Caribbean for Christmas 12/21/14

Dear Family,

Sister Sommer and I are having a lot of fun in the area Boom Boom. Kids on this island have nothing to do. That's why they get into trouble so easily as they get older. The kids in Boom Boom have grown attached to us. They're so fun. One night we actually just taught them how to play missionary tag and they just loved it. They're fun! I'll attach a picture of them. We went to their Christmas program last night for a little and it was crazy! So many kids screaming and you could not hear anything. We didn't stay for long cause it was just wild in there haha. Parents don't show kids any respect and vice versa. I've seen so many mothers beat their children. It's terrible but it's just a different culture. 

Mom, so you know I ALWAYS play piano. You'd be proud! On Sunday we had a little Christmas program. I actually gave a little talk on the birth of Christ which went well. I played piano for the Primary kids. There was also a lunch after church for everyone. It was a wild Sunday!  We had 5 investigators at church!! It was a surprise. I thought only one was coming so it was awesome! We had Zico, Nick, Marley, Ryno and Ali. 

I'll have to tell you more detail about our investigators when we talk but they are really starting to progress. 

We are still waiting to find out Sasha's weekend off. It'll probably be a last minute baptism planned. She's great though and she's all ready!

Zico is doing well still! He's a really smart guy. At church I guess priesthood wasn't good and he told Sister Sommer that it wasn't good and that Christ's church should be in order. Oy! But I think he's ok still. 

Marley! He's really starting to progress. We fasted with him this week to help him overcome some problems in his life. And it was so good to see him at church. I can't tell you how many times he has promised to come to church so it was awesome. 

Nick is loving church. He's been getting along well with the young adult guys in the ward and even met up with them in the week. He's such a nice guy and he has dreads so that's sweet. Haha.

I don't have any news about Suriname! I haven't really asked either. We shall see what happens at transfer calls. I could see myself staying with Sister Sommer another transfer but you never know! We don't know anything about new mission presidents. 

Thanks for the Christmas money! We don't have time to shop today because of our Missionary Christmas party but we will go next week don't worry! 

Congrats Richard!! I can't believe it!! Miracles come from your sister serving a mission. Ha, just kidding! 

I've got some good looking nieces and nephews!! Wow they already look so much bigger! 

I can't wait to talk to everyone! I hope the time doesn't mess you all up! Can't wait to meet Ashlee. 

Thanks for the letters! Love you all!

Love,

Elizabeth

West Indies Mission No More 12/15/14

Dear Family,

Well, crazy news we just got yesterday is that they are splitting our mission! WOW! In July 2015 when my mission president is going home they are splitting. It will be something like the Trinidad mission which will have Trinidad, the three South American countries, and then they are adding the ABC islands off the coast of Venezuela. The other mission will be headquartered in Barbados and have all the other islands. Who knows what mission I'll end up in! Pretty cool though because the work will just take off. There has to be two mission presidents doing this work. I honestly don't know how President Mehr does everything. 

We flew to St. Lucia this past week, early Tuesday morning. The flight is only 20 minutes. You spend more time in the airport than in the plane! We didn't get to see much of the island at all. Zone conference was really amazing! President Mehr was in the home construction business before and he told this parable of building a mansion and then in the end realizing you were building your own. I'll have to tell you sometime. Sister Mehr talked about really working with members. You forget that even though some members are older than you that you have more church experience than they. You really have to help the members but of course not embarass them. I loved just talking to President Mehr. He's a very smart man and just so chill and loving. 

We only really saw St. Lucia during the night but I could tell it was a lot more touristy and modern. They actually have two lane roads. You don't find that anywhere on St. Vincent. To answer your questions Dad, St. Vincent doesn't get a lot of tourists. I mean it still does, but it's not its main economy. St.Vincent is more of an agriculture island. 

We had a Relief Society Christmas social on Saturday that was fun. There was a ton of food. Caribbean food isn't much to talk about. Basically chicken, rice, macaroni pie, and some bread things are classic Caribbean. Can't say I'm a huge fan, but it's good! It was a fun activity. I love the women here. The Relief Society President gave Sister Sommer and I perfume. Some nice "Our version of Someday by Justin Bieber" MMMMMMMM.

