Senior missions, not what you think.

This has been another fine week. We have been here in Tobago for four months now. When we first arrived, there were 11 people coming to Church so we set out to find the other 91 on the branch roster. After many hours, days, weeks and now months, we have been able to meet, visit with and pin in LDS tools all but 9 member households. That's how we have spent most of our time and now with that accomplished we find ourselves wondering what else we can do. Other Senior couples have young missionaries to watch over and "do" for and perhaps seminary or other classes to teach, we don't have that here. Fortunately, we have had a few teaching opportunities along the way with Elizabeth, Angie, Girley and now Irma to keep us busy and occupied. We are excited to have a second and third baptism in a few weeks. Hopefully, we will get more.

We are in charge of all of the mission housing. and that takes up some time. Since Dave is much more tech savvy than me, he has been going through all 59 contracts with a "fine tooth comb" identifying duplicates and problems such as no signatures etc that go back several years. I can do the tasks needed like get renewal, termination or amended documents created and processed but the other "housekeeping" or organizing of the files is something that Dave is very knowledgeable and thorough, so we make a good team and will leave this assignment, when the time comes, in much better shape.

We have used some of our time with building maintenance. Termite clean up, piano repairs, and AC repairs. With Dave acting as branch clerk, he keeps up on all the ordering of teaching and branch materials. He does all the finances and membership.

Since we got here, we have been assisting in getting two young adults ready for their missions. We are almost ready to submit Sister Leana's papers. We have taken her to the doctor and dentist and waited for many hours as she gets things taken care off. This week she had an extraction that I was able to hold her hand as she got the horrible numbing injections. She is an orphan so we feel so grateful to be able to step in where we can to help.

We have also spent many hours in immigration getting that all figured out as well.

So, with all that said and done, we are finding that we have time on our hands, looking for things to do, so we find things to do that you wouldn't think sound much like a mission, but since it's a Senior mission, almost anything goes, and everywhere we go we are meeting and talking with people about the Church and why we are here in Tobago.

We hiked to the Argyle Falls this week. There are four levels and I could only make it to the third (yeah for me!) and Dave hiked to the top. Another day, we walked along the beach for a 3 mile round trip and I even body surfed in my clothes cause I couldn't resist it. Another day, we took Irma out driving to find the perfect beach spot for her baptism and she treated us to ice cream. We went to the Opening Ceremonies of the Heritage Festival in Tobago and were the only white folks in the auditorium and no one else sat on our row. Not sure how to think about that. We are so intrigued and curious to learn all about this little island and were thrilled when we got to hear the National Anthem of Tobago and see the different dances and traditions of each village portrayed. It was supposed to start at 8 pm but didn't start until 8:40 Caribbean time and finished at nearly 11 pm.

Today, Sunday, the Branch President did not show up or call again. The first counselor was not there either. The second counselor is Brother Murray who is 91 years young and can barely walk but is there every. single. week. It got to be 9:15  so Dave figured he'd better do something so he assigned the prayers and invited the only youth, a brother and sister, in our branch to speak, and gave them "For the Strength of Youth" booklets for them to use. Then he asked me to speak (again) and he spoke (again) Everything was spur of the moment but it went really quite well.  It was also Branch Council Sunday, so Dave conducted that too. Not sure what to do about our AWOL Branch President. On the way home I asked Dave "What would they have done if we had not been there?" We are not here to take over but sometimes it has to be done. What made it an even more joyful Sunday was that Irma was there again and...... Rocky and Angie finally came!  Hallelujah!

 A lovely way to spend a long lunch hour

 The trail head to the Argyle Falls

 For all you chocolate lovers

 They are ripe when they are red

 A lot of the forests are bamboo

 The base of the Falls

 starting the climb up

 pretty rugged trail

 more trail

 Cool flower bud

 and then the bloom

 one of the four different fall levels

 huffing and puffing up the trail

 third level spot

 I decided to get wet

 another view on the way down

 looking down from the third level

 so refreshing!

 second level pool

 not sure of the level....can't keep track

 look at all the fish I swam with! I tried to catch them in my shirt but they are too smart. 

