October 26, 2015

I love Nassau. I just love it here. Can you tell?

Let me explain something first,
You may be wondering why in Heavens name Sister Tuttle is watching Youtube videos on her mission. It just happens. I mean we go over to someones house and they are watching it or singing it. "I luh God" is a pretty catchy song and plus it's talking about forgiveness and loving God. It is the perfect missionary song. lol. It is the same reason I know Ed Sheeran's song Thinking out Loud and Taylor Swift's song Blank Space. I have never actually heard any of the songs all the way through, but over time I couldn't help but learn them.

Little Dawn. She always cries when we leave. 

Windy beach

Last week was pretty chill. We were able to do quite a bit of service which was really fun. Tuesday morning we went to Bahamas Red Cross and helped unload boxes of food. They have been receiving a lot of donations for the family islands that were hit by the hurricane. I have never seen so many cans of Mackerel or Spaghetti O's in my whole life. On Wednesday we met some tourist from Kentucky at a children's home. We sanded and stained some bed frames and tables.  I fell in love with this 17 year old boy named Brad. He has Autism and has been in the children's home program since he was 3 years old.  I am not going to lie, I neglected a lot of my sanding duties to talk and hang out with Brad. I didn't get any pictures with him, but I am hoping we can go back this week.

Bahamas Red Cross

Tuesday evening Sister Rob and I were doing our regular daily finding. We pulled into an area we had never been before and began the never ending door knocking. We had heard some rumors that there was a rasta camp in area. We started asking people in the neighborhood and they pointed us in the right direction. As we walked down the street we spotted the camp by its Ethiopian flags, painted fence and rasta mowing the front yard. It just so happened that I knew the Rasta mowing the front yard because it just so happens that I know almost every Rasta on this island. We went up and asked him if we could go into the camp. He led us in and even gave us a little tour. We saw their place of worship, a cafeteria area and he even took us to the empress. We talked to the empress for awhile. She pretty much told us that we worship an anti-Christ and all white people are racist. All in all it was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Rasta camp

A few weeks ago when we were going to see a new investigator for the first time we spotted this fattest cat in the front yard. I am telling you this cat is sooo fat. We tried to take a picture of him, but he ran away.  We asked the investigator about the cat and he told us he sees the cat on rare occasions. So we taught the investigator for a few weeks and didn't see the cat again. The investigator wasn't keeping commitments so we decided it was time to drop him. On our last lesson with him you will never guess who came out of the bushes. THE FAT CAT! We took a picture of him and also took it as a sign that it was really time to drop the investigator.

The fat cat

We have an investigator progressing towards baptism for the 8th of November. Which I may or may not even be here for. His name is Celson and he is doing great! We have been meeting him almost everyday at the church and he is taking the lessons well. Maybe I will tell you his story after his baptism.

Celson

Over the past few weeks I have grown to love teaching about the Book of Mormon. We were teaching this cutest little family about the Book of Mormon and my heart was so full. It is just so clear and simple.

Can you believe that I have been in Nassau for 6 months. I have loved my time here! Chances are pretty high for me to be transferred out of here next week. Whatever comes I will be happy.

I hope you all have a fabulous week. I love you all and miss you so much!
Love,
Sister Tuttle
xoxoxo

A few p-days ago. Sister Rob is a photographer

I call this... Missionary on the beach

Look at our hair. 

On the bridge that connects Nassau and Paradise Island. Right side Nassau. Left side PI

Blowing away

In the town

LOOK AT THE LITTLE KITTIES

Note: Don't ever buy patties anywhere besides Jamaica

Dinner with the other sisters' (almost) recent convert Cameron

The people I love

Sonia

October 19, 2015

Trade-offs with Sister Pace

Yesterday Sister Robinson told me that this past week was the hardest of her mission so far. She has been out for 5 months so I guess that is saying something.

I guess it started out with the fact that we have no one to come teaching with us. Do you know how hard it is to see half of your investigators when you don't speak the same language and you don't have a translator?? It is hard. We have been doing a lot of missionary work alone. It is hard and the results are sllloooooowww. On Wednesday we were to have a member come translate a few lessons for us. When it came to the time she wasn't answering her phone and she wasn't even home! UUGGGHHH! I turned to Sister Robinson and told her we were going to the appointment anyways. Yes. Yes. Yes. We taught a whole lesson in creole with no translator. We pretty much just had the investigator read from the restoration pamphlet the whole time, but hey! It is better than nothing. We did it again Sunday night with Augustin. It was actually one of the best lessons we have ever had with him. I was reading Moroni 7:37-48 out of the Creole Book of Mormon and we were all laughing.

