Were all gonna die!!!

Everybody run!!! Bills gonna take us out!!!

Well... hopefully not, we have 2 Tropical Storms headed our way. The first one Ana is'nt really gonna do anything, only like 35 MPH winds. But Bill is getting bigger, it's not gonna hit us here on provo, but hopefully it wont cause problems for my flight home on friday. It's expected to become a Cat 2 hurricane, but hopefully it will go up to the South Carolina.

Other then that, its pretty mellow around here, everyone has the "island attitude" about it, noone really worries. We went to meeting this morning, and then had a Congregation picnic on the beach afterwords, which was awesome. We played a lot of Soccer and Volleyball. Also I realized just how many kids there are after the picnic, there were over 25 kids under about 10 years old in the water, all from one congergation. And there are a lot of kids from like 14-23.

So tomorrow were just gonna hang out, clean up a little, dont wanna leave the place a mess for Mic and Mel. Only 2 full days left... It's a bitter sweet, but we've had a great time. Dont forget to check out the smugmug and youtube accounts. Thanks guys!

wow....

So, yesterday (friday) we went to North Caicos. We got on the boat a little after 8, and it was about less then a half hour Boat ride over there. Somewhere along to the way someone pointed out a house owned by Bruce Willis, and another house owned by Keith Richards. Once we got there, Dennis, a brother from florida picked us up. He took us to the new KINGDOM HALL which is awesome! It's a funny story about how it got built, the congergation on the island wasnt even an official congergation. And RBC wasnt ready to build then one yet, even though the brothers o the island said they would could do it themselves (they own a construction company). So the brothers coordinated with the C.O. and some brothers from bethel to finance and build all on there own the "North Caicos Community Center" that happened to look just like a kingdom hall!! (what a coincidence!) Then they "Gave" it to the society and it was dedicated!

So we did a couple hours of service in that territory which was just as good as it has been over on Provo. Then we hopped into the truck and went to the caves. The Conch Bar Caves are some pretty extensive caves on North Caicos, but we didnt really go into them very much. After that we went to the Beach, which was the most AMAZING beach I have ever seen in my life! It looked like something out of a SciFi fantasy movie. It had this giant wall/cliff thing right next to the beach that you could relax under. Or you could walk over to the awesome water with waves almost the size of ours in Cali. There was a little sandbar you could walk out onto, and see the whole cost, which had these amazing rolling hills, and then in between these cliffs there were these little coves of beaches, and there was nobody at any of them! After a while there we walked to the top of that cliff, and theres a path that leads to an area where they dug out of the mountain down to one of those coves and we hung out over th

ere for a while. It had to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life... the only thing close to it would be Yosemite, but its close.

So after we had to leave there we were on our way back. We stopped at Flamingo Point, a lookout over this huge swampy area that hosts the largest flock of Flamingos in the Western Hemisphere! Which was pretty awesome. After that we came back home, and then went to the Owens for dinner, where we had that lobster that we cought on sunday. That was Delicious, along with some awesome mashed potatoes and this really good garlic bread. We met a brother and sister from texas who are out visiting as well, and he will be giving the talk on sunday.

I'm sure that theres more, but Honestly yesterday was the coolest day here yet, and I was doing my best to absorb as much of it as possible, but I'm sure ill remember some later! thanks guys.

Check out all of my pictures HERE.

And check out all of my videos HERE

Theres a bunch of videos, So I'll try to keep uploading them, check em out if you get the chance.

It's a new day, lets get going.

Hellllo everybody! Welcome to another day on providenciales. Not much happening today, we went in service. The other guys got up for early morning, but I slept in do to being up till 1 A.M. writing yesterdays blog. But service was very productive today, Robbie started a new study. I placed a Secret to family happiness and James (the local brother with me) placed a Bible Teach book at the same door. Then when we were pumping gas, the guy pumping (all gas stations are full service) asked if we were witnesses and said he wanted to study, out of nowhere, we werent trying to talk to him. But his main language is French, so james took it down and was gonna pass it over.

