Unremarkable?

Another week gone by and as I was thinking over the week I thought to myself...this has been a pretty unremarkable week, meaning nothing really remarkable or noteworthy took place but as I thought about it some more I realized that there is not one day in our life that is unremarkable. Every single day we have another chance to make it "right" with God. Every single day we get to begin again to become what we so wish and desire to become. Every single day we get to love anyone we want to, regardless if they love us or even acknowledge us. Every single day we get to make a difference some where in some place to some one even if it's just ourselves. Every single day we can find one little or big thing to be grateful for. So, it has been a remarkable week!

We got to visit with a few people we haven't met yet, not sure if they will decide to come back to Church but at least they know someone was searching for them.
Dave did a few service projects that 62 year old Senior missionaries probably shouldn't do but he has a hard time saying "no"  He dug some fence post holes with a only a shovel for Sister Cupid and he continued to cut down the tree that he and the Winchesters had started a few weeks back.
I went through each apartment contract, 54 of them and made 54 charts to keep one in each apartment with the contact info for the landlords and utility responsibilities as well as inventory for each apartment. It was helpful to see what apartment furnishings the missions owns and which ones are owned by the landlords. When we terminate the lease we need to know what we can remove from the apartments and what is left behind. It felt really good to feel like I have gotten a better handle on this assignment and feel like I can find and answer questions as they arise. We've had to terminate a few apartments in Guyana and Trinidad and I've had to rely heavily on the Senior couples there to notify the landlords as well as clean out the apartments and find places for all of the furnishings and appliances that belong to the mission. It's a pretty big deal and I'm so grateful for their willingness and dedication to serving in any way since we're not able to do any of it from Tobago.
Dave has been and continues to be a great partner in this endeavor with the housing. I would still be curled up in a ball sobbing if he wasn't around to help me make sense of it and show me how to do a spread sheet and an Excel chart and really even to know how many cool things the computer can do if you know about them. When Pres. Baird gave this assignment to me 3 months ago, he said it would be just a temporary holding spot until another Senior couple was assigned to Guyana so I thought I would just do the best I could but it doesn't look like help is coming any time soon. We have lost 4 sets of fantastic Senior couples from this mission in the last 2 months and we miss them very much!  Point is: Now that the learning curve has passed, my confidence with this assignment has grown, so how ever long I get to do it will be just fine.
Today is Sunday, I always post on Sunday. Today the Branch President was at church before us with the AC on and the organ playing! There were 25 of us today! The praising through music sounded like angels had joined us it was so joyful! The partaking of the Sacrament was sweet and powerful! The talks were great!  Our Branch Pres. spoke about Salvation and how every one is responsible for THEIR own Salvation. If you sin, you are responsible for the consequences of those sins. If you get offended and stop coming to Church, you are responsible for that, not the Church, not any others. YOU! It was very powerful. I believe everyone was happy to be there and felt loved! We are feeling like we "kind of " belong and we know it will get better and better.

 These sisters weren't at Church for Mother's Day so I gave them their flower pins today

 The AC for the upstairs of the Church hasn't worked for months, so Dave had them come and got it taken care of. Sister George, the Primary Pres. thanked Elder Weeks profusely! 

 The capacitor had over heated and melted and extruded out like one of those snake bombs 

we had as a child.  I loved those!

 Setting a post

 There is tons to eat on the ground....those must be some tasty leaves

 Sister Cupids home. Most places have these large black water tanks.

 Sister Cupid and a few of her new fence posts

 We took a drive to see sister Dookran that lives an hour away from the Church. It's a beautiful drive.

 The beaches don't seem to be invaded by the seaweed here

 We still haven't made it all the way around the Island yet, but every curve has different views

 Pictures just don't let you see what you can see. Come to Tobago!

 This is Sister Dookran's home. She is the Relief Society Pres. She is dying of congestive heart failure. She has no electricity and only a water tank for water. 

We had a lovely visit and we talked a great deal about the Plan of Happiness. 

