All duded up!

Meet some of the members of Point Fortin branch as they arrived at what was advertised as a fireside in San Fernando, a ward building that is a one-hour ride from their home. Wow, look how fancy they all look!

From Nov2009

As you may have noticed, most are wearing new dresses for the occasion. Even Frank, our rasta man, in the back has new duds on.

Unfortunately, the satelite broadcast of the fireside never worked and these members from Point Fortin were the only ones to show up.

What's the saying, "All dressed up with nowhere to go?". I'm thinking that is how they were feeling.

So, on their way back home, they soothed their disappointment with a stop at KFC for some fried chicken and fries.

Speaking of being all dressed up, notice the drastic change in Frank, our rasta man with the dreadlocks who was baptized nearly one month ago. In the photo below he has just returned from church and he is looking like a real gentleman, wouldn't you say?

From Nov2009

As for the next trio of elders, they were all in need of haircuts and I happen to have some hair clippers, a necessity for all couple missionaries.

Elder Lang was the first to don my flowered skirt as a drape and trust me to trim away his locks.

If you notice the hair on his lap, you'll realize his haircut is finished.

From Nov2009

Now it's Elder Vance's turn.

From Nov2009

Elder Powers was the last. Is he looking skeptacle or is he sneering at me because he has to wear my flowered skirt? Hmm, I'll have to think about that one.

From Nov2009

By the third haircut I was feeling a little bored of cutting hair so decided to see how I could liven things up. "Yes," I thought, "I'll just start by cutting it in a mohawk. Why not?"

From Nov2009

All is well that ends well. It looks like they're all happy and satisfied with their haircuts.

From Nov2009

They'd better be...they were free!

Sweet Memories of Guyana

I just found these photos of Sister Hymas, Sister Leishman, and I.

From Drop Box

I was about to take the two of them along with Elder Leishman on a little visiting stroll down the dirt roads and paths of Cow Dam in rural Guyana.

It was Sister Leishman's first visit to our part of Guyana and she was disappointed it wasn't raining because she wanted to see what it was like to jump and wade through the mud puddles wearing tall rubber boots.

So, we took a photo as if we were going to wear them.

Actually, the sun was shining and the mud was all dried up. But, we had fun visiting our great members and even saw an alligator on the way.

From Drop Box

Working through the fix-its

What does a set of couple missionaries do when their TV and microwave won't work and they live in a town that seems almost pre-electronics age?

Well, of course, you drive out to a cute little house in the country, far from anything, and yell, "Inside...I have a broken TV...can you fix it?"

From Nov2009

Well, this isn't exactly what we did...but almost! Our branch president, Pres. Mohammed, directed the way to the house of his longtime friend, Heydon, who repairs appliances.

From Heydon, on the right, we learned that our branch president's longtime nickname was Plug. Does that mean we call him President Plug? The name has a great ring to it...don't you think?

From Nov2009

If you'll notice in the photo above, there are no stairs to Heydon's front door. I've wondered how he's able to jump onto his porch each time he wants to go inside his house. The elders insist there are some in the back that are covered with stuff but I don't believe them because I've never seen them.

Here is the house of Heydon's sister, one of his only three neighbors.

From Nov2009

And here is his driveway as we turned to leave.

From Nov2009

Radio Shack is everywhere!

Do missionaries love dogs?

Well, yes, if they are behind a big tall fence with a strong gate that is locked!

Missionaries even preach to them a little from the Book of Mormon when there seems to be noone else that is anxious to hear their message.

From Nov2009

Does Elder Bullock seems to be getting a favorable reaction from these two fiery pit bulls?

From Nov2009

But, occasionally one of the uncaged variety of dogs darts out from the blue...or from the side of their loving master...and takes a little bite out of one of the elder's ankles...as you see pictured below.

From Nov2009

If you look closely at the photo of Elder Josiah Jones' ankle, you'll notice two half moons where the jaws of a sweet little dog clamped down with his teeth and tasted a bit of Elder Jones' blood. You'll, also, notice a few bug bites on his ankle which isn't unusual in these parts!

Of note: Elder Jones' new missionary pants are now sporting a small rip...actually the rip is definitely counted as a badge of courage to the owner of the pants!

On with the story...

The dog ran off never to be identified nor quarantined which seemed to say to the mission nurse, Sister Ellison, "Elder Jones must have the anti-rabies series of shots so he doesn't run any risk of getting rabies!" I wondered if that meant he might start foaming at the mouth and growling at his contacts if he didn't get the shots. Hmmm....

Well, to be on the safe side, we rushed him 3 hours to the north of the island to Port of Spain so he could begin the series of 7 anti-rabies shots. We heard the shots were very unpleasant, perhaps even given right in the stomach through the belly button with a three-inch-long needle. "Oh, poor Elder Jones", we all thought.

After a 30 minute visit with the doctor, Elder Jones, emerged looking as if he had bravely withstood the injection. When we asked him to describe it, he assured us it was as we had previously heard...a three inch needle right to the belly button. I was horrified!

Suddenly, the corners of his mouth began to twitch and to turn to a giggle. And this is what I saw...

From Nov2009

Guess what? Here's what he learned from the doctor. There are no dogs with rabies in Trinidad. Therefore, no anti-rabies shots are necessary. Was I gullible or what?

So, what better thing could we do than to celebrate by eating an overdue lunch at Ruby Tuesdays on our ride back to Point Fortin.

Funny thing...to this day, Elder Jones is still telling everyone he had that big long needle shot right through his navel.

And all the other elders are as gullible as I was!

Missionary Mondays

Monday is preparation day.

It is the day the elders "are supposed to" clean their apartments, do their wash, shop for their groceries, write letters home and take a few minutes to rest and relax. By 6 pm they are supposed to be back in their white shirts and ties doing what they do best...looking for someone who will listen to their message of the restoration.

