Tales of Trinidad: Showing Off Tobago

This has been a very fun, busy week which didn't really look like a "being on a mission" week.

Tuesday we took Leana to the airport to go to Guyana to wait for her visa to the USA so she could report for her mission to Salt Lake City, Utah at the end of January. Hopefully, everything will go through and she'll be on her way without any further delays. We got word that Christian received his South African visa and we thought we would get to see him one more time in Trinidad but he flew out Friday to the DR to receive his endowment and then we heard today (Sunday) that he arrived in South Africa. His travels took him from Tobago, Trinidad, Panama, Dominica Republic, Spain, Turkey and finally to South African. So, our two missionaries are on their way! What a blessing and privilege it has been to help these two wonderful young people get on their missions. We feel like that is one of the reasons we came to Tobago!

Wednesday night we picked up our friends the Evans, and Coffmans at the airport. It was such a powerful feeling to see and hug these dear friends. We are so grateful they were willing and able to spend the money and time to come and visit. We six all piled in our car and "tetrised"(I know probably not a word but you get my meaning) all the luggage in the trunk and got them to their condo right next to ours. It was pretty late so we went to bed.

Thursday the men went to pick up the van to rent for the week so we could all drive together. Jim had to drive it back to the condo and kept saying how happy and grateful he was that Dave was going to do all the driving because it is pretty nerve wracking to drive around here. We then headed out to Charlottesville for lunch at the Suckhole. We stopped at Sister Dookran's to pick up her kerosene container to refill it for her and had a nice visit with her, then back on the road to the restaurant.
We got there at 11:30 and didn't get our meal until 1:00. For some reason everyone was being served but us. It usually takes a while but not that long. Still, we had an enjoyable visit and the meal was wonderful as usual. We wanted to fill Sister Dookran's container there so we could get it back to her but they were all out of kerosene.
Our next stop was Argyle Falls. We enjoyed the falls and then headed back to the condos.
We had dinner in the condo and then played games until it was time to go to bed.

Friday we went to the grocery store to get some food for the week and then to lunch at "Shore things" another favorite restaurant. They also have a chocolate shop where they make chocolate from the start of the pod and we had a demonstration and bought some chocolates. We had tickets for the glass bottom boat tour but Dave developed a case of really bad, painful hiccups so he decided to stay and rest. That meant I had to drive to the boat dock! As we were driving there we decided to see if we could go another day so Dave wouldn't miss it. I was able to drive safely and successfully to the dock to change the tickets. You may think it's not a big deal to drive safely and successfully places but it is here. I was pretty dang proud of myself and grateful I didn't kill anyone in the process. We were pretty excited to snorkel cause everyone had purchased and brought their full face snorkel masks, so we went to Storebay and practiced. It's a beautiful beach but we didn't see much until we went outside the marked swimming area by some rocks. It was fun. We went back to the condo, played games, had dinner then more games until bedtime. This really isn't very mission like except everywhere we went and many times, Dave got phone calls that he had to take care of whatever the issue was, so mission work was still getting done.

Saturday, Dave's 63rd birthday, we drove to Castara another beautiful beach on the other side of the island but quite a distance away. There is a lovely restaurant there. We had lunch and then a few of us decided to go snorkeling until our reservation for our "bioluminess" kayaking tour at 5:30 pm. We didn't have much time so we tried some beaches close by and weren't thrilled with the snorkeling but riding the waves was very fun. We went to the beach to start the kayaking activity. Each couple got a kayak and some oars and instructions, then we headed to another beach area. We paddled for about 20 minutes in the dark and then came up on this sand bar surrounded by a mangrove forest. Evidently, there is plankton that accumulates and glows in the dark. It was impossible to take pictures but when you moved the water with your hands or the oars it left a glow streak that looked like glitter in the water. Hard to explain but pretty amazing. It was suggested that we get out and swim and I was the only one of our group that did. I could see my legs glowing and when I pushed the water out of the way it would sparkle and glitter. It isn't in very many places in the world but it has all the elements here in Tobago to make it happen. We then paddled back and the guide would see a certain kind of fish swimming and touch their tails and they would jump out of the water and go across the waters on their tails. Amazing! Such a interesting fun thing to experience.

Sunday we went to church. Dave was conducting so he had asked Jim and Diane to speak. They did a beautiful job and Diane also sang a lovely song. All the members were very welcoming to them. After church we went to Sister Henry's to give her the Sacrament. We told her we were leaving in a few weeks and we were all very sad. Back at the condo we had lunch, had a Come Follow Me discussion, took naps and then played games until it was time to leave for "Sunday School" the steel pan music. We left at 8:30 cause it says it starts at 8 but it didn't start until 10. It was great and we enjoyed about 5 songs and then came back to the condo and went to bed. Such a lovely, fun week spending it with these dear friends and we have two more days before they leave!