 This is the Blue Crowned Motmot. It's image is on the $5 TT bill.

Enjoying a crab for lunch

On our morning walk I notice this bird just standing still. I walked up to it and it still didn't fly away.

 It hopped up on my finger. I couldn't tell if it was wounded or maybe sick

 It was so docile Dave held it too. We put it down and finished our walk. When we came back it had only moved a few feet and I felt like maybe it was too weak to get water so I walked it over to a nice wet spot. I hope that was helpful to the little thing.

 Sister Winchester's cousin came to help with the tree cutting

 Unfortunately, the concrete slab that supported the water tank broke in half and the tank crashed into the house breaking apart. This had nothing to do with the tree, it just happened at the same time.

 These pretty little things were outside our place. They are Blue-winged parrotlets.

This was a week for birds, nice birds this time. 

Can you even believe the size of this avocado?!!! It was very scrumptious! 

Mother's day on a Mission

Last Sunday we had our first branch counsel meeting. We discussed what to do for Mother's day. I was volunteered to get a "gift" for the ladies in our branch. I thought it would be nice if I crocheted something like a book mark. I looked on Pinterest and found a picture of a flower that I thought would make a lovely pin. So, Monday we went looking for string to make it. I had brought all my needles so I didn't need to find those. We found some red string and I began to create. Every spare minute I had I was crocheting. I was able to get 13 done with pins on the back. I think they turned out lovely and as I pinned them on each of the sisters, I was able to wish them a Happy Mother's day with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I wish we would have gotten a picture of all of them together with their red roses pinned on them. I feel like they were happy with them. I was happy to do it for sure. We also got them a periwinkle plant and one for each sister in the branch so they could take them to the other sisters who did not come today. Hopefully, that will start some much needed ministering for each other.

We got to go to Trinidad this week for Zone Conference on Wednesday and Thursday. It truly is such a boost to sit and listen to these young missionaries teach us as well as President and Sister Baird. We really love to be there with everyone. It was sweet to hear them thank Heavenly Father with each prayer that "the Weeks' got to be here with them."  We do occasionally feel like we are quite secluded and "out of it" being here on our own.

Sister Elizabeth Winchester was set to be baptized on Saturday morning and we weren't sure where the place was so on Friday we picked up Elizabeth and her mom so they could show us where they usually have the baptisms. They said it was somewhere on a beach but right now the ocean is full of seaweed and it continues to be washed up on all of the beaches covering the sand and building up in great stinky piles. When we went to the usual baptism place and they saw the seaweed we knew we had to have a different plan. We decided that it would work to do the baptism in the pool at our condo. They were happy with that idea. We called the Branch President and a few other people to tell them of the change. They arrived at our home at 6:00 am and then the others came. We had a very homey meeting with short talks and then we walked to the pool and Elizabeth's brother Tyreese who had just been ordained a priest, baptized his little sister. It was especially sweet to see him hold her hand as they walked up out of the pool. Their mother said it was the best "mother's day" gift she could ever receive. I quite agree.

 from left: President George, Brother George, Christian, Sister George, Tyreese, Elizabeth, 

Brother Winchester, Sister Winchester, Me, Dave.

 Mother's day pins for the sisters in the Scarborough branch 

 Trinidad Zone Conference 

 The beach when we first got here on March 11th

The beach today

The seaweed in the ocean. It's called Sargassum and it has invaded many beaches in the Caribbean. Thankfully, it is only on the Atlantic side of the island and the Caribbean side has not been affected....yet, hoping not anyway. Look it up on google if you want to know more. 

They are blaming global warming and pollution. 

 The Winchester family: Tyreese, Elizabeth, Bro. Winchester, Sis. Winchester.

 We are hoping Bro. Winchester will desire to be taught the lessons next...

 Joyful baptism!

 This is bread fruit. it has a doughy bread like taste and consistency. 

Had to try it but don't think it will be on my plate again.

 It's bright green before it's cooked and is about 5 inches in diameter

This is the church architect's drawing of the church in Linden. Dave is still heavily involved in seeing this process through and getting this building done! This is super exciting!

