English Class

Dear Family and Friends,

English Class

Every Tuesday and Thursday I teach an English class for 1 hour. Elder Herbert has started coming and he makes for a lot of fun in class. I teach the same rules of reading and writing that we taught in elementary school. (Mike always walks in my class and corrects my spelling/grammer, the same as he did at Homestead). However many of the dialogues and readings we study are not about Dick and Jane....but about Joseph Smith, Nephi, etc. We started with 3 or 4 men but the word has spread. Last week we had 30....27 men and 3 women. After class on Tuesday we hold a Family Home Evening with a lesson, game, and refreshments. Thursday night is Institute where there is a lesson in Creole with and excellent teacher. So the English students usually stay for one of the gospel centered classes. This has been a great tool for the missionaries as they have several in their teaching pool. I think some started coming just for the English class, then stay and are interested in the gospel. This has become the favorite part of my week. Last week as I looked at each of them, I felt the love the Savior has for each. There is no way I can describe my joy being around these humble, sweet people. I am not sure I will ever understand (at least not in this life) how it is fair for some of us to have so much and for others to have so little. But I do feel the Savior’s love and peace here.....amist all the trouble and poverty.

Visiting

The missionaries came with us to visit the other day. We had a wonderful few hours....lots of fun and jokes.....but NOT ONE person found home. It was an interesting day. Our jokes became, “Well, we found where he isn’t.....so that is not a failure.” Many Haitians return to Haiti, or find work somewhere else and it becomes difficult to find them. Most do not have addresses or a permanent residence. So if they do not want to be found, it is easy for them to become lost. One convert even returned to his old profession as a preacher. We have looked and looked for him but to no avail. We know he is still on the island, but not living where he lived before. Transportation to church meetings is a major problem here. Others who know more than I say it is the same problem in all the Caribbean.

Christmas Party....Oh Help!

We were warned....but did not understand how it could be. We have about 60 people in our branch....only about 12 women. People worked all day Friday to cook. ( Ham, Turkey, chicken, lots potato salad, Creole rice). So we stopped counting at well over 100 people who showed up. I felt like I was in the middle of one of those news reports where they are passing out food for starving people.....and the people are going crazy. All part of a learning curve. Then this AM there were about 10 men there to clean it all up. If the Lord calls on me (which I know He does not need me to help HIm) to speak for these humble, sweet members, I will have nothing but good to say.

Mada’s Baptism

It was so fun. She was excited and happy. She and others like her are what make this wonderful experience. When I first met her, she cried every time we talked. For the last two weeks she has smiled and laughed and sang. I know her circumstances have not changed but her heart has changed. I think because she is my age, we have become great friends. Her husband came to Mike during the baptism and said he would tell Mike when he was ready. We so desperately need families in our little branch. At this point her husband works only one day and week...and that is on Sunday. They need the money so badly that it makes it very hard for him to decide to give that up. He is a good man.

Neighbors:

Our cute British neighbors had a huge Christmas Party last night. They invited us up to join them but we were at our own party and did not get home until late. They were so cute about including us. They had several very important people (high rollers) there and there was a DJ...lots of loud music.... decorated to the hilt. This has been a very multicultural experience. Our neighbors include British, Canadaians, Italians, French, those from the Island, and of course, Haitians.

Mike’s Driver’s license... lessons of frustration

Experience #1.... Registering the car.... I can’t tell you how many trips to the Dept of Motor Safety to get this done. Finally and only with the help of a local member, it is legal to take it on the roads

Experience #2

Mike needs to have a local driver’s license. He has made no less than 10 trips to accomplish the task. The computers are down, their copy machines aren’t working, he needs cash and only has a credit card, needs to go to a different office to pay the fees, etc, etc. It took three trips for them to figure out Alaska was part of the United States...so he had to have special signature in order to proceed. Finally after all the running around and days of returning to visit our new (and becoming very well acquainted) friends, after paying the standard $125.00, he has to come back in two weeks to pick it up.

I won’t even go into what is taking for me to get a driver’s license here. For one thing, there is no road manual on this whole island for me to study......I have to pay to take each test....and if I fail...I have to pay to take it again.....

Christmas....

I hope your are all ready for Christmas. We love each of you so much. Thanks for all your influence in our lives and the lives of our children. We have so much to be grateful for, not the least of which is our friends and family. We are so thankful for the Savior and this sacred time to celebrate His birth.

Love to each of you,

Elder and Sister Herbert

Mom and Dad

Papa and Monga...etc..etc...

PS. As for us, we plan of snorkeling on Christmas Day. Eat your heart out, Alaskans.

Knocking the Computer

Last week in Primary a child knocked my computer off on to the hard tile floor. I was sure my nice new computer was ruined. It is dented but seems to work fine. I don’t know what we would do without it. I keep everything on it....from English to Primary, from who we have visited and who we need to visit to our finaces. It would have been very difficult without it. I know it is just a thing.....

