Tales of Trinidad: Temple Trip

We got up early Sunday morning and our favorite taxi driver Bishop Ramdanie, took us to the airport at 4 am. Our flight to Panama left at 6 am. We got into Panama at 8 am. We had 10 hours before the Emamudins would fly in. So, we took a taxi to the Panama temple and walked around. It's in a very pretty setting up on the hillside. Our driver waited for us. Then we asked if he could take us to the Canal. We had to do everything with google translator and it worked pretty well. We really couldn't see much of the actual canal without taking the tour...we can say we have been to the Panama canal though. It would be cool to fly over it in a helicopter and maybe we'll see it when we fly out.

We got back to the airport and walked around. It's a very large airport so there are lots of shops etc. While we were waiting at the airport we got a call from Haniff saying they wouldn't let them on the plane without having an address where they were going. Dave instant messaged him the address and we prayed everything would work out. We learned later that they were able to get through immigration and were the last people getting on the plane. Haniff thought for sure they were not going to get to come and he prayed out loud and Heavenly Father helped him to know what to do. "tender mercy" He was so touched and grateful for the answer to his prayer that he was weeping as he went through immigration and the officer asked him if he was ok.
Still waiting, we were pretty tired so Dave laid on the carpet and fell asleep. I mostly played scrabble and other word games on my phone as I waited. Around 5pm the Emamudin family came through the doors. It was so wonderful to hug and kiss them! Sarah had trouble with her ears on the plane but figured out the popping thing. We then waited for our next flight, I read the ticket wrong and had us at the wrong gate and we kept trying to get into the waiting area but they kept saying "no, no" not telling us we were at the wrong place. finally at 6 pm we realized we weren't at the right gate and had to hustle clear to the other side of the airport for our flight, and we were the very last people to walk on the plane! "tender mercy" I felt bad to give us such an anxious moment there. But, we made it and flew to the DR. We went through immigration and customs, which wasn't too bad. The temple housing coordinator had arranged a taxi to pick us up. We got to the temple housing around 11pm. The rooms have 3 sets of bunk beds in them. We were pretty tired and got right to bed.

Next day Monday, an American sister who works there with the area noticed us wandering around and offered to take us to the grocery store to buy our food for the week. She took us and then waited for us to do the shopping. Such a very kind thing to do. "tender mercy" After shopping we went to find some lunch. We were told where to go and found several different things we could eat about a 20 min. walk away. We went to Taco Bell. It was the Emamudins first experience with tacos, hot showers, elevators, & many more things we aren't aware of. During lunch we were talking about being sealed and Haniff asked if we could be sealed to them. It was such a sweet thing. We told him that we would have the same relationships with each other up in Heaven, that friendships are eternal as well. We met a senior couple living at the housing apartment and they invited us to come to family home evening. It was very nice. We were all very excited and looking forward to our first day of the temple.

Tuesday: The temple and grounds are beautiful. Molly and Haniff were so excited to give them their recommends. It was a bit challenging not being able to speak Spanish but we got along. During instruction we had an interpreter and we were able to have English speakers for the initiatory. We thought we would have to use the ear phones in the endowment but "tender mercy" they ran it in English for us. I love all the changes that have been made in the presentation of the endowment and in the sealing ordinance. Everyone was getting sick with a cold so that was kind of a sad thing. That night we took Sarah to do baptisms and confirmations by her father. We got both sets of parents baptized and confirmed so they were ready for the endowment the next day.

Wednesday: We went early to do the initiatory for the parents and then Haniff took his father through and Molly took her mother.The afternoon was spent napping since everyone was pretty sick. I didn't get sick at all "tender mercy" Then we did more initiatory that evening to finish them all. Sarah went to do baptisms but no one came to get her in the waiting room so she went back to the room. The temple is only opened from 9 until 12 and then reopened at 5 until 8 on the week days.

Thursday: Haniff took his father in-law through his endowment and Molly took her mother in-law. I felt bad for how miserable Haniff and Molly were feeling with their colds. We gave blessings and they rested when they could.We had brought a few family member names from my side and a member from Tobago. Two of the families had multiple children to seal to them. I had experienced having all the children at the alter at the same time and hoped we could do that. One family had six daughters. I asked the sweet sister that had invited us to FHE if she and some other sisters would be able to help us get six daughters sealed all together. She was more than happy to do it and arranged them to be there at 5pm. "tender mercy" We needed to get the live ordinance cards for Molly and Haniff to be sealed to their parents and with the language barrier it was a little challenging, as was the concept of sealing more than one person at a time. I guess the sealer had never done it and didn't accept it so we did get the six daughters around the alter but they were sealed one at a time. We then did the family with five children the same way. Then it was time for Haniff and Molly's parents to be sealed and then Haniff and Molly sealed to their parents. Dave and I were the proxies for the parents as they each got sealed. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced. I could only imagine what the parents were feeling as their children were sealed to them. It was so special to have all the additional people in the room to give hugs and love after the sealings."tender mercy" Sarah did more baptisms in the evening as we were doing the sealings.

Friday: More endowments and sealings and baptisms for Sarah. In between temple work we went to a really cool cave park just across the street from the temple.

Saturday: There were only two more male endowments to finish up, so Dave and Haniff did those which amounted to our best "guesstimate" of 176 ordinances preform for living and the dead from the 5 of us in the 5 days in the temple. We were all so happy to be able to serve this way. Molly and Sarah wrote up their temple experience for me to type up to send to the Area to report on their experience in the temple with the use of the TPAF. Haniff had written his and I got that typed up too. This evening we watched "The Forgotten Carols" with the family. During the production there is a line that says " You get a new name which gives you a new life" which I thought was very significant so we stopped the video and talked about that for a few minutes. We all enjoyed the show and then packed to get ready for our early beginning tomorrow. Now, I was getting sick...

Sunday: We got up at 2 am and our taxi came at 3 am. Everything went smoothly on our flight to Panama. We got the Emamudins to their next gate and said some teary good byes. The sickness hit me full steam now and kept me pretty miserable for the 12 hours we had to wait for our flight. I guess that's better than being sick during the temple time though like everyone else. This has truly been the highlight of our mission and something we will treasure beyond our lifetime.