Falling in Love with Tobago

I had a sweet realization this week. I've fallen in love with this little island and it's people. We have a large framed picture of Tobago on the wall in our condo and I realized as I look at it, that, I KNOW it and I love it! We have become more familiar with the roads and the places to go. We still have a lot more to explore but that's exciting to look forward to. I realized as we are driving around from place to place that I'm not even as nervous as I used to be, I'm not totally at ease but I'm not scared stiff either. I feel a respect rather than pity or curiosity when I see some of the homes because I know they are doing the best they can with what they have available. I love the people I've never met. Strangers are not strangers anymore and we feel at home here. We feel like we have developed some very tender, mutual feelings with the members here as well. It felt like a long time in coming because Guyana just has a different feel about it but it is coming along and I feel like it can only get stronger and better as time goes by. Such is the miracles of missions!

The Allmans, who served here as a senior couple were here this week so we got to go out to lunch with them and then went with them to visit a few members. We were able to meet some we hadn't seen yet so that was great!

We handed out most of the ministering assignments and got quite a few positive responses about them. Our prayer is they will desire to watch over each other and bond together.

We started teaching Girley David to read this week. She can read fairly well already but I think her comprehension isn't great so we have been reading the lesson in "Come Follow Me" and dissecting almost every word to help her gain some understanding. It's been very powerful and sweet for us. The lesson was on Christ's Atonement.  I will never read the scripture about "charity is not easily provoked, suffereth long and is kind, seeketh not her own, beareth all things, endureth all things etc." without applying it to our Savior and His life and sacrifice for us. For some reason I had never connected that before. Yes, it's what we are striving to achieve but Jesus lived it and showed us how to do it in such an amazing way. Nothing we go through can even compare to what Christ went through, so it is possible to overcome false judgments, rejection, unkindness, pain, loneliness....all of it with love. What a blessing to be able to "help her read"

We had teaching appointments set for Angie but she cancelled twice and we finally got to teach her on Saturday. She said she wants to get baptized which is GREAT....but she hasn't been to Church once and so we will see how that goes in the next few weeks.

 The Allmans are from Norway and served an eighteen month mission here 

which they finished in June 2017. Brother Allman is from Trinidad.

 This is the picture of Tobago in our condo. It's like I can picture in my mind

 all the coves and beaches now as I look at it. 

 Sister Allman and Sister Henry. We take the Sacrament to Sister Henry every Sunday.

 Sister Girley. We are teaching her to read and she decided to come to Church!

 Enid Roberts is a member and has an amazing talent of crocheting. 

She made this lovely skirt.

 Sister Williams is a member and she got married to this man on June 11th

 Dave had to park in this space because is kind of had his name on it

 The rainy season is upon us! We only had one day of sunshine this week.

The view I see every morning outside of our bedroom. I know, it's a tough duty!

There is truth and there is Truth!

Happy Sabbath! As I was sitting in Church today with this little band of Saints on a beautiful island in the Caribbean called Tobago, I was touched by the power of the Truth. Our building is a termite infested cinder block building, tile floors, space for 60 stack-able chairs that if we are lucky are almost half full, only a small keyboard, no grand organ with many pipes for music. Nothing of the building has much beauty or grander to draw people in.  Our speakers were a 16 year old young man and a 94 year old man. Both of them spoke Truth. They both shared scriptures from the revealed Truth of the Book of Mormon and living Prophets. The hymns we sang (I lead the music so I can see that everyone sang) filled the small room with the Spirit of Truth. The administration and passing of the Sacrament by those who have the True Priesthood authority to do so caused me to reflect and ponder on the great sacrifice of our Savior who is the author of all Truth. No one looking in would sense that something powerful was going on with this little group. All of us who were there, were recommitting ourselves to our Savior and remembering His love, mercy and cleansing us from sin. The Spirit of God was filling our hearts as we listened to the words spoken and the hymns sung. Testimonies were strengthened and hearts and desires changed to align them to God and strive to love and serve our brothers and sisters. I guess I can't speak for everyone there, but I surely felt God's love and knew that all that was done in that room was the result of the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel of Truth and I was and could become a "new creature" because of it.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went visiting members and we came upon a Seventh Day Adventist meeting. The windows and doors were open and you could hear the preacher woman nearly screaming her sermon. You could actually hear it from quite a distance. I told Dave I wanted to go and listen for a while. So, I stood outside the building to hear what she was saying and she spoke truth. She quoted Romans 8:16,17 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified." With out restored Truth, that beautiful scripture doesn't give the powerful, saving information we all need to become those joint-heirs with Christ as beloved children of God and leaves men to their own understandings ,(or misunderstandings, as the case may be) I didn't listen for long and she went on to another subject but my feelings were that there is truth (small t) available for everyone but there is more Truth (capital T) to be had as well. 

