December 27,2009

amily and friends,

We hope that you all had a joyful Christmas with those you love. We
had a very good week here in St. Vincent.

It was a little quieter than usual because everyone was busy with
their preparations for Christmas. We had a wonderful visit with an
inactive sister whom we met right after we arrived and she came a few
times and we haven't seen her lately. She was very receptive to us
most gracious. We hope that she will become more active and we will
continue to visit her. We continue to teach Yinca with Elders, Gilley
and White. When she has read the Book of Mormon the lessons go very
well and when she has not it is very evident that she hasn't done her
part. We also were successful, finally, in getting our passports
renewed. We were able to renew ours until September but we will have
to continue to renew the Elders every 3 months.

Christmas day was very busy. We started by having breakfast at the
Toubierre's and Cupid's for breakfast and celebrating the Cupid's
anniversary. The four Calliaqua missionaries and us were a part of
that celebration. At 10:30 we met the four Kingstown Elders and all
ten of us visited a nursing home and visited with the residents and
sang carols. It was the highlight of the day, to have them join us in
singing the carols and watch their faces light up and the smiles come.
We were invited to Sister Samuel's home for dinner. They live on
the far side of the island and it is a beautiful drive. We stopped
and spent some time on a beach which was a nice rest. Sister Samuel
has been a member for about 25 years and she and her husband retired
to St. Vincent from England 3 years ago. Their home is lovely and the
dinner was five star with china and crystal table setting and the
works. We finished the day at our apartment with all of us and the
Elders making and receiving their phone calls from home. A tender
time for all of us. On December 26 we had a wonderful time talking to
our family on Skype. It was fun to hear about their Christmases and
to see how much our grandchildren have grown since we left five months
ago. We love them all so much and are so grateful for our family. We
have so many blessings!!!

The branch president in Calliaqua has gone to the States to visit his
family for Christmas and will be gone until the end of January. His
wife lives in New York and has been there the last four years. There
are many interesting family arrangements here. A few months ago,
after a baptism at the beach, we met a couple going to the beach who
visited with one of the Elders. It was no coincidence. He had been
baptized in 1994 and had gone to Canada. He had not been active for
years. He has been coming ever since and was ordained an elder a
month ago and is now serving as first counselor in the branch
presidency. He has a lot to learn and is so willing. Elder Wheeler is
in a shadow leadership role and is constantly coaching Bro. Nichols.
It is a sweet opportunity as well as being an adventure. There are a
handful that we know will be at church and will fulfill their
assignments. One Sunday, we started the sacrament and after the bread
had been passed, they uncovered the water to bless it and there was no
water in the sacrament cups. So, everything stopped and they went to
the kitchen to get the water. We have new members who seem to have
strong testimonies until they have to do their part and then we don't
see them anymore. There are so many here who are less active. As
long as the gospel was being brought to them they loved it and then
when it was time for them to come to the gospel, they just quit.
Their tradition is to go to church whenever they want and listen to a
preacher and then go home. The church is new here and they are first
generation Mormons; so lots of change in habits is required. The
focus from our mission president is to have them read from the Book of
Mormon every day. After prayer and meeting with zone leaders he has
increased the requirements for baptism with faith that we will be
baptizing people after they are truly converted and ready to commit to
being truly active.

We love you all and hope that 2010 is especially kind to you!!!

Much love
Elder and Sister Wheeler
Elda and Sista Wheela (they don't say their r's here)
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