FW: [Sister Megan Gwilliam] Surprise!!!

FAMILY!!!

Moved got moved to Tuesday instead of Wednesday so I actually am e-mailing today! SURPRISE!!!! Thank you all for your letters this week! I LOVED THEM and love hearing from you so much! Hope you had the very best week and that everyone is happy and healthy! Im keeping you all in my prayers!

This week was great!! So busy and working our very hardest! Fun adventures this week was I went on exchanges! It was a good learning experience but the best is that it made me appreciate Sister Barnes EVEN MORE after! I just love her! Dad - it made me nervous for next transfer when it wont even be an option to stay with her! AH PANIC! But its okay! i know i'll love other missionaries as well I am just so grateful for her and that we have another transfer together!

Besides that this week has been pretty normal - not too much to report. Just a lot of contacting - we are working on finding people that are genuinely wanting to hear about the gospel. Something that we run into a lot are people that will meet with us but it seems like they are trying to convert me to what they believe. Ha silly people... its the other way around! :) Another thing that I got to practice a lot this week was patience. HOLY SMOKES ENGLISH AND AFRICANS TALK SO MUCH! We will be sitting in a teach and I swear they just never stop talking. Oh I know i need to work on being more patient and I realize that it is important to listen but they just dont stop. and then once they finally do I'll say something that will remind them of something else and then it starts all over again... haha oh my. I know its a problem because when I let them keep talking then I get frustrated then the spirit is NOT there and no one benefits so Im working on it! Patience is always a good thing to learn, right?

Something that I have LOVED and have noticed especially the past couple of weeks is the blessing of feeling the Saviors love for others SO STRONGLY. It has been with very specific people as well. Last week Sister Barnes and I went a visited a member of the ward who is in the hospital - for being mentally unstable - we walked in and there was one of the other patients walking around the halls. She was this sweet old lady who I immediately felt this INCREDIBLE amount of love for. Even though she had so many struggles in this life and truly was not all the way there I loved her so much. I could feel how much the savior loved her and felt it was important that I reminded her of that. I talked to her for a minute and it really was just so great. Another time was Last week when Sister Barnes and I were checking out of the grocery store there was lady who was behind us in line. The lady was obviously on some serious drugs. She was very dirty, hair all matted and clothes needed to be washed, she had sores all over her body and she couldn't stop moving. Just pacing back and forth and all jittery. She was in line buyin this tiny thing of food which I am sure was all that she could afford. I feel like just a couple months I would have seen that and wanted to move away but as I saw that sweet lady I just wanted to go and give her a hug. I just felt SO MUCH LOVE FOR HER and knew that if the Savior were there all of her hard times and challenges she had wouldn't have made any difference to him. He would love her and I have no doubt heal her. It has just been incredible for me and I am so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with these glimpses of his love. I am so grateful to be a missionary and have the power to be able to step in his place for a little bit and help people realize his love for them. His love is SO REAL and so powerful. 

So that has probably been the highlight of the week!! I love being a missionary. It is SO HARD. Really so hard and so many long days but I love it. Just becuase of moments like that, I have never been happier and never felt closer to my Savior than I have these past couple of weeks and I am just so grateful to be here. 

I also want you all to know i am a GREEN BEAN AND SALMON EATING MACHINE. A lady this week set a nice big peice of salmon in front of me and I actually LIKED IT!! Oh the miracle of a mission! :)

Dad, I am a push up master! You would be So proud of me!! this morning I did 60! Are you impressed or what?? And update on walking... Sister Barnes and I walked over 20,000!! Oh my goodness it was the worst. We were supposed to be taking a bus that day so we werent supposed to walk very far and it got all messed up - I wore my sparkly flats. The ones with NO SUPPORT WHATSOEVER! Haha! It was great.But yeah! Doing my best to stay healthy and be strong! :)

You asked about transfers! In the mission we all move on the same day - so like for example today all the sisters and elders moving travel and meet at a specific chapel. It is usually The staines chapel. Lunch is served and usually there is a little talk with everyone and then people grab their new companions and leave! We definitely don't ever travel alone! Sister barnes and I thought it was crazy when you said you had to do that!! People who are training actually do a session with President Gubler so trainers and their new missionaries stay over night at the temple accommodations. This is a new thing that President Gubler just started this transfer - sister Barnes was pretty bummed she missed it! How cool would it be to do a session with President Gubler! Hopefully someday I'll train and be able to! :) 

I love you all!! Hope you have the BEST WEEK! Keeping you all in my prayers!! 

