Church in Sangre Grande

We went to church in Sangre Grande, Trinidad today.

Everyone calls it 'Sandy Grandy'

The road near the church isn't the greatest


But we have our own chapel
(on the left)



Our welcome this morning wasn't the warmest.

Actually it was kind of like walking into a lion's den.

That's because this is transfer week and Elder Shideler, who has been serving very successfully in Sangre Grande for a few transfers, is moving to another branch on Wednesday (transfer day).

There were two hopping mad newly baptized mothers who couldn't believe they were losing THEIR missionary.

They told President Robison what they thought!

Then they cried off and on throughout the meeting.

My husband leaned over and said (with a smile) - "remind me not to visit branches during weeks I am transferring THEIR missionaries."

I like to attend Primary and Young Women whenever I can. Today Samuel the Lamanite (Walker) visited the children


Did you know there are Boise State fans in Trinidad?

(Go Broncos!)

This was the bus loading up to take people home after church


Goodbye to a darling primary girl


We finished the day with one of our regular pre-transfer-week mission home firesides for new members and investigators. Here are a few pictures:

the boss


San Fernando Deacon's Quorum


It really wasn't that boring


Chatting afterward (called "liming' in Trinidad)






Members for three weeks - and so happy!

Tobago

President Robison restarted missionary work in Tobago in March 2007. There are two great missionaries on the island, Elders Guy and Green, and one small branch in Scarborough. It has gradually progressed from one member to about 15-25 attending church. Elder and Sister Ross will start serving on Tobago next month! We went over for two days this week to have a fireside and work with the missionaries.

Tobago is my favorite island in the mission. St Lucia has more stunning beauty but Tobago is close in beauty and I love the fact that it's quiet and un-touristy.

However, we haven't seen much of the island

Maybe someday....

I should have taken more pictures!

But here is a shot of the fireside
the back of Elder Green's head is nice, isn't it? (sorry parents)


And the darling Williams children - just baptized, along with their mother, a few months ago


Here are a few random Tobago shots

Fish market - on a previous visit we bought the best red snapper here I have EVER eaten! It came from the boat to the seller to our table in just a few hours.


Golf by the sea (no - we didn't)


The missionaries say Scarborough (capitol of Tobago) is the only capitol city where chickens walk freely down the main roads.


Beaches, beaches, beaches





There's a white sand, turquoise water beach at Pigeon Point


Along the road in Bacolet, near Scarborough




darling places to stay in Stonehaven Bay


and of course - there's always a beautiful sunset


We love it here!

That's a Crocodile!

I have a wonderful friend named Ruth who lives in Toronto, Canada. She just sent me this email and pictures:

Looks like a giant croc made its way to Canada! Probably hid in the trunk of a snowbird in the spring and got loose in the area. We had the missionaries try to capture it, instead they taught him the gospel and he will now be attending Hamilton 3rd Ward. They will most probably call him as the ward mission leader whereby he will be in charge of teaching....are you ready... The 'gators!!!




I just have one thing to say:


Those are NOT missionaries with a crocodile...


THESE are missionaries with a crocodile!








We do it right in the West Indies!

Don't worry Moms - I think all of the crocodiles (actually caymans) are way past the ability to do any harm.

And the Elders were not the ones who trapped the Caymens - they just like to hold them and act brave.

This little guy (the lizard, not the missionary), looks a bit safer

Whites and Mortons

The West Indies Mission is a unique mission. I am pretty sure we have more couples serving here than in any other proselyting mission in the world. We currently have 23 couples. They are wonderful and we are convinced that they are the reason the work is going so well here and we are close to having the first stakes in Trinidad and Guyana. They watch over the elders, find and teach people, and train, retain, and activate members. They also do extremely important work in the mission office (thanks Colemans and Rosses!) That may be be the hardest mission of all. President Robison actively recruits couples to serve in the West Indies. To learn more, look at the sidebar of this blog.

We sadly said goodbye last night to the Whites (far end of table), a great couple who served most of their mission in Georgetown Guyana with a final month in St Vincent. At the same time, we welcomed the Morton's (middle left) who will be serving in Trinidad.



Last week we said farewell to the McGhies (right and left of President Robison). They are now cruising the Mediterranean!

Green things!

This is what we found in our backyard underneath the banana trees today

(hint - click on the picture to make it larger and you will see three of them)

Dream of the Temple

I try to add Success Stories from the missionaries daily, if possible, to my WIM website. This one was so special that I thought I would share it here.

Elders Palmer and Risenmay - Trinidad (written by Elder Palmer)
Things are looking GREAT in our Area. We have seen so many miracles these past couple of weeks, I don't have enough time, paper, or energy to write about hardly any, but one in particular stands out from this last week. We met a woman who is named Valerie, a Christian by Birth, but a convert to Islam. Her late Husband died five years ago, and she has lived a life of depression, fear, and anxiety ever since. The second time we met with her she told us about a dream that she had a few years ago in which she saw her husband dressed completely in White in a most beautiful garden. She watched him for a while and finally he came over to her, opened a closet filled with white clothes and said.... "Pick a white dress and come live with me in Eternity." She replied to her Husband.... "Only God can choose that." ..... We were amazed and began to tie things into the temple immediately, For the next few minutes as I bore a solid, sincere testimony on Temples, the Spirit filled the air unlike I've ever before felt! Tears of joy came to Valerie’s eyes...... but this is not the end of the story! The next day we came back with pictures of several different Temples. This time Valerie opened up even more to us and began to describe her dream in vivid detail in which her Husband sat down and said "before they could go to Paradise, she needed to watch a movie!" She went on mentioning three distinct rooms, walking dressed in white next to someone whose face she did not recognize, and seeing the colors pink and light blue over and over again. Anticipating the moment I handed her a picture of the "Terrestial Room- Salt Lake Temple." Her face lit up as she exclaimed.... "Yes this is it, these are the curtains..... and the exact same pews we sat in!" I couldn't believe it, nor can I still..... this Sister named Valerie has basically seen the inside of the Temple before she is even Babptized.... and better yet, her Husband is telling her to "come enjoy Paradise with him!" When we committed her to be Baptized, holding back tears she exclaimed.... "Well I guess I'm going to have to!"

Guyana Buses and Trucks

It is entertaining to drive down the streets of Guyana - or I should say - to be driven.

I love the sights but I feel for the senior couple drivers.

This tour it was Elder Evans who drove us around and he did great! I loved watching Sister Evans sweetly pat his arm when a temporarily terrifying moment occurred instead of screeching loudly, as I might have done if I had been sitting in the co-pilot's seat. He did say that his arm gets worn out after a day's driving.

A fun sight are the sayings painted on trucks and buses. I was surprised at first that so many of them are religious, but as I got to know the Guyanese I realized they are faithful people.

Here are a few I was able to catch this week:

"Don't die blond" - I'm not sure where this thought came from (not many blonds in Guyana)


"Don't take worries...& give God troubles"


"Stay focused" - excellent advice


"Innocent"


"Biblical Fact"


And our very favorite


HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!