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!