Some of them were at least a foot long

 Leaving the falls

 This is Shawn and he crafts these plaques out of the plentiful bamboo

 This is a sugar cane bowl. They boiled down the cane to get sugar syrup in the slave days.

 Sweet Leana. Almost all ready for her mission

 One of the dances of the villages of Tobago

 another one

 and another

 This is called a "speech band" they stop the music and say a speech and then dance 

and do it again and again.

 This one was my favorite

 tamarind drum band

 The master of ceremonies

 They pass out these meals free of charge for every person after the performances. I've never seen anything like it. There were hundreds of people there. It's a fish sandwich, fruit cake, creamed potatoes, a fruit turnover and some kind of ginger drink.

Captured a double rainbow on our walk around our place

 These are the "bully birds"  Frigate birds. Their wing span is around two feet.  

 Dave loves to make bread

 He added sunflower seeds this time. It was yummy!

 The piano got damaged in the flood they had a little over a year ago.

 Dave asked a member to make the supports and then he put them on

 Particle board does not take kindly to water

 reinforced and repaired

 Palm trees just my size

 cool shells stuck on the log

 Lots of drift wood on the beach on the Atlantic side

 Couldn't resist the waves any longer. Had to get in dress and all

riding waves is one of my favorite things to do. So grateful I can partake as often as I can. 

Another good week!

Another good week gone by. We took our tour to Little Tobago on Tuesday. It wasn't quite what I expected. I thought we would see lots of tropical birds and flowers and going out on the glass bottom boat and snorkeling would let us view lots of different things but it really wasn't like that. The bird of paradise which the island is named for no longer exists on the island because of Hurricane Flora and there isn't any fresh water supply there and the fresh water has to be brought over for whatever birds live there so it's quite a timely maintenance issue. We did take a walk up many cement stairs that had been made to get to the high point of the island. Which I can say I handled like a champ! The view was lovely and we did see some "bully birds" otherwise known as Magnificent Frigate-bird, doing what they do best, and that is to attack other birds to give up the food they just got. It's really something to see. We had seen these birds just along one of the beaches and watched them attack other birds but we didn't know what they were. These are not the same birds that attack us on our walks. The glass bottom viewing was nice but when we stopped to snorkel, the waves were too rough to really get into very much. Dave did try to use his underwater camera but again, the waves were too rough so we'll have to try again....darn it!  :)   We did learn about "trap door" spiders. These spiders dig a perfectly round hole and then make a perfectly round cork like door with a hinge to cover it. If an insect walks by it can feel the vibration and quickly bounce out and capture the bug. Fascinating! Our tour guide pointed out a few of them and then challenged us to find them too. It was very cool. When we got back to the tour van it was discovered that it had a flat tire. We have had several flat tires, four to be exact, since we've been here but they always occur when we are parked and not while we are driving around on these steep, narrow, curvy roads for hours at a time. We again felt very protected that the flat occurred while we were on the boat. For what ever reason he didn't want to change to the spare and discovered a screw had punctured the tire. Instead, he went and asked a scuba instructor to come and fill up the tire with oxygen so he could get us to the restaurant, because lunch was part of the tour and then he would take care of the tire while we ate. The tire was filled and we jumped in not wanting to waste any time, He got us there safely and joined us later. Even though it wasn't what I expected, it was still a very enjoyable day. 

We had two lessons with Irma this week. She is just so ready to be baptized and feels like she has been waiting years to do so. We are hoping July 27th will be a good day. She came to Church today! Everyone remembers her and gave her hugs.

We also got to visit with Nadine and her son Jessie. One of his questions was: If someone passes the sacrament but you know they don't live like they profess to believe, is it still valid for the congregation? Pretty interesting questions for a 14 yr old. We told him Yes. The worthiness of a Priesthood holder is between him and God and his Bishop or Branch Pres. but whatever Priesthood duty he does is still valid because of the Power of the Priesthood, not him personally.  He had more questions dealing with people's behavior and what they confess to believe. Again, we told him that what people choose to do after they make covenants is between them and God and we just need to love them and pay attention to what we do and try not to judge. Unfortunately, it seems like the people that should be  good examples of what a member of the Church is like to this young boy, are showing quite the opposite. But we told him, He can learn by good examples and bad examples. He can choose how to be. Both Dave and I see him as a very strong future leader for Tobago. It may take some years though since he doesn't really have the transport to get him to Church right now.