Love yoU!

Sister Gwilliam 

I was also going to tell you I have found this week some awesome bruises on my knees! HOW GREAT IS THAT!? Bruises from praying so much! Oh i love being a missionary! :) 

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Posted By Megan to Sister Megan Gwilliam at 9/01/2015 07:42:00 AM

Happy 30th Birthday, Scott!

I love my Family!

I love my Family!

Family!!

How are you all? It sounds like you have had the greatest week with school starting and then having the blessing of having Grandma and Gramps and Scotty there! I love it when they come and visit! Plus getting to spend so much time with family with Andrew coming home! I can't even believe he is already home. It sounds like he is having a hard time getting into the being home thing but when Elder Holland came (Sister Barnes told me this) he reminded all the missionaries that we do not go home to "normal" life! That what we do as missionaries is what should be normal! I know there is an extent to where things are different as there are other distractions but the idea of always focusing on the Savior and doing everything to serve him is what is normal. It is why we are here on earth! So tell him not to loose that focus! :) 

BUT this week has been craziness. I swear every week is crazy in good old London but this one especially! 

At the beginning of the week things were great! We had a lot of solid progressing investigators that were doing GREAT! We taught a lesson on Tuesday to a man named Chris. Christ had actually come up to us (I think it might have just been because it was a Pday and we always look better on Pdays PLUS we smiled at him - because as missionaries we smile at everyone! :) ) BUT anyways we had a lesson with him! It was one of the highlights of my mission though so far because I feel like I really was teaching with the spirit! It was one of those lessons where I don't even remember exactly what I said, things just came to my mind and I just opened my mouth - let the spirit guide the rest! The lesson went COMPLETELY different than we had planned too! OH i just think about it again and love it. We just were able to teach to what he needed, without me panicking to hit the points we had planned on. Chris wasn't as much interested once he realized we were there only to talk to him about church but it was still an incredible experience that I'll remember! I'm working hard to have that happen EVERY lesson! 

Another fun thing from this week is we got another Sister! The spanish speaking sisters we live with are now in a tri! So no longer are we the only 4 sister flat but we are a 5 sister flat! Its a party! I really do love them all! But GUESS WHAT? Grandpa Gwilliam will die, she is strait from NORWAY!! Her name is Sister Fromgren. As soon as I found that out I just got all excited and thought about how I knew how to say "cheese" in her language thanks to grandpa! :) She is great though and its so fun to not be the youngest anymore! Its been fun to see how much I've grown too. I just remember being in her spot - so nervous and feeling a little lost and homesick - and seeing the contrast of only a month! Even a member last night at dinner was telling me how I wasn't a greenie anymore! Even though I definitely am I feel like since being with her I see how much I have grown already - which is always good! Can't wait to see how much I've learned after being here 18 months! :)

This week was also fun because we had a lot of fun Dinner Appointments with Africans in the ward. On wednesday night we had phu phu. I think thats how you would spell it... or Fu Fu? Haha I don't know. But anways, its like SUPER dense mashed potatoes that you dip in this SUPER HOT sauce. Like i'm pretty sure it was strait mashed up peppers and oil. Haha! I feel like I can handle it pretty well but Sister Barnes really struggles with spicy things! It was so funny to watch us both try and get it down. On Friday we went to another African ladies home, Sister Aidoo. We were expecting it to be the same type of thing and when we got there she said she had made spaghetti! We both were excited because spaghetti is a piece of cake but the sauce she put on it was the hottest thing I think I have ever tasted. haha! Africans definitely like their foods spicy! So its been fun! :) We also have had friend plantains and beans. Another African dish. It was interesting... but so fun to try these different things! The culture here is definitely NOT what I expected when I got my call to London South but I LOVE it! :) 

On Thursday things kinda just blew up! All of our progressing investigators called us or texted us saying that they had decided that the church wasn't for them! WHAT THE HECK? We had met with both investigators just days before and had both felt like we had solid lessons with them so it was hard! So in hopes of saving on of them on friday we took one of the investigators to the Temple in hopes that he would be able to feel of the spirit there and realize that he needed the gospel. It ended up being a flop. It was SO FUN to see the temple and be on the grounds but silly Frankie wasn't in the right mindset to feel anything. He keeps telling us that he knows it is true, and I really believe that he does, but he doesn't want to change his lifestyle for the commandments. UHG! So hopefully after some time he will realize that he needs the gospel and to be baptized but right now we are letting both of the investigators think things through and focusing our efforts on finding those who are prepared! :) 

