"Nothing Happens By Chance"

Good Morning,

To start off the week we went by the Monsons and had a delicious lunch cooked by Sister Monson.  Then she cut my hair.  They are leaving soon and I am going to miss them a lot.  They are wonderful.  Later that day we got the wonderful news that I will be staying with sister Schindler.  She is 22 years old and from Washington.  We work very well together.

I have tried a few new things to eat.  I had Mook (what we call muscle in the States) that was curried so of course it was delicious.  A member made it for us as well as stewed chicken and sada roti.  I also finally tried coconut water from a coconut and the jelly.  It is about time!  The Gerards gave it to me because I wasn't feeling well and coconut water is the cure all here.

Zone Conference was great.  We got to sing "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd" for the musical number.  We were combined with south zone so I got to see Sister Taufu'i.  We learned a lot about justice and mercy and how it relates to why we need to be diligent as missionaries.  The spirit was very strong as always.

The Gerard family is preparing for baptism pretty soon.  They all came to church on Sunday and have testimonies.  They really want to go to the temple and be sealed together.

Miracle of the Week:  On Friday our interviews with President Mehr got rescheduled to a later time so we had to shift our schedule to fit it.  Then we got a call later that day saying that he was ahead of schedule so we needed to rush over to get there in time.  Interviews went well and we headed back to our area.  We had some empty space in our schedule because that is where our interview was supposed to be.  We had some people we wanted to check so we started heading over.  The Curepe Sisters sent us a text telling us to call some lady ASAP.  We did and she said her name was Geeta and she was from Guyana.  She wanted to come to church.  I tried to explain how to get there but she doesn't know Chaguanas so I asked where she lived so we could set up an appointment with her.  By some miracle she lived five minutes away from where we were at the time so we headed over.  It turns out she is a member of the church and has been trying to find it for a year.  She was in tears when she saw us and thanked us for coming.  We traveled with her to church yesterday and she had a wonderful experience.  Nothing happens by chance.

Thanks for everything.  I really appreciate all the letters and emails and support.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Cool Palm Tree

Found another doubles man to teach!  Yum!

Thoughts About General Conference

Good Morning,

To start off the week we got a "new" car.  It looks just like the old one except it has less problems.  Missionaries have a tradition of naming our cars.  I named this one Mink.  It is the first word/name that came to my mind and it stuck.

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference.  It was hard to pick a favorite talk but right now my favorite is Elder Scott's talk on helping people with their conversion.  I liked it because as a missionary it is what we do every day.  I also like Elder Ballard's talk.  Once again he has raised the bar of member missionary work:  One person every quarter of the year to meet with the missionaries.  I am excited to help the members with this new challenge and to do it when I get home.

We just had that wonderful General Conference and now on Thursday we get to have a great Zone Conference.  I am excited to learn from the leaders of the mission and be enlightened even more.  It will be great.

Guess what?  I have a new companion again.  Sister Hendricks was needed in Grande so now I am with Sister Schindler.  It is exciting.  I am going to miss Sister Hendricks but I really like Sister Schindler.  We are going to do great things together.

This week we got to do service for a less active family named the Hustons.  I have talked about them before but just in case you forgot they are from Guyana.  We helped in the garden and they told us stories about their garden back home.  One of them involved a tiger that lived near their home so they had to move.  It was fun to get to know them more.

Working in the garden with a cutlass

Miracle of the Week:  Brother Thomas (Fred) had a great experience at conference.  He came on Sunday because he was working Saturday.  The video wasn't working because the internet connection was bad but we listened to it.  He said he could tell when the Prophet was speaking because he sounded more spiritual and he felt the spirit even more.  He is learning very quickly.  He loves being a member of the church.


Thanks for everything.  Love you all.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Mook (muscle), dahl, rice

New Companion

Good Afternoon,

This week was amazing.  Full of changes and progress.  The last few days with Sister Taufu'i and Sister Rampersad were wonderful.  I am going to miss them a lot.  They will do great things in their new areas.

Sister Hendricks and I are getting along well.  She loves to read and write.  She wants to be an author when she "grows up".  She is having a hard time picking up on the Trini accent and slang.  She says they talk really fast here and are hard to understand.  I remember that I had a hard time when I first came here.

