Tender Mercies

Dad and David strolling down the beach .

President Robison was here for a fireside on Thanksgiving and mentioned his friends David and Ruth Jarvis and there was a possibility they might need a ride to church. They called on Saturday and we arranged to pick them up at 9:25 am. In the meantime, Elder Barton got very sick, but insisted on coming to church. We couldn't decided if we should make them stay home, except President Ramkissoon had called and said he couldn't get to church because of a land slide. Brother Estrado was still in Trinidad. George was teaching Primary and I was teaching seminary at 9:00 and speaking on FHE. We needed someone to teach the other 2 Sunday School classes so we decided we had better go pick them up for church. He dropped me off at 8:45 to get the church ready and teach seminary. He picked up the Jarivis couple then went to get the elders. Brother Jarvis helped set up. Sister Ramkissoon was a speaker and couldn't get there, so we asked the Jarvis's to speak and bear their testimony. We had an attendance of 19. My talk on FHE was heard by Sister Dookran who already does it each week. The couples for whom it was created were not in attendance.
George took the missionaries home while I cleaned up and Brother Jarvis took down the sacrament. We then took the Jarvis's to the Plantation Villas and came home and crashed.

The Jarvis's were unable to attend the Sunday the Green's were here, but they called us on Monday and invited us to a walk on the beach and lunch. We thouroughly enjoyed our visit with them.

Here is a fisher (pelican) waiting for lunch to appear.

We are like these fishermen trying to gather our catch. Some Sundays we are successful and others we are not. Sometimes we bring in a full net and other times it is almost empty. I felt like my net was empty after preparing a personalized lesson on FHE and not having those in attendance it was intended for. However, I was blessed in the preparation and felt the spirit as I prepared. I had only one student for part of the lesson time for seminary. Again, I grew from the preparation of the lesson.

These fishermen can be seen on the beach most days pulling in their catch.

Ruth and David Jarvis from Canada

Super Saturday

Elder and Sister Green came to Tobago to assist with a Super Saturday on December 6 for our 4 seminary students, Theresa, Linda, Stefan, and Janelle. But before the event, we took them to Stone Haven to our favorite beach. We looked for crabs (crawling on the rock) and watched little fish swim in the small pools of water in the rocks. We swam and played in the Caribbean Ocean.

We took a drive onto Arnos Vale and walked up to the lodge where they have tea each afternoon at 4:00 pm and feed the birds. We were there about 3:00 and took some pictures of the hummingbirds and bananaquits, which are in abundance. You have to be careful as they dive bomb right past your ears and you think you are being attacked for sure by the whirring of the wings. We saw the most beautiful green hummingbirds and so really dark ones with several iridescent colors.



Who could resist taking pictures of the beautiful flowers that bloom in the shade of the bamboo and other forest trees.





The beach was empty of people except one lone snorkeler. It was a beautiful calm day. It is just the beginning of the tourist season there and won't remain peaceful for long as the rooms are booked starting in a couple of weeks.

The evening was spent wandering through the Botanical Gardens that have been decorated for Christmas. There were lots of families viewing the beauty of the lights and lots of liming going on. We ran into a young man, Kevin, who worked on the cabinets in our apartment. He was headed back home to Guyana for a couple of months.




Our Super Saturday had a turnout of 2 seminary students, the elders, the Greens and us. We had a fun time playing games and eating pizza from Chaio's. The Green' did a awesome job of helping us learn our scripture mastery scriptures.

They attended church with us, which helped our numbers for fast Sunday reach 29. We missed the Jarvis couple (friends of President Robison) or we would have had 31. His back was bothering him. We took them to the airport Sunday evening and they plan a repeat in late February.

Coleman's visit Tobago

We met the Coleman's at the Tobago airport on Thursday, Dec 11 and headed out for bake and shark at Store Bay. Alas, they were out of shark. Next stop, Bonkers for lunch. We went to the Botanical Garden's to see the Christmas lights. It was a gorgeous evening with a big, beautiful full moon.




Snorkeling at Arnos Vale wasn't great because the waves were big and stirred the sand so much that the water was sandy and the bottom wasn't visible. It had been awesome the day before according to someone else who was disappointed in the rough water as well. Sister Coleman asked permission to take a dip in the pool before we left. We sipped fruit drinks by the pool while she indulged in a quick swim. We enjoyed the quiet, peaceful surrounding of the grounds and took lots of pictures of the flowers and trees.

We did go back to the Kiosks for bake and shark the next day, but it wasn't as good as Richard's at Maracus Bay. It is all in the bake; it needs to be light and airy. It was fun to walk around the Store Bay shops and walk by the swim beach and watch the people.

Our big night out for dinner was spent at Me Shell's since no one else starts serving dinner until 7 or 7:30 pm. We enjoyed the meal and the conversation.

We met the elders in Scarborough at Caio's famous Italian pizza place for lunch after the baptism. It has thin crust and isn't greasy like much of the pizza we usually consume. It was very good! Ham and pinneapple, of course.