From 11-09

Most Mondays the 14 elders in our zone come for lunch at our apartment. I cook for them because I know the rest of the week they eat mostly peanut butter sandwiches and Mac and Cheese.

Some of the meals I've fixed for them are burritos, homemade pizzas, enchiladas, spaghetti, hamburgers, and bbq chicken sandwiches. Sound yummy? Of course! And I always make 1-2 yummy desserts.

I assure you they all go home with their bellies full and happy.

Sometimes before lunch they play basketball. Last week they came prepared to play but when they were ready to play, it seemed noone had brought the basketball. They didn't seem too disappointed...especially because it was pouring rain outside.

So, after they sprawled out on my bed and laughed a while, they decided to play a little dominoes... (Elders Toupou from Australia, Rosalies from Guatemala, Beeson from the States, and Ali from Guyana)

From 11-09

They were so anxious to eat they decided 11 am was a great time for lunch. So, they began early to stuff themselves with enchiladas and lots of ice cream and cookies...(Elder Lang)

From 11-09

Anyone else care for a chocolate chip cookie?

From Nov2009

They exchanged photos with each other with the help of my computer... (the newest Elder Jones)

From 11-09

And, glued pictures on the covers of their planners... (a different Elder Jones and Elder Winzenreid)

From 11-09

The faces on Elder Jones' planner cover are of our mission president, President Gamiette, along with his wife and 5 children.

Some of these planner covers are really creative. Check out this one with a picture of the famous anaconda on it.

From 11-09

Last week they played basketball for a couple of hours in a downpour. When they arrived at my house they were all sopping wet, so they all showered at our apartment and dried their wet clothes in our dryer.

It must be almost 6 pm because Elders Lang and Jones are back in their missionary duds and ready to get back to work. These two live close by us and we spend a lot of time going with them to their appointments. They're teaching us how to be proselyting missionaries.

From 11-09

At our zone meeting later in the week I was able to photo all their works of art (their planner covers)at the end of the meeting. I liked their feet as they admired their handiwork. Can anyone find my big toe?

From Nov2009

Here's a little glimpse of the whole zone at an all-you-can-eat pizza lunch at Pizza Hut after the meeting. If you have a son in the Trinidad South Zone, look for him in the photo gorging himself on pizza?

From Nov2009

This is a flyer one of the elders had with him. It was advertising something at the Catholic church. Does anyone notice anything familiar about it?

From Nov2009

I Love Palm Trees

Which photo is best? I couldn't decide.

We took a little drive to the southwestern tip of Trinidad and this is what we saw.

From 11-09

We could see Venezuela faintly in the distance out across the ocean.

From 11-09

What makes a coconut tree want to lean?

From 11-09

Did you ever want to paint palm trees? I think about it once in a while!

From 11-09

This view looks too perfect to be real!

From 11-09

Zone Conference

The perfect cinnamon roll

From 11-09

I learned the afternoon before zone conference that the sister who was in charge of the mid-morning snack for zone conference was sick.

Well, I wasn't going to let the elders starve to death as they sat through the all-day conference, so, all that afternoon I baked. I baked a whole lot of cinnamon rolls...enough for the whole zone conference of 64 persons.

I baked 8 loaves of pumpkin bread and chocolate banana bread.

And, I baked 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies. Well, enough of that!

From 11-09

The cinnamon rolls looked awesome and were gone in a flash! They must have tasted as good as they looked!

From 11-09

The zone conference was fabulous. We learned a lot and it was great to be together with all the missionaries we love so much.

Here's our zone. Elder Bullock jumped in the photo just before me and jumped right in front. So, where else could I plop but right by his side. My blouse was rain soaked because I was the one taking most of the pictures...and standing in the rain to do so!

Notice our mission president, President Gamiette, who is the one standing at the far right of the photo. He looks young enough to be one of the elders. He is about 40. The elders think he is like the energizer bunny because he can accomplish so much and never seems to run out of steam.

From 11-09

I caught a few choice photos of President Gamiette telling how he fell in love with his wife.

For several years he had wondered and prayed about how he'd ever the right girl to marry. When he got home from his mission, he began to really search for her in earnest. He went out with every girl from his island in the Carribean, Guadaloupe. He knew he hadn't found her yet.

From 11-09

Then one day, he learned of a beautiful returned missionary who was visiting his island and her uncle introduced them. He liked her immediately. She had all the qualities he was looking for.

He must have been describing how much he immediately loved being with her and how pretty she was as I snapped this photo.

From 11-09

He asked her to marry him one week after they met. Wow! That was fast! Six weeks later they were married.

From 11-09

The elders were enthralled hearing him tell of their courtship. Hopefully, we'll get to hear his wife's version one day, also!

Lunch arrived 2 hours late. It was a small dob of potato salad, some lentils, bbq'd chicken and rice.

From 11-09

See the hungry elders eat.

From 11-09

From 11-09

From 11-09

After lunch, our zone was responsible to provide the musical number. Here we all are singing "Scripture Power" as we slapped our Book of Mormons.

From 11-09

Here's some of our favorite missionary friends with whom we've served...Elders Ence and Bryan.

From 11-09

Elders Cotton and Weiderhold.

From 11-09

Elders Lee and Ence.

From 11-09

Elders Powers and Vance.

From 11-09

Elders Toupou and Winzinreid (and Rosales in the back).

From 11-09

Elders Chambers and Rosales (our zone leaders).

From 11-09

Elders Clark and Carter

From Drop Box

And of course, Elders Jones and Lang. I can't believe you pulled that face, Elder Lang!

From 11-09

And a shot of us in the kitchen!

From 11-09

We stopped by the mission office before we left for home. Check out the board of all the new elders and those that just left for home.

From 11-09