Monday, we got together with Sister Cupid, I know, isn't that a great name? She is a strong member here and she agreed to be our guide for the day. The first adventure was trying to find HER! We had a starting point that we knew and then her directions....people don't know street names here and just go by turn right at the hospital or left at the Masseys. We went as far as we could figure out with her directions and then called her to guide us the rest of the way. We had to go down a very steep hill on a dirt road to find her and her neighbor who was our first stop.
Meet Alicia. She is a single women, you will hear that a lot. Like I said in one of the posts, the congregation at church is made up of single women, a few still with children, with Dave and one young man, the only other males in the room besides the four men on the "stand" We desperately need men to "show up" and assist in building the Kingdom. Back to Alicia.
I asked her to tell us her conversion story and it was very amazing. She saw the missionaries on the street after she had had a message from the Spirit that the "mormons" have the truth. She didn't know what or who "mormon" was but when the missionaries showed her the Book of Mormon she recognized it right away. There were other pretty interesting things too, She is a very spiritual woman. Another message she received was "the goal is to become like Me" which I thought was very powerful. Unfortunately she has not been to church for many years. I asked her why and it seems like it is often a transportation issue. Few people have vehicles and live too far to walk realistically. Of course they could do it and some do but that is the major obstacle for being active here. She really has quite a strong testimony though. We were happy to make her acquaintance and look forward to developing a sweet friendship.
We went back and visited with Sister Henry and she was so happy we had brought Sister Cupid with us! We went to the Ramkissoons, He is a former branch president and now a counselor in the branch Presidency. Darling, wonderful man, we also met his wife and his son.
We went to a few others and they weren't home so we just "pinned" them so we would be able to find them on our own. Then we took Sister Cupid home. We found out she was a retired truck driver. She drove dump trucks and cement trucks and all kinds of trucks. Now she lives alone in a home she built herself and has quite a bit of land that she gardens. Fabulous woman! We were able to "pin" 7 homes.
Tuesday, we got to have Brother and Sister George, the parents of the Branch President, guide us around. We met Pauline. She has one young daughter and a husband who is not a member of the church. Lovely visit. We met Sister Mary. She is a single lady that lives in a pretty rundown wood home, who, we found out will turn 59 on my birthday! What a fun connection to have with her. She is delightful! We went to a few others and just "pinned" them because they weren't at home. We were able to "pin" 5 homes that day. So out of 57 households on the branch roster, we know where 17 of them are! I know that number doesn't add up but we had pinned a few people, like the Georges, LeAnna, and Camille before.
Wednesday, we flew to Trinidad to get all the stuff we left that we couldn't bring back with us when we moved over here, plus a computer monitor, a water filtration system, and some missionary tracts. The wonderful Williams prepared lunch for us and our taxi driver who is on the high council. He was great! That afternoon, the Williams took us to "Pricesmart" which is like Costco and we just walked around and drooled here and there. We haven't seen that much nice stuff for many months. It was fun. We didn't buy much cause our suitcases were already quite full. We went to the Mall that was next to Pricemart and had a delicious pizza dinner and then we were blessed to be able to watch a man play the Steel Pan, which is unique to Trinidad and very amazing. I am so happy we got to do that and can check that off my "must do before we leave" list.
Thursday, we traveled home and unpacked and did some errands. Dave discovered that he could use the Church's Leadership/Clerk Resources (LCR) to mark addresses! Before, he pinned locations in Google maps and he would then use the GPS coordinates to place them on a Garmin map but with this resource it allowed him to pin locations in LDS tools which placed them on a map and connects a link to directions so anyone can find anyone that we are able to locate. He was so excited! One problem was that we still needed GPS coordinates so that meant we had to go back to every home we had pinned prior to pin it in LCR which would then link it to LDS tools. So guess what we did Friday?
Friday we began our re-pinning project, only this time we brought "Come Follow Me" manuals to give to the families. You see, many of these members have not been to Church for months or many years. We really love doing this. Finding people is very fun and exciting! There were a few people not home or a son or grandson there, that we gave the manuals too but we did get to meet a few more wonderful people.
Meet Janet. Another single mother with four grown children who live with her. We fell in love with her immediately! She owns five acres of steep land which she gardens. She has all kinds of trees, Mango, Cashew, Avocado, Cherry, Coconut, Golden Apple, Lemon, Orange. Plus she grows beans, tomatoes, okra and is clearing land to grow more...by herself with the help of her two sons.. Most of the women I meet just amaze me and make me feel very tired with how hard they have to work for their families, day in and day out. Her sons are very wonderful and helpful though. We gave her a manual and talked with her and her son for a while about the gospel and encouraged them to come back to church. Again it's a transportation challenge.
Right now I could stand on a soap box and declare to all of my Utah friends and family that they do not have one valid excuse for not ministering to each other. People here can hardly get themselves to church let alone watch over one another. Which is why there are so many less actives. We were talking with the Georges and they were saying " when the last senior couple was here, or when the missionaries were here, we did this and that" and I asked why did it stop? We are happy to support anything you want to do but we cannot be the foundation of all the activities that go on. We will be planning some linger longers and game nights and hopefully get things on a recurring schedule. We want to teach them to fish rather than giving them a fish which only lasts until we're gone. We'd love to get something going with the YSA as well and even have combined events with the wards in Trinidad.
Saturday, was more re-pinning and meeting a few more members, giving them a "Come Follow Me" manual and inviting them to come back to Church. None of them said "no thanks, or leave us alone" and most said they would try...what is most important is that we invited them to study the gospel in their homes because that is where we learn the best.
Sunday, our 9am Church started at 9:30 but it was so joyful because 2 of the people we visited with came to Church! Mary came and Pauline came with her husband and daughter! So Cool!
We also got to go Sister Shirley's and Dave administered the Sacrament to her.
We feel like we got quite a bit accomplished this week and had some very sweet and joyful moments testifying and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is the darling grandson of Janet.....and darling Dave
This bird is the Southern Lap wing
They are all over the golf course and spook easily
This is a white necked Jacobin, It looks like a hummingbird to me.
I am fascinated by birds and may start a serious study of them when I get home.
It posed very well for this picture but was actually quite a distance away,
and it was as tiny as a hummingbird.
and it was as tiny as a hummingbird.
We stopped by the road to look at a waterfall and these were in the little viewing shack....creepy.
I am not fascinated by bats, although most creatures are interesting in one way or another,
and I do love how Dave's camera can get really close up shots.
This is Sister Cupids home and farm...her home is the farthest one on the left
This is the home of Sister Alicia
This is an avocado blossom on the tree on Sister Janet's farm
avocados ready to pick
This flower is growing along the side of the road.
It looks like those amaryllises we have at Christmas
somehow seeds attached themselves to power line wires and start to grow plants!
More lovely flowers
Some kind of a water plant on our walk around the golf course
The close up....probably from the hyacinth or lupine family...or not...what do I know....
These battlements, if that's what they are called, are found many places on the island.
This one is one of two on the golf course.
This is a HUGE mimosa tree on the grounds of the King George Fort on the coast of
Scarborough, Tobago
Cannon wall of the Fort
View point from the fort. These folks love their brightly color homes.
Engravings on a cactus at the Fort
This is the ferry that transports people to and from Tobago to Trinidad daily
Other fishing implements are a simple plastic soda bottle, a hook and some line.
These boys wind the fishing line around the bottle then throw out the hook with chicken meat bait and it spins off the bottle into the ocean. So ingenuous!
All we had to do was sit down in chairs that were set up in the court area of the mall
and we got an amazing free show!
The drums are molded with different depressions which make different notes
and really beautiful music.
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