Last Week of the West Indies Mission! Week 74

Goodbye President Mehr

Well, starting this Wednesday I will officially be part of the Trinidad Port of Spain mission! Craziness!

This week was incredibly busy, but it was filled with a ton of missionary things, and not so much missionary work...

On Tuesday we had a district meeting in the morning and spent the rest of the afternoon having Elder Shariatmadari finish packing and visiting a few people he wanted to see before he left. It ended up with us running around like crazy all day long. then that night we had to drive him all the way out to Curepe so that he would be closer to the airport because he had to be there the next morning at like 3:30.

On Wednesday morning we woke up and headed out to the Valencia missionaries new apartment and cleaned it so that we could move in that night. For the time being we are living with Elders out in Valencia because they moved sisters into the other Sangre Grande area and it used to be that all four of us shared an apartment but elders and sisters can't live in the same building, so we are out on the street for the time being until we find an apartment. But after we cleaned for a bit we were able to get ready and go pick up elder Peterson! Another Canadian companion! He's the man! I'm super excited to get to serve with him! He's a ton of fun and I know we'll have a ton of success. Then later that night we had a sweet lesson with Anna and Tamika where we finished watching the restoration video (at their request) They wanted to watch it so bad! It was so cool! 

On Thursday we spent the entire morning moving our stuff and the elders stuff out of the apartments and out to Valencia which took almost all morning and a good chunk of the afternoon, it was ridiculous how long it took, but eventually we were able to go and visit the Becker family and talk to them about scripture study. This day was a complete missionary thing day, not a missionary work day... It was a bummer.

On Friday we weekly planned and went to look at some apartments and then had an interesting lesson with our investigator named Nirasha who I really thought was progressing well, but while we were walking away from our lesson her sister called out to us to come back and said that Nirasha walked inside and told her that all that we had just said was false and that she doesn't want us to come back... It's sad, but I hope that there was just miscommunication there, but that it just wasn't a shared belief. Then we had a killer game night at the church and we had a lot of fun playing some soccer on the field! It was sweet!

On Saturday we spent most of the morning cleaning out our old apartment so that the land lady could rent it out to new people and had a great lesson with Anna about President Monson, and how a living day prophet could bless her life! It was awesome! Then we were able to head to Arima to go to a talent show put on by the stake! It was super cool and I thought the best one was a member from Arima who impersonates Michael Jackson! He did way good...

On Sunday we had a good time at church and an awesome lesson with Ricky in the evening about Enduring to the End and he is on track to be baptized this upcoming Saturday! 

It's been an alright, kind of cruddy week. But I love this gospel and am so happy to think about the happiness that my message brings to those I talk to, even if they don't accept me, or my message, I hope that I can at least be the means of saving some.

With love, Elder Dorrance

Elders, Hopkins, Shariatmadari, Dorrance, Haderly

Samaroo Family

Singh and Samaroo Families

Trinidad Stake Talent Show

Staying in Grande! Week 73

Me and Elder Shariatmadari picking Sappodillas.  He thinks they taste like maple syrup, I just think they are real sweet and real tasty.  Yum!

So this week was pretty average I would have to say... but I'll try my best to spice it up...

On Tuesday we had a Zone Meeting in Arima and afterwards, in his loving kindness, Elder Shariatmadari bought all four of us lunch at Popeye's! So that was nice of him and afterward we were able to go and pick up a member named Brother Bisnath who spent a good chunk of the evening with us! We were able to see a really cool lady named Anna and talk to her a little more about baptism, showing her scriptures and things which she really enjoyed. We also had a great lesson with Nirasha,  a really cool (mostly) deaf young woman who really loves church and learning about the church! 

On Wednesday we were able to do some service in the morning moving bricks for a member from her backyard to her front yard and it was only elder S and myself, so it took a us a little bit especially trying to stack them on the uneven ground that was wet and muddy. It was a lot like playing tetris. But later that evening we were able to talk to Ricky, one of our most progressing investigators with a baptismal date for July the 4th about the Sabbath Day. We listened to a talk from Dallin H. Oaks about how the Sabbath is a delight and really just made it plain to him about how we should act and what we should do on the Sabbath day! He really loved it and took it well! 

On Thursday we headed out to a pretty distant part of our area called Matura where there used to be an actual LDS church group with a bunch of members and we were able to make some individual visits to a couple of the families. We found one part member family where the father isn't a member and talked to him about why he was never baptized and we were able to have a great discussion with him about the priesthood and how there is only one power on this earth that you can be baptized by and only one church who holds this priesthood power. It went really well!

On Friday we were able to do service at the bishops house moving some dirt that he got dropped there out of his gutter so that water could run through it, the only problem is that it was free dirt, so it was really cruddy dirt and we had really cruddy tools. So it was long, difficult work, with about 2 or 3 tools breaking a long the way. But we spent the morning there and actually went on a trade-off. I went with Elder Hopkins with him in his area. We had a lot of stuff fall through, even some of the meetings we were supposed to have at the church, but we were able to do some great contacting and meet some cool  new people for them to teach! We did meet a really cool family who is progressing really well! It was cool to work with Elder Hopkins, but I enjoy working in my own area! 

