Date
December 12, 2019
Area
St. Lucia
Companion
12 December 2019 Letter from the Boggs
Dear Family and Friends,
Dec 5 Today was the handover ceremony for a Latter Day Saints Charities donation to Comfort Bay. (Latter Day Saints Charities is the humanitarian arm of the church.) Comfort Bay is the nursing home that we volunteer at on Thursdays. I started in the kitchen but now I just join Lorin in visiting with the residents. The charity donated 40 new mattresses, a refrigerator, some tables and medical equipment. As we were standing there, Nurse Prince shared that just that morning, the blood pressure cuff broke and they were unable to take any resident’s blood pressure. (They were down to the one cuff that broke.) The donation includes two new cuffs! She was opening the box as soon as the hand over finished. We agreed that God provides. It is often through others. I was so happy to see this wonderful woman have a care lifted from her. We are so grateful to the Fielden’s and Nish’s (Humanitarian Missionaries) for initiating and completing this project. The people enjoying the new mattresses are people we have grown to love. We have watched the staff in this immaculate home for the elderly. They truly care. Everyone is happy to have the residents have thicker mattresses that will resist soiling.
Later, we went to a non-profit senior citizen day care center where there was another donation of a fridge, sheets, a hair clipper and many sturdy chairs. The elderly had been sitting on flimsy plastic patio type chairs. One of the ladies is 93. Her friend gave a sweet thank you speech. Both events were filmed by local media.
Dec 12 (Thursday) On Monday, we were asked to help the young missionaries by transporting the ones located here to Castries. They planned a sports day and invited us to play too. We played volleyball and basketball- both sports Lorin and I have not played for a long time! It was fun and they were VERY kind. I got the “granny do-over” when I flubbed my first serve. Basketball was great but the sun is strong here and after about 15 minutes of SLOWLY going as hard as I can guarding a very skilled young athlete, I was done! One of the sisters had my camera and took hundreds of pictures so there is evidence we participated. No pain… Just some sunburned noses.
Tuesday, I met with a school vice principal to get her signature on some documents for a donation to their home economics/student welfare program. Whenever I am back in a school environment, I feel at home. We are not sure what we will do after we go back but maybe I will go back to work or at least volunteer in a school. We went back to Castries for another meeting and to pick up two sister missionaries in for a training exchange. They have spent the last two nights at our apartment and will go back to Barbados on Friday.
Lorin is facilitating a self-reliance class called “Life Skills.” It is broken into three sections. Right now, we are in the section that helps one learn skills to get a better job. The first week, the group learned about networking. During a practice activity, one of the young men connected with another participant who knows someone looking to hire… and now he will start an apprenticeship/job in January. It doesn’t always happen like that, but these classes are powerful because the group works together as a cohort. I have grown to love many people here. It is especially tender to see this young man have a chance to learn on the job and be able to feed and care for himself.
There have been some difficult times this week. It is painful to see people I care about hurting or screaming at one another. I was told a friend was sobbing but the person who told me did not understand what she was saying. So, I visited her to give comfort and realized I had walked into a domestic dispute. It was difficult to witness it and I had to leave. My being there made it escalate like gasoline on a fire. Other times, this past week there have been incidences of people sharing personal trials. I value their trust and wish I could make it all better. The reality is I can’t. I can love people and encourage them, but I can’t fix anything. The atonement of Christ can. I can share that.
I try to write about the fun things and the interesting things. The reality is being a senior missionary is hard. Unlike the young sister missionaries, I don’t get propositioned every day, nor am I ever spat upon or called ugly names. People respect age. It is truly missionary WORK. Sometimes, it is difficult. Sometimes it is joyful. I am glad we are here but it has come with a price we did not expect. I hope paying it forward by serving has changed me for the better. Aren’t we all beggars? Aren’t we all reliant on the grace of God?
I hope this finds you well. As we come into Christmas, let’s remember why we celebrate. Lorin and I have not had time or “stuff” to decorate with but that’s not what it is about anyway. Nor is it about the presents. It is about the Savior coming to earth as a humble child so he could lay down his life for us. If you haven’t seen it… Google “The Christ Child” and LDS. The church has put out an 18-minute film (in Aramaic) depicting the birth of Jesus. It is beautiful. (I can’t put links in my letter, or it won’t publish. I did put it on my Facebook a few weeks ago.)
Love, Francie and Lorin