The ferry has to go the width of Trinidad (about 50 miles) before heading to the open sea to cover the 20 miles to Tobago. The voyage is two and a half to three hours depending on the sea. The Tobago elders were at the port to greet us. The ZL Elder Guy drove the van out of the ferry and we took the car and picked up the Tobago elders and we all headed to our new apartment. The young men quickly unloaded our stuff and left us to start unpacking and they headed off to explore the island in the van.

What looks like a driveway coming into the apartment is Salandy Street. It goes in front of the apartment and goes back into more housing.

We park in front of the apartment. To the left of the coconut tree are some banana trees that go along side our patio and divide us from the neighbors house.

Actually, they went to visit the branch members because Elder Guy had recently served here for 4 months and wanted to see everyone. Elder Mundy able to convince Janet to let her 15 year old son, Stefan, be baptized, so a baptism was planned for Thursday, Sep 25 in the Atlantic Ocean on the windward side of the island. The Tobago elders had given up on him being able to be baptized because of mom’s resistance.

Janet was given the privilege of picking the beach. We stopped a couple of places and she said the water was too rough; we would need to go on up the coast to a beach by her uncle’s house at Granby Point, since there was a cove where the water would be calmer. She was right, it was perfect. Stefan was baptized with his mom, four elders, and us in attendance. We took Janet and Stefan home afterward up into the middle of the island on some pretty scary, windy roads because the elders had another appointment. They live in a remote spot on the side of a hill by a river that recently flooded their home that is shared by several people other than family members.

Stefan requested that dad be the one to confirm him on Sunday, the 28^th much to our surprise. We were the speakers for sacrament meeting although we had not been officially asked by the branch president. The elders mentioned that he would ask us to speak when we arrived at church on Sunday. The elders have been the speakers for the last few weeks because President Ramkissoon just won’t ask people ahead of time to speak. Sacrament meeting has been known to end very early if the talks were short. Beginning branches are on a 2 hour block with a Sunday school class following sacrament meeting. Our challenge will be to stick to the time allotted for the two meetings and not dismiss early. This actually happened when the mission president was visiting.

Monday night we went with the elders to President Ramkissoon’s home on the other side of the island up and over the hills. We arrived just as the sun was setting over the Caribbean. It was breathtaking. He asked us to move our car a few feet to the left. We didn’t realize that we had parked on a road that goes right in front of his humble dwelling back into the town of Mariah. He is on the corner of two roads. Some of their plants in pots were by our car and Pamela was watering them so we didn’t realize we had crossed a road to the door of their home. We thought it was a path on their property. The ride back was very challenging in the dark.

It took us the rest and much of the next week to get settled. We have been all over our end of the island searching for grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. You find the items you need in the most unexpected places. One of the places we frequent is a store called Stumpy’s. It is a hodge podge of appliances, hardware, bedding, kitchen items, cleaning supplies, tools, and who knows what else. On our second visit, one of the clerks chatted with me and followed me around helping me. She told me she had read the Book of Mormon and found it interesting, but she, was Catholic and indicated she wouldn’t be changing. After we had checked out, she came and asked me to go back to the register. The checker asked if I could get her a King James version of the Bible. I told Anna it may be awhile, but I would get her one.