Week 26 in St. Thomas

On Monday, the Elders from Tortola ferried over to St. Thomas in the morning.  Elder Graff finished his mission and was flying to Puerto Rico and we picked up Elder Hanson to be with Elder Cox.  Being the only missionaries on an island can be very isolating. Our President only keeps the Elders on the islands for 3 transfers max, and we think that is a good thing. He also only sends seasoned missionaries to the islands.  They miss being a part of zone conferences and leadership conferences.  On the other hand, the senior missionaries stay the entire mission on one island,,,,,,shows how tough we are right????  Hahahaha.  
Elder Cox saying good-bye to Elder Graff

Elder Garrison, Elder Graff amd Elder Cox

Saying good bye to Elder Graff (center).  He was such a great missionary, probably one of the kindest people we have ever met.  

Elder Cox and Elder Hanson will now be the missionaries on Tortola.  We are so blessed to go over there once a month and work with them and that wonderful Branch.  
It was great to have the Elders with us for our Branch Family Home Evening on Monday night.  Here is a picture of our attendees!  It was a nice evening.
On Tuesdays we usually teach Gina a little English and she teaches us a little Spanish.  Then we read the Book of Mormon together in Spanish.  At this point, her English is way better than our Spanish, but she definitely helps us with pronunciation and is quick to give us high fives when we pray in Spanish! 
Tuesday we took one of our friends from the Branch to get some papers notarized and then she wanted us to take her to a Vegan Restaurant.  We had no idea where it was, but ended up finding it.  It was literally in a storage unit......they had turned a whole row of storage units into stores......just goes to show, where there is a will there is a way.....This place was busy too!  The name of the place was called:"SPEEDY REDEMPTION."  How is that for a name???
Roselle got a new nail polish color on Wednesday.  She is just a sweetheart......sitting there all day with no feet.  Never hear a word of complaint from her.

Our English class grew some more!  We had 4 more than last week.  A record!  Also we have a new member of the Branch, Victor (he is in the very middle.). He is new in our Branch and speaks excellent English, and Spanish, so he is helping us teach!  Such a blessing for us and for our students!

Elder Robinson (on the right) returned home this week.  He had been serving as a zone leader in Puerto Rico these past 6 weeks, but before that, he served here in St. Thomas almost since we arrived.  He was a wonderful missionary and we feel blessed to have served with him, and wish him all the best in his next phase of his life.  On to BYU!  Go Cougs!!
This has always been one of my very favorite quotes from President Hinckley.  I know that we can all try just a little harder to be a littler better, a little kinder, a little more Christ-like, a little more tolerant, and little more patient, and a little more forgiving.......I know I can.  
Loved getting this picture this week of Mikala, Talor, and Chloe going to EFY at BYU.  (Claire was dropping them off with Joye).  One of the things that we pray for the most  on this mission is that our grandchildren will grow up with a strong relationship with Our Savior Jesus Christ and that they will know that they are never alone and can always turn to Him when they need help or comfort. We pray that they will hold on to the iron rod and receive the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ.   I know that EFY won't make this magically happen, but I do believe that having spiritual experiences and giving them opportunities to learn from others will help them along the way.  So we are thankful that they were able to attend this year, and to go as cousins was an added bonus!

 So that's our week.  Hope you all had a good week too.  Stay strong and steadfast!
Love,
Dick and Donna


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