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Beach Baptism - a dream come true for us

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Last weekend, we had a beautiful, magical baptism at the beach. The Burgos family, who are stalwarts in the Humacao Ward supported Kaisy Castro in her baptism at our private beach here in Naguabo on March 7th, 2020  Saturday. We were blessed to be asked to be involved in this very special evening. It had been cold and even a little rainy earlier in the day, but come evening, we had been praying that the waves would calm. They did and we were blessed with a perfect environment for this baptism. Everyone who came was touched. I was asked to bake my special brownies and afterward we gathered at the pool gazebo for "refrescos". It was especially wonderful to be able to have Ashley, Clayton, and Lucy with us. We put together a quintet with the sister missionaries and they sang, "Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy" and it was perfect. I accompanied them on the uke. It was also fitting lyrics for the beach baptism...  Brightly beams our Father’s Mercy Bright...
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Amad a Otros - Love One Another

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Our ward theme for February was "Amad a Otros" (Love One Another) and we were able to plan a Valentines Dance for the ward. My goal (I am ward activity leader) was to involve investigators or new members. Christie Ortiz, the newest member, was the perfect person to help me. She is organized, creative, detail oriented, and on top of all of that her energy exceeds that of the Energizer Bunny. She was so excited to jump in and help me with the decorations and the "vision" I had for this dance.  Marshmallow Table decorations made by Christie Christie and her friend, Richard We asked Tony, an artist and also a brand new member, to draw and make a tree trunk for our "tree of hearts". We had the primary help make hearts for the tree so that they would be involved too.  Kyle and I have been involved in a weekly dance group with Gely, an investigator, who is dating a member. We asked her to put a group together for a demonstration and te...
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La Conferencia del Estaca - AKA Stake Conference

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Last night and today we had stake conference for the Caguas Stake. We were honored to have Elder Tomas Roman of the Seventy with us. He had attended our ward a few months back and had told Kyle and I that we were here in Puerto Rico for a great reason. So It was pretty amazing to have him with us for the conference. Kyle and I were also in the choir which made it special to be right up with "saved" seats. That is the Best! I found myself singing in my sleep, "Para siempre Dios este con voz" otherwise known as "God be with us 'til we meet again" and it was my favorite. With new member, Jaileen, Sister Baez and Sister Hahne Basket Robbins after Saturday's Session New Member, Tony Hernandez and Kyle We were feed Spiritually by President and Sister Smart, of the San Juan Puerto Rico Mission along with President Morales, President Hernandez, and Elder Ramon. The overall theme of the conference was Christ and His atonement. It was po...
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DOUBLE Baptism Blessings

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  And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Alma 5:26 Tony's baptism 2 - 8- 2020 T his is Tony. We met him about three months ago. One day he saw the missionaries on the street and basically "ran" to track them down. Why? He claims the spirit moved him to and he wanted to change his life. In Tony's life the scars have taken their "toll" ...so to speak, Tony was able to do a complete 180. It was amazing for me to watch the transformation of Tony's heart and spirit.  As he met with the missionaries week after week, as he attended church every Sunday, as he participated with the Saints here in Humacao, and as he got "hooked" on the Book of Mormon videos, I saw a different face, a change of face because of a change of heart. Tony over the course of three months grew more beautiful inside and out. Sheri Dew in...
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Work and Play DO Mix!

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We have been CRAZY busy with the mission work, but we have also taken time to play. The mission president said "don't take a p-day (missionary preparation day),  just take one as the opportunity arises." So.... that is what we do. Things are starting to calm down with all the earthquake trauma, but we took the opportunity to organize a class about emergency preparedness with the saints. Many still don't have emergency bags aka 72 hour kits and food storage. The bishop asked us to help the members learn about "mochilas de emergencia" and it was a successful night with 38 people in attendance, including 10 investigators (double arm pump)! We went to Guayanilla in the south again this week to take some more tents and check on some of our friends. It was amazing how happy they were despite their circumstances. For me it is mind blowing, to sleep/live under a blue tarp, with no running water, no toilet, no electricity with just a bucket of water for a sh...
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Puerto Rico's "SNOW DAY"?

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On Tuesday the 7th of January, 2020, 4:24 a.m. the bed was shaking and I thought Kyle was itching his legs desperately from all the mosquito bites he had encountered the night before. I finally opened my eyes and to my surprise he wasn't in bed. Then he came thorough the bedroom door and said, "Did you feel that?" The condo's generator outside had already kicked on (no help to us) and even though I was surprised, I basically rolled over and went back to sleep. A second one came about 7 a.m. At this point, I was more awake and decided that I better cancel my early classes with VIPkids. Again, not being too concerned, I went back to bed, grateful for the "SNOW DAY" in Puerto Rico and that I could sleep and get some extra rest. Kyle went outside to check for a tsunami and talk to the neighbors who were already packing up to leave. Within hours, our condominium was a ghost town and everyone had left except for about three of us. When I finally got up, I was ...
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