Well the floor is clean, all the bedding is washed, the dresser is clean, most of the borrowed things are returned and the house is quiet. Way too quiet. Erin and the girls left this afternoon and it is amazing the hole that is here when they are gone. They filled our lives while they were here. Although I have to admit I am looking forward to sleeping in until 6:30 tomorrow morning. Perhaps now we will concentrate on more missionary work.

The people here loved Erin and the girls (some of the men wanted Erin to give them her picture and we had to make sure they understood she was happily married everywhere we went). I think Erin and the girls were influential in Mada telling us she is ready to be baptized. Mada is a lady, about my age, who has had such a hard time and I think Leah brought life that she had not had for a while. Every time Leah would see Mada, she would run to her, yelling, “Mada, Mada,” and run into her arms. Mada loved our visits with Leah. We have been after her to commit to baptism for the months we have been here. Yesterday, she came up with it all by herself. When asked if she was sure, she started crying. Even Lucien, her husband, promised to come to the Christmas party. We told him he really needed to take the lessons so he would understand what she was doing. Her only child, a 28 year old daughter died last year and she was not able to go home to Haiti for her funeral. This has enveloped her life for the last year and I don’t think she has felt much hope. I have tried to explain that her daughter is learning about the gospel in heaven and that she is waiting to have her baptism ordinance done also. I am not sure Mada understands that yet.

The branch president called tonight and asked if I would speak in church tomorrow. This is the third time I have spoken in Sacrament meeting since we came. (Does that show they are hard up for speakers?!) I read several talks about Christmas and still have not a clue what I will talk about. I should be working on that. One would think it would not be so hard.....to come up with a talk. We love the people so much and they are so teachable. It is important not to waste time with fluff. They need to be taught solid doctrine.....and then taught to have the faith to live it.

Almost daily, someone will see my name tag and stop me on the street and ask me about the church. How wonderful to be in a place where people are searching to find Christ. We love wearing the name of our church over our hearts. I guess we should live so that we don’t need a name tag, but that our countenance would show who we serve all the time.

Walking up to see Mada

Mada , Lucien, Leah and Abby.

Uneventful Christmas

Christmas was fairly uneventful. We did manage to get to the beach for pictures on Christmas day. It was a little windy to actually go snorkeling as we had planned....but it made a good background for our Christmas memory. The elders were at the church waiting for phone calls a lot of the day. They used our computer and Skype to see their family as they talked. They were so excited to talk to family and it was hard when their time to talk was over. They had looked forward to it for so long and then it was time to go back to work. We actually went to the movie on Christmas night,with a friend from the ward and her husband. Sherlock Holmes was funny but I’m not sure it reflected my feelings for the Savior on that special day. We missed our dear family and friends (which would have livened the day for us), but as we visited and thought of our Haitian friends here who have no family, or even means to reach family, during this holiday season, it put so much in perspective. We went with the elders caroling before Christmas day. Many thought it was very weird, never having seen it before. But we had a lot of fun passing around treats and acting silly. The elders always add a touch of life to any activity.

Well the year is just about over and it is a time reflect on accomplishments for the old year and desires for the new. We taught several lessons about the new year.... in church, Family Night, and then again in English. It was fun to watch them listen and go through the process of making goals, writing them down, and committing to make things happen. We are going to our neighbors for dinner on New Year’s Day. They have become such good friends. She did tell me that her husband was worried that I would convert her. I told her I would only talk to her about the church if she were interested..... Now, how do I get her interested?

English class was up to 40 men this week....and one woman. Crazy. Because the group is so big now, I am worried that it is less effective. The span of their expertise is so wide. I don’t have a way to really reach and help them. I have no real curriculum and no means (like tests and grades) to make them accountable. It seems like it is more me entertaining them for an hour. I need to think this through and decide if it is filling it’s purpose.

There is this American guy who runs by the church every day. The elders have called him Brad Pitt.....because he does look something like him. Anyway he has spoken to the elders several times, even offering them a ride once. When I asked why they have never spoken to him about the church, they said they just never really had an opportunity. Well the other day, Mike slowed down our car and talked to him as he ran. Turns out his name is Mike O’Brian. Very nice guy....not LDS, but went to BYU. He said he would come to church some time. I hope he does. He is actually moving back to the states soon.

Love all of you so much.
Elder and Sister Herbert
Mike and Bonnie
Mom and Dad....etc

One Week Later

One week ago last night was the break-in. Spent much of the week calling all over the states trying to get my credit cards, debit cards, ID cards, all my personal information straightened out. What a mess. For any who have lost your wallet, you will understand the pain. Mike has been very good about not nagging/ reminding me that a wallet should not be stored in a car, even when it is locked. It makes me sort of sad because I like keeping my wallet in the car.....so I don’t loose it. I keep thinking the wallet will show up somewhere. Nothing in it will do anyone else any good. It would just be easier if they just would give it back. Trying to get a new driver’s license is proving to be a whole other crazy circle of roadblocks. I will probably try to get a local one.....costing way more than we want to pay......... then get a replacement when I get back to Alaska. Otherwise I will not be able to drive for the next 16 months, which is unacceptable.