Church was great! We went up to Boom Boom and caught a van with Zico and Nick for church. They both really liked church on Sunday. Zico always participates. After preisthood session the Elders came out and were like, "Wow, Zico basically taught the class!" Yesssss.

Zico is still doing well. He's on the right track and reading still! He knows the bible soooo well. It's incredible. He just understands the scriptures which helps with his understanding of the BOM. 

Sometimes it can get frusturating teaching people who haven't had many opportunities for good education. You forget how much you need to explain like what does "lack of" mean or things like that. You need to go slowwwwwly.

Sasha is right on track to be baptized. We really are just waiting for her weekend off. We are almost done teaching the commandments.  She doesn't have trouble with anything and really has a testimony. 

We have been teaching this guy named Marley. I met him and contacted him the day after I first got to St. Vincent. He has a lot of issues but sincererly does want to change. The things is that it will take a complete life change is he wants to be a member. This week though he was so happy and talked about how he was reading the BOM and bible and felt like he was floating. He said he's made up his mind and wants to be a member. It's exciting but I still think it'll take a good long time. 

We have the "He is the Gift" pass along cards. We are supposed to give out ten a day. Yeah, people have phones and tablets. Everyone's phones are on credit--there are no such things as plans.

It is dang hot here. The weather never changes! I'm completely used to the humidity though, it doesn't even feel humid. I don't know what I would do without the breeze though cause it's pretty hot! I'm getting a pretty good tan.

The shopping here is not that great. Things are cheaply made, but on the bright side it also means things are cheap. I got the skirt you saw in the last picture and I've bought two pairs of sandals. Man cute sandals here are like 10 EC which is like 3 dollars! 

We will definitely get to Skype for Christmas! I think we only get like 45 mins to talk though. When do you get your mission call??

Sounds like you all are very busy and glad to hear everyone is doing well. Mimi is in my prayers. Happy Birthday Thomas! 

Love,

Elizabeth

Pictures from St.Lucia. Our flight on Wednesday morning was delayed so we went to the beach. and then some other old pic.

I Killed My Mama (December 8, 2014)

Hello!!

The deed is done...I killed my missionary mama Sister Shelton this week. WOW! We sent her on the airplane early Wednesday morning. It was definitely sad to say goodbye and I definitely shed some tears. When appointments fall through we always would look to Sister Shelton with "What do we do now?" and then we would go and do. It'll take some adjusting for sure but I know I have been taught well. 

We had our last zone meeting on Tuesday which is what I sent pictures of.  We had a good transfer as a zone but things change...about every 6 weeks actually. 

Sister Sommer and I did really well on our own this week. We taught a lot of lessons and did our best at contacting. We have a lot of great people that we are meeting with but we are having trouble helping them progress. I know one thing I need to improve on is inviting to keep commitments. No investigator will ever progress without keeping commitments. I need to be more direct and let them know that it is very important to keep them. 

Update on a few investigators. Zico is doing really well! We are still waiting for him to get the answer he's looking for but he's still going strong. He wasn't feeling well and wasn't at church yesterday. Dougald is doing alright. He was at a dominos tournament this weekend and so he wasn't at church either. I'm still waiting for things to click in Dougald's mind about certain things. Nick who came to church a couple weeks ago is doing pretty good. We helped him paint his shop the other day. He couldn't make it to church because he got called into work. Still working with Ancia! I'm hoping I'll figure out the deeper issue soon. She really is a great woman. 

Exciting news I'm going to St. Lucia tomorrow for zone conference! It'll be awesome! I really need a good spiritual uplifting and everyone says zone conference is awesome so I'm excited! 

I wish I had more funny stories this week but nothing to crazy has happened! Sister Sommer and I are having a great time together. We deep cleaned our house today...man, I don't think it's ever been done. We both like having a nice clean house. 

Lots of members and investigators have invited us for Christmas already so it'll be great. They don't really have any different traditions down here. People love Christmas though! I forget that it's even December. I can't keep track of time. It's hot and beautiful everyday! I can't WAIT to talk to you in a couple weeks. Crazy! Time is flying by but at the same time I feel like I still have a long way to go, which I do. You don't realize how much you have changed until you really look back. I can't imagine what I'll be like at the end. Probably be like Stephen. 