We spent 5 hours at immigration on Friday. When we finally get in to the office of the official we still needed more copies of this and that but we got it completed and paid for and now we wait another 3 weeks and we should have the visa we need to come, go and stay as we need to. It was quite the exercise in patience. 

 These beautiful children are the grand children of Sister Dookran our RS Pres. The boy on the far right is Adesh. He is the young boy I talked about several weeks ago. Future great leader in Tobago. It was almost like seeing our own grandchildren again because we were 

so happy to see each other and Adesh's smile was so big and he squealed "I remember you!"

 A view of Little Tobago

 The beach getting on the glass bottom boat, unfortunately, the seaweed has invaded this beach

 Our tour guide for the boat and island tour is Randy

 We spotted a sea turtle on our way to the island

 Landing station

 Looking at Tobago from Little Tobago

 This is the home of a trap door spider

 I am amazed at how perfectly round the doors are. Our guide was trying to act

like a bug to get the spider to come out.

 There he is!

 View from one point of Little Tobago

 Path climbing up

 Still climbing on the path

 another view. You can see how bad the seaweed is right now

 There was a nest of hermit crabs on the trail

 The guy in orange is our trip tour guy, Keino. The other guy just brought his guitar and started playing and singing for us. It was great!

 There we just the four of us on the tour with Keino, the other couple is from England. 

They were very pleasant to be with.

 Jemma's Tree house restaurant 

 The view from Jemma's. The seaweed is so thick that the seagulls can walk on it on the water.

 Us waiting at immigration for the 4th and we're hoping, last time

 Dave loves to bake and made some cornbread muffins to take around to the members

 This is a fabulous restaurant we discovered.

 Just look at that beautiful food! 

 It was so yummy too!  A nice change from rice and beans

Seagulls taking a break

Ups and Downs

Interesting week. We have been spending a LOT of time at immigration. We need to get a multiple entry visa extension because every time we leave Trinidad and come back in we have to pay TT $800 or US $120. We don't leave very often but we do have a couple of temple trips planned and perhaps another (we can hope) senior conference to attend to before our time is done and if we get this visa, we only have to pay for it once and we're good. We have to renew the visa in January anyway so this will just take care of it for the rest of our mission. So we waited another 2 hours for the third time on Monday just to have the official say: we didn't have the right photos, and we needed to get a medical including a lung xray. You see, we have seen the very same lady two other times and each time she finds something else we need.... (DOWNER) but as we were waiting, there was a lady with a set of boy and girl twins waiting with us. She asked us if she could talk with us. We said sure. She told us she had been baptized many years ago as was her 14 year old son but neither one of them knew what they had done or what it meant. She said didn't care anymore but her son had been asking her about it and wondered if we would come and talk with him. She gave us her contact info and we made a time to go on Saturday when her son would be home.
After we got turned down again for the visa and needed more stuff, we looked at each other and we knew the Lord had planned it that way and we were pretty happy about it all! (UPPER)

When the Allmans were here last week, they kept trying to get us to meet Sister Irma but the timing never worked out, so before they left they visited with her and gave her our number so we could meet. They told us that Irma loves the Church and has been taught by many sets of missionaries only to be told she couldn't be baptized because she was unmarried, living with a man. Now she is his caretaker because he is not well and they are business partners and live under the same roof.  When we told the Allmans that since there wasn't any inappropriate relationship going on, there wasn't any reason she couldn't be baptized. They were thrilled as was she, so we have started teaching her the discussions again just to make sure she is thoroughly prepared for baptism. (UPPER) She is so happy to be able to be baptized and has a very strong testimony about pretty much everything. She is just a joy! She promised she would be at Church on Sunday..... She didn't make it (DOWNER)

Friday, we had planned to go on another island outing and take a trip to "Little Tobago" which is a small island a short (glass bottom) boat ride away. It is a bird paradise and they stop at a corral reef to go snorkeling on the way. (UPPER) Well, unfortunately, since it is the rainy season, it was raining too hard to be able to go so it was postponed (DOWER) until this coming week.

