Tales of Trinidad: Early "Thanksgiving"

We had a good week. Tuesday we flew to Trinidad to set up the new apartment for the Elders in Point Fortin. We had a good bishop of another ward bring his truck and with 4 other strong Elders we were able to load it with the fridge, washer and dryer, range, bunk bed, mattresses, two desks and various other boxes of stuff. We drove the 2 hours to Point Fortin and the Elders unloaded the truck moving everything up two flights of stairs. We treated these great Elders to lunch at Subways and they left for their district meeting which they were so kind to rearrange to help us move. We decided we were done for the day since we had all day tomorrow to shop for, buy and set up the other things we needed for the apartment. We wanted to stay in Point Fortin so we didn't have to do the drive. We found a lovely hotel high on the mountains only a few minutes away from the apartment. We had a good rest. The next morning we took a swim in the lovely swimming pool and then went into town to look for a wardrobe and other things for the apartment. We got all the things and went and set them up. We tried to get the water filtration system set up but we didn't have the right connections for the faucet. Dave has ordered those and we'll have to give them to the Elders to install. I wanted to have everything set up for them, like all the dishes in the cupboard etc. but the water hadn't been turned on yet so the Elders will have to do that when they move in. It was a busy couple of days but we accomplished a lot and feel good about our efforts. Since we got everything done that we wanted to. we managed to get a flight later that night on stand by rather than having to wait and leave the next day,

Here in Tobago, we live in the lower floor of a three story condo. The owners of the upper floors are remodeling their condo. All of the tile floors are being replaced so they need to be removed and they are removing them with a jack hammer.....do I need to say more? It's been a little unpleasant to have that noise going on all day long. We can't hear when we talk on the phone even when we are outside etc. We told the owner that it was more than we could bear and he arranged for us to stay in another condo during the day so we could do our office work etc. It's been going on for a couple weeks now but this week we got to go to the other condo and that has been really good.

Friday, was our movie night activity. We were showing the "Princess Bride" We had announced it in church and I messaged, texted and whatzuped every one I could to remind and invite them to come......there were two people that came to the movie night....Dave and me.....but, In response to the invite, we got invited by Jessie's Mom, Nadine to come to their "Thanksgiving" We were touched with the invite which included a service and lunch. Jessie is the young man that was baptized in Trinidad and he has had lots of questions and his mom met us at the immigration office. We would go out and chat about the gospel but they don't come to church. It was really a kind invitation from them.

The feelings we have been struggling with on this mission are getting rid of the phrase "success" or what could appear to be considered success and look at things from a value point of view. We could continue to get discouraged as we see things we try to do flop left and right...like our Thursday night mission meetings, movie night, etc but we have decided that we are going to look at things differently. All the things we have done have value in the Lord's eyes because they are opportunities and we have felt like we were supposed to do them so we did. It doesn't matter that they weren't "successful" in getting people to hear the gospel or getting people to come to church. They had great value regardless of the outcome of the event. even if that value was just that we were obedient. That just feels good to us!

Saturday we went to the "Thanksgiving". Nadine said the service would start at 11 am. We got there at 10:45. We were warmly greeted and introduce to all the family.We were introduced to a gentleman who was the punjari or puja leader. Puja, is a worship service,usually done in a temple, where Hindus pray to and offer up gifts to each god. He was wonderful to explain to us all that was happening. When we arrived, The family was busy making up plates of food on the table. Each plate was for a different deity. They had prepared many different kinds of sweets with flour, sugar and milk. They also had fruits on each plate. I think there were nine different gods. We had no idea what we would be experiencing but we felt very honored to be there. After all the plates were prepared, the leader went and bathed and came out in the Hindu Indian ritual clothing. We got seated on the porch where the alter was prepared with all of the figures and pictures of the gods. Nadine, her husband and three children were the ones performing the ceremony with the leader. The whole service was very complicated and symbolic as each god was addressed and flowers (an expression of love) leaves or grass and rice were placed at their feet by the family. Each diety has different powers to bless the devotees. This service is done once a year and it lasted 2.5 hours and at the end all nine gods had been individually worshiped, prayed to and given flowers, leaves, rice and plates of food. One of the gods is given a chalice full of rice symbolizing the thoughts of man and a small red dot is placed on the forehead of the devotee called a "Tilak" which symbolizes the prayer to ask god to sit in the mind, to control our thoughts and feelings and make us a peaceful soul. I loved that, actually, it's a very thoughtful and peaceful service. I couldn't help thinking about our Heavenly Father, Savior and Holy Ghost through it all because They (as one God in purpose) have all power and they desire to bless us with all things as we pray and worship Them and the only thing They ask of us is obedience and a broken heart. Both Dave and I really enjoyed the service. I believe most religions have goodness in them and Hindu teachings if fully embraced make a very good, honest, and peaceful people as does being a true follower of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, Hindu beliefs do not have the power, authority and saving ordinances of making and keeping covenants to get them back into the presence of God. I don't believe they know or understand the true nature of God but there is still the spirit world and the millennium to gain that enlightenment if they don't find it here yet. It really was rather a beautiful thing to experience.