We did it 2008 in 2008, actually it was 2012 baptisms!

Hurrah for Israel!

First Baptism on the Mission

Theresa called at 7:15 this morning and asked if her brother James could be baptized today on his birthday. When the missionaries asked who he would like to perform the baptism.
He said his Primary teacher Elder Ross.

The baptismal interview performed on the spot.

Baptism of James-Michael Walters by Elder Ross

Eva, Alicia, Theresa, James-Michael, Anderson, George, John-Mark December 29, 2008

A Different Christmas Experience

We decided to go swimming at our favorite beach at Stone Haven Bay, since this will be a Christmas to remember for its uniqueness. Dad wanted to use his boogie board, since we haven't been to the beach for awhile. Of course, I don't really swim, so I sat on the beach and watched him and worked on my Tobago tan. You can barely see him swimming in the frothy sea. It was rougher than we had seen it and there were cross currents so he only rode a few waves in before deciding to just swim a little. The water is such a beautiful color and we never cease in our enjoyment of watching the waves crash on the rocks.

This is the beach the Gilleland's can walk to from their villa. It is a beautiful long beach. At the far end is where I captured the pictures of the fishermen. There is supposed to be a snorkling spot up against the cliffs. We have yet to check it out on a calm day.





We have been to a baptism in this spot when it was very calm. The baptism would have been hard to execute with the waves smashing on the rocks as they are doing.



We were invited to Christmas dinner by our landlord along with about 8-10 others. It started at 2:00; we left at 4:45 and heard them still going strong at 9:00 pm. The food was wonderful. Angelo is Italian and loves to cook. His son did some of the dinner as well. Sasha runs a pizza place in Bon Accord. We will have to find out the exact location. He made some awesome sour dough bread for the appetizers to be eaten with. One of the cooks from Chao's pizza in Scarborough, which has authentic Italian pizza was also in attendance. We were so full that we didn't eat the rest of the evening, even though we were up late.

Our favorite part of Christmas day was the video conference and the opportunity to talk to everyone. We didn't get to bed until 11:30 pm. ( We are 4 hours later than my mom and 3 hours later than the Utah, Ariz, and Colorado groups and only one hour different than the Virginia Ross's. It made our day to see all of you at once!

Christmas Zone Conference

Zone Conference was December 23. Elder Marshall and Elder Barton flew over Sunday night to Trinidad and we followed Monday afternoon. It was an awesome meeting. Sister Robison does a fantastic job of teaching. The spirit is always so strong in our meetings. We are still hoping for 2008 baptisms for the year 2008. Tobago may contribute one to the goal on Saturday. (We need about 90 more to make it, not counting the ones turned in this week)

Everything is quiet about stakehood in February. We aren't sure if a general authority is coming to create the stake or to be sure we can do it in June. We know Guyana has to wait a year. It is still a definite possibility.

Kevin Steeple is a gifted artist whom we met in Trinidad several months ago at a home evening. He designed and made Miss Venezuela's dress for the Miss Universe pageant this past year. The model in the picture is of one he did a few years ago for a Miss Universe
pageant. He was in the towers on 9-11 then lost his mother not too long after that. He joined the church in 2002. He goes out frequently with the Curepe branch elders.

Mission President Visit

President and his family attended our branch Wednesday night activity on December 17. It was a potluck, most of which was provided by us and the Robisons. Dad made chili that was a hit. He has made it before and will do it again for the President's visit in January. We had a turnout of 28 people, including all the Robison's and the missionaries.



President Robison brought his son and his family to Tobago for a brief vacation. He invited us and the missionaries to go to Argyle Falls with them. It started pouring on our hike in. We waited under a tree for a few minutes and decided we were already wet so we continued on. The elders hiked to the top while the rest of us waited at the bottom and played around in the water. There is a huge pool that had lots of swimmers and cliff jumpers utilizing it.