Mission Update January, 2008
2008 Welcome to a New
Year:
Baptisms:
We were thrilled with several of the baptisms we had this
month. The mission as a whole has baptized twice as many as ever before in one
year and they are hopeful that this new year will bring even more into the
fold. We are all working hard to get fill the requirements of having a stake
for our District, hopefully by this summer. Every branch is trying to do their
best to reach this goal. There has been a remarkable improvement with the
members working with the missionaries, on a regular basis. The evidence is that
more are coming into the Church and staying active. It is important that they
have a friend and a calling, as well has their personal testimony. That is what
makes a difference in retaining them. These are not numbers, they are people
and their eternal salvation is what is at stake.
The first group of pictures are of Sarah. She is married
to a man in New York, but because of legality reasons, she is living here. She
speaks English, so I was able to congratulate her and say to her to stay strong
even when she goes back home. Her mother is a Catholic and is not happy with
her decision. She looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t worry, I am a rock”.
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Baptismal hymn
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Baptism of Sara Howard
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Hurrah for Israel
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New convert testimony
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The next baptism is of Axelle. She has been coming to
Church for a long time. Her brother is the District President, but she wasn’t
ready to commit. This last December, she felt ready and so we welcomed her into
our branch. She is a lovely, young woman and we are happy that she has decided
to make this commitment. There are many of her relative attending and sharing
in her important moment.
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Axelle Bouchaut
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Axelle's baptism
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Axelle's friends
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Their excitement
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Baby Eclar
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Both sisters chose to be baptized in mountain waters, close
to nature and God’s beautiful creations. A nice place to start their new life.
St. Martin:
We traveled to the island of St. Martin to do some church
and mission business. We love going there and being with the Coleman’s. They
are the senior couple on that island. They have a chapel on the Dutch (English)
side and the French meet in the same building. We are trying to work something
out, so that the French can meet in their own building. We happen to be there
the day they had a cruise ship stop for the day. On that ship were 60 Utah
members who wanted to give some service. They came over and we put them to work
painting the outside of the chapel building. The branch provided a nice lunch
and in a couple of hours, they had the whole thing done. It was fun to visit
with them as we worked side by side. Our missionaries also helped. We also
visited with some of the shut in members. Elder Coleman didn’t forget his
missionary duties, so after painting, we stopped along the way to let him make a
few contacts.
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Work crew from Utah
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Elder Busson
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Elder Ritchie
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Elder Burton
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Bushman
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Clair Dinane
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Elder & Sister Coleman
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Elder Coleman proselyting
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Misc.:
We do a lot of driving, so Elder Malmrose is making sure
that he is doubly prepared.
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Malmrose double working
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Gamiette family fun
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Gamiette dinner
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Delphine Dinner
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Brother Briggs at Capesterre pulpit
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The Three Witnesses
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Fun elders
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Birthday boys
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Martinique elders sing
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Hurrah for ice cream
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More ice cream
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Door approach
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BasseTerreBaptism:
We also had a baptism of two young women in BasseTerre. It
was held in the ocean in the southern part of the island. You can see that
everyone wanted to get in the act.
We had a lovely visit with Pres. Gamiette and his family.
Here is a picture of their apartment. It shows the typical tile floor they
almost all have. It stays cooler and is easy to clean. Sister Gamiette
prepared a nice dinner for us, our Mission Pres. and Sister Robison, and Bro.
Briggs, the person over all the buildings for the Church in this area. We took
a picture of the group and also of Bro. Briggs in the Capesterre building behind
the pulpit we had built. He was duly impressed that we got the building done
for that branch in 3 weeks. So impressed, that they may let Elder Malmrose do
it again a few more times. He has become the organizer for getting the
buildings up and going for the different branches.
We also had several meetings with our Mission President and
the missionaries from several of our French islands. Here are the missionaries
from Martinique and the zone singing happy birthday to some of the other
missionaries. We have this problem with our freezer. Anytime our Elders come
over, the door opens and out come ice cream bars. We told the Robison’s about
it, and they found it did the same for them. Hurrah for ice cream! We also
found this unusual door approach, which we are going to share with our
missionaries.
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Basse-Terre baptism
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Basse-Terre baptism
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Everyone in the act
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Me too baptism
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Basse-Terre Hurrah
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Everybody wants in
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Abymes wedding
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Basse-Terre baptism
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Handsome guys plus one
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Farewell Dinner:
Elder Baksh finished his mission in our area. He is from
French Guyana and speaks both French and English. He will return there and
strengthen the branch with his mission experiences. His companion is Elder
Crouet from France. It was nice to get to know them both better.
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Goodbye to Elder Baksh
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Attorneys plus one
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Elder Crouet at dinner
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Elder Quinn dinner
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Brothers again
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We also spent an afternoon and evening with our Church
attorneys and our local attorney. We are involved with trying to get proper
recognition for the Church. It has to be done the proper way, or the French
government will tax everything the church owns at 60%. They took us out to
dinner and we enjoyed local dance entertainment. A lovely evening.
Special Baptism:
One Sunday last fall, we attended one of the other branches
in our area. There was a sister there we didn’t recognize and we went and said
hello to her. She introduced herself as Sister Cesarin. We talked with her and
observed her during Church. We assumed she was a member. We found out later,
that she was investigating. We all attended Sunday School and the lesson was
taught by Sister Gamiette. It was on tithing. She wrote on the whiteboard the
following numbers 500 and asked how much tithing is required and then wrote 50
with the class answering. We found out later that this lady had dreamed the
night before and saw the two numbers on a board. She had already decided to be
baptized and has continued to be faithful. Her husband wanted to continue to
study before he decided if he would join. He often came with her but it took a
number more months before he decided to join as well. We taught him on several
occasions and he was thrilled when we explained to him Eternal Marriage. The
most recent lesson, he announced to us that he had decided to be baptized. We
were scheduled to leave town on that day and told him so. He said he had faith,
that we would work it out because he wanted us there. Needless to say, we
changed our flight for a later one. He had everyone over to his nice house for
the meeting before going to the mountain pool to be baptized. He asked Elder
Malmrose, to give the talk on baptism. During the talk, Elder Malmrose felt
inspired to take off his “Salt Lake Temple” tie and put it around Bro. Cesarin’s
neck. He told him that in one year, he and his wife could be sealed together
forever. It was a very touching moment for us all.
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Cesarin baptism meeting at home
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Convert friends
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Cesarin baptism
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Fred Cesarin
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Happy baptism day
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Baptism talk gift
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Goal to prepare for temple in 1 year
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Baptism now
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Into the font
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Day of joy
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Baptism convenant
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Rainbow beginning
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New beginning joy
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One of the members of the branch did the actual baptism.
Look at the expression on Bro. Cesarin’s face. He was thrilled with this
ordinance and we all felt the Spirit strongly. He has the potential of being a
great Church leader. He is really at the beginning of his rainbow.