"Our Predestined Altitude Is Easily Found In A Christlike Attitude" -Nonregla

Well... today, I am being transferred back to Puerto Rico.

My time in the British Virgin Islands has come to an end, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have served here. I have learned so much. I really feel like I became independent in Tortola.

As I sit here at the airport and think back on my time here, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have been able to serve in the Caribbean. I know Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island, but Puerto Rico is kind of like its own thing. Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, the Lesser Antilles, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas—they all are very similar. But Puerto Rico is very different.

I am humbled by the experience I had and the situations I was able to see. We have it so well in the States. Even Puerto Rico, compared to Tortola, is an insane difference. These people are living in the most humble situations, and they usually have a smile and are so happy every day.

The thing I feel like I learned the most here is how true the gospel is and how much I love this church and the covenants I have and the testimony I was able to gain and strengthen here.

The people in Puerto Rico are mainly just Catholic, and that's because it's always been that way, and they don't really know what they believe. On Tortola, it's very different. The people here do their studies, and if they are in a religion, it's because they know what they believe. It has been a great experience to have been able to work with and help teach these people restored truths of the gospel.

Everything is done with a divine purpose, and I truly have learned to see the Lord's hand in everything. What a blessing it was to teach the gospel in English. I love Spanish, but teaching in your native language has a different feel to it. It's so much more spiritually loaded, in my opinion. Or maybe the people were more prepared. But I have had the most life-changing lesson on the British Virgin Islands; it truly has changed my life.

I'd like to tell you a story of a wish I had where I have seen nothing being impossible for the Lord. About 6 or 7 years ago, I think I was around 14 at the time or 13. I'm not sure, but I think my family took a vacation to the Caribbean. It was my first time out of the country in my life. And we went to the Cayman Islands. Something about that trip has always stood out to me. We had always been a part of the church, but for some reason, whenever my family went on vacations, we never went to church on Sundays. I had been on a few vacations in my life, and for some reason, on Sundays when we were on vacation, we just didn't go. This time around, though, my parents had the impression that we were going to church in the Cayman Islands, so they told us to pack church clothes (our Sunday best). So we did, and I didn't think anything about it.

We got there, and I remember feeling good. I don't remember any huge, marvelous, magnificent vision or anything, but I felt good there. A peace and warmth were in my soul amongst those Caribbean people. I saw the sister missionaries, and they were talking to us. I remember vividly, and I don't know why, but I remember thinking, "If I serve a mission, I want it to be on a Caribbean island like this one." Fast forward a few years, and I put in my mission papers after a long, hard journey to get there. And I remember praying and praying to go to an island. Any island. I didn't care if it was a Pacific island or an island in the Caribbean or what; I just wanted to serve on an island. I felt like my spirit needed to be amongst the islands of the sea. I prayed so much and so hard for that. And then I got my mission call, and it was to Puerto Rico. The Island of Enchantment. It was an island. And this was the time when COVID was slowing down, and the missionaries were just about to serve on Tortola again. And they had just gotten to Puerto Rico not but a few months earlier. When I got my mission call, I had the strongest feelings that Puerto Rico is where I need to be and where I need to serve my mission. I had an undeniable experience reading my mission call. And I read it three times. About a year into my mission, I got a call from our mission president telling me I am going to be transferred to the Islands Zone (meaning one of the islands that are in the district), but he didn't tell me which island I was going to go to. A few days later, after ruling out some options, I got another call, and it went like this: "Hey Elder Tew." "Hey President Skinner, how are you doing?" "Good, I'm sure you want to know which island I am sending you to, right?" "Yeah, I do. I am curious." "I am going to be sending you to Tortola. You will be in charge of the British Virgin Islands with Elder Teuscher. I know you have already served together, but the Lord wants you together again." I got my dream to go to an island, Puerto Rico. But then, I got the news that I was going to be over the Virgin Islands, which was even more of an island like the Cayman Islands because it was small and in English. But then, not just the Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands. And it's crazy because this is the closest I think I could've gotten besides the Cayman Islands to be serving like the Cayman Islands. Overseas British territory. Small island. English, etc. Of all the islands in our mission, I went to the British overseas territory islands in our mission. What are the chances of that? Especially when I already have wished to serve on a Caribbean island like the Cayman Islands.

"For with God, nothing shall be impossible. He is always for us and never against us."

How amazing is that? A small, simple thought: I had to serve on an island, and it happened. And I had no idea it was happening. God was so aware of me that he made that happen because it would be such a small thing but it would mean so much to me. God's plan is a perfect plan. Every single thing happens for a reason, even when we don't know why or how it's happening, and it happens because God wants it to happen. I went through all of the trials and tribulations, good times and joys that led me up to coming here to Tortola. My parents felt prompted to go to church because of the seed it would plant in my heart about the church in the Cayman Islands.

On to Santa Isabel we go to train a new missionary and to lead the Ponce Zone.

If anyone has any advice on training, please let me know.