Staying in Chaguanas

Good Morning,

Transfer Week!!! Surprises this time.  I will be staying in Chaguanas.  Sister Schindler is going to Curepe to serve with Sister Edmonds.  I will be serving with Sister Herrick again.  It will be fun serving with my old companion.  She opened this area for sisters at the beginning of her mission.

I ate chicken gizzard this week.  Sister Deonarinesingh made it for us.  Strangely enough I enjoyed it.  It just tastes like really thick chicken.  I also learned a new word.  They called newspaper "gaza".

We had some great house meetings as usual.  We had a lesson on Nephi building the ship.  We had them bob for apples and make a boat.  Then we watched the "Dare to stand alone" Mormon message and talked about how Nephi had to stand up to his brothers.  We also had a house meeting about charity and love and we watched the Mormon message about bullying.  Then we played if you love me smile.  House meetings are very successful and the spirit is there teaching.  I love Mormon messages.

Nephi apple boats

I noticed that the spirit was very strong in our lessons this week.  We addressed a lot of concerns so we really needed his guidance to discern needs.  It was amazing.

We had a great service project with Brother Patrick.  We helped knock down some old walls in his backyard.  Once we got one down the other tipped right over and almost mashed Brother Patrick.  Surprisingly he has very fast reflexes.  He has gone over 40 days without rum and two weeks without cigarettes.

The Ramsook family is going great.  They love the Book of Mormon.  We left them to read the story of Alma the Younger from Alma 36 and they read three extra chapters.

Miracle of the Week:  We have been trying to have a lesson on temples with the Deonarinesingh family but things keep coming up.  We have been trying to do it this whole transfer.  On Saturday we finally had it and the spirit was very strong.  Brother Deonarinesingh said that nothing is going to stop them from being sealed in the temple.

Thanks for everything you do for me out there.  Love you all a lot.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Bridge to get to an investigators house

Dasheen (like a purple potato)

It is mango season!

These are the flies that come out when it rains

Superman's car?

Rain, (no) Rum and Repentance

Good Morning Everyone,

We had some great house meetings this week.  We had a Liahona obstacle course and a fun lesson on patience.  For the patience one we watched the "continue in patience" Mormon Message and gave everyone a cookie.  They were told they could eat the cookie now or they could wait until the end and eat more.  The kids loved it.  They were tempting each other and teasing each other.  We had a great turnout.

Rainy season has been..rainy.  And hot.  We walked part way to church on Sunday with Brother Patrick and it poured on us.  We ran until we were finally able to catch a taxi.  We were wet and cold at church.  Sister Schindler and I noticed that we have been turning off the air conditioner when it gets down to the 80's.  And usually we turn the heater on if it gets down below 84.  We are Trinis.  I am going to freeze when I go home in December.

Random Vocab:  Crapo (pronounced crap-o) = frog.  At home when it rains the worms come out - here the frogs come out and they get smashed all over the roads.

As always I had some great food this week.  Geera chicken was amazing.  Mangoes are wonderful and are filling our refrigerator with deliciousness.  Brother Patrick loves making us salt fish.  I think it tastes a lot like bacon.  I also finally tried Souse.  Souse is made of chicken foot, pig heel, and other animal parts I didn't recognize.  They put really good seasoning on it.

Souse is mostly skin and fat

Transfers are coming up and I am excited for whatever happens.  It will be great.

Miracle of the Week:  Brother Patrick finished his No Rum chart!!!  He went 30 days without drinking rum.  He is progressing a lot.  Now we are working on no rum and no cigarettes.  He hasn't missed a day yet.  We taught him about faith, repentance, and baptism this week.  He understood well.  He loves object lessons so we taught him about repentance by putting a rock in his shoe and let him walk around.  We told him repentance is like taking the rock out of the shoe.  He is doing great.  At church someone asked him if he know if this was the right church.  He said "I know I am getting baptized into the right church."

Ice cream celebration with Brother Patrick

That is about it for this week.  Thanks for everything.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Hindu flags

Share Mormon Messages

Good Morning,

We had a very full week.  It was wonderful.  It was Indian Arrival Day on Friday so there was a lot of loud music.  Lots of people were home so we met some cool people to start working with.  We also had to get Sister Schindler's physical done for her work permit.  Our week was also packed full of appointments and we had trade offs so I was in Curepe for a day with Sister Edmonds.  I always enjoy serving in my old area with my old companion.  Just like old times :).  Let's just say I am glad it is P day so I can take a nice nap.

