Good Morning,

What a marvelous conference!  We started with Saturday session, because this was the first conference in our building, we didn’t realize that we would not be able to see the screen because of the windows and doors letting in so much light. After the first session, while we held the Easter Egg Hunt, the priesthood went and got some brown paper they taped to the windows.  So much better.  We didn’t have very many little children, but we got the teenagers and even the older members involved in the games we played.  And then we had a light lunch.  The second session seem to go very quickly.  The Priesthood session was not so lucky.  The chapel does not have a generator so when the electricity went out for most of the island, they were literally in the dark.  They tried streaming the session on the computer, but with the buffering of every other word it was impossible to understand the messages.  So after about ½ hour everyone went home.

Sunday morning dawned and the electricity went out again.  When we don’t have electricity we don’t have water.  Which made showers and getting ready out of the question for many.  For some that was a reason to stay home and watch it on their computers or phones if that was an option for them.  The power came back on about 20 minutes before 12:00.  We had a potluck between sessions. We had 35 people come out.  So, that was better than the last conference.  We had 5 less actives that are really more active and even a non-member for Sunday.

It has been a holiday week here on St Thomas.  Transfer Day celebrations started on Tuesday.  School has been out and most of the people were off of work.  And then the Easter celebrations started.  It will continue today, with life starting again tomorrow.  It was like December here.  Broken appointments, no show for others.  The traffic was so light, we couldn’t believe where everyone went. Many go off island. We will remember for next year, and be more prepared.  Carnival starts next Sunday with 4 weeks of celebrations.  Don’t know how that will affect our work, with the additional of people, family, and friends coming for the festivities.

We are continuing to work with the group getting ready for temple recommends.  Branch president would like to see a temple excursion this fall.  One sister wants to go in August, we will work toward that goal.

We start our Conversational English class this week. We have passed out lots of invitations, we do not know how many that will involve, but hopefully we will have a big group to start.

We have a daughter and grandson that will be visiting next week.  She is a ward missionary and wants to go with us.  We will see how that all works.

When you are on island this week, let us know how we might serve you.

Carrying on….

Elder and Sister Berger