We had a great Thanksgiving....way different than any I have had before. When we saw the $88.00 dollar price tag on a big (not huge) turkey, we figured we could do a little “different”. We ended up having a branch dinner. There were four ladies who cooked for about 40 men. When you think that is only cooking for 10 each, I guess that was doable. One lady cooked two turkey breasts. Another did a 20 pound potato salad. I did a huge “Wendy Crichfield” chicken salad along with my cinnamon rolls (made without my Bosch). The last lady bought rolls and drinks. It seemed to be enough for everyone. I actually enjoyed going to bed without being stuffed, and not having 30 pounds of food left over. Maybe this year I won’t gain 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year. We had a sing-a-long. The Haitian men love to sing and several have amazing voices. Anyway everyone had fun.

Erin is here with her two beautiful little angel girls. It is wonderful to see them. Now if I had a license, I would leave the kids with Mike, and Erin and I would run around together. There is no shopping to speak of, but we could go visiting. Now poor Mike has to tag along even if he does not want to. Erin brought us an endless list of things we needed that we can not get here. It is funny because now that she is here, we have already started another list for the next visitor.

With the Christmas season upon us, Leah helped us set up our 1 foot tree tonight. She put the decorations on and them took them off again to play with them. Having children around puts me in the Christmas spirit.

We went to the beach today on our P-Day. It was about 85º....slight breeze. Kids had a ball. Could not ask for more. Tomorrow Erin is helping with English Class and Family night. We love you all.

Mike and Bonnie

Hurrah for Zion!

This is an update to the weekly letter Bonnie sends out. Isn’t she great about sharing our experiences with all of you? Anyway, to the update..... last night I returned from taking the Elders home after dinner. The usual routine went on as we prepared to turn in for the evening. As usual, I emptied my pockets and placed my wallet, watch, etc. on the dresser in our bedroom area. We locked up the house and turned in about 10:00 PM. The night’s rest was uneventful except that sometime in the night we heard what we thought were cats out on the veranda.

This morning Bonnie arose, showered, and was preparing for the day (P Day) when she went into the kitchen. She returned to the bedroom and asked me, “What are your shorts doing on the floor in the kitchen?” Of course I had no idea. Then she asked , “Where are the car keys?” We usually leave the keys on the kitchen counter. The key ring contains car keys, house key, and keys to the doors of the church. I told her I didn’t know where the keys were if they weren’t on the counter. She then walked out the kitchen door and reported the our car was missing. We then began looking at what happened, and piecing details together.

It seems as though while we were sleeping, someone took out the screen over the kitchen sink, climbed through the open window and proceeded to burglarize our house while we slept only a few feet away. Apparently he came into our bedroom area, took our watches and picked up my pants. He must have found nothing in them and thrown them on the kitchen floor. Apparently, he picked up the car keys from the counter and used the house key to open the deadbolt on the door from the inside. He then must have made his getaway in our church owned Kia Sportage. Some of the neighbors were also victimized but to a lesser degree.

We believe we were blessed in that it could have been much worse in many ways. We of course have spent most of the day completing police reports, talking with the mission home, etc. Oh yes, I didn’t mention that Bonnie had a habit of leaving her wallet in the car. And that wallet contained her driver’s license, Military dependent ID, and many credit cards. So, she as been on the phone (thank goodness for Skype) all day canceling cards and notifying financial concerns. We’re also waiting for a locksmith to arrive to change the house locks.

We received a call from the police that they believe the car has been found. We are told that it appears to be in good shape inside and out. We didn’t dare ask about the wallet for fear that if perchance it is not missing...it would be when the police saw it. The keys were not in the car that was found. So that means whoever took them knows where we live and has a car key. The mission home folks told us that although it is expensive, they want the car re-keyed. The Church PFR said he doesn’t think we need to change locks at the church since there is nothing to indicate what those keys are for.

In retrospect, as I mentioned, it could have been much worse. Our good neighbor told us that 3 years ago in a house close by, the airline pilot occupant awoke while his home was being invaded. He confronted the thief and was killed. My first thought was that I wish I had awakened. But, maybe I was blessed by being fast asleep during the invasion. Anyway, all that was taken can be replaced. And they could have taken our laptop, MP3 player and dock, my wallet, Bonnie’s camera, etc. They were all within mere inches of the watches and that pair of pants. All those items would have been much more difficult to replace. Nevertheless the Gospel is true. I suppose the adversary was not happy that we had five baptisms yesterday...this was his payback!

Hurrah for Zion!