On Saturday morning we went and did some more service at Bishops house, just finishing up the job we had started. and found out that morning the Elder Shariatmadari will be heading to Guyana on Wednesday and I will be serving with Elder Petersen here in Grande! I'm excited  to stay, but sad to see Elder Shariatmadari leave. he's a good friend and we had a ton of fun together! But later that night because of his leaving we were able to go over to a members house and invite some other members over to have a fun pizza party! It was super fun with loads of pizza!

Sunday morning it rained a ton! And so it was kind of a poor turn out to church, but we were able to go to a members house after for lunch to celebrate a cool young man who is leaving on Thursday for his mission in Pennsylvania! He's a good guy and will do great things! Then we went home and studied for a bit and headed to the Blackburn family's house to get fed some interesting IGUANA and YAMS. It was different, but it sure was tasty. Just delicious meat and iguana gravy poured all over these mashed  yams. We were also able to watch a video with a recent convert in our area about Fathers and their responsibility which went super well! 

All in all it was a great week! With lots of sweet success coming up soon! I'm excited to meet Elder Petersen!

I hope everyone had an awesome Father's day!

Shout out to my father, #1 Father that I've ever had.

One Love,

Elder Dorrance

Me, Elder Haderlie, Elder Shariatmadari, Elder Hopkins

Zone Conference Week! Week 72

Trinidad Zone Conference Mission Home

It was a very exciting week here in Trinidad! 

 On Tuesday we had an all day meeting in Valsayn in the mission home with president and sister Mehr! It was cool because it was their very last zone conference tour of the mission before they go home on July 1st. It was super inspiring! Sister Mehr talked about testimonies and taught a lot of the doctrine of testimonies. President Mehr talked to us about the Atonement and how we can best study the atonement to apply it to our investigators! It was so sweet! It was an inspired message and I loved every minute!

On Wednesday we were able to do some service at a less-actives house moving some dirt and got some sweet blisters! We also had an amazing lesson with one of our mostly deaf investigators. It is so cool to try and simplify lessons to where the only communication that is happening is if she can read our lips. It is difficult and takes time, but the spirit is super strong. We were able to explain the principle of Priesthood to her and she understood and loves coming to church! She is so prepared to receive the gospel!

On Thursday we headed out to a part of our area that used to be it's own area itself so there is a good number of members out there who aren't able to really come to church because of how expensive it would be to try and get all 20 or so of them into town to get there. So twice a week we head out there to make sure they know that they aren't forgotten. On Thursdays we do individual visits with the families. So we were able to go and just see how each family is doing and share a message with them specifically and see what we can do to help! So that has been a really great experience to get to bring the spirit into these people's homes who wouldn't have otherwise had wonderful spiritual experiences! It's great! 

On Friday we did our studies in the morning and then we went on a trade off with the Zone Leaders who serve in Arima. I was able to go and serve with Elder Grimm. He's a great guy and we taught some sweet lessons! One of our last appointments for the night was with a man who has been through a lot lately and is open for anything that will help him to draw closer to God! It was so cool to see him so touched with the message of our Heavenly Father's love and the fact that there is a living day prophet on the earth. it was very powerful!

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to do some service taking apart this man's wooden house to eventually build a new brick wall in the place of it, but we only had time to do the tearing down part. So after smacking around the house for a bit we headed home to study and then to trade back. After finishing lunch we headed back out to Matura just like we did on Saturday and watched the Meet the Mormons movie with them! They loved it and it was way cool to see so many people come out to it! 

Sunday was Ward Conference in Sangre Grande and the stake president came out with his counselors and gave great talks in sacrament meeting and in ward council they were able to help us

out a whole lot! It was great. We also had a sweet lesson with a young man named Matthew who is preparing to serve a mission. We talked to him about it and why he's so excited and the doctrine behind missionary work! It was a great lesson and he's super excited!

It was a very spiritual week and I'm excited for another one!

Much Love, Elder Dorrance

So happy to have an actual mall

Mom: Have a cold stone on me.  Hayden: Oh, I did, it was exceptional.  

Center: President and Sister Mehr.  New Mission Presidents come in 2 weeks. 

Loads of Member Work! Week 71

Elder Woodruff (Barbados)

Barbados

This week was exceptional for member missionary work here in the Sangre Grande Ward in the beautiful land of Trinidad! 

On Tuesday we had a great district meeting by Elder Shariatmadari about companionship unity and why we need to be unified and related it to how radio antennas must be in tune in order to pick up the channel of the spirit clearly! It was sweet! Then we were able to take a member named Brother Bisnath out with us the entire day! It was so cool! We taught a super cool woman named Anna about the Book of Moromon! She loves it and is super excited to learn more! We also had a sweet lesson with a guy named Barry and his wife Sandra! They are super cool and have been searching for the truth and accepted the 11th of July to be baptized! It was super cool! 

