An Easter Family Reunion

Kaytee, Josh and their three beautiful little girls came to St. George for a visit with friends and family, arriving on April 2 and heading home to Anaconda, MT again on April 7.  A short stay for sure, but, oh, so pleasant to see their beautiful faces in person instead of on Skype.  They stayed with Mark and Kim in Hurricane – and we had our mission reunion in Provo on April 3, so our time together was limited, but we managed to squeeze in some time to visit the dinosaur tracks (Adyn’s request), the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve (Grandma’s idea) and an afternoon playing in the water at the very popular St. George Town Square and in the Grandma Closet.  We also enjoyed a family get together with Stacy, Rick and their girls on Wednesday night. 

On Saturday, after our mission reunion in Provo, we celebrated Easter and Lilly’s birthday at Michael’s house in Pleasant Grove where we were joined by David, Jan’L and their three boys – in town for General Conference – and Kelly and Gary who drove down from their Ogden home to be with us.  The cousins enjoyed their time together, swinging on the big tire swing in the back yard and finding eggs left in the grass by the Easter bunny.  It was a pleasant day in which my kids enjoyed being together … catching up, looking back and renewing their sibling rivalry and friendship.  With the exception of Kris (with whom we talked on our way to Provo) it was a lovely weekend in every aspect in the company of 5 of our six kids.  It was “heaven on earth” to be with those we love so dearly – even for only a few hours!!!

WIM Reunion 2015

Our mission reunion, held on Friday, April 3 in Provo, was absolutely wonderful, although it got off to a rough start.

Traffic on the I-15 Southbound was tied up for some reason which postponed our set-up almost until our start time of 5:30 p.m. When Ed and I arrived at 4 p.m., the designated time for our "crew" to show up, no one was there yet.  We waited a few minutes, walked around the locked building looking for someone "official" with a key, but found no one.  Finally, I walked across the street to the only house on the block with a car in the driveway - rang the doorbell and asked the little blond respondent if I could talk to her Daddy who I asked how I could reach the bishop. He said there are two bishops ... which one did I want?  I told him I just needed to get into the building before our RM's showed up.  He smiled ... reached in his pocket and said, "I'm not the bishop but I do have the key!"

The WIM reunion had probably 100 RM’s – including about 15 senior couples - who showed up … and stayed well into the evening.  There was plenty of good food and lots of “joyful noise” in the form of laughter and conversation. When Pdt. Gamiette arrived he said he didn’t have anything prepared so just offered to answer questions.  “How is your family?  Why didn’t the brethren keep the name of the WIM?  How is the S&I program doing in the WIM?” and an assortment of other queries.  He noted Pdt. Meir is the last WIM president … and admitted the administration of the West Indies Mission – with 12 governments, 7 currencies and 5 languages - was “a nightmare” (which those of us who worked in the office already knew). 

He also told us, his job assignment in the Caribbean Area Office changed a few days ago when he stepped down from overseeing S&I to assume responsibilities as the Self-Reliance Coordinator for the Caribbean Area – a job he had prayed about for many months – and for which we are delighted.  In short and among other duties, he will be working with the 44 students (37 in Georgetown and 7 in Berbice) enrolled in the Pathways / BYU Idaho programs in Guyana and many others in the others islands and countries of the Caribbean. 

As we listened to the chatter and the excitement of seeing one another again, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is how heaven will be.  It was delightfully noisy and fun!

By now, the world knows the West Indies Mission is no more!  The mission has been divided, with changes going into effect on July 1, 2015.  Here is the latest information on missionary work in the Caribbean, including which countries / islands belong in which mission from among those (highlighted in blue) which used to make up the West Indies Mission:

Barbados Bridgetown Mission  (formerly WIM)

·                Barbados

·                Grenada

·                St. Lucia

·                St. Vincent

·                St. Martin / Sint Maarten

·                French Guiana

·                Guadeloupe

·                Martinique

Trinidad Port of Spain Mission

·                Trinidad / Tobago

·                Guyana

·                Suriname

·                Aruba

·                Bonaire

·                Curacao