Mama,
It sounds like you had a fun week! It's weird that it's already the end of January.....Nothing too exciting happened this week for me. It's just work, work, work like usual. Lots of walking, lots of eating, and lots of studying. I feel like I'm being really lame in my e-mails lately, but I really don't know what to send to you that I haven't sent already. Oh, my ukulele came! But it came to st. Vincent......I got a call from one of the other Elders, and he said that it came and that he already had opened it and was playing it....It made me kind of upset, but hopefully He doesn't break it before it gets to me somehow. Maybe I can get it after this transfer is over...
To answer some of the questions you had...
First, Elder Jensen is from Salt Lake. He is 22 yrs old, and has been on his mission only 2 months longer than I have.
The Church here in St. Lucia is struggling a little bit...They only have a sacrament meeting and a Gospel principles class. Priesthood and Relief Society were closed a few months ago because the members are a little to lax as members. Usually, there's only about 30 members there each week. Elder Jensen and I spoke yesterday in Sacrament meeting, and it went really well. I spoke on spreading the gospel and being unified, and E. Jensen spoke on building our testimonies.
The Weather here is just like any of the other islands. It's windy, but hot, hot, hot! It averages around 90 degrees and humid as heck.
Right now we are teaching a few people. Uranus and his Girlfriend CarrieAnn, Narish and his G.F. Vanda (Rasta couple), Varnessa, Marlin, and Michelle and her B.F. Jeffrey. They all say their interested, but lately their actions have been telling us otherwise. Hopefully we can help them progress in the gospel.
St. Lucia is the most 3rd world country that I've been in yet. It does have some "Americanized" areas, but for the most part, it's a ways behind the rest of the world. It kind of reminds me of a mix between Salina, Utah; and Tiajuana, Mexico....If you can imagine that...WE wash our clothes by hand sometimes, because every time it rains, our water gets shut off. Everyone's water gets shut off when it rains. I'm not sure why. We take cold showers, because there aren't any water heaters. Occasionally we get hot water if it was a really hot day. The sun warms up the pipes. :)
They play a lot of soccer and cricket here. There's always little kids with a cricket bat or a soccer ball running around the town. We play with them sometimes. There are a lot of Rasta-men who just lounge around all day and ask us for money every time they see us. Lots of people like to hang out on the sides of the road and most of the time, they end up falling asleep in the grass until the next morning. Just to update you a little bit....Rastafarianism is a big religion out here....if you can even call it a religion....Their nick name is Rasta. They originated from Africa, and they believe that a man named Selassie is a prophet. They have long Dread-locks, and they like to smoke marijuana. They play the drums, and instruments for their worship services. There are a TON of them around here......
Other than that. I'm doing really well. St. Lucia is testing my patience, and humility, so I guess I just have to go along with it and learn the best I can. I have a feeling that I wont be here for very long. I think I was just sent here to learn some lessons, and then move on. Transfer calls will be in about 10 days, so I'll let you know in 2 weeks whether I'll be staying or whether I'll be moving to another island...again...
Ha ha. I love you guys! Be safe!
Brad