After service, we got another free meal! This time it was at Richie's house (the new pioneer). His mom maid us fried chicken, some rice, and these awesome rolls of mashed patatoes that were lightly fried. After that we came home and relaxed, Robbie and Josh went kayaking again. Then we had dinner at a sushi place, that apparently has great sushi, but I didnt have any. We had dinner with Micah and Jade Owen, and his brother Lucas and his wife Jessica. They're a really cool couple from Robbies hall that are out visiting.

So thats it, tomorrow (friday) were going to North Caicos, the island just west of us. Its a much smaller congergtion, the one that just got the new hall dedicated. Were gonna go there and do service in the morning, then spend the rest of our time going to the beach and to some caves. Then we have some dinner plans to eat all that lobster we cought on sunday. Sooooo... sorry I dont have any pix today, but for some reason the internet here is giving me nothing but problems, so I'm not gonna upload anything. If you wanna see pix, you can go to www.cheneys.smugmug.com if you havent already, go to vacations, then zachs turk trip. Thanks for reading guys!

Good News!!!

There are 2 new Pioneers in the English Provodensialies Congergation!! Ladania Dice and Richie Bobb were both appointed at meeting tonight! Richie is in the pic of us at lunch at the Strombergs on Tuesday, and Ladania is Bruces wife, shes in the picture at the Tiki Hut last Friday. Both are awesome people in the congregation and will make great additions to the pioneer ranks.

So what else happened today? Went out in service, I spent almost 2 hours at the call I got yesterday. I brought brother Stromberg (the Special Pioneer) and that was awesome. I kind of let him take over once we got there, and just sat there in Aw of how well he knows the scriptures and how Masterfully he could reason on them. That was really a priveladge.

After that, Micah and Jade had all the other Pioneers over for lunch, we had Sloppy Joes!!!

After that me and Robbie came back to the house and went kayaking for a while, which was pretty cool. Then Studied for meeting and got ready. After meeting we had dinner from an awesome place called Sweet T's (I think thats how its spelled, its a shack with no signs or anything, thats just what everyone calls it). All they serve is chicken and fries. The usual is 2$ Chicken 1$ fry, if you want more fry you order 2$ fry, same with chicken, very complicated menu. We ran into 2 groups of witnesses there after meeting, so its basically there Chi Chi's!!

Thats it for today, here is the pic of the meeting schedule, I thought you guys might like that

(click it for a bigger image). Dont forget you can check out the SMUGMUG account for all the pictures. The next few days are gonna be pretty packed, the friends here are really keeping us busy in the ministry and with fun stuff too. So I'll try to make sure to post regularly, but dont be surprised if they start coming a day late. Love ya guys!!

Ill leave you with this thought.... hoagies and grinders... hoagies and grinders.... Navy beans, navy beans navy beans...

Stardate 2009.223

So, another day today in the TCI! It was pretty hot again today, but not to bad. Went out in service again, had one interesting call with a guy who believes in the Rapture. I spent over half an hour there on the first visit, and I'm goin back tomorrow and I suspect I'll be there for a long time. We also went to a girl thats studing, but had her Church lady there.... she basically just wanted to argue with us, definitely wont be going back there.

After service we had lunch at the Strombergs home, they're the Special Pioneer coupl

e on the island. Jason is from San Diego and was in Bethel for 16 years, and his wife Manuela was in Bethel for 12 years. From left to right, it was Josh, Jason's study Rinaldo, Robbie, me, Richie Bobb, and Jason. Rinaldo is from Peru and is giving his first talk next week. Jason and Manuela are in the Spanish Group.

Someone asked for some stats about the congregation's here. The English has about 65 publishers including the spanish. They have 3 elders and 6 or 7 servents (a few of which are in the Spanish group). They have 7 pioneers also, and the Average attendance is a little over 100. The French congregation is bigger, with over 80 publishers and an attendance over like 130 I think. The hall was built in 1996, but hopefully they will be getting a remodel soon.

On North Caicos there is an English congregation, and maybe a few groups, I'm not really sure. But they just got a brand new hall last year, that was funded and built by a brother with a construction company on the island, and it was dedicated just a few weeks ago.

So thats it, someone asked me to post up that info about the congregations, which I'm glad to do! So if anyone has any questions about life here on the island, feel free to leave it as a comment, or drop me an email. It's kinda sad, we only have a week left, but were making the most of it, have a number of meals planned at the friends homes, and there throwing a picnic for us after meeting on Sunday. Thanx for reading guys!