On Wednesday we spent a good chunk of the morning at the DMV so that I could take my test to get my Drivers license and I passed but their card printing machine was down so we had to go back on Friday too.  But we had a sweet lesson with the Samaroo family about fasting with them on fast Sunday which went really well because we were able to fast with them for a purpose that they came up with! 

On Thursday we helped run a race in the morning by passing out water which was sweet and then weekly planned and had a great lesson with a woman named Narasha who is mostly deaf! It was great to testify to her of the Book of Mormon using little words. It is great to feel the spirit so strong! 

On Friday we had to go back to the DMV to get my license paid for and printed which took a few hours and then after lunch we had a great lesson watching some animated Book of Mormon videos with some kids who had read it in the Book of Mormon and we watched it with them! It was sweet to be able to help them understand them in cartoon form and still pull the doctrine out of the stories! It was great!

On Saturday we went and did some service for one of the families that we are fasting with, we moved a bunch of dirt for her from her front yard to her back yard and then she fed us some sweet shepherds pie to help us start our fast. It was sweet! Then we had a super successful group meeting with a bunch of members who live out in the bushy part of Grande so they don't get out to church too much so we go out and help bring them the spirit as much as possible, but we do it once a week and it was super sweet to have them all grouped together!

On Sunday we had a great testimony meeting and got fed twice after church!

It was a great week with not a single lesson without members! I know I skipped a bunch of stuff but I am out of time! Sorry!

Love you tons! Have a great week!

Elder Dorrance

Another great week for missionary work! Week 70

This week flew by but we had tons of fun and worked way hard to talk to anyone that we could this week!

On Monday night we had an amazing FHE with one of our Less active families, the Samaroos. It went really well and everyone had a great time!

On Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning and Elder Shariatmadari taught about the role of the Book of Mormon in conversion! It was way sweet! Then after lunch we headed to the DMV to that I could start working on getting my drivers license, not that I will be driving, but just in case because it is easier to get before your first 90 days in the country. But we had to drive all the way to the mission office to get my passport which took forever and then by the time we got all the way back to the DMV it was closed for the day. So it was like a whole day wasted. But we did get to see this sweet lady named Anna who is very sincere and really wants to change! We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and having more scripture really made sense to her. We were also able to talk to a member lady about the fast this upcoming Sunday which was really cool too!

On Wednesday we had a service project in the morning at the Bishop's house moving some dirt and digging a couple holes for him to put a fence in. Then we headed home to eat lunch and back to the DMV just to get it over with. By the time we got that done we were able to go and visit the Samaroo's and talk to them about fasting also! We've been invited by the mission president to fast with our members this upcoming Sunday and it is going super well! We have a bunch of families that we are fasting with us so it should be really good! We had another sweet lesson with another family that night also about fasting! So we should have a whole lot of fasting experience this Sunday.

On Thursday we weekly planned in the morning and then had Elder Christensen, one of the Assistants to the President come out with us for the day. We had some awesome lessons and almost none of them fell through! We also that night had an awesome big group meeting with a bunch of people that are way out in an area that doesn't get very much missionary work, but there are a lot of members out there, so we held a big group meeting and watch a little video clip about sacrifice and it went super well! We got a huge turnout with a ton of members and few investigators! So that was sweet! We also were able to go and see a cool guy named Arthur that night and had a lesson about the Plan of Salvation with him which went really well! 

On Friday we had a ton of our appointments fall through and had some cool times trying to find some of the less-active ysa (young single adults) which didn't go very well. But we had big success in the night time. We had game night which was super great with tons of people there! 

On Saturday we had another bummer day with lots fall through, but we had a great lesson with a woman named Cindy who apparently fell off the map for a while but we were finally able to get into contact with her and talked to her about contracts in Alma 7:15 and her desire to be baptized. It was a sweet lesson and really strengthened my testimony of seeing people that have been prepared to receive the gospel being put into our paths, or back into.

On Sunday we had great church with an amazing Ward Council after. We had a agenda drawn up for the council and it really helped to keep things moving along and the time short, so that was really great! We were able to have an amazing lesson with a woman who is completely deaf. She just recently came back from living in Virginia and is so prepared to receive the gospel! Her whole family are members and it is so cool to try to teach when all they can do is read a little and read our lips. It really requires the spirit and is a great test of patience. It was a great lesson and she is very sincere in wanting to be baptized and learn more about Jesus Christ.

This morning we went out to Arima to go hike some caves. It was pretty dang cool! It was just a small gap straight into this mountain and we all got real hot and dirty, but it was way cool. There were bats flying all over the place. It was just a good time!

It was a great week and I'm loving my time here in the Sangre Grande ward!

I hope you all have a great week!

With Love, Elder Dorrance

Hayden, Elder Christensen (AP), Elder Shariatmadari

Elder Harding