Well... Its time for an update I think...

I have been home from my mission for just over a year now (I returned home March 14, 2013).  I learned so many wonderful things from my experience in the West Indies Mission and I know that it has changed my life for the better.  The last area I served in was Christ Church, Barbados and I was there for 2 transfers with Sister Danielsen.  I met so many amazing people that I will never forget.  I have now finished my last year of school at BYU and will graduate in just a few weeks.  I look forward to the next stage of my life with anticipation to see what it will bring.  Perhaps I will start a new blog - keep on the lookout!

Wow, its been a while...

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated my blog... Here in St. Maarten blogger loads in Dutch or French, and I just figured out how to log in when it came up in French! That is exciting! Anyway, We went to Guadeloupe this last week for Zone Conference.  This was the 3rd time I've had the opportunity to go to Guadeloupe in the last 8 or so months.  It is a very beautiful island.  I don't have much time today, but I wanted to write a few highlights from the conference.  For all future missionaries, (and ones currently serving too) Elder Anderson of the Area Presidency here in the Caribbean said to focus our studies on the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, or in other words the Doctrine of Christ.  Good chapters for study can be found in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11 and 3 Nephi 27.  Another highlight was advice from Sister Anderson, she was speaking to the Sister Missionaries after the main conference.  She taught us taht we should never compare ourselves with other missionaries.  When we have thoughts in our head that are making our weaknesses seem much larger than they are (because we are comparing them to someone else's strengths) we should chase away those thoughts as fast as we can because they are not productive.  They just bring us down into discouragement.  It is better to focus on Christ and remember His promise from Ether 12:27 in the Book of Mormon.  Oops... I'm out of time.  I'll hopefully be able to write again soon!  But if not next week, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Maho Beach

This is what we did for P-Day last week (May 14, 2012).  It was awesome! We even got some funny tourists in the video. . . don't worry, we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts.  Everyone that is, except for Elder and Sister Wright, they were wearing their proselyting clothes.  He was easy to pick out, the only one on the beach in a suit. . . ^_^

Adventures on the beach!

Oh, you might want to turn down the volume when you watch this one... lol

Transfers!!!

Guess what everyone! I'm transferring!!! I'm now going to be serving in St. Martin ~ I will leave Grenada on Wednesday morning and arrive in St. Martin roughly 4 hours later after a few layovers on random islands in the Caribbean.  I'm looking forward to meeting new people, getting to know new places and having new experiences.  I will miss all of my friends that I've made here in Grenada a lot, but I know that the Lord will take care of them.  I love them very much and I want them all to know that.  I will think of them and pray for them always.  I'm excited for Sister Udall and her new companion because they have many investigators who are prepared and will likely be getting baptized in the coming weeks. 

Fun Story!

My companion and I got to go to a member's house for dinner last night.  It was super fun! We had homemade tortillas, rice and beans and everyone else enjoyed their baked chicken. We also had some of the best homemade salsa!! Yummy!!! I haven't had that since I was at school! LOL Anyway, the coolest part about this story: This family used to live in New York on Staten Island and while they were there, they had the opportunity to feed Sister Udall's brother, Elder Udall! Crazy right? So siblings got fed by the same members in different countries! How fun is that!

Zone Conference!!

Sister Fish and I got to go to St. Vincent last week for Zone Conference.  That was an awesome experience! We were able to hear from President Gamiette, the Assistants and Elder Venus (of one of the Quorums of the Seventy).  We learned so many valuable things, not only for while we are serving full-time missions, but that will benefit us our entire lives.  Unfortunately, I forgot my notes so I can't post anything today about it. Sorry! I just remember that it was great to be edified and we learned a lot about how to help increase the faith of those around us.  Anyway, we are back in Grenada and looking forward to a great week! Oh, and yesterday was Sister Fish's birthday so we are celebrating today during our P-Day activities.  Well, I don't have much time, Gotta Run!

Grenada!

Well, I made it safe to the island of Grenada! I'm enjoying my time here so far! My companion is Sister Fish and she's been here since we left the MTC.  She's been showing me around and introducing me to all of the people here.  The apartment is nice and had a great view of the ocean.  The water here is beautiful! Its a light turquiose color and there is a pristine white sand beach just down from our apartment.  We live next door to the church, which is very nice.  I haven't had too many mosquito bites yet, but the locals say I will become aquainted with them soon.  They have "special" mosquitos here that love to bite everybody a lot.  LOL I guess we'll see.  We had a great weekend and we taught a few lessons on Sunday.  I hope we can keep up the pace and continue teaching lessons and finding new people to teach through the week.

A Wedding? I Love Weddings!

We had a beautiful wedding of Danney Shallow and Goldy Davis here in Calliaqua! It was wonderful and their children were adorable too (although the only one who was in the photo is their newest member of the family) I got to hold the one month old baby boy during the ceremony.  It was such a good wedding, small and simple but perfect for them.  (sorry Danney's face got cut off in the photo, I'll try and put up a better one soon.)

Oh, and side note - I'm getting transferred! I'm now moving to Grenada! My next post will be from there!

Happy Holidays from the Caribbean

Hello everybody! Greetings from St. Vincent! Things are going great here! I really am loving being a missionary in the West Indies! I don't have much time to post but I wanted to tell everyone I know to have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! (just in case I don't post next week) I would like to recommend to everyone to read the December Liahona magazine, it has wonderful articles for Christmas!

Still in St. Vincent! :-D

I'm staying in St. Vincent for another transfer with Sister Shrestha! :-) I'm so happy! I love it here! Well, i don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to share a funny experience that we had when we were teaching an investigator the other day.  So this investigator has a problem with the Word of Wisdom and so we were teaching more about that.  We asked, "Do you want to make Heavenly Father happy? Do you think it makes Him happy to know that you are following Satan?"  The investigator replied, "Of course I want to make Heavenly Father happy! And I'm not following Satan.  Satan follows me." .... ....  .....  ..... That particular investigator makes me laugh every time we visit.  Well, we are enjoying our time here in St. Vincent, we are keeping busy meeting new people and sharing the Restored Gospel with them. Some of the people we meet are more receptive than others.  Hopefully we will be able to get more help from the members here to find their friends who are searching for the truth.  Well, I love this gospel and I know its true.  I'm very grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I know the Book of Mormon is true and that anyone who reads it will also find out through the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true.  I'm reading the Book of Mormon every day and I would like to challenge everyone who reads this post to read the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of the year! It doesn't matter how much you read as long as you open it and read from it every day.  If you do this I promise that you will feel Heavenly Father's love for you more abundantly in your life because I have felt it in mine.  I'll write more soon! Until then, take care everyone!