Our investigators are doing great.  We are working with a couple who really want to be baptized but can't because they have to go to Guyana to get divorced and they can't afford to.  We set a baptism date with them in May and they are doing well.  They are expecting a miracle as this is the day they prayed about.  God will provide a way.  Brother Patrick (the man that hunts caiman)  is doing well.  We caught him drinking rum the other day and he tried to hide from us.  We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he said he isn't going to drink any more.  We are also working with the Gerrard family still and they are progressing a lot.

People fed us a lot this week.  I got to eat homemade chow mien, rice, stewed chicken, aloo pie, and a thing made of cornmeal and raisins wrapped in a fig leaf (picture below).  All very good.

For April Fool's day the Zone leaders played a joke and said that the mission has grown so much that they were splitting it into three:  Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Islands.  We all believed him.

Miracle of the Week:  We had two less actives come to church that we have been working with since I got to this area.  Sister Taufu'i had been working with them as well.  They hadn't come for at least nine months.  They really enjoyed it and are excited to come to General Conference.  We have been teaching a lot of people about the importance of coming and listening to the Prophet.  Great things are happening.

It has been a while since I shared my testimony so here it is:  I know God lives and is there for each one of us.  I know the only way to make it back to live with him and our families forever is through His son, Jesus Christ.  I know President Monson is a prophet and that listening to him and the other speakers will bring blessings and answers.  They are called of God.

Thanks for everything.  Love all of you.

Love,

Sister Shirts

This is what some houses look like

Transfer Week: Staying Put In Chaguanas

Good Afternoon,

P day at the beach was wonderful.  I took a nap and wrote letters.  It was nice and relaxing.

Can't have a beach picture without doing the nametags

Sister Shirts and her sisters got matching CTR rings before she left.  She  still wears hers everyday.

Transfer week:  Great news!  I am staying in Chaguanas.  I will be with Sister Hendricks who has been serving in Barbados.  I will be Senior companion and I get to lead the area.  I am excited.  Sister Taufu'i is headed out to San Fernando and Sister Rampersad is going to her mission in Jamaica.  I am going to miss them a lot.  They will do great things.

A lot of good things happened this week.  We had a great FHE with the Gopaul family about missionary work.  They want to invite their family to hear the gospel once again.  We played the skittles game after that and I tied for the win.  We ran out of skittles:)

I got to go to Curepe for exchanges this week.  I worked with Sister Giles.  She is a wonderful missionary and they are doing great work there.  It was fun to be back in my old area and see how much it has progressed.  We went to the church to teach a lesson and we stopped by the restroom.  There was a frog in the toilet and Sister Rampersad panicked.  She doesn't like frogs.

The highlight of the week was Saturday night.  They had something called Celebration 2015.  From now until 2015 they are going to have talent shows put on by the church members and that will lead up to a big one in 2015.  It is celebrating the church being in the West Indies for 25 years.  Each island does their own and sends the best talents to the finale.  It will be exciting.  It was cool to see how talented the members are here in Trinidad.

Miracle of the Week:  We started working with a less active named Brother Mohammed.  He is just recognizing he needs to change his life and he wants to serve a mission.  We got him a Preach My Gospel and we are helping him prepare.  The Spirit is very strong in his lessons.  The youth here are really stepping up.  The work is progressing.

Thanks for everything.  Love you all.

Sister Shirts

This is for the men (it means a hole in the ground)

This is for the women

"The Gospel Blesses Families and Brings Hope"

Good Afternoon,

This week was great.  Sister Rampersad needed a few more days to rest and recover but she is ready to go.

It was my turn to do tradeoffs with Sister Edmonds.  It was nice working with my old companion again.  We saw the Monsons that day and Elder Monson called us the powerful dynamic duo.  It is true.  We work very well together.  We taught seven lessons that day and most of them were about obedience and the sacrament.

I got to try soursop punch.  It is a fruit blended up with carnation milk and sweetened condensed milk.  It was really good.  I also got to try a Tonka bean and we finally got doubles.  Of course the doubles were heavenly.  They are my favorite Trini food.

We had the opportunity to go to another church with one of our investigators.  It had very loud music and dancing.  I love going to churches because I can test the promise we give investigators.  I did it again and I received the same answer I always get.  That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ's church and that the power of God can only be found here.  It was amazing.

We went ziplining today.  It was a lot of fun.  How many people can say they went ziplining in Trinidad?  I can:).  It was a very long drive to get there but it was worth it.  Sister Taufu'i went first and she was terrified.  We met up with another zone.  It was fun seeing all the missionaries and we took a lot of pictures.

Miracle of the Week:  Brother Thomas (Fred) is doing great.  This week the Gerrard family came to church again.  They loved it.  They have a baptism date and they are learning a lot.  It is a mom, a dad and three daughters.  They are wonderful.  They want to be sealed in the temple.  The Gospel blesses families and brings hope.

Thanks for everything.  Love you all.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Chaguramas  Ocean

Ready to zipline!

View from the top of the zipline

Short Week

Good Afternoon,

This email will be pretty short since I just barely sent one a few days ago.  We were inside for a few days last week because Sister Rampersad was pretty sick.  We think it was the flu.  I exercised and continued to get ahead with my studies.  It has been nice to focus on memorizing the things that President Mehr has asked us to, but it is even nicer to be back out working.  I missed teaching the gospel.

The Elders had a baptism on Saturday.  I got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Before my mission I would have been really nervous but not anymore.  I teach about the Holy Ghost every day.  It is nice not to have to worry about that.  No problem.  His name is Brother Rock and he was confirmed yesterday.

Funny story about our car:  Our area has a lot of speed bumps and our car sits really low.  Every time we go over a speed bump our car scrapes really loud and everyone looks at us funny.  We just laugh and drive away quickly.  It happens all the time.

Miracle of the Week:  Brother Thomas (Fred) came to church even though we didn't meet with him for over a week.  He is now preparing to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  He is a little nervous about having the responsibility, but he is preparing well.  His testimony is continuing to be strenghtened.  He has already seeen a lot of blessings come since he has been baptized.

Thanks for everything.  Love you all.

Sister Shirts

Can't Do Much When Stuck Inside For Days Due To Carnival

Good Afternoon,

Because it was carnival we were stuck inside so this email may be a little short and boring.  Sorry;)

Great news.  Sister Rampersad will be staying with us for the rest of the transfer.  We are very excited.  She is such a great missionary and friend.

Sister Taufu'i hit her one year mark this past week.  Exciting.  We went to Yogurt Land to celebrate during our lunch break.  A few of the Elders hit their year mark too.  It was fun.  I hit my nine month mark which was great as well.  Half way done.  I can't believe it has gone by so fast.  I heard it goes by even faster at this point.  It is crazy.

We were stuck inside for carnival.  It wasn't too crazy in our area.  There were annoying cars that would drive past with their loud speakers and the music would shake the apartment.  I pretty much studied and exercised all day.  It was nice to get ahead on my bible studying and memorizing.  It was hard not going out.  It is even harder trying to see so many people in half a week.  Heavenly Father will help us so I am not too worried.

On Monday we noticed a lot of smoke outside our apartment.  We went outside to see what was happening and it turns out our neighbor decided to burn their garbage.  They do that a lot here.  I don't know if they meant to but they caught the whole field behind our apartment on fire and it was smokey all day.  It was kind of scary.  We were praying it wouldn't cross the fence into the yard.  Apparently people burn garbage often here so it wasn't a big deal.

Fred (Brother Thomas) is doing well.  He is still coming to church, reading, praying, and is enjoying the church movies we take.

This is Fred's rabbit, Oreo

Miracle of the Week:  President and Sister Mehr decided to fast with the Gerrard family (we had been working with them for a while but gave them a break).  The family is doing work on the mission home so they know President very well.  They invited us to come with them to teach them about fasting and then President and Sister Mehr joined them in fasting.  The lesson was really good.  On Sunday they all came to church and said they were having a great experience.  It was amazing.  They still want to be baptized so we are excited to start working with them more.

Thanks for everything.  Love you all.

Sister Shirts

This monkey belongs to a family they are teaching