I hope Mimi is doing alright! I'll pray for her. I loved all the pictures! I miss everyone so much but I know you all are doing great! Sorry to hear about the mission call- haha! I can't wait to find out! So you don't think you'll be going to NY? West Indies is in great need of senior couples :) 

Dad your emails make me laugh without fail! Love you all and thanks for writing (well some of you write...ha jk...kind of)

Thanks for everything! 

Love,

Elizabeth

1 Transfer Down!

Hello!!

Well i wasn't too surprised by my transfer call...I'm training....Sister Sommer...and she's training me! Haha. I'll be in St.Vincent for another transfer which is what I was expecting. Two Sisters taking over the area after 6 weeks. Not very common I hear. It'll be very hard and I'm kinda terrified. BUT it'll be a good time to grow. Hopefully we can figure it out!

Sounds like Thanksgiving was a good time! We had a big zone thanksgiving at the Halverson's. Then on Thursday they had us Sisters over again for another Thanksgiving dinner. They're the best haha. Yes on Friday we had our Fireside! It was a great success! We had about 50 people there which was our hope and goal! It was more of a night for thankfulness. Douglad and Zico came to it too. They had a good time.

So yes, Sister Shelton is leaving on Wednesday! I'm very sad to let her go. She always makes me laugh and she helps to motivate me to grow more. I'll miss her a lot. That's funny about her blog! She loved hearing that you all read it! I couldn't not tell her! But Sister Shelton is from Ogden and Sister Sommer is from Centerville. 

Let's see! This week was crazy as usual! I'll first talk about some of our investigators.

Zico--Still doing really well. He's a really sweet guy. We finished teaching him the Plan of Salvation this week and he's really accepting everything. He still has changing to do to really start prioritizing the gospel in his life which is understandable. Last week when he came to church he wore these black shorts because he didn't have any pants. He said he hates pants. We were like ok whatever. Then this week he bought pants for church haha. It was nice! So he came to the fireside and then got there 10 mins early for church yesterday! It's so cool!

Dougald--I don't really know where to begin. Haha. He really is a great man. I still can't tell if he's really grasping the idea that our church truly is Jesus Christ's church. I think he's still looking at it like any other church. i don't know, I don't really get it yet. We are working on him. But man he still comes to church so loyally! He also came to the fireside and then church on Sunday. 

Sis Smith--Man we are having some troubles with her...I LOVE going there and seeing her and her family. They seriously are the best. But something just isn't clicking. It's weird! She keeps saying i accept the BOM and that Joseph Smith was a prophet but I don't want to pray about them. She honestly refuses to pray but I don't know how she will ever be converted without that. I really don't want to drop her yet but I honestly don't know if she'll ever progress to baptism. There seems to be something I'm missing. 

Alright I'll try and think of some experiences. So there's this area called Boom Boom and we have a lot of investigators up there. Honestly, it's so funny! The whole little village knows us. We have almost talked to everyone up there cause there's just these central meeting places where everyone is. Man, I don't know how these people live here sometimes...They grow up here and never leave. They know everything about everyone always. In America people are much more private.

We were meeting this one guy up in Boom Boom. And we were contacting him and asked, "What would you ask the prophet if you knew that there was one today?" He says, "I would ask him why we have book bags?" The funny part was that he was serious.  Haha.

Well I can't even imagine what winter is like anymore. Seriously it is the same temp everyday. Hot, and the big rain storms pass through for a couple minutes and then hot again. Gotta be thankful for the Caribbean breeze. My tanlines are starting to come in. Nothing too drastic though...I got a nice watch tan. 

I truly miss you all so much! I think about you everyday! Congrats on getting the mission papers in, Mom and Dad. Haha I think it is so cool we will be on a mission at the same time! Send me more pictures of Leona!! i want more pictures of everyone! Happy Birthday Richard!! 

Really don't send me a package! As much as I want one I just don't think it's worth the money...It's like 100 dollars to send a package. I sound so greedy but money will do just fine! Haha. President will let me know about my visa when he hears news.

Mom, can you try posting my blog again on my facebook? No one has been seeing it...

Love,

Elizabeth (Should I end my emails Love, Sister Wood?) Haha