The Coleman's attended church with us and were the speakers in sacrament meeting. They shared their wonderful conversion story that touches my heart each time I hear it. It is a perfect example of fellowshipping someone into the gospel.

We fed them lunch and whisked them off to the airport to return to Trinidad. They leave for home (Queen Creek, AZ) on Tuesday. They are a great couple who were a wonderful support to us as we learned the ropes in the mission office.

Baptism in the River

Elder and Sister Coleman had come for a visit before they leave for home on Tuesday. Brother Burris asked that Elder Coleman do the baptism, which thrilled him to end his mission with a baptism after spending several months in the mission office. They are hiking down to the river where the baptism will be held.

Grandpa was waiting for everyone to arrive and he was enjoying the beauty of the spot when James and John decided to join him. The three of them chatted, unaware we were watching!

The baptismal font

Brother Burris on the way to his baptism. He is going to be a strength to the branch.

Theresa, 16, was baptized in this same place in September. She is a seminary student. Anderson just turned 2 and Alicia Williams has been a member since January. She, too, was baptized in this same place, she is the mom of the family.

James, a friend, John, Alicia, Anderson, Brother Burris (father of Anderson), Theresa

December 13, 2008

Elder Barton, Elder Coleman, Brother Burris, Elder Marshall

Heading back to the car and visiting along the way.

Questions from the Virginia Rosses

Here are some questions asked by the Virginia Rosses:

1) Why do we need to pray for Grandma and Grandpa every night? Are we just repeating the same thing over and over?

I really hope you will continue to pray for us every night. We need your prayers to do our best work and to be safe and happy! Don’t stop. Now, as to what or how you pray, that could make all the difference. If you just say, “Please bless Grandma and Grandpa.” That could become what the scriptures tell us is “vain repetition.” But if you ask Heavenly Father specifically how you want Him to bless us, it becomes much more powerful.

For example, you might say, “Please bless G and G to be safe while traveling in Tobago.” Or, “Please help G and G to find people who are ready to hear the truth of the gospel.” Or, “Please help Grandma to cook delicious meals for Grandpa.” (that last one was a joke.) But I hope you see what I mean.

You see, as you pray, you can receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost on what you should ask for. He knows what we need most at any given moment. So, listen to the still small voice and pray as it directs you. If you think about it, you can sort of be connected to how we are doing and what we need on our mission by listening to the Spirit.

2) (Sam and Jack) "Has God the Father has ever stepped foot on the earth. He has appeared before to Joseph Smith, but he was in the air above him.” Jack came back with an answer saying, “No unclean thing can be in the presence of God. When the Earth is Celestial then he can stand on it." to which Sam said "Joseph was not clean, he sinned, he wasn't even baptized yet and he was in God’s presence."

Understand that God is able to come to Earth whenever He wants to. However, I agree with Jack that He doesn’t touch the Earth because it is not yet Celestialized. But remember, it is people who are unclean because of sin. The problem is for man to be in His presence. For that to happen, a man must be “transfigured.” Look in the first two pages of the Book of Moses. It gives a little insight into this amazing process. Also, consider what happened to Joseph Smith when he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. It took more for just standing in the air for Heavenly Father to communicate with Joseph. I believe the process of transfiguration was used there as well. Think of it as a kind of insulation or protection for man so that God’s presence will not destroy him.

Now all you Rosses: Take a look at my answers to Jack, Sam and Blake. Can you give more insight? I bet you can.

My Little Surfer Boy

He did awesome for his first time!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving happened, but we really missed being with family. A couple of weeks ago our branch president requested that I bake him an apple pie and he would pay me to do it. We had already invited the missionaries to spend Thanksgiving with us so we added the Ramkissoon's to the list. Thursday morning I also invited our landlady, Celia, when I discovered she was alone because Angelo had gone to Trinidad. She is from England but thought we should be thankful all year and was delighted to join us.

We started shopping a couple of weeks out since it is hard to find items when you want it. We found a Butterball turkey breast, which was awesome (I bought 2, one for Christmas). I had to use butter to make the pie crust, Martha Stewart's recipe. I made two and they were very good. I, too, made snail rolls, but without my recipe and tried a similar on off the Internet. They bombed! They were like rocks! Even the missionaries admitted they were terrible. Luckily, I had purchased some wheat rolls from the store, just in case. Of course, we had to have frog eye salad. I could find only one can of mandarin oranges, but I did find mini marshmallows. We did a half recipe and it was a hit.

Dinner was scheduled for 4:00. Everyone was late to dinner so we ate, stacked the dishes, and headed to the branch for a fireside at 6:00 pm with the mission president. The turnout was terrible, so the president regrouped. He met with us, the branch pres and his wife and one elder. Sister Robison met with one elder and the kids who showed up without parents. I made cookies and Rice Krispy Treats. By the time we were ready to eat, ants had taken over the plate of RK treats, so we had cookies. Yes, I was baking and preparing for 2 days!