Ironing for Sammy

I have this thing that I have never told you people before... Here it is... I don't like to share stories of my own investigators because every time I get excited about someone, they disappear. Anyways, I can share this story because even though I didn't tell you about them, they still disappeared. Sister Rob and I met these two young men named Chandon and Javin while knocking on doors one day. Chandon and Javin are best friends. They remind me of me with my friends back home. Chandon was a golden investigator. He fell in love with the gospel the minute he heard it. He read and understood, he loved the lessons and he loved church. Whenever we would go over to see him he would refer to the church as his own. He would say things like "This is my church". You should have seen this mans face when we gave him the Book of Mormon. He was so serious and he said "I am going to cherish this book". He was pretty much already a member. He was the kind of investigator that every missionary hopes for. Javin wasn't quite as interested, but I didn't really worry about him because I felt like he would eventually follow Chandons example. In my mind they were going to get baptized together and serve missions and have an awesome life as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We had a lesson with them Tuesday evening and everything was normal. We set up another appointment for Thursday, but when the day came they didn't answer their phones.  We stopped by Chandon's house but no one was home. Friday I had trade-offs with the sisters. I went with Sister Pace into their area. Sister Rob tried to see Chandon and Javin with Sister Lynn, but the same thing happened. I guess later in the evening Javin called Sister Rob and told her that he was going back to his old church. A few minutes later Chandon called and said the exact same thing. When I heard the news I was literally heartbroken. It felt the same as when Seaga left for Abacco. Sad. It is just so horrible to love and hope for people. It weighed on my mind for a few days, but I think I am over it.

It rained every day this week. EVERY DAY. Not just a nice little drizzle that cools everything down. It was a down pour every day. Even Sunday. And you know Caribbean people do not leave their houses if the rain is falling. Needless to say there were not many people at church.

Rivers in the streets

We went to Red Cross the other day hoping to offer our serves to the hurricane relief efforts. When we got there they told us they were pretty much done for the day. I think they felt bad that we had made the effort to go all the way down there so they let us count water bottles....

Some one was spreading a rumor about Sister Rob and me. It was horrible and it made me cry. People can be horrible you know. I kept telling Sister Rob that we knew it wasn't true and God knew it wasn't true. It still hurt.

There is this hilarious song you all need to listen to. It is this gospel song called I Luh God. Look it up on youtube and laugh.

This is a new week and I am looking forward to a fresh start. We are going to new places and we are going to meet new people. I am excited.

I hope you all have a good week!
I love you sooo much!
Love,
Sister Tuttle

October 14, 2015

Monday was a holiday in Nassau, so she wrote today!

Chillin in a coconut tree

In the balance

Hand stands on the beach

Free coca cola shirts

Secret beach behind a hunted house...

Every week I write home and I tell my stories. Today I want to tell some other peoples stories, but of course their is some excitement I have to tell you first. 

One night early in the week Sister Rob and I were doing our nightly planning. All of a sudden Sister Rob jumps out of her seat and starts yelling and pointing. I had absolutely no idea what was happening, but I jumped out of my chair and started yelling too. After a good 10 seconds of loud confusion Sister Rob finally tells me that she saw a rat run by. A huge fat rat in our house. We promptly named the rat Winston and the next day we fed him green poison mixed with peanut butter. I prayed often that Winston would eat the poison and die. As a result, Winston died under the bathroom cupboard on October 10th, 2015. My brave companion picked up the rat with her bare hands (lol jk. she had three plastic bags wrapped around her hand).

Can you see the rat in the upper right hand corner.

(I don't see it and that is okay with me!)

Sister Rob getting the rat out.

Last of my stories for the week:
I cried on Thursday which just happened to be my year mark. I didn't cry because it was my year mark though. It is just hard to be a missionary sometimes.

HAPPY YEAR MARK. Wearing the same outfits we went into the MTC in.

Year mark brownies.

Ronale's story:
Ronale was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the early 2000's. He met the missionaries in Miami and was an active member for almost 3 years. Then he fell away. When I say fell away, I mean he was far. Drinking and smoking marijuana became daily activities. After some time and some important events (including the death of his mother) he found himself for the first time in his life in Nassau Bahamas. He got a job working at a grocery store and continued living his wild (if you will) lifestyle. Until one day the missionaries met him at the grocery store (it wasn't me if that was what you were thinking. But it was just a few months ago). To the missionaries he was a potential investigator and they taught him as such. After a few lessons they extending him a baptismal date. Finally the truth came out... RONALE IS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH (which is now why he is nicknamed Ronale the Member). So now I come to Nassau and have the great privilege of working with him. I am telling you this man turned his life right back around.  He hasn't pick up a joint for over 5 months and any kind of alcohol is out of the picture. He is living every aspect of the gospel and he is so happy. Plus he takes care of us missionaries. He fed me and sister Rob conch salad, conch fritters, jerk pork, cake and juice. He is great.

