And suddenly...another week gone

Monday, I finished my 61st year on the earth and began my 62nd. These birthdays are tender for me because my dear wonderful mother died at the young age, I can say that now, of only 63. As I get closer to that number I think about how she was and how she lived and how much she loved and was loved and I wonder if she is proud of me and if I have been able to serve and love as she did. I'm hoping the next few years will provide for me more opportunities to be like her.

I was kind of out of sorts on my birthday so we didn't do much celebrating, we sat by the ocean for a while and watched the waves , which is so relaxing and peaceful to me, then we went to dinner.
We got to the restaurant earlier than it opened so we walked a bit around the little town of Buccoo. We walked by a women guard and greeted her. Then we decided to wait in the grounds by the restaurant until it opened. We were just sitting there when this same woman came over to us and asked us what our badges were. (this is what I pray for, to have people ask us what they are) So we shared the message of the restored church and about our Savior. She, Julie, seemed very interested so I asked her if I could go and get some pamphlets for her out of the car and she said "no problem" which means yes. I ran to the car and got a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. We gave them to her as we talked more and invited her to church. She said she would come....We hugged and went in to eat. These sweet moments of sharing the gospel are very exhilarating to me and it was the perfect gift for my birthday!

Tuesday was more car stuff and then we had a lesson with Elizabeth that afternoon. Her mother and brother were both baptized last year but the missionaries felt like Elizabeth needed some more understanding of the gospel before she could be baptized. She is 14 and perhaps has a learning challenge. We taught the lesson but she barely spoke and we are not sure if she understood what we were trying to teach her. We have another lesson tomorrow. Monday the 15th.

Wednesday: Before we got here, sometime in December, there was a flood in the church building. It ruined most of the electrical system for the piano, microphone and sound system, so they would either sing with out music or play it off the phone and it was hard to hear the speakers and prayers. Dave ordered a new power adapter for the piano and it came so we went to see if we could get things working. The piano worked immediately with the new adapter! The next 6 hours were spent with Dave doing whatever it took to get the sound system working. Providently, he had brought his electrical meter with him so he could test the wires and figure out which ones worked and which didn't. We needed to buy a new fitting and electrical cord which we found after having been sent several places with asking people where we could find it. He was thrilled and there was much rejoicing when everything worked as it should! The Stake President for the Trinidad stake also rejoiced that he didn't need to buy a whole new sound system and come to Tobago and install it.

 It had been a long day but it was Leanna's birthday and I wanted to take a treat to her work. We got a yummy doughnut and went to her work just before 7 pm when it closed. She wasn't there, so we left it with a note for them to give it to her tomorrow. As we were pulling into the gate of our condo complex I saw a woman with a small child in her arms. It was Leanna's sister, Dianna, whom we had met before.  It's dark and late and when I recognized her, we stopped and ask if she needed a ride home. She was so grateful! We took her home and on the way we asked her why she thought the branch was dwindling in numbers. She said she could only speak for herself but felt like there wasn't much love and caring from the other members. MINISTERING, people!  We were grateful we got to have a chance to visit with her and find out where she lives. God just works everything out...she was waiting for a taxi that may or may not have gone down that road and we came along at just the right time. Don't you just love that!

Thursday: We picked up Sister Cupid to do some more finding and pinning of members. We drove around and around and around some more and were able to pin 7 member households. We even got some of them home so we could give them a "Come Follow Me" manual and visit with them a bit. All but one said they would come to church....unfortunately...I'm writing this on Sunday and not one of them came...nevertheless, we will soldier on!

 Friday: We chose to have a P day activity. We got tickets to ride a glass bottom boat out to the Buccoo Reef and snorkel, the nylon pool, and no man's island. It was fantastic and incredibly beautiful. This will be one of the things we'll get to share with our kids when they come over.

Saturday: We determined that we needed to go over the entire branch roster, all 103 of them and identify what we had learned about each one and update the records as needed. That took us several hours but it was great  to get done and we feel like we are getting to know the people a little better. A member's son was ill and needed a blessing so we did that and got our other errands done.

Today, Sunday: The President called Dave an hour before church and asked him to conduct and if the speakers didn't show up, would he speak. He said of course. So, He conducted the meeting, played all the hymns on the newly working piano and gave a very lovely talk because the speakers were not there. He would have had to bless the Sacrament also but at 9:15 brother George came with his wife. Such is a Sunday in a little branch.

I think it's been a good productive week.

 This is no man's island. It's a strip of sandy beach that you can only get to by boat

 Flower of the mimosa tree which are all over here. I love trees and have 

been known to hug them....

 Dave doing his magic. He really can fix almost anything

 This is our chapel. We now have music, sound and no termites!

 This is Sister Cupid at her home

 Sister Cupid has a cashew tree. The fruit is sweet and somewhat spongy in texture and you can see the cashew. Only one cashew per fruit, no wonder they are expensive. I managed to open the shell with out a nut cracker and tasted the nut, which are some of my favorites but it was extremely bitter, so I don't know what they do to make them edible.

 Another lovely and interesting tree. The trunk and branches are very large so 

I'm thinking it's a pretty old tree.

 The dock where we get on the glass bottom boat. 

You really could see very well and we saw many different kinds of fish and cool coral.

 This is what the water looks like! Amazing!

 We are standing out in the middle of the Caribbean Sea!  It's called the nylon pool because the water is the color of the nylon line that is used for fishing. 

 Standing in the nylon pool, really it was a little un-nerving to be so far away from the land 

and be standing up in the water.

 Dave standing in the nylon pool

 Dave found this shell

 At the resort they sell crab and dumplings which is a favorite dish in Tobago. We had to try it of course. There is some flat doughy dumplings in a curry sauce with four sets of crab legs that you have to crack open with your teeth to eat the meat. It was messy but pretty delicious. We couldn't break the bigger ones so we had to take it back and have the cook crack them open for us. "Tourists!"

This is the pier at Pigeon Point, a favorite place for weddings