Hidden Blessings

This is Sister Shirts in the flesh typing this blog post. I am home on medical leave to figure out why I am sick. They think it is either an ulcer or something wrong with my gallbladder. As soon as it is taken care of I will be back in Trinidad ready to work.

It was really hard when President Mehr called and strongly encouraged me to go home to get it taken care of so I am not sick my whole mission. Naturally I was really discouraged and reluctant to come home but on the airplane ride to Utah I thought of all the hidden blessings that are coming from it. Seeing my family, seeing my friends, restocking supplies for my mission and countless other blessings. It would take a lot of space on my blog to write them all.

We have already seen the Lord's hand in the process. The doctor wanted me to get an enteroscopy and it usually takes around 3 weeks to get an appointment. I was able to get in tomorrow morning. It is amazing the miracles that can happen. I know I am needed in the West Indies and I am getting help from heaven to get there back as soon as possible so I can work.

Picking me up from the airport

Still Working Hard In Trinidad

Good Afternoon Everyone,

We had a great week.  We were able to take a member with us to some of our appointments and she enjoyed it.  She is about 23 and is married.  She has been a member for about 3 months and loves going out with the missionaries.

Our car is still making strange noises even though we have taken it in twice.  Apparently Bob doesn't know what he is doing because the car isn't fixed yet.  It sounds like we are dragging a dog behind us.

We had a lot of funny things happen to us this week.  We saw a smashed iguana, we picked up a sister from the airport who is from Guyana and is going to St. George Utah, caught a maxi to family fun night, made jello at midnight (twice), and had pepper starfruit.

It is hard to believe another transfer is finished.  I will be staying in Curepe Trinidad with Sister Edmonds this next transfer.  Transfer #3.  We know our area pretty well now so we will be able to make a lot of progress.

Time to brag about the Monsons.  We have an amazing senior couple.  They have helped us out a lot and I am grateful for everything they have done for us.  They are funny, caring, loving, and just all around amazing people.  I am glad they are the senior couple of the area.

Success story:  We are teaching a young lady named Asha.  She is 21 and has a lot of good questions.  Last time we met with her we shared about how she is a daughter of God and that Heavenly Father loves her.  She said she didn't know that and she was glad we told her.

We had Stake Conference yesterday.  It was held in the Port of Spain Chapel and was broadcast everywhere else by satellite like we do in the states.  It was great.  President and Sister Mehr talked about the importance of fasting and everyone learned a lot.  Stake conference here is different.  In the states the chapel is filled when it is over satellite but here we weren't even half full.  Part of it is a lot of people went to the Port of Spain chapel.  Also the church is still new to Trinidad so some don't realize the importance of stake conference.

Thanks for all your support.  I am working hard and have seen blessings and miracles because of your prayers.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Two Lane Road?  Looks more like a bike trail

Trinidad beach

Giant Snail

Sister Shirts and Sister Edmonds at Port of Spain, Trinidad

View At The Beach

Unofficial Pet Dog (belongs to the landlady)

Creatures In The Apartment

Apartment

Apartment

Outside Laundry Area

Funny Name for a Restaurant

Guy sleeping in a hammock right off the main highway

Now she knows why they won't go out in the rain...

Hello Everyone,

This week has been pretty normal.  Earlier this week it rained a lot and we were trying to find an investigators house.  We had found her in the area book and we had a first appointment.  It was pouring and we had to walk around for a long time because we had no idea where it was.  We forgot our umbrella in our apartment and eventually we found it.  We called in and guess what... she wasn't even home.  Oh well it was an adventure.  We got soaked.  Apparently the West Indians are right about the rain giving people colds because I have had a cold ever since that day;).

We had zone conference and it was really good.  I learned a lot from President Mehr and Sister Mehr.  We were able to see them at church because they attend our ward.  President gave a talk about keeping the Sabbath day holy and fasting.

Our car had problems again so we finally got everything fixed.  Luckily it only took a few days and the mission had an extra car we could use.

