Smith's Situation: FAITH & FOG

Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the twenty-one miles of water lying between Catalina Island and the southern California coast. The temperature of the water was forty-eight degrees, and a heavy fog lay over the sea.

When she was only half a mile or so from her objective, she became discouraged and decided to quit. Her father, who was in the boat nearby, tried to encourage her by pointing through the fog and telling her that land and success were near at hand. But she was discouraged, and a discouraged person is always a weak person.

Sisters Grigg and Smith

The next day Miss Chadwick was interviewed by some newspapermen. They knew that she had swum greater distances on previous occasions, and they wanted to know the reason for her present failure. In answering their questions, Miss Chadwick said, no, it wasn't the cold water and it wasn't the distance. She said, "I was licked by the fog."

And then she recalled that on the occasion when she swam the English Channel, she had had a similar experience. When only a short way from shore she had given up, and this time also, her father had pointed ahead, and she had raised herself out of the water just long enough to get the picture of her objective firmly fixed in her mind. This gave her a great new surge of strength, and she never stopped again until she felt under her feet the firm earth of victory.

Elders Hill and Smith

How many times in life do we become discouraged and give up or not know what to do because our focus is fogged? At times we may seem to be suffocating with problems or tragedies that confront us. If we have our goal firmly established and great faith in God, we can see our way through the fog and over the hurdles we face. It would be devastating to need great faith and not be able to find it. How many of us do not give God a second thought, not disbelieving in Him, but not caring?....then when the crucial moments in life come, when we need that great faith, it's no where to be found.

Elders Wilson, Loewen, Hill, Smith, Ramdhanie, Strong

We cannot simply snap our fingers and get great faith in God any more than we can snap our fingers and become a great musician or swimmer. Our trials through the fog are what make us great swimmers, great musicians or people with great faith in God.

A great waste in this world is that so many of us live far below the level of our possibilities. We worry that our life may come to an end, when the tragedy is that so many lives never had a beginning. If we lost all of our material possessions, we may have reason to be depressed, but how poor we would be if we lost our faith in God!

Sisters Smith and Grigg

If we sometimes feel that the water is a little too cold and the way is a little too foggy, then it's time to look up and have faith, for there is land ahead!!! "All things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23).

May God bless our faith.

Elder Loewen

This week, on P-Day, we took the Zone on a hike through the rain forest to Mount Qua Qua. Four of us had been there previously, with a different Zone, but we decided to do it again with our new group. It was a great day. Not quite as muddy as last time.

Sister Grigg, Elder Wilson

Elder Ramdhanie

Elders Hill, Smith, Wilson, Loewen, Sisters Smith, Smith, Grigg, Elders Ramdhanie, Strong

Elders Smith, Hill, Ramdhanie, Wilson, Loewen, Strong, Sisters Grigg, Smith.
This lake is the crater of a volcano

The monkies of the Grand Etang found Elders Smith and Loewen! AT LAST!!!!!!

Elders Loewen and Smith with Brother James. They have been teaching Connie.

Sister Aitiria spent 3 days in Grenada with Sisters Smith and Grigg. She is from the little island of Kiribus.

Sister Alisha George spent a day with Sister Smith learning how to make items from clay to sell at a local craft show. She is trying to earn money to go to the temple in Santo Domingo.

Members from our Gouyave church "Group" are practicing a musical number for CELEBRATION 2015, commemorating 25 years since the West Indies Mission was formed.

Front: Alisha, Abigale, Ronald, Sis Morris, Jenny, Sis. Ross Back: Jean, Alwin, Rondey

Ryan really wants to learn to play the violin for Celebration 2015......

.....and so does Jemin! We'll see how that goes.....

Elder Strong can play the guitar and Ukelele, so strumming the violin wasn't a stretch for him. He's a natural!

Family Fun Night activities

Elder and Sister (Joe and Nettie) Linton came to Grenada for most of this week. Elder Linton is a Patriarch and gave many blessings to local church members while they were here. What a wonderful week it has been with them!!! They formerly had lived in our same neighborhood in Highland, Utah.