Week 27 in St. Thomas

Monday was a big day for our family birthdays.  It was Eliza's 4th birthday, Max's 11th birthday and Ryan's 42nd birthday.  I think it is so bizarre that they all have the same birthday in the same family!  Needless to say, we sure do love each one of them and hope that they all ate some yummy birthday cake and that they were celebrated!!!!

Eliza is 4!


Max is 11!

Ryan is 42!

We found some yellow "Flamboyant " trees on the island.  They are really beautiful.
July 21st was Joye's 39th birthday.  We are so blessed to have her in our family and are so thankful for her!


 We have been teaching Joseph once a week since we arrived on the island.  He has talked and talked about retiring to Ghana and he is finally going to be going next week.  As we were looking up the ward that he would be going to in the city of Kumasi we were gobsmacked to realize that there are 29 wards in that city!  We wish him well as he returns home........we are excited for him to speak his native language there at church:  Twi.



In preparation for the Senior Conference that was held this week from Thursday to Sunday in Puerto Rico I needed to use up some food, so I whipped up a quinoa salad with spinach, tomatoes, blueberries, roasted peppers, onions and garlic added some roasted almonds and tossed it with a vinaigrette dressing.  It was so good and so filling......
We started out our stay in Puerto Rico touring El Morro.  It is part of the original fortress of San Juan.  It is over 500 years old, it goes back to Columbus.  It was really windy out there....

This is the 2nd oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere.  It was beautiful.  We walked through Old San Juan but there had been protests the night before because of the dissatisfaction with the governnment so they had taken down the famous umbrellas!  That is the one picture that I had hoped to get.....maybe next time I am there!
This is a picture of the couples that serve on the islands (St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua)  with our Mission President and wife.  

Here we are by the picture of the temple that will be built in Puerto Rico.

We attended a baptism on Saturday night.  It was great to be there for that.  
All the senior missionary men were given an official Puerto Rican National Team pro hat.  Puerto Rico  lost to the US 4-3.  
One last picture of us before flying back to our respective islands. 
President Smart is telling us a story during our training .  All in all it was a wonderful 4 days.  We ate a lot, took a boat trip in the evening to see the bioluminecents, laughed, cried, shared and ate some more. We came away being inspired and rejuvinated with a resolve to be more loving, kind and dedicated in doing the Lord's work.

Another week down and so much learned.  Until next week....stay strong and steadfast!
Love,
Dick and Donna





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