Our apartment has been giving us some fun.  The light in the kitchen is out and we can't reach it to change it, the water heater for the shower is out so we have had cold showers for over two weeks now, they are doing construction so the water turns off randomly, and we had an infestation of maggots one day.  I love it.  No sarcasm...I really do enjoy it.  It is fun.

We got fed some really good food this week.  Shrimp chow mien with some other kind of meat, fry roti, curried duck, curried aloo and chana, and rice.  I also learned how to make dhalpori roti.

We found a cool family named the Ramsooks.  They have two sons and they are very interested in the Book of Mormon.  We had a lesson on the Restoration and gave each of them a copy.  They are excited to read it and we will share more with them this week.  They were comparing it with the Bible while we were there and they said so far so good.

Something that we have found helps us a lot as missionaries is using Mormon Messages as we teach.  They love the visual and the spirit is able to testify of truth as they watch.  Sharing Mormon Messages on Facebook is a great way to share the gospel.

Miracle of the Week:  Brother Sankar.  Brother Sankar was baptized almost a year ago but he had some things to work on after.  He has been doing a great job and on Sunday he passed the Sacrament for the first time.  His smile was so big.  He has had a rough life but he has really turned it around.  I love the power of the Atonement and the opportunity men have to use the Priesthood.

Thanks for everything.  Love you all as always.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Todd's Road Hindu Temple

Preach My Gospel, Pancakes and Pythons

Good Morning,

We had a very productive week.  I was in Curepe for a day with Sister Giles for tradeoffs and we tracted the whole day.  It was fun and she got burned.  That day she was wearing a blue shirt so when she was checking her burn line she was red, white, and blue...very patriotic.  We met a lot of great people.  I always enjoy being back in my old area.

Curepe houses in the mountains

Great news:  I learned how to make roti this week.  Sada roti and buss up shut.  I am not very good yet but it takes practice.

Large outdoor cooking pots

Frozen chicken parts

I also saw how to make curry chicken and mango.  I got to try what they call chunks - kind of like tofu.  It was curried so of course it tasted delicious.  They curry everything here.  Good think I like it.  I also tried cashew fruit.  It makes your mouth feel funny and dry.  It was fun to eat.

Cashew with the fruit

I hit my one year mark on Thursday.  It still feels the same.  Missionary work is great.  I have learned so much on my mission:  hard work, obedience, love, knowledge...I have gained a lot.

Brother Patrick came to church on Sunday.  We walked with him again.  His knowledge and understanding has grown so much.  He has a strong desire to go the right way because he has gone down the wrong way and he doesn't want to go back.  He loves the Savior.

We had a great branch fireside on Sunday.  I was all about Preach My Gospel.  We worked closely with President Gould (the Stake President) on it.  It was centered on the talk given in a recent conference about how each family should have a copy of Preach My Gospel and should study it.  We went around to different rooms and taught how members can use it to be great missionaries.  President and Sister Mehr even came and presented as well.  The members really enjoyed it and they are excited.

Miracle of the Week:  Jason.  We have been having a house meeting at a member's home for a few weeks and this kid kept coming.  He is about eleven years old.  We have been going through the different stories in the Book of Mormon and we were talking about Nephi getting the plates.  He asked if it really happened.  We said yes and he could read about it from the Book of Mormon.  He also asked what the Holy Ghost was and if Adam and Eve were real.  We were very surprised by his wonderful questions.  He asked if he could have a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Of course we gave him one with a note in it.  He was very excited to read it.  It is amazing how the spirit can touch everyone.

Thanks for everything.

Love,

Sister Shirts

House Meeting Pancakes - most people have never had pancakes there.

Eating pancake batter

Feeding the crowd

The District

Favorite Sign

Last week all the Sisters in Trinidad went to the zoo:

Petting a parrot

Holding a python

Giant snake

Funny looking fish

Funny Monkey

Giant shark mouth

His name is Melman (like on the movie Madagascar)

Lions

Cute Otters

Cute Monkey

Crocodile

Read the sign and beware

White Tiger

One Year

Good Afternoon,

We started our house meeting blitz and it went very well.  We are teaching a lot of families as a result.  They are a lot of fun to hold and plan for.  We have a short gospel message, an activity and a treat.  They really enjoy it.

We are teaching a wonderful less active family who has invited a good friend of theirs to hear the gospel.  He really wants to get baptized and is willing to learn about what he needs to do.  Last week we watched the Restoration movie and he felt that what we were saying is true.  He has a hard time reading so we are going to help him read from the Book of Mormon.