Elder and Sister Herbert

Kicked in Door

Another new experience. We picked up the elders at 10 AM on Wednesday morning and took them to the church. When we drove up Mike noticed the door frame had been broken. When we went to check we saw the the door to the clerks office had been kicked in. All of us had visions of the computer stolen. The elders had their bikes stored in there and that is where all the food is kept. As we studied what was there it seemed all that was taken was two cases of Gatoraid. We could not believe it. It seems like it was one person, on foot, and that is all he (or she, I guess) could carry. I have no idea what would cause someone to break in a church, kick in a door and steal two cases of Gatoraid. It actually had someone’s name on it as it had been left for a certain young man in our ward. The police came and took fingerprints, but we have little hope of finding out who did this. Here is my hope. I hope it was someone who came in with someone else and noticed it. I just don’t want it to be a member. I doubt we will ever know....but I don’t want to start worrying about the honesty of the members. I love them so.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers about Lemorin last week. He has decided to return to Haiti on December 20. Mike and I worry that when he goes, many in the bight will go with him. He is such a binding force in our branch. We worry that many others will go with him.

One of the members (Ralph Joseph) came to English class and Institute on Thursday night. We had not seen him here for a long time so were thrilled to talk to him. Turns out he has no place to live....just goes form one friends house to another....no job and no food. We convinced him to visit with President Otin (our branch president). He asked if we would come in with him and talk. There is such a language barrier here. We convinced him to take a Creole speaking brother in and they visited today. He told me he hadn’t eaten and has no food. I gave him some cans of soup which we had purchased for just this reason. He left with several people from the bight. They have a special brotherhood there and seem to take care of each other. The poor taking care of the poor. Another of our Sisters had not eaten in two days and was sick today. It is hard for me to understand why they stay here. Haiti must be worse.

It looks like Erin and her two little ones will come and visit us soon. We are looking forward to that.

It my mother’s birthday today. If she were alive she would be 90 years old. I miss her.

Here is a picture of all the men singing, “I am a child of God.” This was my English Class last Thursday night. I think this link will work if you want to hear them on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHTb7BBZ7dc

We had 5 baptisms today. The elders have worked so hard this week to make it happen. The first three weeks we were here there was a baptism every week but we have not had one for three weeks now. So to have 5 today was wonderful.

We love each of you so very much. Thank you for your prayers.

One of the things Mike and I have a hard time with is....the “haves” and the “have nots”. We drive down the road and on the right side is this resort and ohter mansions. On the left you drive up this broken up excuse for a road, and there is extreme poverty surrounding you. It is very hard to take pictures of their houses as they are very sensitive about that.

Cooler?

It seems cooler this evening. It is only 86º.....and there is a nice breeze. We are slowly.....very slowly getting to meet with some of the members. It is harder to meet with the men because so many speak Creole and no English. I get real upset with “down” time. I think we ought to be trying to meet with people all the time. I feel especially bad because the elders have people to teach all over the island and they don’t have a car. We have access to a car and it seems it sits a lot.

We went to try and find two people who Lex Olerenshaw told us to contact. One was not interested but said she might be willing to come and teach a basic class on genealogy. She is not a member but works on the church genealogy web page. She is a genealogy buff and had such a hard time finding names for people on the island. But it started her actually working to put names in. (Spirit of Elijah!)

We took Claude to the Bishopric meeting tonight. We like him so much. He always has questions. He loves the church and wants to do everything right. We are taking the missionaries over to Claude’s friend’s house tomorrow. He would like to go to church Sunday....but he needs a ride. Hopefully, some time soon, more will be able to help with rides.

OK....MIKE.... There is this little gray, stray, cat. (There are stray cats all over the island.) I guess some neighbors, who left, were feeding it. I told him about the cat and he said, “We can’t feed one cat or there will be cats all over expecting to be fed.” I said nothing. OK, Stop the story! I know anyone who knows Mike will know what happens next. The next night there was a small bowl of milk out on the deck, the gray cat eating with great joy. The next hour, Mike runs to the store to get food. We put one bowl out and a little calico comes begging, to which Mike runs for another bowl. Well this AM there is a new black cat on the deck and there are three bowls of food. I am sure they will tell all their friends. I asked Mike what we would do if more came. He just smirked. Fridaynight.....Update....there were 7 cats feeding on our back deck this evening.

Mike had a Branch Presidency Meeting tonight. Mike was teaching them about agendas. One of the men stopped and said, “You are my father. You are my teacher.” The first day we were here, the same man told Mike that they had been praying for us to come before we ever heard about the Turks and Caicos Islands. We have felt loved and appreciated before they even knew us.

I was talking to a few non-member ladies about coming to church. One of them said, “Do you want me to come to your church every Sunday?” I said, “Yes, every Sunday.” She said, “ OK, then I will. I want to go to a church where somebody cares about me.” (We will see if she really comes.) I think that is the way with so many of us in this world. We want to be where people care about us.

Good Day

This huge crab was walking across our road. Mike put his hand by it just to show how large it was.
Teencie and Sonja invited us to eat. They are sisters. Tencie on the left is the Relief Society President and Sonja is the Primary President.

