Transfers and Changes

Well the big news for this week is that I am going into my 3rd transfer and that means that I'm training....yay! I don't feel ready yet, but apparently the Lord does, and he knows better than me, so I will have to trust him on that. Sister Crompton will be leaving St. Vincent after spending her first 7 1/2 months here. She is being transferred to St. Martin (sometimes referred to as little America by the missionaries because of it's very American feel and left hand drive cars on the right side of the roads). She feels like she is being spoiled by first serving in St. Vincent and having a really nice apartment, now going to St. Martin where there will actually be places to shop! I don't think she really minds though. She will be serving with a sister from St. Lucia, the only St. Lucian sister currently serving. She sounds a lot like Sister Forbes, the temp that Sister Crompton had before. She should do great with her. They speak some French in St Martin, so that will be interesting. Well, as for me, I will be staying here in Calliaqua and will be finishing the training of Sister Bennie from Guyana. She served her first transfer in Barbados. A lot of the missionaries who have served in Guyana know her family and say that they are great. I am sure that she is an awesome missionary and I look forward to meeting her, though I am nervous as well. I will miss Sister Crompton for sure, but I know it is for the best. I cried...A LOT at church because she bore her testimony and people were saying goodbye and all that. But that's me for ya! 

 

It is going to be interesting to have someone being trained in each of the companionships here on St. Vincent next transfer. We are going to be a very "young" island. I'm excited to work with all the new missionaries coming in. It should be interesting to see the work progress in Georgetown with two sets of Elders there. There will be 12 total missionaries here now instead of the 8 that were here just a few transfers ago. The work is truly being hastened. We got 30 new missionaries in the mission this transfer!

I hope all is well at home! I love you all

 

Sister Bratt

 

 

Thanks to Sister Bird for sharing the photos.

Sure will miss Sister Crompton!

I couldn't have asked for a better trainer!

 

The district before transfers.

 

Member Referrals Rock

This week was very good. We had big success with our member referrals. We have started teaching a member's son and he is becoming more interested each day. He was able to come to church this week and also came to the branch activity we had the day before. He really enjoys the Elders and wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon. He came hiking with us this morning as well.

We were able to have a great experience with another member's sister. We had our branch party on Saturday and then taught a couple of recent converts. After that we planned to see some of our progressing investigators, but our appointments fell through. As we prayed and contemplated about who we could see, Sister Crompton had the idea to park the car at our apartment and walk down to see one of the families we have been teaching near us and to stop at this member's sister's house on the way. As we were walking we almost passed right by her house, but the spirit reminded me to stop and it turned out to be a really cool experience. As we called up to the house, the dad poked his head out the window and said that he had just been asking if we were ever coming back to teach them again, because we hadn't been there in a week or so. It was really special to see how the spirit truly has a hand in this work as long as we are listening and worthy to receive its promptings. The lesson that followed was really great and it concluded with our investigator asking us when we could come back when usually it is the other way around.

Our last member referral that we had an awesome experience with this week was a member's brother and his wife. We have been trying to get together with them for the past couple weeks and it always falls through. Then on Sunday we stopped by and the wife was there, but the husband wasn't. So we talked with her for a while and taught her a great lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ focusing on faith. She then was able to share with us a dream she had one night after reading from the Book of Mormon in which she was speaking with us as well as the pastor of her church. She asked in the dream why it is that our churches don't just come together since we are so similar. The pastor answered that he had been thinking about doing just that. So, whatever the intended meaning of the dream, I think it has come to her as a confirmation that this gospel is true.

