I always struggle to get these postings started and then things just come to me....I'm still waiting at this point.....Monday, Dave took the two prospective missionaries to get some immunizations. Leana is now ready to submit and Christian is waiting for his passport still. They both have their temple recommends too. This is another part of the mission that will mean the most to us. Being able to help prepare and send two missionaries out is amazingly joyful!
Tuesday, We had a teaching appointment with Irma that got cancelled so we headed to the mall to hand out Project Truth flyers. I hate to say it but I'm a little hesitant with this endeavor. I'm super excited to organize and then present the meeting but talking to people about it has been a little bit of a challenge for me. I am hindered by the fact that I am white in a dark skinned world. We have been told several times that people think that this is a "white man's" church and so that troubles me. I want these handed out by the members because I think they would respond better and think about it more than if we give it to them. Dave has no problem and invited many passersby with the flyer. I managed to talk to around 7 to his 20. Last week we had put up larger flyers at ATM's and the mall and they had all been removed. The ones at the Bus Stops were still there though. We decided to go to large parking lots and put them on the cars always with a prayer in our hearts that the Lord would help us to be able to reach whoever was searching for the Truth.
Tobago is the nesting place of the leather back turtles. They weigh on average around 800 lbs and are around 5 feet in length. In other words, HUGE! It is the largest of all sea turtles. It doesn't have a bony shell but it's body is covered by a leathery skin and oily flesh. The female turtle comes back to the beach where it was born to lay her eggs. She may have traveled hundreds of miles away but always returns to the same beach. We asked a tour guy to let us know when we could see this event which usually happens late into the night. He called us one night at 11 pm and said "Do you want to see the turtle?" We just happened to have barely crawled in bed so we threw on some clothes and he came and got us and drove us out to the beach. At first we couldn't see anything, it being so dark and the moon was just a sliver and bright lights are not permitted so as not to disturb the mother but soon our eyes got adjusted and we could see that she had dug a three foot deep hole with her back flippers and was dropping eggs into it. They don't have feet or claws like other sea turtles so they can swim better and farther. Keno, the tour guy lifted up her flipper to show us the bright white round turtle eggs she had laid. We didn't count but she can lay up from 80 to 100 eggs. Then she started to bury them with her back flippers. She would scoop some sand and then pack it down on the eggs. After she did that she would use her front flippers to scoop more and more sand on top of the hole. It was fascinating and we felt so reverent watching this amazing thing happen before our eyes. After she finished burying the eggs and packing down the sand, which took her nearly two hours, she slowly dragged herself back into the ocean. The eggs take about 60 days to hatch so we'll have to go back and see if we can see them as they do that. What an unforgettable experience!
Thursday came. It was hard to wait for 7 pm to get here. We went to the church early to set up and then waited. It got to be be 7 and then 7:15 and not a soul was there. At 7:20 here comes Irma and two other people, Irma's neighbor and her 14 year old grand daughter from Trinidad. We were excited to see them and got started right away. We showed two short videos and then talked a little bit. Irma's neighbor, Alison, said "I want to be baptized in March for my birthday" That's quite a ways away but we can work with that. Then she asked for a blessing for her grand daughter and so Dave gave her a back to school Priesthood blessing. The evening was good. Irma said " I don't mean to be negative but these flyers really don't have any incentive on them. There's no party or band or food mentioned" She said people aren't much interested in religion. She will still be inviting others for sure but it may be slow in getting the numbers up. We will keep offering the meeting for the members to have something to share with others and maybe we'll do cookies every once in a while. We are not quitting and will continue to do all that we can to share this message and pray that the members catch the vision and those that are searching will see the flyers.
Our teaching appointment on Saturday didn't show so we drove around to do more exploring. We found a sign for an Adventure Farm and drove to it. We walked through the paths and had a lovely time. We ended up at the beginning and found out we needed to pay, which we did. It claims to be the largest gathering of Hummingbirds in the world. Not sure about the world but we did see "plenty, plenty" of hummingbirds. It was fabulous!
The first picture I enter becomes the title page so this is out of order.
This is the turtle going back to the ocean.
Here she is digging the hole and laying the eggs
The eggs
Here she is back filling the hole with her front flippers
Almost done filling the hole
Moving out to the ocean
We could finally use a flash to see better. She went pretty fast out to sea.
Those are the tour guys and they do a really good job of protecting this event
We went back the next day to see where she buried her eggs
Can you say gorgeous?
We get some jaw dropping sunsets
We have three baby girls due in our branch so in the evening and down time
I have made these dresses.
We found another member home and I loved the scenery
The homes come in all shapes, sizes and on hills and valleys
Found a cool crab on the beach. They run sideways and are super fast!
Showing the size relative to my hand
I cannot resist the water and end up swimming, floating in my clothes. The sea was so calm...
This is the abandoned hotel I wrote about last week. We went back to get pictures
rusty anchor
I bet it was an amazing place in it's day
The beach cove by the hotel
another view
Of course we have more flowers
I love how the plant is growing up the coconut tree
This is a fish pond at the Adventure Farm we discovered
Plenty, plenty fish
candle flowers in the lush garden of the farm
This the beginning of the Adventure farm that we came upon last.
Lots of bird feeders and birds
Sitting here the birds just fly around and there are so many you can't count them.
I would guess at least 50 or so
They are hard to capture though
Weather station at Pigeon Point Beach
