Feb. 17, 2010

We have had a great week here in St. Vincent and hope that you are
doing well also. We see, from time to time, the beautiful scenes of
winter with family and friends in them. There is much to be grateful
for no matter where in the world we are.

We spent most of the day last Tuesday with Brendon and Cardian. After
nine days in the hospital, Cardian was more than ready to get home.
We arrived at the hospital about 11 am and thought they would be ready
to leave. They were, but it took the hospital until 4 pm to come up
with a discharge letter. It was another "just now" experience. Their
little angel baby, Athena, is beautiful. We had a Skype conference
with Sister Meezan Adams and Elder Alvarado on Wednesday night. Elder
Alvarado is an Area Seventy and also works for CES. He is planning a
training meeting to our island Feb. 22-24. He also told us that he
has been called to be the mission president for the newly formed
Puerto Rico mission. He is only 38 years old and we have had
delightful times with him. On Thursday, Bailey, who is an
unbelievable 82 year old, was baptized at the beach. It was a very
sweet service with testimonies born by several including Gracie and
Bro Pemberton. Bailey was so tender that words would not come for
him; he has had wonderful times when the spirit has born a powerful
witness to this wonderful man. He does not read. When taught about
the Book of Mormon and invited to pray to know if it was true, he
prayed and then laid down with the Book of Mormon on his chest and
felt a tingling through him that bore witness that the book was true
and from God. Friday morning we all flew to Grenada for zone
conference and enjoyed the missionaries and branch members there. We
have grown to love the Rasmussens who are the senior couple serving
there. Elder Rasmussen has been an FBI agent and is an interesting
person to be around. We spent Friday helping them get set up for
conference and seeing some the sites in Grenada. Our impression of
Grenada is that it is more modern than St. Vincent but dryer, not as
green. The missionaries say that there is a definite pro-American
feeling because of the invasion during the Reagan administration which
saved them from a Cuban take-over. We stayed just down beach from
Rasmussens and the church building. We had a lovely walk on the two
mile long beach early Saturday morning before walking to the church to
start our meetings for the day. President Gamiette's family arrived
about 11 pm on Friday night and will stay for an R & R until Tuesday.
President Gamiette is a gifted teacher and we could listen to him for
a long time. He is wise enough to involve everyone so that we not
only hear but learn the principles he teaches. He ended his
presentation by talking a bit about how busy he is and then expressed
that there is no better way than to just wear it out. We had a great
lunch and then interviews. The branch in Grenada had a baptism at 4
pm and a fireside at 6 pm. The baptism was in their font which is on
the beach just below their church. (There is a story about President
Monson's sister who was teaching at the medical school there and she
let President Monson know about this beautiful building on the beach
that the Church had rented for the branch. She suggested that it be
bought for the Church and after seeing it , he did.) It is a beautiful
site and hopefully we will get pictures on the blog today so you can
see it. We left for the airport immediately after the fireside to
find that Liat was on time and we arrived back in St. Vincent just
before 10 pm. A very busy but wonderfully memorable week.

We are enjoying our extended summer in the beautiful Caribbean. Our
thoughts and prayers are with you daily!

Love and blessings
Elder and Sister Wheeler