Ronale + food = great 

Camron's story:
First of all Camron is not even my investigator, but I love him all the same. Camron came as a referral from a member. She called me one day and said that she had a good friend on a family island that needed to hear the gospel. She gave me his number and I called him that night. Just from talking to him on the phone I could tell that he was prepared. He had read every possible thing on mormon.org, listened to youth music on lds.org, watched conference talks, and even watched some missionary discussions on youtube. I handed him over to the other sisters because the member was in their area, but luckily I was able to be in a bunch of his first lessons. This is a man that has allowed the gospel to change his life. I mean this man came from prison. He is rough and tough, but also the kindest and most selfless man I have ever met in my life. He was a fisherman on Long Island, which is one of the 5 islands in the Bahamas that was hit the hardest. He lost everything he had so he just left. He came to Nassau and now he has everything. He is able to go to church, he has a job, and he is getting baptized on the 1st of November. He is truly inspiring.

Camron 

Camron and other people from the branch. I love this place and these people

So yes. All is well!
The work really is moving forward in Nassau (WE HAVE TWO PROGRESSING INVESTIGATORS)

Matching with sister Lynn

I hope you all have a fantastic week.
I love you. I love you.
Love,
Sister Tuttle

October 5, 2015

The Ballard's house

Hey beh (typical Bahamian hello),
Sometimes I wonder if when I leave Nassau the excitement will leave too. I will have to get updates from Sister Rob.
The week started with dinner at the Ballard's home. It is always fun to go to their house. It is like a museum because there are so many antiques to look at. Sister Ballard made us enchiladas. Mmmmm. It was a nice change from rice and peas and baked chicken. The banana cake with whipped cream on top wasn't bad either:)
Remember when I first got here and I didn't really like it? Actually I just wanted to go back to Jamaica. Well, it has happened again and this place has stolen my heart.  I love the people. I love the branch. I love the streets (that I just happen to know like the back of my hand). I love the sea. I love it here. I love it. I love it.

A pretty picture

Behind the scenes

We were supposed to have zone meeting over skype on Wednesday, but the elders skype wasn't working. That is the sad part about having a zone all across the sea.  Anyways, they pushed it to this Wednesday which means I don't have to plan district meeting again!! (oh man, don't tell anyone that I am so excited about that...)

Another pretty picture

To be honest, I hate the word hurricane. It makes everyone crazy. Wait let me not say everyone. It only makes people who are not on this island crazy. I am sorry, I really tried to take it more seriously, but it is so hard!!!! We got the news that a hurricane was heading for us around Tuesday evening. We heard that it would hit us Friday afternoon to Saturday. We had our preparations left from the last hurricane warning so we didn't stress too much about it. The sister training leaders from Kingston flew in on Wednesday for the first ever off-island trade-off (can you hear the excitement in my voice??). The trade-off started Thursday morning. The sad part it that we spent the entire morning running around trying to get the check for the landlady. After the check was taken care of we got down to business. We have been struggling lately with getting translators for our creole lessons. We discovered if we bribed this one member with crackers and granola bars she would take some time and come to a few lessons with us. We ended up having a pretty good day. When we got home we got a call from Sister Brown that the STL's flight had been pushed to Sunday because of the hurricane. 

Byee Sister Training Leaders from Kingston

THE HURRICANE DID NOT HIT US AT ALL.  This one was a bigger joke than the last one (at least for the island of Nassau. I have head that a few of the family islands are under water). They skies were gray all day, but we didn't get any rain. Not even a drop. I am really grateful though because we had no problems watching conference.

Speaking of conference, it was lovely. My bff Jaxon calls Conference weekend a missionaries Christmas. Shouldn't it be like that for all of us? Well, I can say my mission has truly helped me appreciate conference for all it's worth.  My favorite was Thomas S. Monson's talk about light. He said, "faith dispels fears". In my journal I drew faith and fear wands dispelling each other. It is hard to describe, I should have taken a picture. The wifi worked smoothly and we didn't have any problems. I am so grateful.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week.
I love you all so much!
Be good and remember.... The Gospel... IT WORKS!!

Sorry for blurry pic. I love Sister Rob!

Love,
Sister Tuttle
xoxox
Nuff love.