December 20 2009

It is fun to see the different traditions for Christmas here in St.
Vincent and in the Caribbean. One of the most interesting is that
they stay up all night if necessary on Christmas Eve and deep clean
and redecorate their homes. They change the covers on the cushions of
their sofas and put up new curtains etc. Sounds crazy to add that to
the Christmas busy but it is tradition here. It will be interesting
to watch as the family that we are spending Christmas morning with
will have been up all night!!

We have had lots of changes in the last week. One of them is that the
mission has made a new zone. We have had the Island zone which
included the islands of St. Vincent, Granada, St. Lucia and St.
Martin. Now St. Vincent and Granada is a zone and St. Lucia and St.
Martin is another zone. We will be hosting the conference here in St.
Vincent and will no longer be going to St. Lucia for zone conferences.
That means that we will be responsible for accommodations, food, and
facilities for the conference. It also has made renewing our visas at
immigration necessary. When we went to St. Lucia, we would get our
passports stamped with a visa stamp which was an automatic renewal of
the passport. Now we will be renewing them here at immigration every
30 days. We have had quite a time meeting all the immigration
requirements this week for 5 of us whose 30 days were up. They have
added more requirements than were required the last time it was
necessary for it to be done. Hopefully we have it down now and will
be able to do it easily.

It has been difficult to get in the mood of Christmas being in a
strange land with different customs and climate. What a difference a
year makes. Last year we were snowed in, just the two of us; family
was finally able to make it for Christmas dinner the next day. This
year the temp. is about 90 degrees, which is a little cooler, with
beautiful flowers and greenery everywhere. But with all the changes,
the reason for the season is the same. We are so grateful for God's
gift of His Son, His Son's gift of His life. We miss our family and
we are so grateful for the updates about what is happening in our
children's and grandchildren's lives. We are grateful for wonderful
friends who bless our lives with their influence and friendship.

Everyday we have new experiences that make it all worth it! We are
so grateful for good health and circumstances that allow us to serve.
We are experiencing growth in our testimonies, our love of the
Caribbean people and especially our love for each other. We have
loved the messages on the Church web-site. Pres. Monson's message
says, "All we have to do is drop the last syllable of the phrase "The
Spirit of Christmas" and it becomes "The Spirit of Christ". We wish
you all a wonderful Christmas.

Much Christmas love,
Elder and Sister Wheeler
Montreal Garden photo.jpg