Curve Ball Transfers - Week 87

Goodbye Elder Little!

So this week was just pretty crazy for sure... 

On Tuesday we had a combined district meeting with the whole zone which was pretty fun and then headed to Sister Persaud's house. She is one of the longest members of the church in Trinidad and has an amazing house! Crazy amounts of books and it was just amazing! She made us these hand pressed cheeseburgers tha were just to die for! Haha Then we spent the rest of the evening driving around letting Elder Little say goodbye to people which was good. But we had to drive down to Point Fortin again to pick up the Elders down there because they were both getting transfered out and when we reached home I got an interesting phone call from the Asisstants telling me that I wouldn't be picking up Elder Cox at the office but that I would be picking up Elder Parker from the office who was supposed to be a zone leader and training in Arima but wasn't aloud to drive anymore because his work permit expired! So Today I am with Elder Parker and will be until his work permit comes through. The Asisstants have told us that they would like to have Elder Parker up in Arima and Elder Cox down here with me, so as soon as that goes through I get Elder Cox ! Haha kind of crazy, but should be fun!

On Wednesday we woke up and headed up to Couva to meet some missionaries and to drop other missionaries off but their car wouldn't start in Chaguanas so we had to drive to Chaguanas and drop people off there instead and it was just a huge mess! Then when we finally got to Valsayn I had a hard goodbye to say as I left Elder little at the mission home. Elder Little and I had a great transfer and I was sad to see him go! But I know I'll see him again soon! Then Elder Parker and I had a LONG drive back down to Point Fortin to drop off the elders there and didn't get back until like 6 at night and so we saw a couple people and headed home.

Thursday we had weekly planning and had some sweet appointments. We got to see some investigators that aren't really progressing much which is kind of sad but we were able to go to a anniversary service thing for a members husband who just passed away which was kind of weird but we got fed well...

On Friday we had a crap load of lessons and saw plenty members. We really want to work on member work here in San Fernando because our previous efforts to get members on our own have been not really working for us... haha

On Saturday we had to hustle through some lessons in the afternoon because we had a zone leader skype training at 3 and about a half hour before it started where we were going to skype cancelled on us and so we had to scramble to find somewhere to skype and got to call some members all over the place and finally found somewhere and got to the meeting just before it started. But unfortunately because of the meeting we didn't get to start our fast until like 5 o'clock which was kind of a bummer... But we did have a sweet lesson with a guy named Marcus who was a referral from a member up in Couva that turned out to be pretty solid! It was a super cool lesson!

On Sunday we had pretty average church but there was some members that came out from Rio Claro which is like almost a two hour drive away and asked us to go visit them so we get to head out there on Friday! But we had some lessons and ended our fast and then headed out to see some members in a place called Gasparillo that went super well! Then we got invited to the senior couples for some popcorn to grab on our way in which was way nice of them!

It was a crazy little week but it went by quick! I'm sad I'm not with Elder Cox but it should be good to serve with Elder Parker! 

One Love!

Elder Dorrance

Community activity at a members house - Many baptisms have happened as a result of these fun musical activities

Weed Whacking

Trunkie Week 86

At the top of San Fernando Hill, Trinidad

San Fernando, Trinidad

Haha this week was pretty ridiculous... Elder Little has been extremely good at staying focused, this being his last transfer. But it doesn't help when every other missionary and member points it out to us on a daily basis that he is going home... haha

But on Tuesday we were able to have an awesome district meeting in Point Fortin taught by Elder Ahanonu about the qualities of the Stripling warriors found in the Book of Mormon and how we can apply these attributes to ourselves and our missionary work! It was an awesome meeting for sure! But once we finally started the long drive up to San Fernando it started raining super hard and of course there was tons of traffic... But we got up and had to stop at the senior couples house for a bit to pick up a rent check and talk to them about a few things. They are pretty cool. It's great to see these Senior missionaries who sure give up a lot to come serve away from grandchildren and family, and they help a ton, I know they've helped me a ton! We had a sweet lesson with the Basdeo family later that night about Humility! 

