We spent most of it in the office of course but I want to record some other events as well.
Monday evening we had a farewell gathering for the Jones. Some of the branch members came. They gave their departing testimonies and lots of hugs. They left early the next morning. We had decided to move into their place but the electrical needed to be repaired so we didn't make the move until Saturday. With the Jones' gone I get to receive the nightly call from the leader Sister missionary of the mission, reporting that all 14 Sisters, in 4 different countries are safely in their apartments for the night. What a sweet thing! I love hearing the excitement in her voice as she tells me a little of her day and that she has checked on every sister to make sure all is well.
We had a missionary "farewell" today in church. Algernon Matis has been called to serve in England and leaves this week. His mother spoke. She had also served a mission. I could see the strength of this young man and envision him to be a great leader here in Curacao in the near future. It is certainly a great blessing for him to have been raised in the Church. Multi generational families are becoming more plentiful and that will help the Church to grow and flourish here in the Caribbean.
The Branch President had ask all the youth and young adults to sing "Called to Serve" for Algernon. I was very touched looking at our missionaries and the other youth's faces as they sang. Such great potential for power in preparing the world for the Savior's return.
Algernon was quite emotional and bore a very strong testimony. The whole congregation was weeping. Even though we (Dave and I) are hearing the words being interpreted through headphones, the Spirit is manifested and felt by all languages. It was a very sweet meeting.
David writes: Our TPOS Mission includes 6 countries with a wide array of cultural diversities and economic stability. One of our mission countries is Guyana, where we spent the initial four months of our mission.
Due to the current Guyana political election issues, the country is being torn apart from the inside out with many riots and significant civil disturbances. Our local Senior Couples have noted that a few locations in Guyana look like "war zones" with the rioting, arson and significant civil unrest. This is very similar to the events in Linden Guyana over electricity rate hikes several months before we arrived. Our Linden chapel was located adjacent to a government building that was targeted during the riots and both buildings were completely destroyed by fire. All of our missionaries are currently safe and accounted for and have gathered in a central location in Georgetown. The people of Guyana are a very proud people and as such, there are occasionally significant rifts & power struggles between the various cultures and ethnic groups. Of the 6 primary ethnic groups in Guyana, two are the most vocal in initiating civil unrest. Government elections are but one of the many forums in which these ethnic rifts are made manifest and amplified to this point.
As a precautionary measure, our mission is temporarily pulling all missionaries out of Guyana until the unrest settles down and spreading the missionaries throughout the remaining 5 countries in our mission.
Please keep the country and people of Guyana in your prayers.
Back to me: So, what all that means for us is that all the missionaries are flying out of Guyana, some to Trinidad, Suriname, Aruba, and here to Curacao. President Baird had to re-assign 30 Elders in one day, tickets had to be bought and places secured. We will be picking up 3 of those 30 tomorrow. The 2 senior couples will leave within the week. The Lehmans, who are taking our place and weren't going to come until April, will now be coming this week and staying. Really crazy times. It's good we'll be able to give them more time to train now, but sad for them that they had to leave people they love without much time to say goodbye.
We decided that it didn't make much sense to extend our mission one month since we did it to see if a new senior couple would be joining us. There are no new senior couples coming so Pres. Baird just has to shuffle what he has to the places that are more desperate. All the places are pretty desperate for senior couples but some cannot function at all without them. Plus, with this Corona virus scare going turbo, getting back into the US without being quarantined is a concern especially with my very noticeable coughing & wheezing etc. So, we have a new return date of April 30th. That's why my title is "Weeks whizzing by!" We will be headed home sooner and we the Weeks' are whizzing by! Probably didn't need to spell out my silly joke, I kill myself sometimes with how funny I am! Ha ha. I'm really kidding!
We pass this pink elephant every day on our way to the office.
It has been a great landmark to help us know where we are.
These babies are so scrumptious! He came with his family to the Jones' farewell gathering.
Singing "God Be With You" for the Jones'. They are so loved and will be sorely missed by SO many!
The vivacious, loving, amazing Elder and Sister Jones!
Our new neighbors across the street having a tree cut down.