The Bishop's family fed us roti on Monday night and it was delicious.  We took them over jello cake because their daughter loves jello and cake so we thought we would introduce them to it.  They said it was divine.

The other night I was upstairs asleep on the couch (the medicine I was taking for an ulcer did that a lot) and Sister Edmonds was downstairs waiting for the nightly call.  When they finally called she felt something crawl over her foot and tried not to scream so she wouldn't wake me up.  It was a huge cockroach in our kitchen.  She sprayed it with bug spray like crazy.  The only reason I know about it is I woke up in the middle of the night to get a drink and saw a cockroach.  She told me about it the next morning and we laughed so hard.  I have a picture attached.

Our success of the week:  once again getting less actives to church.  We have been working with a young couple a lot lately.  We go over and read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with them and we discuss it.  They are great and always do the assigned reading.  They have amazing spiritual insights and we come away learning something new every week.  Well they finally came to church on Sunday and we were very excited to see them there.  They needed to take that next step.

Heavenly Father blessed us a lot this week and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve here in Trinidad.

Love,

Sister Shirts

A rainy day

Cockroach

Funny Text Message (the sender meant to say mormon not moron)

Yep!  Another rainy day

Finding Many to Teach!

Good Afternoon,

This week was amazing.  Heavenly Father blessed us a lot this week.  We met a lot of people (we had 46 contacts) and taught a lot of lessons.  We had trade offs again but this time Sister Edmonds went to Chaguanas and Sister Jex came here.  It was a holiday so every one of our appointments canceled.  We went through our area book and called a lot of people and then went tracting.  It was hard work but it was fun.  Sister Jex has been out almost one transfer so I got to show her how to use the area book.  When we were tracting there was an ice cream man with a bunch of kids gathered around.  He called out to us and asked us to share a message with all the kids (about 10 of them).  We talked about Joseph Smith and how he was young when he prayed.

On Saturday we took one of the members out with us.  She is eighteen and is preparing to serve a mission.  She is over the YSA (young single adults) in the ward so we took her to our investigators who are that age.  We got doubles with her because they are cheap and delicious (I talk about them every week).  We were able to eat lunch for about $2.66 USD for three people and be filled.

Cool experience for the week:  We were tracting in an area and we contacted a house.  We talked to the person and found out they were not that interested but their neighbor might be.  So we went to the neighbor and they said the same thing.  Then a car went up the street and they said we should go talk to that family and we did.  They are interested and we have already gone over a few times to teach them.

This week was great.  Thanks for all the support.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Trinidad sunset

Doubles (again)

Outside the apartment

A New Companion and New Adventures

Hello Everyone,

This week has been crazy.  I have a new companion named Sister Edmonds.  She is from Utah and has been on her mission for six months and she served in St. Lucia for that time.  She is great and I am learning a lot from her already.  She has a lot of experience and a really strong testimony. We are going to do great things in Curepe, Trinidad.

Funny but not so funny story:  We had interviews on Thursday and we got a flat tire.  Luckily we were still at the mission home and President Mehr changed it for us but the car fell off the jack and it made funny noises for a few days.  We finally got it fixed yesterday.  We were blessed that it happened while we were with President because Sister Gossard and I had been sick and there is no way we could have changed the tire.

For P day we went to the beach with the other Elders in our district and we spent a few hours there.  Sister Edmonds tried shark and I will get to try it next time.

Trade offs in Chaguanas was fun.  I learned a lot while working with Sister Jewell.  We had a lot of good appointments.

Success story:  We are still working with an elderly couple and we were able to involve their grandson in the lesson this time.  We left him a commitment to read the first page of the Book of Mormon and he said he would.  We are really excited for him.

I am really glad I have this opportunity to serve a mission.  I have learned a lot about prayer and relying on the Savior.  He is always there and wants to help us.  He will if we let him.

Love,
Sister Shirts

Sister Shirts and Sister Gossard

Trinidad Beach

Trinidad Beach

Sister Edmonds and Sister Shirts