On Sunday I gave my first talk in Sacrament meeting! BLEW them all away! :) It was on " As I have loved you, love one another" and oh my goodness I loved it! I LOVED getting to focus throughout the week on how much the Savior has shown his love for us! I could go on and on and on with all the ways that he has blessed us and loved us by what he did when he was on earth but also what he continues to do everyday. I just love him so much! I LOVE MY SAVIOR! And I am SO grateful to be able to talk to everyone about him everyday. OH I just love this gospel so much and am so grateful to be a missionary! It truly is the greatest blessing! KY be SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! It is the biggest blessing and privilege and honestly SO much fun! Sister Barnes is still the very best and I just love her with all of my heart!

Next weeks is the end of the transfer! CRAZY RIGHT? I've been here a whole transfer! AND crazy fact - this next transfer 28 missionaries are coming into the mission! BOOYA!!!! Our mission is going to see miracles I just know it! But with that our Pday is next wednesday, not monday! So don't cry when you don't see an e-mail from me until wednesday!:) but I have my Ipad and can check e-mails anytime I have WiFi so they can load SOOOO I would LOVE it if you would send some or even pictures throughout the week!! Then I can see them and love them! Sister Barnes and I were finally able to watch kyles wisdom teeth videos this week and oh my goodess. they were so funny. We have watched them multiple times and their saved to my Ipad now so that anytime we are having a rough time we can just watch them! but YES! Please send e-mails and pictures often! :)  

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!! Hope everything is still going great at home! I love you all and keep you in my prayers everyday!!!! 

Keep me updated on everything! 

LOVE YOU!

Sister Gwilliam 

Garden Harvest

I love my little piece of earth, watering, watching it grow and finally gathering the produce.  Our peach tree produced oodles of peaches this year and I bottled 108 bottles of peaches and two batches of peach raspberry jam.  We got our first crop of apples and they were so sweet...especially the honey crisps (Bruce's favorite).   I was so excited to cook my first batch of cauliflower, too.  

Missionary sighting

Missionary sighting

Sister Barnes mother posted this today.  She had friends on vacation in Europe who ran into Sister Gwilliam and Sister Barnes.  So great to see them mid week!

Grandma Day

First Day of School

Lindsey and friends on the way to their first day of Middle School at Draper Park.

Kyle, a big senior, on his way to CCHS!

Book of Mormon - Preach my Gospel Style

As a mission we are reading the Book of Mormon but doing it a way Preach my Gospel suggests and it has been AMAZING!!! It is on page 114 of PMG. You get 4 different highlighers or colored pencils and highlight 1. Any name referring to Christ 2. His attributes 3. His words or what he says 4. Doctrine. President Gubler has asked us to look for 3 questions while we read too - Who am I? Who is He? and As a disciple of Jesus Christ i will! It has been AMAZING!! Honestly changed everything for me about the Book of Mormon. I always believed in it and had a testimony that it was true but after this I have NO DOUBTS. It truly just testifies of Christ and shows how he is a loving, merciful, and kind Savior whose arms are ALWAYS stretched out for us. Oh i just love it! If you can do it as a family! It would be amazing and such a good thing for Ky to do in preparation! 

And sad story - we had zone conference on Thursday - which was AMAZING!!! Oh my goodness, President Gubler is amazing. The whole time I was just blown away with the spirit and felt like I was sitting there in front of President Holland. He was singing and making it so that I was just SO excited to get out there and work. I LOVED it and love getting to know the missionaries in this mission. It is so fun the bond you immediately have! But yes it was incredible so that isn't the sad story, the Sad story is that I GOT MY ipad which was SO GREAT but got back to set it up and it doesn't work. The missionary before didn't clear it properly so I can't get onto it. And so I have to go to the mission office and get another one (which I don't know when will happen). So I'm ipad-less right now which is the SADDEST because I was so excited to get to send pictures and see your e-mails before Mondays so I had more time to write back! But it’s okay! I actually decided Heavenly Father just has a really good sense of Humor. Also, Last Sunday I sat through the LONGEST most PAINFUL ward council ever. Picture 15 big, sweaty Africans (and me and sister Barnes :) ) crammed into a room the size of our Mothers room at our church in Draper and taking 1.5 hours our of our 2 hour meeting to talk about how we need to have effective meetings. I was DYING. Honestly no patience. So I think Heavenly Father just realized I needed to work on Patience and so I'm now patiently waiting to get an ipad that works! :) 