You asked about rain. It does rain off and on here. We haven't been poured on more than a couple of times though while we were out. Usually we are driving or are in our apartment when it is really coming down hard, because it never lasts very long. There have been times though, like today. lol. We woke up to pouring rain outside. We had planned to hike the volcano and weren't sure whether we would still be going. But we got ready anyway, and it turned out that we did get to go. It was just foggy at first, but then after a little while it started raining pretty hard. It was fun despite the rain. I didn't mind it; I love rain. The hike was harder than I thought it would be, but it may have just been the fast pace of the Elders that made it hard. Haha. I made it to the top though, and we got to see the foggy white abyss that was the crater at the top. I posted the pictures I took. There weren't very many, because once the rain started we had to put our cameras away. The way down was a lot easier. It was funny, because one of our investigators saw us last night and heard that we were hiking the volcano. He hasn't ever done it even though he has lived here his whole life. He had to catch the van (the public transportation) to get there and it is a long way around because of routes and stops. He hiked with us and seemed to have a good time. He is pretty fit and ended up beating us all to the top.

Hope all is well for you all!

Love ya,
Sister Bratt

 

                                                            Hiking La Soufreir   (Volcano)

 

 

 

 

 

Service and Families

This week we have been trying to find, work with and serve families. We feel that the best way for the church to grow here on St. Vincent is through strengthening families and bringing them the gospel. Sister Crompton and I were able to do service for and teach some really great families during the week. We know how much the gospel can bless their lives and pray that they will continue to seek for and gain a greater knowledge of the truth and of the Lord's love for them. They are awesome!

We made a cake and had a little surprise party for a girl whose family are recent converts. She is now eleven. Elder and Sister Bird came to the party, too. It was so nice that they were able to make it. What a fun surprise! We taught the family how to make s'mores which they had never had before. It was a lot of fun!

Sister Crompton and I are still helping with Young Womens. This week we taught the lesson. It was an interesting topic for missionaries . . . the lesson was on dating. But we had fun and I think the girls did, too.

I am out of time today, but I was able to send some pictures.

Love you all so much!

Sister Bratt

 

 

 

 

Neighborhood FHE

This week was very good. I was able to enjoy the beauty of the island both last Monday and this morning as well. Last week we met the Elders at the Botanical Gardens and were able to just walk around and enjoy the beautiful nature and the St. Vincent parrots that they have there. Then this morning we met the Elders in the Zone Leaders' area near Prospect to go to a beach they found there.  It has beautiful black sand as well as some rocks and tide pools. We were the only ones there, and we were able to play Frisbee and just enjoy the view. We truly have some great elders on St. Vincent. I am constantly learning from their examples and testimonies.

For district meeting we were able to watch the Work of Salvation at the Birds. We had already watched it in Calliaqua Branch, but they had technical difficulties in Kingstown that day so the Elders there hadn't seen it, yet. I didn't mind watching it again, because I loved it so much the first time. l loved not only the message they shared about how members and missionaries can work together, but I really liked the way they chose to portray that message. All of the video segments and music really added to the spirit of the message. I learned new things this time around that I had missed before. Missionary work is truly changing for the better! I don't know if we will see the new changes in the use of technology here in our mission, but it is still amazing to think about. It makes me excited to continue to be a force for good in missionary work when I return home.

This week we had our first "Neighborhood Family Home Evening" at the home of a wonderful family in our branch.  We watched Elder Holland's last conference talk on Faith, played a game, and ate some Pilou. Everyone really enjoyed it! We hope to get more people to come next Wednesday. 

We started teaching a new couple. The guy is the brother of a sister from the Kingstown branch. His sister went with us to see them on Friday and it went really well. They are a sweet family and I know the gospel would bless them so much! We were happy as well to have them come to church this week with their 11 year old son and their little girl.

 

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home. Enjoy the rest of the Summer! I hope Riley has a great first birthday! It's hard to believe she is already a year! She is such a sweet little girl!

I love you all! Thanks for your emails and your love.
 

Sister Bratt

 

 

 

St Vincent Parrot

 

 

 

 

Views from the Beach

 

 

 

Playing Frisbee

 

 

Eating Sugar Apples on the beach

 

 

District Meeting in the Bird's "Theater Room"

 

Our mutual activity - making bracelets

 

                              Youth members built                             Cutie in a bucket.
                                     a cart.