It is amazing that we have been here in Trinidad for 4 weeks. The learning curve has been huge and I am not sure we are there yet. We have been overwhelmed with all that we have had to learn, plus deal with the language difference. We often have to ask people to repeat what they said, or to please slow down. They talk extremely fast and drop sounds, substitute sounds, use slang, and all with a British accent.
We serve in the office, which is an extremely busy place. Five couples, two assistants to the president, plus the mission president have space in the office area we rent on the second floor of the Valpark Shopping Plaza. We don’t go home for lunch because parking spots are gone after 10 am! We overlook the parking lot and can see the mountains in the distance out our windows. We are currently in the rainy season, which is five months of the year. It is awesome to watch the rain come down in torrents for 15-20 minutes and suddenly stop. Last week during a rain storm, a huge lightning bolt struck near the parking lot setting off a dozen car alarms. We all rushed to the window to see if it might be our car.
The West Indies Mission is the highest baptizing mission in the Church. The goal for this year is 2008. We are on target for at least 1500. Guyana provides 70% of the baptisms at this time. We have over 3,000 members in Trinidad. July 5th we are applying to become a stake here and also for one in Guyana. Our area president will be here next week to visit and hopefully put his stamp of approval on the request. This week he is visiting Guyana to observe the work there. It is certainly exciting times for the area.
The people in Trinidad are wonderful and have well grounded testimonies and knowledge of the gospel principles. We feel like they are ready for this next step. The ultimate goal is to have a temple here in Trinidad. They are in the Caracas Venezuela temple district, but for political reasons they have to go to the temple in the Dominican Republic, which is a hardship for all of the members. There is only one high priest on the island, which means all the senior men here on missions are the presiding authority in their respective branches. Stakehood will produce many high priests; give them a patriarch and someone from their country as the stake president. Currently the mission president functions as the stake president.
George and I sit at the front desk to field questions for the traffic that comes through as well as answer the phones. We receive all the incoming emails to the mission and route them to the appropriate areas, all while trying to accomplish our assigned tasks for the functioning of the mission. George enters 30-50 baptisms each week with all the pertinent information into two different data bases, creates and sends various required reports to Salt Lake. He is responsible for all the apartment inspections in the mission. All of this has been a challenge for someone who has always been able to shut himself in his office and complete his tasks without interruption.
I have become a travel agent. Not only do I arrange all the flights, but have to be sure there is someone to pick them up, drop them off, etc. We have 126 elders and 25 couples in the mission. Every 6 weeks are transfers and most of the elders need plane tickets to fly from one island to another. New elders come to the mission and about an equal amount goes home. The mission president and his wife travel constantly and the AP’s travel quite a bit as well. Much of the time “you can’t get there from here” and I need to book them on 2 different airlines!
George is the executive secretary to the district president and assisting in the paperwork to become a stake. They hold their meeting at 6:30 a.m. on Saturdays. (He could be out of a job in August if we become a stake). We are teaching the Temple Preparation class during Sunday School. That has been a total pleasure! Now that lesson 6 is completed, we will start with teacher development lessons, until another group is ready for the Temple Preparation class.
The couples here are wonderful. We have a lot in common, and they have been a great support to us while we are getting acclimated to the mission life and the crazy driving.
No comments:
Post a Comment