Week 16 in St. Thomas

Another week has flown by.  I will be honest, the first few weeks we were here dragged by, and we wondered if we really could live here for 18 months, but each week we are adjusting to living here a little better, and we are actually feeling like the weeks are going by pretty quickly now.

Here is Elder Shah in his pose again.  No, we didn't beat them again this week in pickle ball.   They won 3-2. They are going down next week for sure. No mercy from the geriatric crowd next week!

I was thinking that if someone was considering going on a senior mission that they may wonder what we do all day, so today I took a picture of our "to do" list.    This is a pretty typical day, except lately it seems like we have become very involved with some members that have immigration issues and also housing issues.  So today we actually became official "case workers" for the Virgin Islands Housing Authority!  We are hoping that we don't get too many calls, but we have been trying to help one of our members find suitable housing and the only way to help directly was to become  case workers.  Below is a picture of the place that they are living now, so you will see why we are trying so hard to find an alternative:

Nobody should have to live like this:  no water, no electricity, no doors and it isn't even level.  So sad.  

Painted Roselle's fingernails on Wednesday and rubbed her hands.  She is really just the cutest lady.  As I rub her hands and she just kind of closes her eyes and relaxes I always wonder what her life has been like. She has no feet now and is in a wheelchair full time, but she has the sweetest countenance. Last week we gave her a free Bible and today Dick asked her if she had been reading it and she smiled and  said, "yeah."  After going to Queen Louise for almost 3 months now, it is so easy to get attached to the people there  and want to do more for them. Thankful we can do a little service there each week.

May 1st, Wednesday, started out a little bit rough.  We were taking a sister from our Branch to the airport because she was leaving to go back to Barbados, her visa had expired, and she HAD to leave.  The immigration officer told us to be there by 11, but she didn't even get in the car until 11:30 and the traffic was terrible.   If she didn't leave on on Wed. they may have arrested her and deported her and made her leave her little girl here.  BUT, it all worked out and she got on the plane ....stressful.....so after we went to Queen Louise we had a lesson with LaMira (above center).  She is our most recent convert and we had been teaching her the after-baptism lessons.  The Elders were with us and when we got there, LaMira had these two friends (Heather and Corey)  at her apartment and they wanted to know more about the church, so the Elders gave them a great 1st discussion and gave them a Book of Mormon!  They had lots of questions and we had a great discussion with them.  We told LaMira that she was the best member missionary ever!  Why is it that recent converts are so open in sharing the gospel and we that have been members for forever, are more hesitant in sharing and inviting others????

Bet you can't say the name of this church really really fast!!!!

St. Thomas has to have more dreadlocks than any other place in the world!  This guy wins the prize for the longest dreadlocks..it is kind of hard to see, but his hair reaches the water!

For the past few weeks St. Thomas has been having "Carnival."  On Thursday there was a Children's Parade that started at 10 and went until almost 2pm.  There was no parking and Dick didn't mind missing out (he is a JOMO, which stands for joy of missing out) while I am a FOMO (fear of missing out,) so he dropped me off at about 11:30 and told me that he would come and pick me up when it was time to go to an appointment with the Elders.  Meanwhile, he went to McDonalds and had an ice cream cone!  Anyway, the parade was pretty great, lots of little girls dancing and baton twirling and kids on the kettle drums and many on stilts!  I am a big parade fan coming from Tooele....we had some great parades as a child and I have fond memories of going to parades every year.  So I throughly enjoyed my time at the parade on Friday.  Apparently on Saturday there is an adult parade, and we have been told to stay away from that parade........I wonder why?

On Friday, we took the Elders with us to see Denis.  It was his birthday and he loves to cook...so he cooked us a full-on dinner. It was fun to visit with him.  We brought brownies, but he had bought a cake!  We put "magic" candles on it, and he got the biggest kick out of it and so did the Elders.  It was lots of fun, they would not go out, and if they did, they would come right back.  Good evening in St. John.  

On Saturday, it was the ground-breaking ceremony for the Puerto Rico Temple.  We got to watch in on the computer.  What a wonderful blessing it will be for the people in these islands to have a temple that is this close to them.  There was a wonderful spirit at that meeting, even though we joined via internet.  Thankful for the blessings of technology.  

We absolutely do believe this is true.  

Which brings me to this:  The Open House for the Oakland Temple will begin this next Saturday, May 11, through Saturday June 1, 2019, except for Sundays, May 12, 19 and 26, 2019.  This is an opportunity for anyone that wants to go inside to tour the temple. By going through the temple, you will better understand what goes on in the temples and why we believe that they are so sacred.   After it is rededicated, only members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can enter.  If there are any of our friends out there that would like to go, please contact Bob or Jackie  or Grant or Olivia and they will make sure that you get tickets to go.  It is free, and I promise it will be a worthwhile and uplifting experience for you.  Wish I were there to take you through!  

Thanks again for your prayers, we feel them.  Have a great week.    Love to you all.

Dick and Donna