Wednesday morning we had a lesson with a woman named Emma who we contacted just last week who seems extremely interested in the Restoration! After we talked to her a bit about the Book of Mormon we invited her to be baptized and she agreed! It was pretty sweet to see this woman who is just so prepared accept the gospel! Then in the Afternoon we headed out to Princes town which is where we go only once a week because of how far away it is. We only really go out there because there used to be a branch out there but it got shut down because the leaders couldn't cooperate. But when we got out there and were about to get out of the car the sisters down in Point called us with quite the story... haha They told us they were contacting and this man called out to them and told them to come up the stairs, so when they got up the were talking with him for a few minutes and he seemed like a nice old man. But one of the sisters dropped something and bent over to pick it up and this man leaned over and kissed her on her butt! haha They were freaking out when they told us! Sis G who got kissed was just frantic! haha It was probably the funniest thing of the day for sure! Later that night we got to go back to the Senior couples house for Elder Bakers birthday for a few minutes and grab some birthday cake which was extremely nice of them!

I don't think I've ever felt as full as I did on Thursday. We got fed some of the best curried chicken and curried potato and channa with Roti I think I have ever had. But it was amazing. It definitely has some perks being the companion to a dying missionary, I get fed all the time, I get to become good friends with the members and I still get to stay! Haha But after we had awesome Curry we had Coordination meeting which was pretty normal only right after the meeting we were able to give Sister R, one of the sister missionaries a blessing. It was pretty cool, she was getting her wisdom teeth out the next morning and she was in a ton of pain and pretty nervous for her surgery and so it was just cool to see the power that comes from priesthood blessings! Then we went and got fed again by some other members. I literally thought I was going to explode when I got home...

On Friday we had a pretty normal day other than we got to do a baptismal interview for the Elders investigator that was getting baptized this last weekend. It was the last one Elder little would ever get to do, so he was pretty excited! But the only thing is that she is from the Dominican Republic so she speaks next to zero English so we had to have one of the elders, Elder Uri translate for them which was pretty amazing to see! But she passed, her whole family is members of the church in the Dominican Republic and she found that now is the time for her to follow their example! The only downside is that later on in the evening we got a call from the elders telling us that they caught her smoking... So yeah... That was a pretty big downer... But she still came out to church and wants to change! Then the rest of our night completely crashed on us and we met Elder Baker and he bought us gyros to take home and eat while we planned! Haha

On Saturday we met this amazing gentleman in the morning named Wesley! He's very open and willing to learn, it's cool to see all of the amazing people we've been able to meet this last week and hope and pray that we are able to help them progress in the next few weeks! We were able to have a ton of cool contacts throughout the rest of the day as well! Tons of cool people out in an area we haven't worked in too much this last transfer!

On Sunday we spent a few hours having Elder Little say goodbye to some members some of which I've never even met that I was able to set up times to go back and visit again when Elder Cox gets here! 

It's been a great week, lots of goodbyes for Elder Little. I've sure loved serving with him. He's a great friend and he has a bright future ahead of him! Definitely "an angel sent here to San Fernando" Gonna miss him!

Peace, Blessings, Guidance.

Elder Dorrance

Today we went to Dattatreya Temple to see the Hanuman Statue, one of the tallest Hindu Statues in the world, 85 feet tall!

And another one down...Week 85

Elder Little

Man I'm sure that I'm going to look back on the blog and think "How is it that I keep writing that all of these weeks are going by fast when my journal says the days are slower than ever?" Haha But this was another fast week all in all...

On Tuesday we had a sweet Zone Meeting that Elder Little and I taught on from MLC last week which went really really well! It was all about Baptism and being prepared for baptism! It was very inspired. Later that night also we had an awesome lesson with a guy named Renny and his girlfriend! They seem really sweet and sincere!

On Wenesday we had a long day with some stuff fall through, nothing too crazy. We head out to this part of our area that's pretty far away but there's lots of really humble and sweet members out there that just can't get to church! It's too bad... But there's a member out there named Sister Games and she made us some sweet Pholourie! You'll have to look it up! She made it with some Tamarind sauce and it was divine! 

 

Pholouri - sweet balls of fried split-pea flour, about the size of doughnut holes, they come glazed in either a mango or tamarind chutney sauce. Picture courtesy of google.

On Thursday we had a sweet lesson with an investigator named Indra and she accepted baptism for the 17 of October! Super sweet! We just need to help her with a few things and she will be golden! We had a sweet coordination meeting as well and Brother Simmons brought a bunch o food for Elder Little's second to last coordination meeting on his mission! Then we had the rest of our appointments for the night fall through so we headed to see a member that will hopefully give us some friends to go teach!