Six Months!

What?! Six months! Today is six months since we have been on our mission. I am grateful for this opportunity and experience. It has been a very growth promoting one and as growth goes, it is rarely easy. I recently read an article stating that Happiness is not the goal of life, Growth is the goal. Happiness is fleeting and temporary but real growth is satisfying and lasting. Happiness doesn't necessarily bring joy or peace where as true, life changing growth does.
So with saying that...I have been having some home sickness. Living on a beautiful island is really wonderful but when it isn't your home with all the people you love readily available to visit, chat with, hug and laugh with, enjoy events and life experiences with, it isn't the paradise that it could be. I am just going to wallow in this for a moment. I miss my children and grandchildren. I miss my friends. I miss my food and stores. I miss being able to get out and drive to places I know and love. I miss my ward family and neighborhood. I miss the Church functioning at it's highest level with leaders, teachers, Priesthood, sisters, primary, youth and activities. I miss the temple, oh how I miss the temple! When that has been a weekly part of your life for many many years, it's quite an adjustment to go with out it and the lovely people and sweet feelings you find there. I miss organized and well thought out towns and roads. I miss garbage trucks and clean streets. I miss weather. I miss my house, bathtub and kitchen sink. This is really the first time I've been really homesick. I think in Guyana I was so busy just trying to maintain the necessities of life and live day to day that I didn't really notice being homesick. Here, life is so much more pleasant that my mind has been able to reflect on home a bit more. There, I am done wallowing.

Nothing I am missing compares to the love Dave and I feel for the Savior and the gratitude we have for the plan of Salvation, the Atonement of Jesus Christ and our desire to share that with the people of Tobago with whom we are growing to love very much. It's a small sacrifice to miss those things for a short while to be able to serve and strive to help Heavenly Father by serving and loving His children here.

We finished all the discussions with Elizabeth and Dave did the interview, she passed and we are set to have her baptized this coming Saturday, May 11th! Teaching her as been an interesting experience and I've learned a lot about praying to teach at the level of understanding that is needed for each individual and knowing that the Spirit is who teaches and uses whatever you offer to help someone to learn.
We were able to find a few more members, by our very own selves even! The Elders that were here previously had documented alphabetically, in a little book, turn by turn directions to many of the member's homes. As we've gotten to know our way around a little more the directions have begun to make sense. This is great because now we can go off on our own and don't have to wait for a member that knows things to go with us. Hopefully, we will be able to find more members and love them back to church.

 These cute ladies are sisters in the branch. Dave makes a killer sugar cookie and the ladies wanted Dave to teach them how to make them. We had dinner and then made the cookies. It was a fun evening. Isn't my kitchen lovely?

 The air conditioner at the church building wasn't working so we had some repair men come and clean and service them.  It took up quite a bit of a day.

 The vents hadn't been cleaned in quite some time...it works great now! 

Air conditioning is pretty crucial here.

 For the last four weeks we have been finding the church doors unlocked. We talked with others and they say this has been going on for some time. It is concerning because of the sound system, keyboard and computers that could easily walk off. So, Dave had the locks changed, which took up another big chunk of a day. Dave had several sets of keys made to give to the other leaders. We are curious to see if someone asks us why their keys don't work anymore. We think it might be the owners of the building.

 The part for the alternator finally came in so Dave dropped the car off and it was repaired. 

This took another large part of a day. 

 This handsome guy lives in our backyard. I love his/her tail. 

 Everything that is tiny is so cute! This is the cutest, tiniest banana 

I've ever seen and it is a sweet as it is cute! 

    I'd love to share them with you! Come to Tobago!