Elders The elders were eating at a cafe a few days ago, when a member couple from Utah talked to them. The couple wanted to do something nice for them so they bought them a $100 gift certificate at this hamburger place where they were eating called the Salt Mills. The elders were ecstatic as they do not get fed much and they really like this place. So today they went to eat there to use part of the gift certificate, and much to their chagrin, the waitress told them they had to use the whole thing at one time. They called us on the phone and asked us if we wanted to come over and eat on them, as they had to use the $100 all at this meal. Elder Herbert was not feeling well and I had just eaten so we opted out of eating on their ticket. We gave them some other ideas and let them deal with it. A while later I called about another matter and they were still at the restaurant. We went over to where they were to see if we could help them in any way. We laughed and laughed because they had ordered all $100 worth of food. They were both sick. They finally got their last order of two pizzas to go and we took them home, bikes and all. They are coming over for dinner tomorrow and we are having the two pizzas. They don’t have a microwave, they could not imagine how to eat them with no microwave. They really are becoming like our children. Elder Herbert was pretty upset with the cafe....because that was clearly not the intent of the nice LDS couple that bought them the gift certificate. These are the things you laugh about for years.

We went to visit three inactive members today. There is no way to describe their living conditions. They were so happy to see us and so kind. They all said they really wanted to come to church but they do not have a way. Two of the three do not have jobs and a Chit-nee (taxi) costs $3.00 each way, which adds up to a lot of money for them. We ache for them and know they are sincere. Part of what we all need to learn is faith. We teach them that they must pray diligently, with faith, for answers to these problems. I believe that our Heavenly Father opens doors for His faithful and He wants them to be successful. Tithing is a major issue for so many here. Malichi teaches them that Heavenly Father wants to bless them, but they must exercise the faith to do His will. It is so much to ask, but necessary for them to find a way out of the problems they now face.

Hot Mike was not feeling good today. I think it is the heat. It really does wear on us Alaskans who are used to a little cooler weather. I hope he wakes up feeling better. Poor guy. I think he is losing weight. I seem to be able to eat just fine....no problems there. We have quit walking because even so early, it is just too hot. The elders reminded me today that this is a nice fall day. When I responded that I could not wait for winter, they reminded me that I would not notice much difference. You might be interested in knowing that we are not eating much ice cream even though I love it so. Our little tiny freezer can not keep it frozen hard and it just doesn’t taste quite as good as I remember. Banana popsicles have become our new best friends.

Another baptism today Watson is a great guy. Just want to come to church with his friend, and was ready instantly. He is really a jewel. We went over to his house yesterday so Mike could do a baptism interview. We met with several neighbors that would be open to teaching. Good people everywhere we go.

Fabian

Institute tonight! Fabian was there! We were all so excited. Last night we had come home so discourage because Fabian had been picked up by immigration authorities while walking home for lunch. I wrote in my journal about him and how we prayed for his safety and hoped he was at peace whatever was happening to him. He has a wife and family in Haiti and I was thinking this might be the Lord’s will that he go home. But he had just gotten a job and things were looking up for him here, so we were all bummed that he was leaving. And there he was tonight! Immigration kept him over night and then told him to go home. I wonder if they just did not want to process him....or if they were just tired, in a good mood, or were inspired. Whatever the case, he was back and so happy. He is a good man and we all rejoiced to have him back. It is amazing to see the world from such a different perspective. I have always thought we needed to be more careful with our borders in the United States. Here I have such a different view of the situation here. We feel so at home with these people.

English.....The institute teacher was a little late tonight so Mike and I worked with them teaching them English. We went over “I am a Child of God”, reading and singing it several times. Then we taught them several commands, like “Stand up, Sit down, Hop, Raise your right hand,” etc. Then we started to play Simon Says. It was fun. The men really enjoy all the interaction. President Graff does not want us to teach an English class per say....but he said we could work with them on English scriptures and songs. He feels they will learn better that way anyway. So we are going to take a few minutes before family night and institute each week and work with them on some basics. It helped me to have taken my Spanish class. It gives me ideas to use.

Kids. We talked to all the kids for just a few minutes tonight. It made us homesick. They all sounded wonderful and happy. Skype is amazing. It was really funny though because we had better reception talking so far away than we did when we tried Skype in the States.

Island Time We still do not have a phone in the house, which means we do not have the internet. We laughed about “Mormon Standard Time,” which means a little late. Island time is MUCH worse. If we say we will be at someone’s home to teach them at a certain time, it means nothing to them. This man asked us if we could give him a ride home from the church when he was finished with his job there. We went over and waited and he was not ready for two hours. Totally different concept of time!

Elder Davies, Jean
Augustine, Elder Figueora Alot of the guys there to recieve the priesthood.

Institute. Fabian is in the second row with the blue t-shirt.

Depressed

I know I can’t have the spirit when I am depressed.