On Friday night we had some sweet lessons with some members that live out in Williamsville and got to go see some less active youths in that area as well who haven't been to church in a while! It was really cool because we hadn't gone to see them in a long time! 

On Saturday we spent a lot of time with contacting and got to meet a bunch of people! One experience was pretty cool though. We talked to this guy to get out of the rain and he mentioned he knew the stake president, then his son came out who said he met a sister missionary in the airport in Texas coming here and then another young lady came out who is a member of the church and hasn't been to church in a while! Way cool to get to meet a ton of cool people all at once! Then we drove to Point Fortin to Drop off Elder Little to go to church in Point and I tool Elder Albis with me!

Great church on Sunday, nothing out of the ordinary, but we had a great lesson with a guy named Elrick and his girlfriend about the Book of Mormon! They seemed super interested and invited us back later this week! Elder Albis is a boss and we had a ton of fun with each other yesterday!

We got to go to the beach down here in point Fortin this morning with the zone as well! It was fun to have everyone together... I got rall burned!

Crazy week and I'm out of time!

One Love, Bless up!

Elder Dorrance

Elder Albis

Trinidad Zone at Point Fortin 

Short week for sheezy - Week 84

Elder and Sister Martinez of the Caribbean Area Presidency

Yeah so I guess I emailed like 5 days ago, so this will be a bit of a shorter email.

On Thursday we had a superb Zone Conference where we were truly enlightened! haha We were able to have Elder and Sister Martinez of the Caribbean area presidency! It was amazing! Sister Martinez talked to us about our planning and how it really affects what we do and the success that we have! We were also taught by Elder Martinez what it means to be a full purpose missionary and what comes from that! It was awesome, but something that was also super cool that happened on Thursday was that Elder little and I were given the chance to be interviewed by Elder Martinez! It wasn't a long interview, or a worthiness interview, but it was just a chance that we were given to sit down and talk with him for a bit. It was truly a great time I was able to spend with Elder Martinez! 

On Friday we headed back up to the mission home to have Mission Leadership Council with the rest of the zone leaders and sister training leaders as well with Elder and Sister Martinez again! It was pretty cool to be a part of the leaders of the mission and get to hear how the area presidency wants to have things run! But on the way back from that we found out that the older, sick couple we were able to visit last Tuesday the woman, Belle, had passed away just two days after we saw her and they invited us to a wake for her that night. But by the time we got all the way back down to San Fernando it was in the evening. So we were fed by a really nice member and I went and picked up Elder Naylor and dropped off Elder Little to go and do the Baptismal Interview for Jasie-Ann and Marjorie, which both went off without a hitch! Then we were able to go to the wake of Belle. And for those who don't know what a wake is, it's just where the family of the deceased invites everyone over to the house to mourn with them through the night, it's kind of like a party, but it's not a party... haha and then because of her work schedule we went back and interviewed Anisa for baptism as well at like 9 o'clock at night! 

We woke up extra early to have the baptism at 6:30 in the morning so that Marjorie and Anisa could both get to work on time! But the Bishop was there and everything went super well! So that was a great start to our Saturday, which is good because Saturday was a long day... We got fed again by the Dass family who is moving to Texas in the next week or so! It was probably the best Roti and Curry I've had in Trinidad! I was a happy camper! Then we were able to contact into a very interesting man who believed in William Branham as a prophet. I had never heard of him before so we were able to chat with him for a while about his beliefs and testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith, just to get sent right back out the door as soon as Joseph Smith was brought up, kind of funny, but  a very interesting religion!

On Sunday we had an amazing Stake Conference broadcasted from Port of Spain which was super great! President and Sister Egbert especially gave great talks about the conditional and unconditional blessings of the Atonement! It was pretty cool! But later that evening we headed out to a part of our area that is super distant just to have everyone out there cancel on us, so that was definately a bummer afternoon and evening.

This morning, because Elder little is going home we made a crazy trip up to Sangre Grande where he started his mission and the area that I just came from so that Elder Little could see some of the people he got to know so well! It was pretty fun to get to see all of the people in Grande again even though I just saw them a  few weeks ago!

But it was a short week but a great one!

Thanks for the emails!

