Baptisms and Dancing!

Dear families and friends,

Aside from being very hot, we are sure having a lot of fun activities here.  One that is not as fun, however, is the water shortage--we still have some, but really have to conserve--when tourists come in the summer, they use so much water, not realizing what that does to the residents' supply. 

Back to the fun:  A side effect of the water shortage is not having enough water in both chapels to have weekly baptisms (fill the font), so we have all the baptisms for the week at the other chapel.

Baptism of a special friend.

Last week when the water level was somewhat low in the font, the baptizer had to lean way over to get the person under the water.  For two weeks now, we have all gone to the other chapel via a hired "bus"--last week it was a pick-up truck with seats in the back for the men, and the women rode inside.

"Bus" to the baptisms.

Yesterday we had a station wagon type van in which everyone could be inside.  As we rode through the city both weeks, we saw the lineup of taxis with honking horns and flashing lights meaning a wedding had just taken place (we wrote about that in April).

At Outreach on Friday night, the Young Adults put on a 60's dance!  Fun, fun!  Many of them, boys and girls, came in costume, and danced to some Elvis Presley music and Brazilian rock n roll.  We had a big turnout, as usual for dances. They downloaded the music from the Internet.

Today for church we were the speakers at the other chapel, and also the pianist and chorister.  It was lucky that our assignment was today, because we had visited the sister of our favorite missionary elder on Friday, and invited her to church.  She came!  The elders are teaching her.

Our prison class for the men in Gospel Principles is going very well.  One of them asked for a copy of the Gospel Principles book, and several asked for copies of the Book of Mormon, both of which we gladly supplied, and they are so willing to read aloud in class and even to pray in class. We will be getting more copies of the Book of Mormon to give out next week (the box of them had been sent from the mission home, supposedly here, but were accidentally diverted to another island).  The men's interest in the gospel is a real spiritual uplift for us each week. 

If we remember correctly, this is the week that Matt returns from his summer trip.  Is it really almost time for school to begin??  Good luck to Matt and Davy in their school beginnings.

Love and prayers always,
Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister