Christmas in Trinidad and Transfer Time

Good Afternoon,

The last two weeks were amazing.  I couldn't email last week because we only had about fifteen minutes and we were skyping anyway so sorry the rest of you missed out.  Thanks for all the Christmas notes.

Christmas was great.  On Christmas eve we went to the mission home and made cards for our investigators, less actives, and members.  Then we had a wonderful devotional and had our Christmas dinner.  It is always fun to see all the missionaries.  On Christmas we went and passed out the cards.  We shared a short Christmas message with those we saw.  It was really cool because even though we shared the same scriptures and basic message, the Spirit was able to teach everyone different things.  It was a great day.

We got fed a lot on Christmas.  We ate over four good sized Christmas dinners and by the end of the night we had to take home food because we were so full.  They were okay with that as long as they got to feed us.  We had lamb, chicken, turkey, ham, pastels, mac pie, rice, lasagna, pepper pot, salad and a lot more.  Trini's are very kind and excellent cooks.  They love their fruit cake and sweet bread on Christmas and they want everyone to try it.

Well... it is transfer week.  I will be serving in Chaguanas, Trinidad with Sister Taufu'i.  I am sad to be leaving my area and Sister Edmonds but I am excited to learn new things and meet new people.  Sister Edmonds is an amazing missionary and friend and I am going to miss her a lot.  She has taught me a lot and we have had some great experiences together.

Sister Grigg was here on tradeoffs and we had a wonderful day.  We taught eight lessons and found four new investigators.  Heavenly Father blessed us a lot.  Sister Grigg is a great missionary.  Sister Edmonds said she had a great time getting sunburned on a bike in Sangre Grande.

Miracle of the Week:  Last week Sister Edmonds and I were tracting at the foot of the mountain and we contacted a group of drunk men.  We gave them Plan of Salvation pamphlets and scheduled a time for us to come back when they weren't drunk.  Well, last Sunday Sister Mehr came up to us before church started and said she wanted to come out teaching with us that day.  We looked at our schedule and guess who was on it.  It was the group of men.  We stayed true to our promise to go see them and brought the Mission President's wife with us.  Only one of them was there and it turns out he is searching for truth and is willing to read the Book of Mormon.  He has a son and he wants to change his life and follow Christ, he just didn't know how.  The Spirit was very strong during the lesson and last time we checked he read the chapter we left him.  It is amazing what the spirit can do.  We are led to people for a reason.

Thanks for everything.

Love,

Sister Shirts

A Very Rainy, Muddy Merry Christmas!

Pepper Pot (pig nose, cow heel and all that good stuff)

Santa Claus And His Helpers Stopping Traffic To Hand Out Gifts

Another Great Week

Good Afternoon,

I was able to go to San Fernando for a day this week for tradeoffs.  It is a completely different area.  There are more hills and I was able to see the ocean for the first time in a while.  Trinidad is an island but we are pretty far from the coast and in my area there are mountains that block the view (they are beautiful mountains though).  While there I had a cool experience.  We were tracting in some apartments and we contacted a lady.  She wasn't interested until we mentioned the Book of Mormon.  She hurried us over and invited us to sit down and talk about it.  She was very confrontational at first and demanded evidence, but as we bore testimony and read from the introduction her heart was softened and at the end she wanted more.

Sister Edmonds had a leadership conference thing for a few days so I got to work with Sister Tia again.  She has been out less than a transfer and she is doing a great job.  We were very bold during our lessons and invited someone to be baptized.  He said yes during the first lesson and we are excited to help him prepare.  Following the promptings of the Holy Ghost does bring miracles.

Miracle of the Week:  We had two investigators come to church.  Each has a really cool story.  First Sheldon.  We met him on Saturday and had a first lesson.  He has had a death in the family and is going through a rough time.  He loves God and wants to do the right thing.  He said he has felt the Holy ghost testify to him before and we promised that if he came to church he would feel the same way.  He said he would come.  We waited outside the church for him to come and he didn't so we went up.  (The church is located on the second floor above an electrical store).  Right after the opening prayer he started calling us (our phone was on silent luckily) and we rushed outside.  We waited and he came.  We had to take the Sacrament outside though because he was late for that.  It was really great.  The next investigator goes by Baby.  She has had a rough marriage for years and has a granddaughter living with her who is about 5.  She told us during the lesson that she wanted happiness in her family and we promised her that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was the way to find happiness and we invited her to be baptized.  She accepted.  We then invited her to come to church and caught travel with her.  She had a great experience as well.

Heavenly Father is blessing our area a lot as we are exactly obedient and listen to the counsel of our leaders.  I love serving here.

Love,

Sister Shirts

This Is An Example Of What Some People Live In

New Investigators, A Giant Dog And A Purple House

Good Morning,

We had a wonderful, amazing week as always.  We taught a lot of wonderful new people (we found ten new investigators), and met a lot of people.  I love sharing the gospel.

