Tales of Trinidad: 2019-01-06

What can I say? This has been a very hard week for us. We had a misunderstanding that enveloped us for many days. Thankfully, when you can't get away from each other, you have to address things and resolve them, which we were able to do. We are now once again well and happy and trying be on the same page doing the Lord's work.

New Year's Day...or Day after Old Year's Night....we went to Georgetown and spent the afternoon with the other Senior couples in Guyana. Sister Bohne prepared ham and beans soup (she made a special pot for me without ham! So thoughtful!) Creamed spinach, which was heavenly and smothered cabbage, which is cooked cabbage with onions and ham (she made a separate one for me without ham.) I was very touched at her thoughtfulness. It was a delicious meal and we had an enjoyable time visiting with each other. The drive down and back was so pleasant because there was hardly anyone on the road.
We didn't have seminary this week because of the holiday break but we start teaching again tomorrow. Our one constant student, Shaneeza, is with her mother in New York and doesn't know when she will be returning, so hopefully we will get some other students to commit to attending on a regular basis. We have two for sure that said they will come and perhaps others will get interested also.
Being "the" Senior Couple, one of our responsibilities is to see that the bikes for the Elders are in good functioning order. Each companionship has four bikes so they have an emergency bike to use until the other one gets fixed. Sometimes the Elders remove parts from one bike to the other so we had four bikes that were not usable at all because they had parts missing, broken handle bars, broken gear shifts, single wheels, flat tires etc. Dave evaluated all the bikes and brought two of the wounded bikes and two other skeleton bikes along with all the parts the missionaries had in a box, home and we went and bought all the needed parts. He has worked and worked on them. He has one totally finished with shiny new fenders, cleaned and greased chains, new tires and tubes, new cables, lights, and handle bars. He will work on the other one this week. Then both sets of Elders will have four bikes each companionship, that are in very good shape. I think he has rather enjoyed this project and he is so good at it too! I'm amazed at all the things my good husband can and will do to serve.
Friday, we had our YSA activity. We had a great lesson on "Not looking Back" for the new year. We talked about Lot's wife and how that applies to all of us. Then we introduced them to "hot dice" and had fun with that. We had brownies and "nice cream" which surprisingly to me does not work as well here as it does in Utah. They have several different types of bananas or plantain and the consistency is quite different than the bananas we get in Utah so it turns out more like a pudding than an ice cream consistency. But, they liked it anyway! We had seven people there which is up from the five we started with.
Today, Sunday, We had church with our new schedule and it was very nice. Our branch Primary President was there and she taught a lesson and then I taught them a couple of songs and the time was finished! One little guy, Onandie (I love him so much!) asked if primary was over and I said yes and he actually groaned and was sad.
We came home for lunch and then went out on visits with our Branch President Ryan. We had a great time meeting with people and praying with them. I love that they usually hold hands in a circle when we pray. We went to five families. Many of them had only been baptized since Oct. but haven't been coming to church since. I'm not sure how much they understand about the commitment that is required after baptism. Many churches don't require regular attendance and when you are baptized that's all you have to do. We have lots of work to do to get them to grasp this new concept of a changed life and way of being. The Church is just a "baby" in this area, but has so much potential for growth and influence.
After our visits, Pres. Ryan took us to see the beautiful side of Guyana. We went to the mine fields which are really lovely mountains of Bauxite tailings. Bauxite is an ore that contains 15-25% aluminium. They have a large company here in Linden. Then he took us to a beautiful sandy beach along side the Demerara River. It's a gorgeous place and completely isolated from the hectic, crowded area of Linden. Then he took us to blue lake which was formed by the mining of bauxite many years ago. We had no idea these places existed and were delighted to see them and look forward to spending some longer time there.
Sometimes when I am waking up in the morning and realize I am still here in this difficult situation, I am surprised by the sadness I feel. Missions are hard! They are not for quitters, or for fragile or wimpy people. You have to be willing to tough it out and work on yourself and develop or weed out traits you never thought to have. You have to be willing to be tolerant, loving, patient and forgiving of your companion and let them develop or weed out traits they never thought to have. I can't say I've weeded out or developed in the way I feel the Lord is giving me the opportunity to do but it certainly is the perfect schooling to do so and I am grateful for that when I wake up fully and think about what we could do to show our love to our Savior and Heavenly Father today. How can we be His hands and His heart today. The people here are very easy to love and they love very freely. We are frequently trying to take our "Utah Mormon" mentality out of minds and hearts and be patient, understanding and let them grow and learn at the pace they need to.
This morning, Monday. I woke up remembering what I wrote here and felt like I needed to explain a little further as to what I am feeling. We volunteered for this! It'a a honor and privilege to be here! Yes, it is hard to give up all the comforts of home and miss family and friends but....always a but. It's worth it to learn and develop in a way that would not be possible staying comfortable in what we know. There is a saying here in Guyana when you ask someone how they are, often they will say "I tryin" This is very telling of how life is here. It is trying and you do have to try every day to be better and better. We have immersed ourselves in this society and we are finding joy and beauty in our surroundings amidst all the hardship and scarcity that we see people enduring. I believe it will be one of the most worthwhile things we do in our lives.