Garrison’s Virgin Island View

Happy post Christmas week .    We got a welcome surprise on Monday: our Mission President and his wife came to St. Thomas.  They took us to lunch and brought some presents for the Elders.  We love and appreciate the Smarts.  They are not only good friends, but amazing leaders and we feel blessed to serve in the Puerto Rico Mission with them . On Christmas Eve, we delivered a few presents and then had a Christmas Eve Celebration on Hassel Island with the Picketts, Andersons, Adamsons, Griffins and the Elders from our Branch.  We had a simple dinner of cream of potato soup, salad,  rolls and dessert.  The soup is a tradition from the Anderson family going way back in their family when they didn't have much money, but had many rich blessings to be thankful for.  We had a devotional where we watched the new nativity movie from the church and then each family shared an experience where they felt Christ in their life..  It was a fun eve...

We are on the count down to Christmas.  Hard to believe that it is next week.  We have had a busy week.  We started out on Monday doing?  You guessed it, playing pickle ball with the Elders and after that we took them to breakfast because we were celebrating that neither one of them got transferred!  We are thrilled that they will be staying for another transfer.  They are such hard-working missionaries and we feel fortunate to work with them: On Wednesday night at English class we had a Christmas Party.  We showed them a video, sang some songs and played some games and of course had cookies and hot cocoa.  We played the "white elephant" game and it was pretty funny watching them play.  All the students are from Haiti, so they had never played such a game.  It was fun to see them laugh so much. On Thursday we stopped by to see Suzanne , the former Educational Director at My Brother's Workshop.  She is now the head of the C...

It's December, but it doesn't feel like the Decembers that we are used to at all!  It is still hot and humid most days.  They tell us that the " Christmas Breezes" are coming. ....but we are still waiting with jackets in hand.... We started out the week playing Pickle Ball with the Elders.  They are certainly getting better every week.  Elder Fineangonofo is like a wall at the net and Elder Sigcha has a spin on his serve that is hard to return!  We enjoy playing each week and are thankful that we can.   Pickle ball forever...... I am so mad that we didn't get a picture of this lady on Tuesday when we took her to lunch.  She has been the manager at the Humane Society here in St. Thomas and she has a heart as big as the island and made of solid gold.  It has been such a pleasure to know E.J. Simmons while we have been here and wish her all the best as she goes to her new home in Florida.  We know that where ever she goes ...

Another week has flown by......started off Monday the regular way we usually do:  Pickle Ball with the Elders.  Elder Fineangonofo told us today that he really does like playing regardless of losing.  He is such a good sport and he and Elder Sigcha are just such dedicated missionaries. After that, we headedover to Hassel Island to help paint at the Marshes new digs.  The Walches came too, and we had a great day working there together.   I really do love to paint. Monday evening, we had Branch Family Home Evening.  We showed the Nativity video and talked about that, and talked about #lighttheworld and how we can get prompts to our phone each day.  Then we sang Christmas Songs and had treats.  We had a small but mighty group! Love this picture of the Elders in this unique piece of furniture in the Easton's(a wonderful couple in our Branch)  new digs.... A few months ago, I happened to talk to a lady while floatin...