Eternal Son-shine, Because of Him

We have been here in Tobago for six weeks now. It has been beautiful  every. single. day.  Sunny blue skies with occasional fluffy white clouds. Not too hot but warm and slight breezes now and then. As I walked back from the ocean one day I got thinking about this. How every day is the same with very little variation. I thought about how it would be in Heaven and wondered if we would have weather changes, like the four seasons...There is something wonderful about four distinct seasons. They all have their own pleasantness and unpleasantness and it seems when their pleasantness has become unpleasant, like cold and snow, rain and mud, heat and sweat....hmmmm what's unpleasant about fall....no wonder it's my favorite, anyway, just when we get tired of those things, the season changes and we get to enjoy the newness of the next season. I think there is joy and excitement with change and even unpleasantness because you enjoy the pleasantness so much more when the unpleasant is gone.  Opposition. A divine principle. It does make me wonder if there will be opposition in Heaven because of the joy we get when the suffering through trials is over and we get to feel relief and peace. Years ago I was weeding with my mother  and I said "Do you think there will be weeds in Heaven?" and she said " oh I hope so, because I love to see the results of my labors." I said "I don't want weeds in my Heaven!"  Might have to think on that some more.

Interestingly, the day after I wrote the above paragraph, it rained for two days! Maybe the Lord was just giving me the variety I had been missing. It turned all the brown grass green too!

We talked with Mark, the guard shack guy and asked him how his reading of the Book of Mormon was going. He said, "Well, what is all this I Nephi stuff? It seems like he is always saying that and And it came to pass.. why does it keep saying that?" We were so tickle with his questions and excited that he had obviously been reading. We told him that there were many different writers and when Mormon condensed all the records, there needed to be something to identify who was writing, and the "and it came to pass" was also because he was condensing and combining different records into one history, so he had to summarize parts with "and it came to pass" He seemed to agree with that. (hopefully, that was a correct answer..)

With the rain, we didn't get out much and two teaching appointments canceled on us. We did get to teach Elizabeth again on Thursday. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It makes it a little challenging when the person you are teaching will not speak. She may nod now and then but we get very little response from her. We are hoping she is gaining some understanding. I keep thinking that eight year olds don't know it all so we will hopefully get to that level knowing she will continue to learn and grow in her understanding after she is baptized.

We did get out with Sister Cupid to find a few more members, they were home and we got to visit with them. Three of the ones we visited came to church today!

Friday: Sister Cupid's water pump wasn't working to water her large garden so we, Dave, spent several hours figuring out how to fix it. He sort of got it working but then he found out the intake valve wasn't working and needed to be replaced. So, we took her Saturday to get the part and we'll get back over there sometime next week.

I have really enjoyed studying each day about Jesus's last week before He died in the Come Follow me manual. His teachings and love, the intensity of His sufferings and then the awfulness of how He was tortured. I can't comprehend the magnitude of His sacrifice but I can feel His love and that's all I  need to be His follower and keep His commandments and testify of His redeeming power in all our lives. The tomb was empty and sin and death have no victory because of HIM!

 A member lives down this very long steep hill. 

We are going to the orange house you see at the bottom.

 Almost there....

 This is where Alexander Jack lives with his family of many, 

he being the only member of the Church

This is the view looking up. It's a very steep hill and my legs were like noodles and I was panting like a dog when we got to the top. I'm sorry to say, I may not be able to visit Brother Jack very often...

Another gorgeous sunset on the Caribbean Sea

 

 This cow lives at the ocean...We pass her almost every day. Sometimes she is just laying there and I imagine she is enjoying the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks. 

I bet her milk is especially delicious because of her peaceful life.  

 Gathering coconuts is a risky business

 Sister Cupid picking a fruit for us

 It's skin is hard and leathery with a soft spongy inside like Pomelos

 Getting all the spongy stuff off

 It looks a lot like a grapefruit or a pomelo. It's very yummy! I cannot remember the name of it. Mostly because when I ask it's most always something I've never heard and it's hard to understand. I looked it up on google but couldn't find it.

Dave repairing the hose line and securing the pump nozzle

 It needed a rubber gasket so he made one out a piece of old bicycle inner-tube she had lying around

 there, that fits nicely

 priming the hose

 starting up the pump...I was praying mightily that it would work...and it did after just a few pulls' Unfortunately, we didn't know the intake valve wasn't working so we didn't get to see it in action. 

This leaf is called "wonder of the world"  We were told to put it in a book for a few weeks 

and it starts to sprout as you see here.