed her so hard just to make sure she was real!  

We are getting our house back in order and reuniting with all our friends and family.  We are counting our blessings and have had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 18 months!  This is the final letter as missionaries.