Things here in London are GREAT! WE FINALLY have a teaching pool - this whole teaching pool thing is the greatest! :) - and we have 4 solid investigators progressing towards baptism. Oh I’m just so happy! I feel like I’m finally getting adjusted and just loving this! It was really hard at the beginning and still miss you all so much but I honestly can say I wouldn't want to be home with you! For these 18 months, as much as I do and will miss you all, I am so grateful to be here and doing my best to work my very hardest every single day!!

OH, and with the accents, I feel like I can imitate it really well but definitely not picking up on it. And I’ve decided I’m not because I’m always with Africans here! Which speaking of, you might want to sign me up for a personal trainer now. This whole Dinner appointment thing is great but they feed us SO MUCH! And then expect we want more and I feel pressure to keep eating... lets just say this whole gaining weight on a mission is becoming a little too real. There are nights were I just feel SO FULL but then it all starts over again! I'm just working hard on working out in the mornings to hopefully help all I’m eating! 

I had the chance to go to the Preston Temple 2 times at the MTC, which was AMAZING! And every missionary gets to go through the London at Christmas time. If we have an investigator we get to go to the visitor center - which is where my ipad could be fixed - so hopefully we'll get to go there soon! :) 

In zone conference we talked about being 100% focused on Christ and our missions - not just 95% or 98% like a lot of us are. I remember just thinking how I ONLY have 18 months to be COMPLETELY 100% converted to this and I don't want one single regret with that!

There are so many cute senior couples here (I met the one who live by Grandma and Grandpa Warner!)  I love them! The senior couples are the best SO I promise you, if you and dad are ever serious about it, to take Tyse and let you and dad go!! PROMISE YOU NOW! And honestly take me up on it! YOu and dad would be the BEST missionaries there ever were so you just have to go! Tyse and I will need some good catching up time too after not talking and getting hamburgers together for 18 months anyways! :)

Always remember God has a plan and his plan is SO MUCH better than ours! Something I’ve learned to love being on a mission is when I pray to just talk with heavenly Father! I know we always hear that but really just kneel down and talk with him! Say it how you feel, and say it like you would if you were talking to family or a friend! I PROMISE you he is listening.  Our Heavenly Father is great at answering prayers but I've also learned he is also the BEST listener. Sometime he just listens so we can talk it out! :)

Love you!!

Sister Megs 

WE GOT YOUR POSTER!!! OH MY THANK YOU!!! Sister Barnes and I LOVE IT! Its hung up above our Study table! Thnak you so much! MADE OUR DAYS! 

Tyson had a 24 hour EEG to check the status of his seizures.  He was excited to go on a trip.  We packed his suitcase and once at the hospital, he kept asking for the swimming pool.  He wasn't too excited to have the probes put on.  The techs were all business and finally I asked them to go out and let me work with him.  I showed him what would happen and practiced with them and then had them come back in and he did so much better...especially after I requested they used their retractable tags to be silly.  It was a stretch for them, but worked wonders.  Tyse loved watching shows in bed, playing his ipad and especially ordering room service.  He finally fell asleep for a couple of hours but woke up requesting more food!  After it was all over and we were home, he continued to ask if we could go back and have another sleepover.

While we were at the hospital, Bruce stayed home and hosted Lindsey's 11th birthday party.  They watched part of a movie with treats, made smores, and played night games.  She had a ball!

