June 23, 2015

Good night. Good night.

Let's get into the meat and potatoes (as recent convert, Jerome, would say).

Sister Nelson's month mark

Tuesday was Sister Nelson's month mark. 14 months as a missionary. Can you imagine? I can't, it seems so far. Anyways, Sister Nelson loves instrumental music and she requested a music party in celebration of the big one-four. So we all picked an instrument and we played some hilarious music. If I could send you the video, I would. As for now you can enjoy the just as hilarious photos. One thing about Sister Nelson is she has dreams. These dreams she has, usually come true. She had a dream the night before that the landlady came over and told us we were being to loud. So our music party was interrupted when someone thought they heard the landlady's voice. It actually ended with all of us running in separate directions with our instruments still in hand. Turns out it was a false alarm. Sister Nelson's dream still hasn't come true, but you can bet we are all super quiet every night.

Wednesday we had trade-offs. The sister training leaders are supposed to hold trade-offs with every companionship every 6 weeks. I have been on my mission for seven transfers and this was my second trade-off. Anyways, that is not the point, the point is that I went into the other sisters' area with Sister Medley. It was fun! and much needed. We ended the day by going to the beach for our lunch hour. We stood by the sea and I took in the breeze. It felt like home.

Saturday President Brown and Sister Brown flew in to take care of some business before zone conference on Monday. And that is when the excitement began. Well, to be exact it began Sunday morning. And this is how it goes: President and Sister Brown stayed in a hotel on Paradise Island. First of all I have been to Paradise Island one time (the first week I was in Nassau). Second of all Paradise Island is technically the other sisters area (they don't proselyte there because it is all tourists, and we all know that would make no sense). When President Brown comes to the island he doesn't rent a car so the missionaries just drive him around. He had to go to a meeting at the church early in the morning, but he didn't want Sister Brown to have to come so early with their newish baby. So this plan was created where Sister Wint and Sister Nelson would pick up President Brown and me and Sister Medley would meet them at the church. Sister Nelson was to go with Sister Wint to get the directions. Anyways, long story, short....when Sister Nelson and I went to pick up Sister Brown from the hotel, we got lost. looooost. And it didn't help that Sister Nelson had a dream just days before that she missed the sacrament. STRESS. Well, the story has a good ending. We were able to find our way and we all made it to church on time for the sacrament.

Not many pictures from this week so here is a flash back to Ocho Rios. My favorite boy, Shevaughn. I was so sad to leave him. 

Well, as much as I would have liked the excitement did not end there. Monday was zone conference, and usually all the other off-island missionaries fly to Nassau for the conference. The mission is cutting funds so they only flew in the AP's from Jamaica and the zone leaders from Free Port. So Monday morning it was Sister Wint and Sister Medley's job to pick up President and Sister Brown and bring them to the church. Sister Nelson and I were to pick the elders up from the airport. So we drove to the airport (no we did not get lost). We parked and walked into the arrival section. We confidently sat down and waited. I think we waited for a solid hour. Nothing. Mind you the meeting was supposed to start at 9 and it was around 9:30. We finally asked someone and realized we were waiting in the wrong area. To make matters worse the cell phone had been left home. So we make our way to the next arrival section and sit down to wait a little longer. Eventually we get up and start walking around. All of a sudden I see the elders sitting outside. STRESS. So we grabbed them and took them to the church. As soon as we got to the church I just broke. I felt like a pony tail that had been pulled and pulled until it just snapped. I couldn't help but cry. I hate crying in front of other missionaries. It is seriously the worst, but I just couldn't hold it in. The first break down I have had for the past three months and it had to be at zone conference.

Let's just say I am very grateful the weekend is over. Sunday night I was able to have an interview with President Brown. First thing he says is, "Sister Tuttle, your blog is hilarious!" I guess I can truly say, you never know who will read your stuff on the internet. lol lol. We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. President Brown talked about how Satan paints this picture of God with a whip, when in reality God is only tough with those who do not repent. So in other words REPENT YE, REPENT YE! (Well, he didn't say that, but I thought I would add some commentary). I told him about my lack of desire to learn Creole. He told me that it was OKAY! He told me that this is an English speaking mission and I really do not need to learn the language. In fact, he talked about starting an English class for all the Creole speakers. Also, he wanted me to give a shout out to my parents. Thanks mom and dad for raising me right. I love you.

So, all is well that ends well. Just a note for all you missionary mom's sending their children places with insects... Spay every thing with premethern(???). Just do it.

