Getting legal and Staying legal

Waiting in line out in front of the Sous Prefect

Showing your passport at the front door and getting past the "Bouncer"

the Bouncer up close

One of the most pressing tasks for us here in Guadeloupe is to help the French missionaries stay legal.  The couple before us left us a small notebook full of instructions.  I must have read them a dozen times trying to get my head around the details.  After each reading, I would feel this impending sense of doom that we were gonna' mess this all up for our Elders and for the President.  I tried to get a sense of who was legal and who was not.  My regard for Elders from European Union countries took a leap upward when I learned that they were legal for all of their missions - no hoops through which we must jump for them.  I made lists and spreadsheets....I dreaded each visit to the legal offices.

When a missionary comes to a French country, he has a visa.  When he arrives in that country, he must register with the Office of French Immigration and Integration (affectionately known as OFII - oh- fee) within 90 days of his arrival with some papers that he brought from Salt Lake City that he has no idea he even had with him - he is handed a large envelope of papers and told not to lose them on his way to the airport.  I now know what those papers are and how they fit into the legal processes, but like the Elders, I brought that packet with no idea what they were for.  After he reports to OFII, he waits to hear from OFII.  They send him a letter with instructions to go and get an XRay....no big deal except for newbies like us who had to go into Point a Pitre days ahead of the appointment and FIND the place for the xray so that we wouldn't be late and miss this moment in the process.  Within weeks, or months, the Elder gets another letter telling him to go to some other location for a Doctor's appointment.  This too must be found and when one finds it, one is surprised that THIS is a doctor's office, sandwiched into some crazy part of town between a pizza place and a dress store.  The Doctor visit will have to wait for a face to face visit someday, but suffice it to say it makes me laugh very hard right now just thinking about the whole thing!  Weeks or even months later the missionary receives another letter inviting him to come in with his papers to receive what is called a vignette that gets put in his passport and he is legal until his visa expires which is usually going to happen in 6-8 months from the day he gets the vignette.  We are getting better and better at this process, but there have been some glitches and we are learning.

The pictures above are part of the second legalisation process.  Two months before the visa expires, the missionary goes to a place called the Sous Prefecture.  This too is in downtown Point a Pitre, right down by the ocean.  One lines up at about 6 a.m. and waits with anywhere from 50 to 100 people for the doors to open at 8 a.m.  The first day at the prefecture I felt like a helpless bug ready to be squashed by the much bigger and more powerful bugs.  The man in the pictures above is the Security Guy at the Prefecture.  I call him the bouncer.  He is gruff and yells and I found him pretty intimidating.  He wears a uniform and when Rich first met him, he complimented him on his tie and asked him where he could buy one like it!  The guy just roared and said in French to all the people in the waiting room (Picture oooooolllllddd government building jammed packed with people), hey, this guy wants to buy a tie like mine.  They all smiled. His tie is an official tie that government guys were who work in security. From then on, he loves Rich.  Whenever he sees us in line, he calls us to the front and lets us go in.  Leave it to Rich to make friends with his calm, kind, gentle manner!!!

Anyway, I have to admit, we are getting pretty good at this.  It takes hours of waiting, but we now do pretty well at having everything we need in the missionary's folder.  We have been caught off guard a couple of times when they ask for something we KNOW is not needed, but that they insist is needed.  Oh, that is tough on me....so much time goes into prepping for the big day....we wait in line for hours and then wait in the waiting room for hours and then are told no.....hold back the tears!!!  But recently, we have done quite well!

I will say, that the immigration process has been very good to us.  We have lots of immigration issues throughout the mission on the other islands and in the other countries, and the French side is the most consistent and the most friendly.

Anyway, it is a big part of our life !

The Young Adults and Marie Gallante

President Otto asked us to join the Young Adults for an overnight at a hotel on a small island off the coast of Guadeloupe.  We were to deliver a fireside on the Law of Chastity.  There are quite a few young adults, but because this was not as well advertised as it could have been only 13 came.  We had a great fireside with them on the evening of our arrival.  The Lord blessed us abundantly in our preparation and the young adults were wonderful participants.  Really, it ended up being single adults, some older than 30 that came along. 

As you can see, Marie Gallante is a little jewel in the Caribbean.  The morning at the beach, I just wanted to jump into the ocean and swim!  Many of the participants did! 

The picture above is of the group after their early morning scripture study.  As we took the picture at the palm trees, I thought, as I looked at this group...these really are elect young people who have heard the word of God and have believed and have made it the center of their lives.  My love and admiration for them knows no bounds!

Baptisms

Nancy and her son Kylian were baptized in June.  We taught Nancy with the missionaries when we first came to Guadeloupe.  She is a great woman who really studied the gospel and kept her commitments.  She is not in our branch, but her branch has become like family to her.  When she bore her testimony after her baptism, she gave thanks for the family she had found in the Church and for the Heavenly Father that her son had found!  It was a very happy day!

Marie is the darling little girl in white.  Her mom is right behind her to her left in the black.  If you look look to Marie's left, you will see her little friend - they are so adorable...they are holding hands.  Marie's mother is a mid-wife which is a very good profession here.  She is a single mother and I met her very early on in my mission   She is lovely in every way and Marie is a very serious and smart and darling little 10 year old who waited until she was ready for baptism.  Her mother was baptized about 9 months ago.  This was a dear and happy day for all of us.

Oh who I love these people....far right are three great missionaries...Elder Bastien, Elder Barney (both Zone leaders) - we need to help Elder Barney not to give the crazy signs that Elders tend to give in pics...To my left (your right) is one of the strongest sisters in our District, Ketty Constant.  She served a mission at Temple Square and she and her husband speak good English.  The woman just above Marie is a woman who is a true SAINT - Sophie Prince.  Oh these are great people!

