Winner Gets Dinner

Leave it to my sweet companion to make things fun! We have a huge job to get all of our directors and consultants registered and trained on new family search. So Elder Allred got the bright idea to make it a game and the winners he would treat to a dinner. He gave them about 2 weeks to complete their assignment. The goal was for the Priesthood leader to get 70% of his stake consultants and director registered and certified by completing the online training. The Saturday of the promised dinner we had our family history center full of Priesthood leaders rushing to finish their assignment. We even had a few at our apartment using our lap tops because we needed more computers. There was excitement all day long and we ended it with a fun party at night. We fed about 20 people. I had to laugh because I remember my boys rushing to the store the last minute for Christmas shopping. I guess it is just a male thing to wait till the last minute. ha But give them a challenge and they all want to WIN!! Who says a mission isn't fun?

New equipment day

Out with the old and in with the new. This is a delivery day where we take new equipment to our center. After a few hours work, throw away boxes and then we can sit back and relax!

The One

I love helping he one. The other day I helped a young man only 18 years old and a member for 6 months. In that short time he had 5 generations collected on his mother's family. He had no idea who his father was a consequence of years of immorality that plagues the Caribbean islands. But he was anxiously engaged in gathering data for his mother. He had the spirit of Elijah and was so excited with the information he had already found. I was really proud of him because I have seen many that are long time members with only a couple of generations. What an example he is and just a brand new member besides.

The next day I was helping another young man and he found his grandfather after much searching. He said he had dreams about him and he wanted to do his work for him. This is the same story I have heard from many members all having dreams. When he found him he started jumping up and down with his arms in the air and yelled YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!! Another example of the spirit of Elijah.

Please forgive me if I am passionate about family history now. I have seen it bless so many lives and I know it is a true work. The Lord blesses those that seek to become acquainted with the family of God. I feel somewhat like the young man that yelled YEAH three times. I am the same way and I want to shout with joy each time we help a few more with family history.

I also enjoy when we can teach a large group. The other evening we had another record breaking evening with over 150 people to a fireside. My companion spoke and I played my violin. More and more members are realizing the importance of family history. They want to know how and what they can do. Each time we teach a big group I feel the weight of the responsibility we have for the dead lifted. I know that many on the other side have placed their faith in our efforts. It makes me want to climb to the roof top and teach to all the importance of this wonderful work. I just want to cry when I see how little they have done and how much there is to do. I see some who have only done the work for a mother or grandmother and that is it. They don't understand that there are hundreds of others in their family just waiting for them to get the picture.

In the meantime we just keep setting up family history centers for the day when they do get the picture and fill the centers standing in line to put the information in the computers so they can do the work. This is the spirit of Elijah and I LOVE this great work! I love the people that we are helping and the dead that wait too.

Haitian Border

We ended up on the border for market day when we visited our furthest small district. The members are always so glad to see us because they seldom get many visitors. We love going there. The night we were there they had a ward activity where they are reading the Book of Mormon 10 pages each week. They divided the branch into two teams and then they ask questions and keep score. They had the questions in balloons that they would pop. When they answer the questions right their team gets a point. They were having a blast so we had to sneak over after our meeting and join them. Grandkids maybe you can play this game for family home evening. The scriptures have such good stories about how Jesus loves all of His children.

The Haitian border on market day is always so interesting. Each time we go we come away so grateful for things like grocery stores where everything is clean and organized. Look at the peoples faces, clothes, hair and what they are selling. It is so humbling to see such poverty. This is their life and they do not complain. Count your blessings.

Home

With all this touring of other islands it is always good to come back home and see how beautiful it is right here. We had so much to catch up on here so we took a trip north. We visited every stake in the north part of the island and signed them up on new family search. I feel so sorry for all of the members here because they have no computer skills and we are asking them to join the technical age to do their family history. We spent 4 days training 8 different stakes how to get ready for the new system the temple will use in August. It took us 1 1/2 hours to register one man and you can normally register in 10 minutes flat. Everywhere we went there was internet problems. About the time you get someone registered the internet would go off and you had to do it all over again. After we got all our work done we took a trip to the famous Samana peninsula where they claim the most beautiful beaches. It was a gorgeous drive.

Trinidad

Wow! Trinidad is beautiful and clean. After the poverty in all the Caribbean islands Trinidad is a breath of fresh air. We had a wonderful visit with the saints. 150 came to our fireside because they are so anxious to learn all they can. I sang a solo about family history. I am not a soloist when it comes to singing, but I did not have my violin and music is so powerful to invite the Spirit I just got brave. Many of the saints there are from India when they came as indentured servants after slavery was outlawed.
One of the miracles, at the airport on our return flight, was we met a sister that was from St. Croix. She got lost in the terminal trying to find her connecting flight and found us instead. She was going to see her first grandchild in New York and wanted to go to the temple there while she visited. She has never done the temple work for her mother and father, but as we talked she recognized why she had stumbled on to us in the airport. We gave her a family group sheet to fill out and told her how to do the work for her parents. After she got a short lesson from a couple of old missionaries - us - she was on her way to find her connecting flight clear on the other side of the terminal. Dad and I just looked at each other in amazement as she walked away. I think her ancestors wanted her to "get lost in the airport". It is kind of humbling to think that we are known on the other side. :)

Guyana, South America

This is the beach in Guyana! No beautiful blue water here. A huge river empties into the ocean so it reminded me of our brown Texas beaches. Guyana is the land of rivers and is real green. It looks like broccoli from the airplane because it has very little towns, just tons of rain forest.

We were supposed to set up a new family history center but someone from DHL wanted our computer so bad they never delivered it. We still taught family history with the use of our laptop. We had a great time with the saints there and are anxious to get their new computer so they can get started. No one has computers there because it is really poor.