They are doing a lot of construction work by our apartment so it is really dusty and muddy.  One day we were walking down the road to hunt for a referral and I slipped.  Luckily I caught myself before I fell down but I still splashed mud all over my leg and the bottom of my skirt.  The joys of being a sister missionary :)  We still haven't found the family yet.

Brother Patrick introduced us to frozen mangoes.  They are heavenly.  He got us a mango called a 10 pound mango (or ax mango).  It was huge and delicious.  I am happy mango season is here.  Brother Patrick is good at getting them for us (except when he falls out of the tree).

I can't believe I have been out for almost a year.  May 22 will be my year mark.  Time flies on a mission.

We went to the zoo today for pday.  I took a lot of pictures but I will send them next week because the computer isn't working too well.

Miracle of the week:  The Gerards (what else is new).  Brother Gerard was ordained a priest yesterday, Stephanie is now the Young Women's first counselor and Sister Gerard taught Gospel Principles.  They love sharing the gospel and their testimonies are very strong.  They love learning about the temple and are excited to go next year.

Thanks for everything.  Love you all.

Love,

Sister Shirts

How Far Are You Willing To Walk To Church?

Good Morning,

I am going to mix it up a little and tell you all day by day how my week was.

Monday:  We found the source of our little black bug problem!  I was cleaning out the pantry and discovered that our rice could move...wait there were little bugs that could move.  There were hundreds of them!  They are gone now.

Tuesday:  We found out that Sister Schindler needed a new police report ASAP so she can get an extension on her work permit.  We drove around all day trying to figure that one out.  We finally got one started.  It takes about a month to do it.  We also said our final goodbyes to the Monsons.  They made it back home to Utah.  We are going to miss them a lot.  They were the best senior couple ever.

Wednesday:  We went to church with an investigator.  It was very interesting.  Since it was Wednesday morning and most people were working we made up half the congregation so it was kind of awkward.  Sister Taufu'i was with us that day.

Thursday:  Weekly planning took us a very long time because we are doing a lot of house meetings.  This is when we gather all the investigators, members, and anyone else who wants to come and meet at a member's home and share the gospel in a fun environment.  We are trying to get at least one a day.

Friday:  Great day.  We are working with a less active family named Arjoons and it was the youngest son's birthday.  We also had some amazing spiritual lessons which was great.

Weekend:  This was the highlight of the week.  We did service for Brother Patrick again and he was very thankful.  We moved a huge pile of dirt.  His mom made us curried eggs and rice.  Sunday was the best day and we got to skype home which was fun.  Sister Gerard gave the talk on Sunday.

Miracle of the week:  Brother Patrick came to church!  We went to his house at 6:45 am and walked three miles to church and three miles home.  It was very worth it.  It was his first time going to church ever and he was very happy he went.

This is Brother Patrick's dog named Fluffy

Thanks for everything.  Love you all and I am grateful for all the support you give.  Thanks for the letters and emails!

Love,

Sister Shirts

Curry and Fried Fish

Yes, heads included

She NEVER would have eaten this before her mission

Staying In Chaguanas For The Next 6 Weeks

Good Morning,

This will be a pretty short email.  Sorry.

This week was exciting.  Brother Patrick invited us over for Hindu prayers at his uncle's house.  It was a cool experience and I got to eat off a fig leaf with my hands.  The food was great.  They raised two new flags.  Those of you who are familiar with the Hindu religion know what that is.  We eat with our hands most of the time here.  It will be strange going back to using forks.

Transfer Call:  Staying here with Sister Schindler.  We are excited because we work well together and have a lot of fun.

On Monday we went to FHE at the Gopauls and the Gerards came so they could see what it is like.  Sister Gopaul made pealou and we took home some left overs.  One thing I took home was a new "helping hand" (a chicken foot).  I love Trini food.  It is fun.

Once again we were fed a lot of food:  Fried sea fish, rice and pig parts, mangoes (it is mango season again!), mango cochilla, aloo and salt fish, mother in law (kind of like pico do gallo), Shuttai, and squid.

Miracle of the Week:  Brother Patrick has been sober for 8 days.  It is amazing.  He has been struggling with rum for his whole life.  His understanding/comprehension is increasing daily and he is a lot happier.  The word of wisdom brings great blessings.

Happy Mother's day to all the women out there.  Love you all and thanks for all you do.  There is a great bible video of Mary on lds.org.  Here is the link:  https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/mary-the-mother-of-jesus?cid=HPTH050114757&lang=eng.

Love,

Sister Shirts

Trini Candy