I am profoundly grateful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints!

This week we taught two discussions with Angie and Rocky, invited them to Church but unfortunately they did not come. This of course means that baptism is not happening as soon as we were hoping.  No worries though, This is not a pressure situation. She needs to be ready and committed. She is reading and praying so that is good. 

We were able to pin 3 more homes this week and we got the Ministering assignments for the RS and the Elders all figured out with both Presidents. Every sister has been assigned and all but 6 brethren 

(because we haven't found them yet) have been assigned. As far as we know, this is the first time this has happened in the history of this little branch. They mostly just associated with members they knew. Hopefully, they will catch the vision of ministering and grab hold of this opportunity and unite and enlarge the Saints in this area. I know it has been attempted by past missionaries but things tend to fizzle out when the missionaries leave. We desperately don't want that to happen again.

It's been a good week!

 Happy Father's day! 

The RS had an activity Saturday and we made these fern boutonnieres for the brothers in the branch. It was the first time we had seen the two men on the left at church since we got here! 

Niccoli, Andre, Bro. Murray, Pres. George, Tyreese, Bro. George, Dave. 

 I don't know what this bird is but it loves to sit and spread it's wings thus. 

Perhaps it is drying out because we see these birds diving into the water.

 Egret. Really a lovely bird

 It appears to be drying itself

 Another cool bird creature

 K. There is a lake in the middle of the golf course and we see these dark spots 

and then Dave zooms in with his camera and this is what we see.  So cool!

 We think they are approximately 6 feet long and we saw two swimming towards us.

 Really zoomed in...

 another shot of that beautiful flowering tree

 Dave climbed on these craggy rocks by the ocean which I didn't want to climb on 

but wanted a picture of so hence the selfie by the craggy rocks

 Dave caught something in our bathroom

 Can you even believe this?! 

We had to look up if lizards are born live or from eggs cause this looks like a brand new baby lizard. We found out that they can be born either way. 

 Honestly! Everything that is a baby is CUTE!

 Elizabeth, our newest baptized member had a school program that we went to. We were so enthralled with the different cultural dances they performed. I wish I could send some videos of them.

 Another group

 Elizabeth is the last person in the back on the far left.

I think she was pleased we would come and watch her

 I felt like I was watching an old time musical with an island twist, with this young lady

 We really enjoyed the whole program even though we knew only one child....

kind of like being a grandparent at a school program. It felt really good!

Making Father's day boutonnieres and learning how to crochet flower pins.

starting left: Sis. Dookran (RS Pres.) Sis. Mary, Sis. Camillie, Sis. Winchester, Sis. Geroge, me 

 Sister Dookran and Sister Winchester

 Me and Sister Camillie. It was her first time crocheting and she was left handed. She did amazing!

Sister George. She is the rock of this branch! I think it would fizzle out and die if she wasn't around. Love and admire her so much! Her son is the Branch Pres. 

Your ability is enough

I'm writing this record to remember our mission but I think I need to record daily because I'm having a difficult time remembering the week that has passed, like now...what even happened this week? Oh, it's coming back to me. I haven't been feeling well.

When we applied for our mission we requested a humid area for my air way breathing problems, which we definitely got humidity. Six weeks or so back I've been noticing that I was really struggling to breathe so I'd use my portable humidifier which really didn't make a difference. We tried to locate one here on the island and they'd look at us funny cause who needs a humidifier on a very humid island? I noticed a while later that it really wasn't my airway that was causing the labored breathing it was my lungs. My lungs were heavy and painful and I was so exhausted with hardly any energy to do anything. I had heard about some people developing a condition or something on their missions that stayed with them their whole lives so then I worried about that. Dave and I wondered even if we should be reassigned. I messaged our children and asked them to join us in fasting and praying to know what to do. They then suggested to go to the doctor, which honestly I didn't consider, being in a foreign country etc. We were able to get into a doctor in Trinidad during our trip there for Zone Conference. A lung X-ray , EKG and blood work were done and everything checked out fine. With  that information, knowing I don't have some kind of COPD developing, I can just continue to acclimatize here on the island and I'm confidant I will be good to continue our mission. I did need to come to grips that I am not a young sister missionary with lots of energy and that the Lord is pleased with whatever I can do to serve and I shouldn't let my limitations over take my joy.