Claude and his family are being kicked out of their home. He is only one of a whole subdivision. The land is technically government property.. The man who sold it to the many Haitians so many years ago did not own it. These people bought the property and have a paper to prove it. The government has known they were building for years...and just let them build. Now they are telling them to get out. They are coming with bulldozers and knocking down everything they own. How is this possible? What will become of them? Because many of them are really illegally here, they will offer to pay for a one way ticket back to Haiti. These are people who have worked and worked and spent thousands of dollars to have something they thought was their own. When the economy was good, they needed them here to do all the jobs that were here. Now the economy is horrible and they want them to go home.



We had (Tuesday night) family night planned and no one came so we closed up everything and headed home. It rained really hard today. I think that is why no one came. Last week there were about 20 people there, so we thought at least a few would show up.



Kesner came just as we were in our car leaving for home. He had just gotten off work and came as fast as he could. We took Kesner home. He is 24 years old, was baptized within the last six months, and was just made an elder. He works for Business Solutions.....an office supply store. He gets $200 a week. He works all the hours they need him and lives there as the guard at night. He has no where to go to the bathroom or take a shower. His parents live in Haiti and he sends much of what he makes home to them.



Mike and I are having a very hard time. I hope we make it.



I think the devil is not going to sit around and do nothing when so many are getting the priesthood and building the kingdom.

Lovin' The People

I already love these people, but the problems are so overwhelming.

We had another baptism this morning and it was wonderful. We have another one tomorrow after church. Most of the people are so humble and try so hard. The problem is not baptizing them here. The problem is keeping them. Now we have 23 people to which we need to teach the new member discussions. It is an overwhelming task because none or very few of them speak English. Even that would not be so hard but they do not have transportation, jobs, and often the will to be at all their meetings. To gather them to teach them with a translator is a super human feat. There is no physical way we can take them all to church. We are not like other churches that have busses that will pick them up and take them around. We are a church of sacrifice and commitment. Yet when they are so needy and so young in the church, how can they give all that is required? Often in the states we take baby steps with converts. Here we ask giant strides and then more. I have to speak tomorrow in church and that is what I am going to tell them. The blessings of their super human effort will be seen in years and generations to come. We spoke to one young man the other day who has been less active. He was crying in our meeting and all I could tell his was not to give up. We who have so much are asking him who has so little...............

The mission president was here for the afternoon yesterday. He interviewed about 16 people. Tomorrow in Priesthood meeting, Mike will ordain 9 men to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Can you believe that? When was the last time you had 9 men ordained in one branch of about 60 people. One year ago, there were a group of about 5 people who were praying for one priesthood member to come so they could have the sacrament. Now we have a branch with 60 members and all this priesthood.

Mike and I taught a lady today who wants to be baptized. (She asked that we be the ones to teach her). What a privilege. However she knows so little and I worry for her. (When I was finished with the lesson she told me how she prays in tongues when she prays). So much to learn. Her husband has only been a member for a few months and serves as the clerk in the branch. He is so faithful and works hard. However he does not have a job or transportation. So for him to come to church we need to go 3 or 4 miles one way to pick him up and then go back to the church several miles the other way. Tomorrow we will pick him up for early meetings and then I will go back and pick her up along with other investigators. But there are probably 20 more who have the same problem. He told us today during our lesson that his dream is to take his wife to the temple. Please pray for these people that they will have the vision of who they are and what they can be.


Another complication is that the elders need the car as much as we do. Their bikes are broken and they have to teach all over the island. Gas is $4.42 a gallon and we have had to fill the tank 3 times in the last week. I know we can not keep this up, but how do we stop?

Still we feel we are seeing great progress in the work.

On a lighter note.... I was reaching for a paper towel last night and a HUGE cockroach was crawling on my hand. I screamed and told MIke to come and take care of it. He has laughed at me all day. I don’t mind the cute little geckos or even the bugs....but they cant jump out at me and scare me to death. There was a dead scorpion in our little scorpion trap last night. It has been 88 degrees all day today. I am going to melt!

Love you all!
Elder and Sister Herbert

PS We are lucky to serve in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Hoorah for Israel !

Ants

Frustration! We have so much to do but are getting none of it done. Why? I hope we can figure out our calling. We have here one week. Should that not be enough time to begin to figure out who to see and where to go.

Work Permits. They have been approved. Yea! However there is no official Immigration board, so they can not be finished. Since the UK took over the government a few months ago, they have not appointed people for the immigration board. If it happens, we should get work permits soon. The elders have been here 3 months and do not have theirs either. Everyone has been so polite to us. No one has questioned our being here.