Long Time no Post

So I fell behind on my posts a little bit, so this might be a long one... Saturday we went in service, did some calls, pretty uneventful. After that we had hall cleaning. Pretty much the same as ours, we were there for about 2 hours. I got a good amount of PIX if ya guys wanna check it out. After that we played it kinda easy. We went out for dinner for the very first time, went to a place called the Tiki Hut with Bruce and his wife Ladana (I'm Sure I'm spelling that wrong)

On Sunday we went to the meeting. Then we went out on the Owen's boat again, and went snorkling. I didnt catch anything, but the group cought 8 lobsters and 1 fish. It was pretty cool, hopefully ill catch something next time were out. After that we went over to the Owen's house for dinner, which was awesome. The view from there house is AMAZING. From there patio which faces the north side of the island, you can see from the tip of North Caicos (the island east of us) to the tip of Provo. And the house has these Huge sliding glass doors that open up the whole kitchen/living room to the patio. Then we went downstairs to the entertainment room and played pool and foosball.

So today was our day off, Slept till after 10 which was awesome. Made some breakfast, and now were just kinda hangin out. I got a lot of pix from the Hall cleaning, some of the lobter, and a few other things, so go check it out at smugmug.

Ahoy!!

Ahoy!! I sail! on a boat! even though it was only 12 feet long, lol. Bruce took us out on the

Hobie-Cats. It was really awesome, and after that we went snorkling for about an hour.

We also went out in service for a little over 5 hours this morning. Robbie and Josh went on a call that lasted almost 3 hours, they had to be dragged out! I worked in probably the poorest area on the island. Which was interesting, but we were looking for spanish, so I didnt do much talking.

Also we worked with Durell whose 16 (left) and Job whose 13 (right)

So it was a pretty busy day. We went to the Tiki Hut for dinner. I had Conch which was pretty darn good. Tomorrow we have service, Hall Cleaning, and then more boating and probably fishing for Conch!

So thats it, also, For some of my Car friends out there, check OUT This . Skyline on thie Island!!

And if you wanna know what song I've had stuck in my head all day! Best song ever!

thanx guys, See ya later!

Jamaican Independence Day

Its Jamaican Independence Day! Which really doesnt mea anything... except theres a bunch of people with the Jamaican flag everywhere.

Other then that, kind of a slow day. I got my first 2 calls here today. Both of them were really good and im sure that atleast 1 of them might study.

Thats about it, not a whole lot to report. So I thought I'd try posting this Video I took the other day. I tried posting it before, but I think the sight was having a problem. You should turn the sound down, it was kind of windy. This is the view from just below the pool. Thanx guys!.

Nothing to see here...

So, I'm continuing my streak of a post everyday ( I know there was one this morning, but that was supposed to be yesterdays =P) even though nothing happened today. I slept in while the other guys went in service, so I was trapped here till about 2. Stayed at the house until meeting. Which was good. Yes I know some of you (*cough* Mother!) want pictures of actual people. Ill try to start taking some of those soon. We have hall cleaning on saturday, so I bet I can get good ones then.

So sense I really have nothing to report, I thought I would tell you about another part of living on this island. The Driving...

It really is amazing that this ---->>>

doesnt happen everyday. Its a left side drive area (After all it is a British Territory) which actually isnt so bad. And it has 0 stoplights, but it has a bunch of Round abouts, which I love, they are a great system that keep traffic flowing well, way better then stoplights. So all that would be great, IF the people here werent insane! It probably doesnt help that there are basically 0 police, and the few curropt ones they have would never pull anyone over (but thats a topic for another day). People will pull out in front of you all the time, people walking threw the streets. And the worst are these "gitnese" (I'm sure im spelling that wrong) which are illegal taxi services. When they see someone walking on the side of the road, they will STOP right where they are with no warning. We have also found that there are a lot of people who have no working turn signals or break lights, they just wave out the window...

So thats the update for today, I will have to go into detail about the emergency services here on the island too. And yes I know, thats not really a picture of the island, but I want a picture a day, and thats difficult! lol. Thanx for reading guys. see ya

I Speak Spanish!

