A Mission for Our Church: A Little America

We have enjoyed the last few days immensely. We got to go to Jamaica for the weekend! Yea! To get off the island for a few days was a great treat, in and of itself. We left Friday very early in the morning and stopped in the Miami airport just long enough to get a Whopper at 9:30 AM. You have to understand there is no Burger King on our Island and Mike has looked forward to that for many months. We got to Jamaica fairly early and went to the mission office. (Standing in line for over an hour in customs was not our favorite part of the trip....) We got to visit with several mission leaders and got several items of business taken care of....in person. The office couple took us to eat at a Chinese restaurant...which was so exciting for me. President Hendricks took us to the mission home where ate again and went to bed early. We enjoyed being with the Ockeys who had come for the weekend also.
Saturday morning we were instructed in the new focus’ of Preach My Gospel. So powerful! I am so thankful to be a part of this great work. There are 8 new areas of focus (not to be confused with Young Women values), and they all have to do with revelation. Joseph Smith had a revelation and so much each of us to be converted. We will probably not see an angel, but the Holy Ghost will burn a testimony into our soul, such that we can accomplish all He intends us to do! Missionaries must be prepared with their own testimonies and guide, teach and expect revelation for new convert. Often Mike and I get busy doing all the “things” we do that we forget whose work we are doing. What a great reminder. Then all the senior couple in the whole mission....a total of 16 senior missionaries were there and we had a great day, eating, playing games, visiting, sharing experiences. What a fun day!
Monday was a terrific day back in the USA. We requested and received permission for a several hour lay-over in Miami and rented a car. We were afraid we would have trouble driving on the right side of the road, (because we drive on the left on our island), but Mike did a great job and we found our way around without a hitch. We looked forward to three things.... Walmart, Costco, and Golden Corral. We did Walmart and spent as much time as Mike could stand, and were amazed at the low prices, the large variety of commodities, and customer service. Mike found a Bass Pro Shop and I had a hard time getting him out that door as it reminded him of Cabelas. Then we headed to Costco and bought nuts and dried mangos....two things we have sorely missed. We did not have time (nor could Mike stand more walking up and down the isles) to enjoy more of the ambiance of Costco. (Of course our membership had run out months before, so we needed to renew it....so much for saving any money there.) We could not find a Golden Coral, Sizzlers, or anything similar so we ate at Dennys, and it was really delicious. (We don’t have any chain restaurants in Turks and Caicos and miss food from the States.)
BACK TO WORK !
July 30, 2010
Mike interviewed Ruben and he was baptized this morning. He is such a great guy. The elders have been teaching him for months....none of us could figure out why he was not being baptized. He read and studied, prayed continually, and continued to ask questions. We knew when he made up his mind he would be wonderful....and it finally happened. Turned out he was so concerned that his father would be upset. It ended up his father was not particularly happy, but was willing to let his son make his own decision. He is one we found because of English class. I did not do much to help teach him the gospel, but I am so excited to be a small part of his story.