Senior couple missions are totally different from the young Elders or Sister missionaries. The only rules we have are: Keep the Commandments and don't do anything to lose your temple recommend. Other than that, you really just make it up as you go seeing what needs to be done and doing it. They really can be as busy and involved as you want or are able. You can rest if you need to and explore the local sites. You can face-time with family as often as you'd like. Your family and friends can visit. You can determine how long you want to be gone; 6, 9, 12, 18, or 23 months. We need senior missionary couples or single Sisters presences in branches and wards all over the world. The current senior missionary participation level is only 30% of the needs of the Church. We need them to mentor new inexperienced local leaders and help them become self sustaining. We need them to show how to minister. We need them to teach music in primaries. We need them to love and teach the youth and young single adults, so the future of the Church will be in good hands. We need senior couples in so many other ways too.

You could choose to snow bird on an island in the Caribbean instead of St George for 6 months and make a huge lasting difference in building the kingdom and helping make disciples of Jesus Christ. Imagine sitting on your porch in your rocking chairs reminiscing about your life and talking about your adventures and experiences in loving and changing peoples lives for the better rather than your golf game or how many cruises you've been on. If you are concerned about leaving children and grandchildren, you are promised that the Lord will take care of them much better than if you were there. You really can go for 6 months at a time and you will stand all amazed at how much you will be able to do with the Lord's help in doing the Lord's work in just 6 short months. Along with helping build the kingdom, you will find yourself becoming more like the Savior in how you think, speak, act and love. Your relationship with your spouse with be refined and you can learn how to become a celestial couple. You will love and treasure this time together. It is a blessing, privilege and honor to wear the name of Jesus Christ over your heart for all to see, and attempt to give back a small offering for all He has done for you.
I hope I have encouraged you all sufficiently that you are ready to get out here and help! 

We taught the second missionary discussion to Angie and Rocky. We challenged her to a baptism date of June 22nd. She said she would think and pray on it. 

Thursday: We flew into Trinidad. Went to the doctor for 3 hours, which included 4 different attempts to get blood....I just had an invigorating thought: When we are resurrected and perfected, we will never have to have blood draws anymore because we won't have blood! That is a happy thought!

Zone Conference was great as always. Our mission is getting smart phones for the young missionaries, so it was all about that and training and preparing them for that privilege. Technology is a very powerful tool in building the Kingdom and is inspired by God but as in most things that are good ie: money, loving relations, food, entertainment etc. Satan also uses them for destructive ends so we do need to prepare and plan how to deal with things that may come our way.

Sunday: I was notified I was speaking in Sacrament meeting late Saturday. Before my mission this would have kept me up all night but now I just get a few thoughts in my mind and pray and get up and speak. I don't claim to be a great speaker but I can discuss a few thoughts, feelings and testify and feel like I did alright. I spoke for 12 minutes and then the only child, a 3 year old boy, in the branch decided to have a melt down and I could see no one was listening anymore and it was time to close.
After church we had our 2nd branch counsel which went fairly well, we think they are starting to understand the purpose. Then we went to administer the Sacrament to Sister Henry. We took Bro. and Sis. George with us. On the way there Sister George realized that Sister Henry hadn't been getting the Sacrament since the last senior couple was here 2 years ago. I think she felt bad about that and suggested that this needed to continue to be done after we are gone. "Perhaps we could take turns weekly" she said. We do need the men leadership to be involved with this but the concept of the branch taking ownership is huge.  Hallelujah! Yes! Missionaries are only there to support not take over. What a break through for this little branch!

 Zone Conference. These gatherings give us such a boost! I probably should have put my shoes on...

 Have to do the goofy shots!

 This was NOT fun! The Doctor was very sorry to have hurt me. 

She told me this doesn't happen to her, ever!

 These trees are in bloom now!  So stunning!

 We came upon another fort to explore

 This is where buck shot was made

 Another lovely secluded beach

 Our kids will be visiting us in January and I think this may be a fun place to jump off....after we explore it and make sure it's safe. I probably won't do it but I can see a few of them trying it....maybe

 We love creatures!

 This is a crab shell. Just like we outgrow our clothes...crabs outgrow their shells.

 So amazing! The crabs are black before. 

 Just. So. Cool!

 This isn't yet ripe to eat and belongs to one of the missionaries. We will need to get one and try it.

Every where we see these flowers, we see these caterpillars. 

These caterpillars were 6 inches long. I kid you not!