Ok so I dont really speak spanish, but I got to go on 3 Spanish studies today(and I'm sure this wont be the last time). Because I was the only brother I had to give all 6 Prayers, and I read a few of the paragraphs, which was Really cool. They were studies of a Special Pioneer sister, her and her husband Jason (an elder in the Spanish group) were assigned here last december. They are a really cool couple.

Other then that, Today was basically the same as all the other days, came back home, had lunch and watched a movie, then went kayaking. I might draw up a map later of where we went kayaking, it was pretty far out.

But I took some more pics of the Kingdom hall! there up on SmugMug so here ya go!

Emancipation Day!!!

Everyone celebrate Emancipation Day!!! Or dont It's up to you. Today was Emancipation Day, In recongnition of when British Parliament Banned Slavery in 1833 (thanks Wikipedia!!) Which really doesnt mean anything other then it gives the locals a reason to drink and a day off work. But it did work out nicely for us because normally no one goes in service on mondays, but they did today. The brother who were house sitting for left us a giant 3 page list of all the calls he has. So we did some of those, which went really well. We also got to see some of the poorer areas of the island. For instance one study we went to lives in one of those cargo trailers he's turned into his house, but he was very nice and his study was great.

After that we went kayaking again, this time we went out to one one of the islands thats probably close to a mile off shore. It was awesome, me and josh were in the double kayake and we had taken a lot of water over the edge, we wer

e kinda worried. But we realized that even though we were so far out, the water was less then 4 feet deep, and we stood up and emptied out the water!! Again, I was dying to take pictures, so if I can get a waterproof camera I will. Finally we went to Bruce's house for dinner, him and his wife cooked Steak, and some fish and lobster he cought yesterday. I dont normally like fish, but this was AWESOME! It was really really good.

Finally, for my picture of the day (im gonna try to get one everyday... we'll see if i can keep coming up with new stuff) I got a night shot. I actually got a number of night shots that are pretty cool, so go check out the smugmug account. Thanx guys, and as I said before, go ahead and join the blog and leave some comments. See ya!

A First for Everything

Yesterday (Sunday) was our first meeting and Robbie and I's first time going out in service here. It was pretty cool, the meeting was pretty normal, except for the fact that it was 180 degrees. They have a bunch of windows they keep open and about a dozen fans running, but theres no A/C in the hall. The brother who gave the talk was from the spanish group (and he wore a Bow Tie!). Theres only 1 English congregation, a Spanish group and a French group, so they have to use alot of the same brothers for Sunday talks. We made plans to join a local brother at 3 for service. For those of you in Simi, the terrirory we did reminded me very much of Ditch Road. Extremely steep driveways, what little pavement there is is really worn and bumpy. For me it was kind of normal, but you have to remember that robbie (who was driving) and josh come from Florida, where the highest point in the whole state is the landfill, everything else is about 6 feet above sea level. So needless to say it was a new driving experience for the 2 of them. We worked for about an hour and a half. Then we came back home, we tried to go kayaking, but I gave up cause it was to windy and choppy. We'll try another day.

Here is a pic of the Kingdom Hall, Ill get more pix of the inside

and put them up on SMUGMUG later.

Snorkeling!!!

So today we went Snorkeling! It was awesome! After we dropped of Steve and his wife at the airport, we went to another brother's house, who has a 33 foot fishing boat. He took us out with some other brothers and we went snorkeling for about 3 hours. Robbie even said that snorkeling wont ever be the same for me, cause this was such a great area, and few other places are as Beautiful. I'm hoping they will let us go out again before we leave. If we do I'll do my best to get a waterproof camera so I can take pix.

In the meantime, for those of you who are

wondering why we havent gone out in service, we took the morning to unpack and stuff. We might go out after meeting tomorrow. If not then, then we'll go tuesday (no one goes out on monday).

Sinse I couldnt get any pictures of the awesome Snorkeling ( I did get some bad video... Maybe ill post it later) I decided the toss up this picture of the Sunset I took while we were BBQing.

Good Morning

So I woke up this morning and the view was Awesome. So I took a little video for you guys.

Also, just a heads up, I'm a bad speller as it is, and have this really tiny little keyboard to use, so dont be surprised if you see a lot of mistakes. And feel free to leave comments guys. See ya