Liberty Park Shooting

Steph was in town and so we decided to go to Liberty Park to play in the fountains.  As luck would have it, 10 minutes after we arrived it started to sprinkle but it was accompanied by a loud crack of thunder.  The workers immediately closed down the feature and began draining all the water.  The rain continued but the kids were having a ball playing tag.  Steph, Kari and I found cover under the front porch of the museum.  We heard a crack and saw some teenagers running but just assumed it was a firecracker.  Then a boy and his girlfriend came up to the museum saying he had been shot.  We honestly didn't believe them.  They seemed too calm.  He lifted up his shirt and showed us a round mark, but there was no blood.  I looked at Kari who is a nurse and she didn't even take it too seriously.  We really thought it was a joke.  Then he started coughing up blood and we began to think maybe there was some truth to his story.  Steph called 911 and police eventually arrived.  We moved our kids to the fountain and were asked to stay until we could fill out paperwork and speak to the detective.  The ambulance came and the paramedics were not in any rush until they were yelled to come quickly.  Then they rushed him away and we later read that he was in critical condition.  After about an hour we were released with a bunch of nervous children.  Grateful however that our kids had moved out of the area where they had been playing moments before and where the shooting took place.

I pulled this off a press release on line.

Missionary Sighting: Sent From Grandma Warner

Mary and Doug,  look who we met over the cookie platter at zone conference today...look familiar?!

Linda

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Posted By Megan to Sister Megan Gwilliam at 8/13/2015 01:34:00 PM

FW: [Sister Megan Gwilliam] Happy Happy Happy!

I love you ALL!! So very much! I hope everything is going well and you all are healthy and safe and HAPPY!!! 

Missionary work is just absolutely the best thing there ever was. It is so crazy to me how long and hard days can be but that I'm truly the happiest I've ever been. I've decided that 99% of missionary work is the hardest and then 1% is AMAZING. And for some reason that 1% makes EVERYTHING worth it. It truly is such an honor to get to have the opportunity to devote all of my time and energy to the Savior and my Heavenly Father. I have grown so much in the past couple of weeks it just amazes me. I am grateful to have 18 months of growth and see how much better of a person Heavenly Father can make of me than I ever could have.

This week was a week of MIRACLES. So many blessings. The beginning of this week Sister Barnes and I had the blessing of being able to practice patience and humility as EVERYTHING fell through. Its a good thing for planning meetings we have to have backup plans because the first couple of days were full of all of them because all of our lessons fell through, including with members who we had set up appointments with. They were long days full of talking to anyone just hoping we could have a solid appointment and actually get to teach something. BUT just like the scriptures say, it is only AFTER the trail of your faith that great things happen. On Wednesday night we were walking back from an appointment where the person had stood us up again. We had decided we would just go knock in a nearby area when as we were walking a man stopped us and said, " Is that the book of Moroni?" We both decided it was close enough and grabbed him and gave him the lesson of the Restoration right then and there. It ends up he had meet sister missionaries a week before who had given him a Book of Mormon but he had lost it. SO lucky for him we had a couple extra! ;) And HE HAS A BAPTISIMAL DATE FOR THE END OF THIS MONTH! He is just a solid investigator. He loves the Book of Mormon and has already told us that he believes it is true. OH its just amazing! Truly a miracle from Heavenly Father. The next day we went and visited with a family that are members and on our way out we met an elderly ladies who was resting from carrying so many bags. We offered to help her and it ended up with a return appointment as well. She was SO prepared. Already has the strongest belief in God and had heard of the restoration. She thought Joseph Smith had seen aliens and they lead him to money... so we'll have to clear it up for her! BUT she knew the name joseph smith so it was a place to start! :) At church yesterday we also met a young man who had come after a friend had told him about church. He loved the service and wanting to learn more. BINGO! So it was a weekend of MIRACLES. I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father who is in charge of this whole thing. Looking through the week if our plans had actually gone through there would be NO WAY that we would have been at the right places to meet these incredible people. I've learned that even when things seem to be falling apart they really are falling into place. Heavenly Father is at the head of this work and he knows what he is doing! ALWAYS! And Im so grateful for him and his patience with me!

Sister Barnes and I hit our high steps day this week with 17,300! It was a lot of walking... Lots and lots of walking.... 