We had a great Family Home Evening lesson with the Clarke family and talked about the Armor of God.  We read the scripture in Ephesians and had the kids go around the house and find things to represent the Helmet, the Shield, and everything.  Then they dressed up their dad in the whole Armor of God.  It was fun and the spirit was strong as well.  They were able to discuss what they can do as a family to put on the Armor of God and protect their family.  We ended with a wonderful dinner and homemade cookies.

We are still helping our doubles man paint.  We painted his house purple this week and it actually looks pretty good.  It is interesting how the people here randomly decide to paint their houses weird colors.  In the States that doesn't work but here it is fun.  It isn't weird.

We had some fun tracting experiences.  We went up a street that led to a dirt path in the mountains.  Sister Taylor had taught some people up there so we went to see if we could find them.  We didn't, but we found some new people.  The grass was wet and we almost slid down the mountain.  Our shoes were pretty dirty after but it was worth it.  Yesterday we went tracting around our neighborhood and we called into a house.  All of a sudden a giant dog jumped up and barked really loud.  We panicked because it had almost jumped over the gate.  The gate was almost as tall as us and the dog nearly made it over.  We started laughing after because it kept jumping and couldn't make it over.  He did it for a good five minutes.  The owner finally came out and we are going to teach him this week.

Driving in Trinidad is just as lovely as always.  I have been driving every other day and I still don't really like it.  Driving in Trinidad is not like driving in the States.

Miracle of the Week:  We have an investigator who is going through a really hard time right now.  She is a teenager and is pregnant and has a young daughter.  Her family situation isn't that great either.  We had a great lesson on the Sacrament and the power of the Atonement and committed her to come to church.  She said yes.  We asked her if she would need help to get up in the morning and she said it would help.  She doesn't have a phone so we woke up extra early and got to her house by 7:15 am to wake her up for church and helped her get her little girl ready.  Then we caught the maxi with her.  It was a wonderful experience for her and she was smiling the whole time.  The best part is we got there early and she sat down and got settled.  A few minutes before church started a member we have taken by her a lot came in.  She looked at us and told us to move so she could sit by her friend.  Members are so important in this work.  Investigators need a friend.  Of course we were happy to grant her request.  We would much rather her sit with a member than with us.

That's it for this week.  Thanks for everything.  I would still love more testimonies of the Book of Mormon to put in the books I give out.  If you could send me your testimony about the Book of Mormon that would be wonderful.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Thanksgiving

Good Afternoon,

Thanksgiving was great.  We had great food at the mission home and had a lot of fun caroling in the Trini rain.  We got soaked but it was fun.  President Mehr gave a great talk on gratitude.

I am grateful I have the opportunity to serve here in the West Indies.  I have received a lot of blessings from Heavenly Father.  I love being a missionary and serving the people here in Trinidad.  I am grateful for my family and all they have done for me.  I am grateful for my awesome companion Sister Edmonds.  She is an amazing missionary and friend.  I am grateful for my Trini mom and dad:  The Rampersads and my Trini aunt and uncle:  The Clarkes.  Love them a lot.

We had fun helping the Clarke family put up their Christmas tree.  They were able to invite a friend over and we were able to talk to her.  Hopefully we get to teach her soon.

I was with Sister Jex earlier this week and with Sister Schindler for a day.  Sister Edmonds went to Chaguanas and Sangre Grande.  She got to ride a bike this time:).

Funny story:  One day during trade-offs we got a call from the Chaguanas District Leader.  He was worried because Sister Edmonds and Sister Taufu'i didn't answer their phone the night before or that morning.  He asked where their last appointment was and it was in a sketchy area.  We got in the car and went to Chaguanas.  It took us two hours to get there (it usually takes 30 minutes but traffic was bad).  When we got there the sisters were like "what's wrong?"  We told them the problem and it turns out they dropped the phone in a disgusting ditch full of who knows what and they had been trying the rice trick with it.  When they tried to turn it on... it worked.  We went through all the hassle for nothing.  Then it took Sister Edmonds and I another two and a half hours to get back to our appointment in our area.

Miracle of the Week:  Fasting with the same less active I was talking about last week.  We went over and had a short lesson about fasting.  We shared the "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief" story from the bible.  We invited her to open the fast and when she prayed the Spirit was so strong.  When she opened her eyes she was crying.  She really wants fasting to work and she has the faith.  It is experiences like this that makes me love being a missionary.  There are people ready to change their lives but they don't know how.  The Savior is reaching out his hand and they just need to stretch to grab it.  I know He is there waiting for us to come.  All we have to do is show our desire by acting on our faith and then you can expect miracles.

I can't believe I only have one year left on my mission.  One year from today I will be on my way home back to the states.  It is crazy how fast time flies.  I have already been on my mission six months.  It is strange to think about.

Thanks for everything.  I love you and hope you enjoy the Holiday Season.

Love,

Sister Shirts