Roots. Weeds. And Bird Poop.

Cobble stone paths, flags, tevas, sun. Good lil town to be in

Aloha Family a me Friends!

When the mind says no, but the heart says yes so out of the mouth comes a yes....

1. And you decide to take the extra rice from Sister Moss

2. And you decide to take the ice cream and loquat cake when offered even though you just ate a TON of spaghetti

3. And agree to getting picked up really really early Saturday morning to go weed a garden!

Carrots from the Mello-canns

Well as you know it, all good things happen on Saturday mornings and being out and about doing the Lord's work. We had the opportunity to join the sweet Mello-Cann family in caring for their garden. They had tons of carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions. And with all this produce growing and rich soil, comes lots of weeds which accumulate without the constant care that it needs.

To my surprise, the weeds were generally pretty easy to pull but there was just SO much. I was sadden by the large amounts of sweet potatoes that were dried and dead. I found many times the weed in one place had roots extended at least two feet in one direction...what a trickster that guy.

Anyways. The plant is like our faith that we grow and plant in rich soil with the hope that "as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit" (Alma 32:37). But taking care of the plant is not as easy as saying you will do. It takes much care, diligence, and consistency. "A failure to protect and deepen our spiritual roots is an invitation to have them gnawed at by those who seek to destroy our faith in Christ and our belief in His restored Church" (Elder Ian S. Ardern).

A fact of life whether in our spiritual garden or actual garden, is that there will be weeds. There will be different weeds that grow so easily and so easily want to get to gnaw at our roots. They seem innocent at first and at some times appear cute (but also have thorns). They may even be far away but still effect us (those tricksters back at it again). They may even appear to look like the plant we planted. To get these roots out, often times take quality time and care, being careful not to uproot our plant. It won't happen in one hour or even in one day. It may take time. Actually, it will take time. But time spent weeding out what is infectious to your faith is time well spent.

What weeds do you have in your life that need to be taken out? How much time are you willing to sacrifice for your testimony?

Ephesians 3:17 "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love"

Randoms:

1) Carrots are good for you. Because of our service in the garden, the Mello-Canns gave us some giant carrots! Yay! Fun fact : it is illegal to import carrots because there are so many on the island lol

2) Went to St. Georges last week Monday. Prepare for lots of pics to come

3) Had a recent convert finally come to church for the first time since September and it was SO good. After we went on a nature walk with her and her 2 year old son to Blue Hole. Check out pic below.

4) Went knocking and at the end of the street we see this giant hill and rock wall and the Senior Couples home on top! Climbed up the wall and jumped the wall and saved a ton of time. It was fun to be climbing around lol.

5) Had a lesson with our friend Daniel who is preparing for baptism and he took us to this beach where you can see turtles and he said that if he saw a turle he would come to church. And lo and behold we see not one or two but FOUR turtles and yes Daniel came to church :)

6) Keeping it relatively short today so we can go to the aquarium and go fishing today :)

7) OH and i got to hold a baby goat. A big highlight on my Sunday afternoon haha. Pics to come

8) We got pooped on by two birds within 5 minutes. Something good is about to come !

Check ya later.

St. George Town Square. This is the place that was first colonized in 1609

Just for fun

Matchy matchy with Sister Gardner

Historic St. Peters church! He first church built on the island and one of the first in the west or something like that...memory is fading me right now