Primary School. Across the street from the church is an elementary school called Ianthe (pronounced I-an-the) Primary School. We went over there yesterday to volunteer our time. The acting principal was so excited to see us. We sat down in her office and she said, seeing our name tags, “So you are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What do you believe?” We gave her a one minute lesson about he apostasy and about Joseph Smith. That was good with her and then she started telling us all we could do. It was interesting the difference between here and home. First of all they would insist at home that we take our name tags off because no one would want us influence the kids. Here the principle started off with a religious discussion. The local people and the Haitian people seem to be very religious. She wants us to work with girl scouts and Cub Scouts. Of course there is no budget and no materials. We have to get permission from President Graff, but then we may start soon.

Ants. All over the place.

My cute neighbor, Carole, made me a solution with sugar and borax. The ants are attracted to the sugar, come by the droves and take it back to the nest. The borax then kills them. It seems to work for a few days, then I need to put more out. They will be gone from one area and then come back in another. Learning new things every day.

This is Carol. She is my neighbor from Canada. She has been so kind to us. We love her and her husband Bob

Well and Happy

Everyday a new experience We are well and happy. I am tired tonight. We left for meetings at 5 PM and got home at 9:30. Much of that time is driving, driving, driving. There are so many here who would like to come to meetings but do not have rides. The branch clerk lives about 8 miles from the church....about 5 miles from us. He can’t come if he does not have a ride. There are illegal taxis that will drive people around for $3.00. They are broken down jalopies, with no insurance, no rules. They are called Jitneys.

The mission president called twice today to find out some information about the missionaries. He expects them to ride their bikes around but their bikes are broken. The bikes are really junk. They were brand new bikes but the first days the elders rode them they literally began to fall apart. They have had some new parts on order but everything takes forever here. So we have been driving them around. We paid $60 for the first tank of gas, $58 for the second tank,and the car needs to be filled up again tomorrow. And we have not been here a week yet. So the elders are going to have to take the chalpies too as we get busier and need to be other places.

One thing we are trying to do is meet with the new members to give them the lessons they still need. We used to call them the new member lessons, but now it is the review of the “Preach My Gospel” lessons along with a fifth lesson they have not had yet. There are 22 people we need to give lessons. The only problem is that most of them only speak Creole. We met with some English speakers tonight to see of we could use them to help translate. Those that speak English are the leaders of the branch. Some of them work....which is the best....but some do not. Those that do not work, we use all the time to translate. We really need people here who speak Creole

This is a picture of Helince and Lemorin. They both joined the church in Haiti and have very strong testimonies. They are both leaders in the branch. They both speak English and help us translate.

This is Charles. He was the first one baptized after we came. First one we got to teach before he was baptized. Great kid. 19 years old.



View from the big house. We live in the cottage.

Cell Phone Number

Hi guys,

We are well and doing just fine. However,

we are still trying to get a phone and internet at our residence. That kind of thing seems to take forever here. Just in case of an emergency, our cell phone number is (Blah Blah... removed for privacy... ha ha!). But, beware...it is very expensive to call. You can use Skype and call from your computer to that number too and if the connections will stay up that should work. Just put the number into the Skype mailbox and it should not be difficult to get it to work. Hopefully we will have internet this week.....but one never knows.

We are enjoying P day. We are going to a real pirate cave and look for souvenirs.

We went for a walk on the beach this AM. The sand was snow white and the water was crystal clear. Too hot for me though....even at 7 AM.

Dad looks at your pictures and cries every day.

We love you so much.

Mom and Dad

Hello From Turks and Caicos

Dear Stephanie and all,
Thank you so much for helping me get back on the mailing list. I felt
lost for a while. We are here and doing well.

I will be sending parts of my journal often. Please delete all that
is boring. I am not an excellent writer so just read what sounds
fun. Love to you all.
Elder and Sister Herbert

Well we are here. Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. Elder Figueroa
and Davies picked us up at the airport. They were so helpful and
kind. The airline could not find part of our luggage, and frankly we
were scared because we had heard terrible stories. I guess the
baggage guys had just dropped it outside, because they found it after
we had filled out all the paperwork. We were so grateful, Another
thing to be thankful for...... The elders are trying not to cry
because the car they have been using, they now have to turn over to
us. Their bikes are broken and they really have no way to get around
the island. (One time they walked 11 miles because they were out of
money for gas and their bikes were broken, and they had appointments,
and the mission president got mad at them because he said they should
have called and got more money on their card from him.) Poor guys,
they can’t win. The island is about 11 miles long and they teach all
over the island. We will need to work closely with them and help them
get around.

The cottage is really nice. It reminds me of a little cottage in a
princess story, or a small rental if you were going to the beach for a
week. It is really cute. The bedroom is divided from the family room
by a half, 3 foot wall. There is a small bathroom off the bedroom.
There is a small fridge, full sized stove, even a microwave. (Where
is my Bosh?) We walk outside, down the stairs and into a little
storage type room where there is a washer and dryer. There is a guest
house right under ours.... attached. No one is there now. On the
same lot there is a larger house where a family will move in the first
of November. They have a small pool. We are up on a high point
looking over the town. The view from the veranda is amazing. We can
look out and see the turquoise water and white sands from three sides
of the house.