Also, I received my package. Thanks everyone for the birthday stuff. I love it. I love it. I love it. Mom, I thought for a second that you forgot my card or it got lost and then I found it in the pocket of the skirt. You are a genius.  I love you.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.
Bless. Bless.
Love,
Sister Tuttle

Also here is a shout out to all those dad's out there. Happy (late) father's day. Here is a picture of my cool dad.

June 15, 2015

Good morning!!

I just want to say hey to all my fans out there!
Did I say fans?... I meant friends and family! lol lol lol

The Nassau sisters 

Well, what can I say? It was a rough week. Rough in terms of missionary work and every other aspect you could possibly think of. Okay it wasn't that bad, but let's just say it has been a week of checking days off the calendar. Despite the hard times, the time is still flowing. Three cheers for being half way through June.

So the rough times started with another rainy week. Another rainy week led to more appointments falling through. That's okay though because it allowed for a lot of finding. And lucky for us every time we stepped out of the car to walk and talk to people the rain held up. Our teaching pool has shrunk to the size of a peanut so the time to find was good. So it is rumored that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has over 500 members in Nassau. Less than 100 of them are actually active. That leaves over 400 members of the church lost in Nassau. So one day we were walking in this neighborhood we had never been before. We found ourselves talking to this lady named Brenell. She was sitting in her yard drinking some beer. She starts telling us that she used to be a member of the church about 10 years ago. She told us that she would feed the elders every once and awhile. She even attended early morning seminary! We explained to her that she was still a member and we set up a time to meet with her again.

My faves

A few streets later we ran into this lady named Kelly. She starts telling us that she was a member of our church. She told us that the elders would come by and teach her and her friend. She said they were both baptized in 2012. So we start asking her about the Book of Mormon, she has never heard of it. We asked her about Joseph Smith, She has never heard of him. At this point Sister Nelson and I were both thinking there is no way she was baptized into this church, but then she starts telling us about the church. She knew exactly where it was. She told us about her baptism in a white outfit and being completely immersed. Anyways, Sister Nelson and I were lost so we checked the records. No sign of a Kelly Thompson. It will be interesting to explain to her that she is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I hope Sister Nelson knows how to break it to her...lol lol. Hopefully she will keep meeting with us, then she can really become a member.

Weave Weave Weave

We have three investigators preparing for baptism. All of which are Haitians. They are all super prepared, but they all have something holding them back. Augustine is probably the closest. He would have been baptized before I got here, but the sisters found out that he hadn't told his wife about being baptized. His wife is in Haiti, and apparently Augustine cannot call her until accomplishes something in Nassau. It sounds a bit like a spy mission, but he is covering it up with some story about money. Anyways, he says he it will be taken care of within the next two months. The next is Islande. Islande is so great! The only problem is the fact that she is living with a married man.  It is not really as bad as it seems. The mans wife left him years ago, but they never got a real divorce. The wife now lives in the states and they are having a hard time contacting her. The last is Yvonne. Yvonne has a baptismal date for July 11th. She may or may not be mixed up in some stuff that may or may not give certain grandparents bad dreams. Yvonne is on a slight hold as of right now.

Mango Season!

Well, I will continue pressing onward, will you?
I sure hope so!
I love you all with all my heart!
Have a fabulous week!
Love,
Sister Tuttle

8 month mark frosty. Thanks Wendy's 

Thank you, thank you. It's good to be here

One church out of the 2000 here in Nassau

Service at an investigator's house turns into photo shoot of her twins

Tambrin season!!

Weave

Walking and talking

I am not in Jamaica, so no more bag juice(for now...) In Bahamas, it's called cup

June 8, 2015

Here we are again!

And guess what???

TODAY IS MY 8 MONTH MARK!!!

Do you realize what that means? 10 months left!! That is way less than 11 months.

Teaching in a ballet studio

 So this week has been pretty crazy. It started Monday night. One of the other sister missionaries in the house put braids in my hair for me. It's a love hate relationship with the braids.

The good:

I don't have to brush my hair

I don't even have to wash my hair

My hair is out of my face

The bad:

It weighs about 3 pounds (and if you don't think that is a lot just carry a three pound weight on your head for a few minutes to stimulate the experience)

IT'S TIGHT!

It's always fun taking Camillot teaching with us

Well it was tight. Since I have soft hair the braids don't really hold and now it is frizzy. I don't know how much longer it will last.