Story Trek

This was an especially great week! We hosted a senior missionary couple, The Murrays from Bountiful, here in our condo. Their mission is to gather the histories of the pioneer members in the Caribbean. They have gone to Barbados and Martinique and will get to all the countries in this mission. Guyana, Suriname, Bonaire, Aruba and Curacao. Then they go back home and submit the histories and then get another assignment somewhere else. Pretty cool mission!  Before they arrived we set up an interview schedule with 15 members of our branch. We had a range of the very first baptized members in Tobago in 2007 to newly baptized members of 2018. It was so incredible to sit in on these interviews and learn some very tender and important things about each one of these people. We drove to each of their homes and spent an hour or so having them tell us their story. We feel so much more connected to them now which I'm so very grateful. They arrived on Monday and we took them to the airport on Thursday.

The day they arrived was a holiday here in Tobago. It's Monday Easter and they have goat and crab races. We and the Murrays went to the goat races and watched a few...there are many levels, like men with their goats, and then ladies with their goats, and different ages of children racing. It was fun to see and experience this uniquely Tobagian tradition.  Probably don't need to do it again though. I think betting is involved with the locals.

Thursday, we had a teaching appointment with Elizabeth and we reviewed the Plan of Salvation and then taught the Principles of the gospel, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Confirmation and enduring to the end. We invited her to be baptized on the 11th of May. Her newly ordained brother will get to baptized her. Hopefully that will all work out.

Friday: We went back to sister Cupid's and worked on the water pump. It was quite the process but they got it up and running!

Saturday: We went to the Winchester's home to help them cut down a tree. It is a very big tree! They wanted it cut down because the leaves would get on their aluminum roof and rust through it. We can't quite understand why they didn't want to just periodically sweep off the roof since it was easy to get to and not very steep. They wanted the tree cut. So, they borrowed a chain saw and asked a young lad on the street that had a rope to come and help. His name is Isaiah, 15 years old. a complete stranger and he worked very hard. He climbed up and down the tree cutting and lashing the rope to guide the large branches down....which never worked quite like they wanted. They just ended up landing on the roof but thankfully nothing was damaged. They only got half of it cut when Isaiah needed to leave so Mr. Winchester and Dave will do so more next Saturday.
That took most of the day and Dave was pretty exhausted but it was our 20th wedding anniversary and we wanted to go out to a restaurant to eat. He cleaned up and rested and we had a lovely evening out at a very nice restaurant.

Sunday: Our branch President didn't arrive until 9:20. We may have to suggest that the beginning time be changed to 9:30. Unfortunately, I don't believe the branch President has his heart in his calling and I believe the members are suffering for it. It's a tough situation because there really isn't any one else to lead. We only have 6 active males in the branch, which includes Dave and our 94 year old Brother Murray. We are trying to get a returned missionary reactivated but his wife is expecting twins any day and the babies need to get here and settled before they can come to church regularly. He does seem like he wants to do that too. Which makes it easier to help him get back to church. 

The Murrays and Us in the Mangrove forrest

 On the platform outside the grove

 Eating a delicious local lunch  

 Finally saw a caiman at the golf course, possibly six feet long 

We saw a worker taking a nap in the battlement on the golf course

 We found a chocolate factory at a place where we had lunch. 

He makes the chocolate starting from the cocoa beans. Pretty fascinating!

 Ready......Set.......Goooooat!

 No need for a photo finish this time

 Assembling all the parts for the water system

 The intact valve to put in the stream

 Leveling a spot to put the pump 

 Making a quick retaining wall

 Another leak! Someone had taken a nail or something and made several holes in the hose.

 Electrical tape to the rescue!

 It works!

 connecting the line from the stream and pump to the garden

 All ready to go

 Eureka! 

 Sweet success!

 I killed a fly and didn't know where it landed. This was a day later and the ants were having a banquet. These teeny tiny ants come out of nowhere. Very annoying!

 The tree

 Isaiah hacking away with his cutlass

 Dave and the chain saw

 you can see the rope did nothing to prevent the branch from falling on the roof

 Wayne Winchester, Dave and Tyreese. Exhausted woodcutters!

 This spider greeted us on our way to church this morning. Those are 12 inch tiles

It's leg span is 5 inches!  Not my favorite thing to see.