Good bye Puerto Rico

We took our last trip to Puerto Rico. We checked all the equipment, upgraded the computer memory and trained directors. We visited all of our family history centers which had us sleeping in a different bed each night. It was back to work and plenty of it! Each day was full and we would drop into bed late at night. We did get a chance to kiss Susan and Stan good bye. It is always so fun to see them and we talk non stop about all our common work. They are wonderful mission presidents and a fine example of dedication. They begged us to come back to their mission. Now we have lots of offers to come back as President Johnson wants us to come back to the Caribbean. Our family history trainers want us to come to South America. We are grateful we have had the privilege of serving. When we got back to our temple home, we found out one of the couples had to go home. The wife had an emergency and they had to rush her to the states. The husband just cried because he loves the work here and hated to leave the people. It will be a bitter sweet time when we have to leave too. We have learned so much and are so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Savior's love for all of us.

St. Kitts

Just about when we could stand it no longer, we got to go to St. Kitts to set up a new family history center there. We were so homesick for those grandkids hugs. We had a great time with Adrian and Beth and the kids! Who would have ever thought that our mission and their home would all be wrapped up in one. St. Kitts is the favorite place of our mission because our family is there plus it is the most beautiful island. We set up a new center there, but the computer never came ( it is on the slow boat to China ). We taught the members the importance of family history using 12 lap tops to help 25 members to sign up on new family search. Adrian is the family history priesthood leader in his branch so that was fun working side by side with him. We taught and sang about family history. We love sharing the plan of happiness with the members. They get so excited to know they can be sealed as eternal families. Adrian helped a sister send her father's name to the temple. She was so grateful. We love serving and it always brings such blessings. Beth and I had a fun day furniture shopping even if it was only computer table and chairs for the new family history center.

Of course we spent a couple of extra days enjoying the beach and the beautiful island! Brennan and Payton still think they are the luckiest kids in the world to have their own private pool and ocean to swim in every minute of the day.

Thanks Adrian and Beth. We love you.

The Little Ones

We love the children here. They are so cute with their braids and smiles. We love our grandchildren and are so anxious to be with them again. Hopefully they have quite a collection of pennies as we near the end of our mission. Family is so important and the Lord has blessed us to be an eternal family. We love each child that brightens our day!

Temple

I love serving in the temple. When we have a little slack time I go to the laundry and fold clothes. There is such order in the house of the Lord. Even the clothing is folded neatly and stacked ready for the next person. Last week I was assigned to the Celestial room and spent about 20 minutes all alone in there before any one came in. What a privilege to have the blessing of feeling that peace for the moment. Then this week I helped in the nursery while the children waited for their turn to be sealed as an eternal family. The children got so excited when we dressed them in their white clothes. It is a great day for these families because it may be only a once in a lifetime experience. It is very expensive to fly here with your whole family. It is so wonderful to be able to walk across the parking lot and have the blessing of the temple so close. What a wonderful time of life for us. We are so blessed to be on a mission.

Rain or Shine

They came rain or shine. The weekend of the tropical storm we had four meetings scheduled to register members for new family search. The very first members to sign up for new family search really touched my heart. When I signed up this sweet couple and the man saw his family that he had done the temple work for displayed in an orderly family tree he just cried tears of joy. To those who do not understand what new family search is all about it is an internet program created by the church to simplify the process of taking a name of your ancestor to the temple, reduce duplication of the same person and share family history. All members of the church should register, so we planned a huge sign up party for many of the stakes. We ended up having over 400 come out! We were so excited for the enthusiasm of the members. At one church building we had 9 computers in different rooms with all of us at work helping. Everyone was so excited about the new program. Our temple used the new system this week and one of our French speaking members from Guadeloupe submitted the first name. All worked wonderful with the help of the two Salt Lake employees that came from Peru and Columbia. They are the area authorities of family history over all of Latin America here to help things run smoothly and we are enjoying their spirits. We love meeting with others that love family history as much as us. This is the icing on the cake of our mission and we are soaring high. We are so excited to be a part of this huge weekend. The church has such vision and plans. The Lord has plans to unite his eternal family with the computers and temples as His tools with our help. We feel so blessed to be here now and are humbled to be a part of all of this. It is like we are the team of the first man to set foot on the moon. Great things are happening and many are excited about the new system.

We Get Next!

This is for the grandkids. Pepa saw this goat waiting for his turn to be the next "hanging dinner" and it reminded him of the women's basketball slogan - We Get Next. Notice the hanging goats and then the goat tied up to be next in line. Make sure that your goals you "get next" are good ones. Be grateful for your family and be kind to your brother and sisters. We love you and are proud of each of you. We love our mission and know Heavenly Father watches over all of us.

Seed takes Root

What a great week. We took some equipment to one of our centers and my what a change! First let me explain that we have to upgrade all of our computers with more memory and large flat screens to get ready for the new program of the church - new.familysearch.org. As we visited one of our centers to make the change we were shocked at the difference. This is the same center that we had to drag out the ping pong table and basket balls and you name it Junk! Our family history center looked like a storage closet with the computer buried beneath the pile. Now everything is nice and clean. The director said they are so full on Sunday with people coming that the stake president said he will probably have to move the center to two larger rooms just to accommodate the members. Now people are lining up to visit the center. This little center has gone from a junk closet to an overflowing work space for family history. The seed was planted and it took root. We get so excited to see that the work of the Lord goes forward.

To top off our great week the saints from the French speaking islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique came to the temple for two weeks. Thirty four of their members came and they are only small districts. They bring their whole family for two weeks and they love family history. We taught them about family history and I always share my Lora and Perry book. After the training, some wanted to look through the pages of the book. One sister in particular wanted to see more of the book so she knocked on my door, sat on my couch and turned the pages carefully one by one as if they were sacred. She looked at the pictures of Dad and Mom in love and she said her parents are divorced and it makes her sad. Her mother gave her away. Then she said she does not have anything like this book because she has no pictures of family. She has never met her grandfather and she found out he has 40 children with different women. She turned each page with love and respect. We are so blessed to have histories of all our family and their stories can strengthen us. By the way all these members speak French so it is difficult to talk to them but this group are some of my favorite people. They love family history and come every year to spend two weeks doing family names at the temple. They have no idea that our family history center has hours so they knock on our door til 9 pm at night because they want to inch out every hour while they are here. I guess that is why I love them so much because they love family history and we don't have to convince them of it's blessing or importance.

What a blessing to be on a mission. The church is true and it is an honor to serve in the kingdom.