It is fun though. I get quite a number of reactions. One girl told me she liked it more than my real hair. Someone else said, "I didn't know white girls put in weave".

Bun head with Sister Wint (Braids make your bun the size of your head)

It has been raining ALL week. I don't know what it is about Nassau, but I guess they have no drainage system. When it rains (even just a little bit) the streets turn to rivers. It makes it really difficult to avoid pot holes.

All the rain made our ceiling fall through

I guess a fear of rain is a Caribbean thing, not specific to Jamaicans. Because of the rain we had quite a few cancelled appointments. At one point we were calling an investigator to see if we could stop by. She tells me over the phone, "don't you know it is rude to come to people's homes when it is raining?" Oh man, we had a good laugh after that one, and it has been the running joke for the rest of the week.

Pretty!

We have this new investigator named Domonique. She has a relationship with God and strong testimony of prayer. When we went back for our second lesson with her she told us she received an answer that the message is true. She loves reading and is already deep into the Book of Mormon! So in other words, things are going great in Nassau.

Taking Sylvia teaching with us

Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting the older lady got up to bare her testimony. She is known for her looooong testimonies which usually involve political opinions. Anyways she goes up there and starts sharing her testimony. She actually has some really good points about the gospel, they are just mixed up with a lot of other information. Towards then end of her testimony she started talking about the positives of social media, especially Facebook. She said, "I don't like to call it Facebook any more, I call it Faith and Baptism". Funny.

I floured Sister Medley for her 1 year mark

The year mark celebration

Well, I love you all!

Have a wonderful week filled with summer fun and adventure!

Love,

Sister Tuttle

P.S. I may be in a very slight depression. News has come my way that Of Monsters and Men will be coming to Utah. Get your tickets now. I want pictures and videos of the entire thing.

xoxoxo

June 1, 2015

Good afternoon!

It was just a yellow kind of day!

To be honest, writing this email today is a real struggle. Nothing really happens except for work, work, work. Which I guess is good because I am on a mission, doing missionary work. Anyways, I will scrape some experiences from the bottom of the barrel.

When members take us out to lunch

I spent last Monday cleaning our house. It was a pretty interesting experience. Explanation: before sisters moved into the house it was a couple missionary house. Man, I don't know how long they lived there or how many sets of missionaries were there, but they racked up a bunch of stuff. Lanterns(the power goes out occasionally), board games, framed photos, books, a chess set, a horse statue, a keyboard, endless pots and pans. Seriously, I never knew there were so many different types of pots and pans. There is so much random stuff and so many places for big huge cockroaches to hide.  So I cleaned it and after I felt much happier (I truly am my mothers daughter). The super cool thing about the apartment is it has hot water. HOT WATER. I took a hot shower for the first time in seven months and it felt so sweet. I had actually forgotten what hot water felt like. The house has air conditioning too. I guess you could say were are pretty dang spoiled out here in Nassau.

flowers

We are teaching quite a few people right now. Most of them are from Haiti and speak creole. The members are super willing to come teaching and translate for us (I guess that is allowed since this is an English speaking mission). There is this one member named Camillot (pronounced Camio), who comes teaching with us pretty frequently.  He is hilarious! He is really short and has this French accent. So he translates for us and every time before we take him home, he buys a daiquiri. MMMMMM. It is most definitely my favorite thing about Nassau so far! There was this one summer I became obsessed with snow cones. I remember mom restricting me to one snow cone a week. I am going to have to do that with daiquiris.

The famous daiquiri!

Since I have been in the Bahamas I have not had any Bahamian food. BUT I have had quite a bit of Haitian food, and I love it. Instead of rice and peas, they make peas and rice. So Haitian meals usually consist of peas and rice and fried chicken and this cabbage stuff called picklie. I like it, but it is WAY spicier than Jamaican food.

The Sister Nelson pose (guess how many times looking at the map has actually helped....once. lol lol lol)

So as for seeing the fun part of Nassau, I have driven past it a few times. The town and touristie area is part of the other sisters area, so we never really go down that side. We drove to paradise Island last week for dinner with some tourists. That was really fun. There is this way we sometimes take to get home which takes us right along the coast, but it is always dark so I haven't really seen the water.

FHE with Jackie and her family

Crying baby

So pretty much all is well! I am learning the area quickly (which makes me feel a lot better about being here). The people are good, the work is good, the food is good, I am good. 

Lots and lots of love,
Sister Tuttle
xoxoxo