Like any other Sunday morning we got up and got ready for church...seriously.
I will be the first to admit that I was not at all keen on the idea of attending church while on my vacation. (100 mile rule and all)
I will also be the first to say that church was definitely one of the major highlights for me on our trip.
I can't say anything about the beaches because I never made it to the beach, but here are some pics of the island. It was beautiful...shocker...I know.
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| It was a bit overcast and cloudy when we got off the ship Sunday morning, but still as warm as could be. |
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| By the time we were heading out to sea again the sky was clear and blue. |
We got off the boat and made our way into town to follow the somewhat vague directions we'd found for the church. We had a great walk through the town. Including the siting of an excavator.
If you know Jonah, you know this was a major highlight for him.
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| LOVE THIS FACE! |
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| He really had little patience for posing. He mostly just wanted to get up closer to see it. |
Jonah also made a friend at church and they had a great time beating each other with plastic flowers.
We finally found the church...mostly because we could hear the congregation singing the sacrament hymn. (They had changed their meeting time a week before). Their meeting house was above a pizza place in a yellow building. My camera was not really working this day (pictures are mostly courtesy of Scottie and Steph)
When we walked in with 27 members of our family and about four or five other LDS members from the ship that we didn't know, we at least doubled the size of their congregation...almost tripled.
It was a great meeting. I loved the speakers.
We had only planned to stay for sacrament, but they were so welcoming and friendly that most of us ended up staying for the 2nd hour as well...they have TWO HOUR church!!! No Sunday School....GENIUS!
The woman who was assigned to teach the Relief Society lesson went home sick, although we wondered if she was nervous about the 15 class members as opposed to the five she would have had if we had not stayed.
The Relief Society president ended up teaching the lesson on the fly and it was really one of the best lessons I've had in a long time. I just loved the RS president. She was so funny and humble and knowledgeable. I would love to go back to the ward again sometime. She was from Dominica. Her friendliness was not just a part of her personality, but definitely a part of her island culture.
After church we found a store so that Scottie could buy Jonah some shoes. Apparently his feet were having a serious growth spurt and he had outgrown the two pairs Scott brought, as well as the flip flops that he bought him in Puerto Rico.
We walked through the town a bit and then headed back to the ship to swim in the pool. We didn't really have time to explore the island more or hit a beach...which under any other circumstance would have been completely devastating. But church was such an amazing experience.
We also attempted family photos that evening...
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| crowds gathered to watch this photo being taken. It was slightly embarrassing, but mostly funny. |
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| oh the photography! |
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| the beginnings of Kerri the photo bomber. |
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| Kerri strikes again... |
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| What a good looking family. |
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| ...and again... |
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| ...and again... |
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| ...and again...and this time there is additional bomber who is NOT related to us. The ship's photographer! He was feeling left out since we were not using his services. |
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| my dashing cousin Toph. |
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| Kerri, Brookie, Scottie, Jonah |
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| Lauren, Brooke, Jacque. |
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| Toph, Mandy, Dave, Chan. |
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