One Love,

Elder Dorrance

Elder Little, Marjorie, Anisa and Jasie-Ann

Being fed again by Sister Suepaul in Sangre Grande

Trinidad Zone Conference with President and Sister Egbert and Elder and Sister Martinez



Video of Trinidad Independence day fireworks:
(videos only seem to work on computers so you are out of luck if you are on a mobile device)

Happy Trinidad Independence Day! Week 83

Well these past few weeks have just been pure madness! We've been working our tails off and been so crazy busy that the time is just flying by! 

On Tuesday we had district meeting and a bunch of regular appointments, nothing too crazy. We did get to see Marjore, Anisa and Jasie-Ann and they are doing so great! They are on track to get baptized on the 5th of September! But we did try and pass by a less active member in the night time to find him not home. His dad invited us into his huge house and showed us his 72 inch flat screen TV and his Mazda Rx-7, this car is sweet! It's all original and he keeps it nice... That was probably the highlight for the day! haha

On Wednesday we went out to a place called Princes town which is pretty far out for us so we only go out there once a week, but it's always an adventure! We got to see this member who literally for over an hour  tried to convince us that we need to join her company called Amway. Still not too sure what they do but it is definitely not for me. Especially because she got so vexed that we were like 8 minutes late, she was talking about how she has to move her meetings around whenever she is even a minute behind schedule. It was getting on my nerves. But we got to go see a super funny family that night who kind of complained the whole time about their extended family but it was super funny because it was just some silly argument and they ended up just laughing at the whole thing. They were in tears laughing at themselves with Elder Little and I just watching them...

On Thursday we had a sweet experience with taking Bishop Moore to see Marjorie and her family! He really enjoyed our lesson and is giving his approval for their baptism this weekend! He's super excited! And that night we had a super funny coordination meeting with our ward mission leader, he was basically telling all of us about how he's going to school to be able to counsel people and if he wanted to he could make one phone call and put us all in a mental institution... he's crazy, but is the hardest working member I've ever met on my mission. He's a great guy!

On Friday morning we went and picked up some pants that I had gotten tailored and this really nice Muslim guy who owns the tailor shop told me that he did it as service and i didn't need to pay him for it. All he asked was that we keep him in our prayers. It was a huge testimony builder to me to remember that there are good people everywhere. Even though we experienced a ton of rejection this past week there are good people everywhere who just want to serve others out of the kindness of their hearts. The rest of the day was pretty alright, we had some good lessons with Marjorie and her family as well with the Basdeo family who is this super sweet member family who is just so ready to learn and loves the missionaries! 

On Saturday morning because of the limit on Kilometers on our car we weren't going to be able to go to a baptism in Point Fortin but we were able to catch a ride down with a member. It was a sweet baptism for the sister missionaries of this guy named Renny! He's a super cool guy and it was an awesome beach baptism! It was overcast and right when the baptism ended it started dumping rain! I hadn't seen so much rain in a long time and so there was like 8 of us packed underneath this tarp on the beach just trying not to get too wet! It was insane! 

On Sunday we had a super sweet Fast and Testimony meeting a week early because Stake Conference is next week! There was a ton of Spanish people there, one of the other elders in the ward is from the Dominican Republic and they are teaching a lady from the DR who only speaks Spanish so it is super cool to see her desire to get up to bear her testimony and have the elder translate for her in Sacrament meeting even though she is just an investigator, she is super solid! There was also a family visiting from Venezuela who only spoke Spanish and a member bore his testimony in Spanish that he had learned on his mission! It was a super powerful Testimony meeting, mostly because I didn't understand half of the testimonies... haha

On Monday it was Independence day so we couldn't have our P-day and everything was crazy so we had some service in the morning where we got to go paint a deck and then a day full of appointments falling through. But the coolest part of the day was that night we were driving home and all of these fireworks started going off for like a half hour! It really reminded me of home and all of the great times that I've had with my family at firework shows! It was super sweet! 

On Tuesday we had our district meeting which was good as always and had a pretty average day but that night we went to visit a referral with our Ward Mission Leader to see his neighbors who are super old and the lady had just attempted to commit suicide. It was super sad to see both of them in that state. They are both very sick and both a little bit not there mentally, but Brother Simmons just loves these two to death and it was, I think, exactly how the savior would have treated these two if he would have been there. It was amazing.

This was a crazy week and long time from P-day to P-day, but Thanks so much for all the love!

Blessings,

Elder Dorrance