August 15 2010

Another rainy week in paradise. We love this rainy season and we know
that it is harvest there and it needs to be sunny and warm. We hope
that the Fall is a good one for all of you. We hope that you will
enjoy the Fall season for us; we miss the harvest, the cool nights and
mornings, the colors, the canning and storing the garden and the long,
hard working hours and those who helped with the harvest. I miss
making cinnamon rolls for the harvest crew and the blessing all these
good people were to us and to our children. We are so grateful for
all of you.

We had two experiences that we would like to share with you. There is
a missionary from Tonga that we served with in St. Vincent and also
have had the opportunity to spend time with here in Trinidad. He and
his companions were amazing, dedicated missionaries. In St. Vincent,
they went into the community of Diamond and walked the hills and gaps
and met all the people. Elder Vaea shared with me on Friday the
experience of finding "Bailey". Bailey was drunk and sitting in a
heap on the roadside. Elder Vaea told him who he was and asked him
what he wanted to do the rest of his life. " Do you want to drink
more? Do you want to smoke more? Bailey said, "No, I want to change
my life!" Bailey was not a youngster but an older man. He has come
to Church almost every week in the Calliaqua branch since then. He is
a strong member and has baptized others. There are many who will be
forever grateful to Elder Vaea and his other companions. Elder Vaea
is strong and of good courage. However, he has not been well most of
his mission and has kept it to himself. His situation has become more
evident and the mission nurse, Sister Ellison, has had him to many
physicians and had many tests and they have come to no conclusions
about his malady. The Church has made commitments that the
missionaries will return to their country of origin at the conclusion
of their mission. Because of this important commitment, it is hard to
get visas for missionaries that are not US citizens to make any stop
at all in the U.S. As we have looked for options for Elder Vaea, we
found that we were coming up short everywhere we turned. We needed
Missionary Department approval, General authority approval, physicians
recommendations from here and in the U.S. as well as legal advice,
very involved and complicated. We had Zone Conference tour the past
two weeks here in the West Indies Mission. Elder Coleman of the
Seventy and his wife were a part of this tour. They were in Trinidad
last Monday and Tuesday. Monday night Elder Vaea had an episode and
collapsed in his apartment on Monday evening. The Elders took him to
the hospital and Sister Ellison and Pres. and Sister Gamiette met them
there. There were some anxious hours and a powerful blessing from
Pres. Gamiette was given. The tour continued to Guyana and then they
had Friday afternoon again in Trinidad before going on to Suriname.
Pres. Gamiette and Elder Coleman came to the mission office directly
from the airport and things began to happen. There were many phone
calls and much finding of information. Pres Gamiette would come to my
desk and ask for things every few minutes and Elder Morris (Office
Elder) helped with sending information to Salt Lake City via the
internet. Elder Vaea, who has been serving as Elder Morris' companion
for the last few weeks, was right there at my desk and we were sharing
memories of St. Vincent. Just as this started to happen, Elder Vaea
had pulled up the pictures from our blog and we were sharing memories
shared in St. Vincent. We watched as a mountain was beginning to be
moved to allow Elder Vaea to receive medical help in the States. This
coming week will be important in scraping the dirt around and
smoothing things but we have seen a miracle. Sister Mele Vi, who has
helped from Salt Lake and is the mother of Elder Vi who served with
Elder Vaea in St. Vincent, has helped so much and has facilitated an
appointment with a doctor in Salt Lake as well as being his Tongan
family in the States. Elder Vaea's release date is the last of
September and he wants to serve right up to the time he leaves. Pres.
Gamiette has given him the opportunity to train a new missionary until
he goes to the U.S. and before going home to Tonga.

The other experience happened this morning at the Couva branch. In
Sunday School, we were talking about being guided by the Spirit.
Sister Hyman, a Hindu convert, shared an experience. She said that
she and her daughters had been to the Church to help clean on a
Saturday morning and had returned home. As they entered their home,
Sister Hyman felt she should lock her door. It wasn't long until her
brother came to the house and called in. He asked why she had locked
her door and she continued to talk to him through the window. Her
daughter pointed out to her that he had a large cutlass hidden behind
his back. He was very agitated and he said to her as he was leaving,
"It is a good things you locked your door, you know!" After Sunday
School, I told her that I appreciated her sharing her experience. She
began sharing more experiences and told me with tears in her eyes how
the feeling in her home changed as she put up pictures of the Temples
and that she would read the Book of Mormon and then embrace the Book
and cry and then repeat the process. We embraced as sisters with
tears in our eyes. We are so blessed to be members of the Church and
it says something about the choices we have made before this life and
in this life. Heavenly Father blesses us for every good thing that
we do be it immediate or sometimes when we least expect it. Again, we
heard a marvelous, first generation story of conversion.

We are enjoying our mission so much! We love the West Indian people!
We enjoy the people we serve with! It is important to thrive where we
are and to find the best in our associates. There are so much good in
people everywhere!