Saturday: We went to Nadine's (the lady waiting at immigration) home and met her son, Jessie. He had been living with his father and grand parents who are also a members and had questions about what the Church believed since he didn't see them living the way he thought was right. Lot's of Word of Wisdom and dishonesty in getting stuff from the Church. We told him that the people in the Church aren't perfect and they have their agency. We shouldn't judge them but rather love them and then just decide how we want to live by what we believe in. His mother did most of the talking but he seems like a very sharp young man. We asked him to say a prayer before we left and we were very impressed with the sincerity of his prayer (UPPER) We get to go back this next week and talk some more. His mother says she'll have him write down his questions for us.

We felt like we needed to try to meet Alma Grey again. We have been to her home many times and she either wasn't there or she wouldn't let us in. We get to her home and knock and call her name and wait....suddenly the door opens and there she is! (UPPER) She invited us in and we talked for over an hour. She had been hurt by stories and lies from some of the Branch members and said she would never come back. The Allmans went to visit her when they were here and I think they helped soften her heart. She said she felt like The Lord was telling her "Go and worship, let things go," She said she would come to Church on Sunday but not stay for the second hour, she wasn't ready to mingle. We said that's perfect!......she didn't make it....(DOWNER)

In fact, there were only 14 of us in Church today....(DOWNER) Both counselors in the Branch Presidency were there but the President never showed up and never let anyone know why or what. (DOWNER) The 1st counselor asked if anyone had been asked to speak and when we all shook our heads, he gave a great impromptu talk and then asked Dave to take the rest of the time. He did a great job as well. The following is what he talked about:

Today I was pondering on Hebrews 8:12 where the Lord tells us "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." I am grateful for the powerful blessing of repentance in my life. Although the Lord remembers our sins and our iniquities no more, I find it a blessing that we still remember them. I feel that Isaiah may have suggested a particular application in how we might better understand why we are blessed to remember our sins and our iniquities. Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Note the Lord's use of the colors, red, white and scarlet. Then He uses the non-color imagery of "wool" for us to perhaps ponder a deeper meaning. Wool, as we know, was a primary commodity of Isaiah's day and was used extensively for clothing. It comes naturally in a creamy off-white color as well as brown, silver and black, certainly not a pure white color. Perhaps the Lord is helping us understand that, like wool, the lessons we can learn from our sins and iniquities can provide us with a warming "wool" cloak to remind us to not go down that path again. This "wool" cloak can also serve to protect and comfort us from our oft times repeated self condemnation for past repented and forgiven sins and iniquities. This "wool" cloak metaphor can aid in warming our very soul and provide the comforting reassurance that we have truly been forgiven through our Savior's infinite and Atoning grace.

I was very touched by the talks and felt the Spirit in our meeting. We did have part, 3 out of 5, of the Baynes family come to Church for the first time since we've been here! (UPPER) Since it was the 5th Sunday and the Branch Pres. is in charge of that, we decided to show a Church video and then we had a fairly good discussion after. You have to always be on your toes and have something prepared when you are serving a mission. It's a great opportunity to stretch and hopefully serve The Lord in all ways. (UPPER)

 Enjoying the sunshine when we can

 More scenery of the island. We are constantly amazed with how and where they build their homes 

 That curb you see on the left is right next to the front door

 Cashew. The red fruit is eaten. It's kind of spongy but sweet

 Dave decided to roast the nuts

 The shells are incredible hard to crack giving us understanding of why they are a very expensive nut

 The broken one was first. He got better as he continued to crack them. 

 They were pretty yummy!

 Pigeon Point Beach, one of the more famous beaches in Tobago

 They offer wind sailing and water crafts

 Part of the scenery at the Beach 

 This fisherman cleans and guts his fish on the beach. He was amazingly fast at it. 

 Meet Irma. She just sparkles!

 We went to the Botanical Gardens here in Scarborough. This is one of the tree trunks.

 Pretty mean looking. 

 These are the seeds

 Look how long and huge the roots are!

Nature fascinates us!