And Thursday is pretty much like CHRISTMAS because I will be getting my IPAD!! Oh I'm so excited! It makes life easier with e-mails but also mormon messages are SO POWERFUL. They truly change lessons because of their ability to bring the spirit in SO QUICKLY! So I'm super excited to have an ipad to start using those more often. So im super excited! I'll also get my debit card! Whoohoo!! All of the cards from the church that came for the missionaries in my group were stolen... :( So Sister Barnes has been over all my money as well! Which has been great but it will be nice to have it! :)

There is a guy here that Sister Barnes and I run into all the time on the streets! Every time he would yell out "My pretty ladies!" We finally met him the other night and he kept saying how he wants to marry me. I told him that he had to come to church first... so we'll see if that happens! :)

Last night at a DA I was fed Ox Tail.... haha! Oh goodness.... It was an adventure. But I ate my WHOLE plate! And I have to say I prefer ox tail over salmon. Anything over Salmon! :) 

Peckham is craziness. I've mentioned a couple times to Sister Barnes that expect for on P-days, It just feels like I am in any big city. The area I am in reminds me a lot of New York, Or even San Fran. Just people EVERYWHERE and from everywhere. The flat I live in is about 10 minutes away from my good friend Big Ben so we really are just right in the middle of the city. Which is SO fun! Like i said before the culture is SO diverse though. Our ward mission leader was telling us that we just need to work on adjusting to the culture and Sister Barnes and I just laughed because everyone has a different culture and background. I'm not sure it would be possible to adjust to all of them! But we're doing our best to! I was told yesterday at church, that if everyone in the ward spoke their first language - not English :) - there would be 60 different languages spoken! CRAZY! So grateful their worship in English though! :) I would say that 80% of the people here are African. Then 15% are Latino and then 5% white! :) It's a party! The flat I live in is the most expensive in the mission because of the area we are in! It is also the only 4 sister flat! Sister Barnes and I live in it with 2 Hermanas! They are GREAT! One is from Paris - S. Catogni and one is from Portugal - Sis. Cuhna. They are so great and it is so fun to get to laugh and have fun all together at nights! And it is a little bit of a scary area, just with it being in the city but I've never felt threatened. The mission has strict rules - we are supposed to be home by 8:45 until 9/9:30 like other areas to just avoid problems - and other things that keep up safe! I also know that Heavenly Father will protect us so it hasn't been a problem at all! But I'll definitely be smart too and stay out of bad situations! :) 

Sister Barnes and I are DEFINITELY still getting along. I really do just love her so much! Its just like we've been best friends forever. She is great - always has a positive attitude and works her hardest. I can tell that she is tired - Her 16th months mark was on my 1 month mark. So she has been out for a while and a lot of our lunch hour is her napping but she works SO HARD still! Which I am so grateful for!! She has the strongest testimony of Christ and faith that we'll work miracles so It has just been great! And we also have so much fun! We have a whole wall next to our study table full of sticky notes of inside jokes. There have been multiple nights were I have been crying from laughing so hard. So like you said in your letter, I realize how important it is to laugh and I am so grateful she helps with that as well!

And the first week I was here it rained a ton but this week it has been SO WARM! Not really hot but just this like sticky warm. Which is fine until you're sitting in a members house where there is no air conditioning and they live on the top floor and then they decided that you want Hot Chocolate. I'm honestly looking forward to rain a little bit... but its all great! I know it will come and then I'll wish this back so I'm just trying to enjoy it while I can! :) 

Being out here I have seen so many broken families. Just people who not only didn't grow up with the gospel but just without a mom or a dad, or without hardworking parents, or parents who do not treat their children right. Some of these people live in the saddest circumstances and have little of anything and it has just made me realize EVEN MORE how much I love you and mom and how grateful I am for all that you have done for me! Thank you for teaching me the gospel since I was young and raising me in a loving home where Christ was at the center of it. I am just so grateful for it all! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

But I hope you all are doing well! I love you all SO MUCH! Thank you for all of your love and support! You are all in my prayers every single day!!

I am so grateful that families are forever!!! 

Keep me updated on everything!! 

I LOVE YOU!!!!

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Posted By Megan to Sister Megan Gwilliam at 8/10/2015 05:26:00 PM

Just in from Greg...

Our ward friends just ran into Meg!

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Posted By Megan to Sister Megan Gwilliam at 8/09/2015 06:17:00 PM

Lake Powell

We spent another fabulous week at Lake Powell.  Bart's sister Kara and her family, Scott, Rachel and Lydia, and Coons were there.  We had so much fun swimming, eating too much food, playing games, playing on the sand, skiing, wake-boarding and taking in the beauty.  It is one of my favorite places on earth.  I think I love it so much because we are able to just be together without electronics or day to day stresses.  The week ended with a crazy return to shore in a huge downpour.  Kyle and Kegan drove in the motor boat and were drenched...quite an adventure.