We went to the store on the way home from the airport and spent
$550.00. Then we came home a made a list that will cost us at least
another $500.00 The canned vegetables cost 3 times as much as in
Alaska. The towels were $9.99 each and they are the cheapest towels I
have ever seen...No never mind.....Diane, remember those towels we got
in Beijing, China? These are like those.

Tonight we went out to dinner with the missionaries, the branch
president and his wife, and another couple from the branch. They
were very kind and paid for our food. It was a very expensive place
so I’m glad they did. The Olorenshaws are a young couple from San
Francisco who have been coming to the island for four years. They are
an important part of the branch even though they don’t live here.
They have worked very hard to keep the records up. Because this is
such a new branch, no one knows or understands the importance of
records. They are excited to have Mike here. I know he wishes he had
paid more attention to the clerks job just as I wish I had worked more
in Relief Society.

They told us that there is such a stark difference in the branch.
The majority of the branch is Haitian illegals. They literally live
in the bushes...worse than our homeless people in Alaska. They have
nothing. Most of them used to have jobs but with the economy so bad,
lots have no money or way to support their families. Remember there
is no state welfare here.....so no one gets something for doing
nothing. The church welfare is so different here too. It will do
little the bare minimum, only enough to keep them alive. I will need
to learn more. (Will one of our jobs be to help those provide for
themselves?) We have so much to learn. A few are very wealthy and
live in the very expensive homes. I think this will be my biggest
challenge....how to deal with people who have nothing, how to enjoy
church with my brothers and sisters when they have not eaten, or have
means to feed their family. This will take a lot of inspiration to
know how to handle that. The mission president does not want the
missionaries to teach just the Haitians....because he does not want
the ward to be a Haitian branch, but mixed. Yet those are the
teachable and humble ones. They tell their friends and the
missionaries never need to tract because of the contacts. I am
excited to meet them.

Here we gooooooooooooooo!

We are at the Jamaica airport waiting for our flight to T&C. This is really turning into more of an adventure than I thought. We are glad we are not assigned here in Jamaica. It's like a wild west town here. And the driving is the craziest I've ever seen anywhere. I'm very glad our island is a bit more laid back. We have a big storm heading our way that is supposed to hit us on Saturday. We are taking a little plane from here to T&C instead of going back through Miami. This puddle jumper only allows each person to take 44 pounds of baggage. Mom and I each have 100 pounds .That means we had to pay almost $400 to get all our bags there. Luckily, the mission will reimburse us. Oh well...that's it from here for now.


Kiss and hug those babies for us....

Love,

Dad

We Are Off

Dear Kids,

We are leaving in the AM for Turks. We will NOT be going through Miami so I won't get to talk to any of you. I will write a letter soon and tell you all i know. We had a Senior Missionary meeting this AM. It was rough....not really. It is just that we learned more what we are up against. The poor mission president. Because there is no stake here, he is the ecclesiastical leader for the whole island of Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Bahama and the Turks and Caicos. He spends much of his time working with moral issues. He said in the three months he has been here he has met with over 300 people who needed to repent of moral issues. The mission president has had to send home several elders. It absolutely breaks my heart thinking of what those poor elders are in for the rest of their lives. He spends so much time with the members that his time to work with the missionaries is much less than he would like. He is tough. He has to be to do what is required. He told the missionaries yesterday, that he feels the mission is now ready to go forward because the poison in the field is cleaned up. It is a very heavy burden for him. He expects absolute obedience and accepts nothing less. He is quick to chew elders out and quick to accept their apologies. He is in touch with the general authorities and is exact in his obedience too.

I think it makes it easier for us to work when we know what to expect and he has been very direct with us. I know we are doing the Lord's work. I know the Lord has sent us here. Pray that we can all be equal to what is expected. I am thankful for this opportunity. Some of the senior missionaries have children with lots of problems. I am so thankful that you have good companions and your families are in order. I am so proud of you. You are our lives. We love you so much. Mom

Going to Turks

Hi guys....

Mom and I finished our last day of training here in Jamaica today. What an experience this has already proved to be. Tomorrow we get to see the island we have been assigned to for the first time...yahoo! I'm glad the we are not stationed here in Jamaica. As well as the humidity being unworldly, crime is rampant. We've been told there is basically no problem with crime on the Turks. Our mission president and his wife have been most gracious while we have been here. It feels as though we have known them for many years and been good friends for a long time...instead of just 3 days.
When we leave tomorrow, that may be the end of our emails with you until we find out what the set-up is on the island. We will be flying directly from Jamaica to Turks instead of going to Miami in between. So that means we won't be able to call like we were hoping to do. Just know that we are safe and well, and that we're excited to do the Lord's work. I love your mother so much. It is truly a blessing for me to be able to spend time with her during this adventure.
Please know that we love you all so much... and that we love our grandbabies that much too.

Bye for now...

Love,

Dad