Marie and one of the little boys in her branch....in the background, Ketty Constant in the blue and Christelle Bouchaut who is a strong young adult in our branch.  Love her.  Another person who was so loving and gracious to me when I first arrived!

Okay....the front row is full of missionaries!
L to R: E. Cox, E. Pavia, E. Heiata, E. Makanani, E. Vivish, E. Suard (reminds me of the Delong boys, E. Shepherd - we love them one and all.  Juehl is the young man that was baptized.  He is a great young adult.  He is the one in the short sleeved white shirt in the back.  This was the first baptism in the Capesterre branch in over a year so we were thrilled!

Our first baptism in the river.  It was serene and beautiful.

Nancy and Kylian and their missionaries - Elder Bastien and Elder Tolman

The baptism in the river - Odette who is Nancy's Aunt.

Kylian bore his testimony at his Baptism.  We took a picture of him after the meeting so we could remember this happy day.

Paradise

These grow wild everywhere - gorgeous pink flowers

Rich and I try to walk each day.  These are some of the sights...One day we took a 3 and 1/2 hour walk.  We walked home from Jarry where our car was being fixed.  Several people stopped and asked if we needed help.  No one walks in the heat of the day...We did....and we lived to tell the story...we now call it the Death March.

This is a common site.  These public utilities sheds are paited these
bright colors and the beauty of it is that no one puts graffiti on them.
Convenance is the name of a small sector of a larger city in Guadeloupe

This is one of the prettiest house we see on our walk!

Priesthood Commemoration

May 17th was a school and work holiday - The District wanted to celebrate the Priesthood Commemoration with an all day event on a piece of property that the Church has purchased for a future chapel - The missionaries and some of our stalwart branch leaders had taken days to "tame the jungle", and I do mean jungle.  This property was very, very overgrown.  Machetes are the tool of choice, but Rich added some zest to the work with a new chain saw! The oceanview from this property is breathtaking! 

Rich is in the District Presidency and he was in charge of this event...that meant that the two of us planned a bunch of events for the day.  This is where our Wood Badge training really came in handy.  We put the men and the young men on teams together.  Each team had 6 members! A missionary was the guide of each team.  They had flags and team names like The Sons of Thunder, The Sons of Mosiah, The Stripling Warriors and each had a team hymn (these people absolutely love the hymns - they sing an opening and closing hymn at every meeting!!!)

When they had formed their teams, they each picked a rock from a pile and inscribed their name on it.  The rock stayed with them all day.  At the end of each team activity each one held their rock in the air and they sang their hymn.  The rock was to represent some sacrifice they wanted to make in their life in order to more fully consecrate themselves to the Lord.  At the end of the day, President Otto spoke and talked about sacrifice and consecration and then each young man and adult put theirrock in the pile which represented an altar of sacrifice.

Throughout the day, we had many activities for each team - they went out together to share a missionary pamplet.  Many came back with stories of service given.  They memorized D&C 13.  The reviewed the story from the Pearl of Great Price about the Restoration of the Priesthood.  They did stick pull, trolley, wiggle woggle, rock paper scissors football, the BLOB tag....We had a great big Caribbean lunch and then....

The district men and boys had a tug o war with all the elders (there are some strong Tahitians in the group). Just as the men and boys from the district began to pull the missionaries over the line, the rope (about 2 inches thick) broke.  It was a perfect ending to a very fun day.  I thought some of the men would never stop laughing.  They kept reviewing a video that they had taken! 

The missionaries and the faithful men of the Capesterre Branch-
the clean up crew - tamers of the mighty jungle and
harvesters of the great mango tree on the property

The View!

Elder Bennion

Stick Pull - An Elder and one of the Branch Mission Leaders

Trolley when you have two boards and everyone has to walk
together.  Oh how I loved watching these guys succeed!!!

President Otto is in the center in the red shirt.  He is a great leader.
We love and admire him!

Rasie those rocks high and sing that hymn!

Elder Hansen on the left with two of our great young men.

Joseph Jomie - 15 years old - a Teacher in our Branch - great young
man - loves to bicycle - tour de france kind of bicycling!

Elder Tehoiri (Tay - oh - eetee) one of our Tahitian Elders is an
artist and had the assignment at the PH Commemoration to
paint the shed - he really is talented!

Flags - seemed a small thing, but it really was a fun part
of each group!

Okay....here are two favorites - President Eclar on the left and
Elder Bastien on the right.  President Eclar is full of life and
enthusiasm and speaks faster than anyone I know.  He can speak
English, but before he knows it, he is in full French and moving
like a speading train.  Elder Bastien is the Lion Hearted
Zone Leader here in Guadeloupe!

The Tug o War

As we drove home at the end of a very happy, but very hot and long
day, we saw this fabulous rainbow that "touched" the ocean.
It was a great ending for a great day!

Rich and I are getting old and we were WIPED OUT at the end of the day, but we were happy with the event especially for the young men who had a grand time - the elders were fabulous team leaders and the young men got to see some great examples from them.

Frere Abenzoar - One of the most hard working
faithful keepers of the property. We would have never been

ready without him!

Jarry



Oh that I could capture the craziness of this part of Guadeloupe, but I hope you can see all the signs that line
each narrow road that is jammed with amazingly courteous drivers.



Another view of Jarry and its feeling of chaos.  Most folks here can find their way around with no problem.  For newbies
like us this is sheer terror on the first foray!  But to show how far we have come, we both like Jarry now and realize it
has a whole host of hidden treasures!