New Apartments

This past week was spent getting an apartment ready in Sangre Grande.  It is difficult getting an apartment ready as most of the apartments are unfurnished.  As of now, the Mission here in Trinidad does not have any storage of furniture, appliances, and etc. to use to furnish an apartment.  Usually in the states, members are used to help with apartments and furnishings for missionaries.  Unfortunately, a majority of the members here are too poor to donate items.   None of the unfurnished apartments come with appliances, such as a stove or refrigerator.  So, in this case, we had to purchase new items.  I think the Elders who are to occupy this apartment were more excited with the new items than they were with the apartment.  Especially with the blender.  They really like the blenders to make smoothies.  This apartment needs a lot of cleaning and electrical work done to it.  The landlord finally consented to pay the cost of installing a 220 amp outlet for an electric range.  This will help out immensely as we have already spent a fortune for items for this apartment.  Here in the West Indies, most items for purchase cost twice as much as in the states as they have to be shipped in.  Fortunately, in Trinidad, there is a Membership Warehouse store that is a Costco called PriceSmart.  We purchased a membership and use it all the time to buy items for personal use and apartments.  We also enjoy their Pizza.  One of the Elders that is to occupy this apartment wished we would have turned it down because it had no air conditioning.  He has been here for six weeks and is always hot.  The best we could do for them were fans.  As I have talked with the missionaries, they do get use to the heat and prefer fans instead of air conditioning.  It just takes time.  The cost of this apartment is $335 a month.  The cost of our apartment is $1100 a month.  Thank Heavens we have air conditioning.

We were also told this week that we need to find an apartment in a small town that 
President Mehr wants to open up to missionaries.  The Zone Leaders called and said that they think they found an apartment that would work.  We use the local missionaries to help us find apartments as they know the area well.  This will help us out immensely in opening up a new apartment.  I told President and Sister Mehr that I feel guilty spending all this money furnishing apartments.  President Mehr told me when he first came to the Mission and looked at the monthly budget, he was astonished.  But, he said I guess that's the cost of doing the Lord's work.  I am very impressed with President Mehr.  He has a great deal of faith.  He knows he is doing the Lord's work and knows the Lord is in charge and things will always work out and they always do. 

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know He lives and died for me so I be forgiven of my sins and gain Eternal Life.  I'm thankful to be part of this great work and help in furthering the Gospel in some small way even if it means getting apartments ready for missionaries to do their work.  

        

Neighborhood

I have been neglectful in writing my blog.  I will try and be more diligent.  The work here in Trinidad continues.  We had some new missionaries come in and some go home.  It is great to see the enthusiasm of the new missionaries and the growth of the older missionaries as they return home.  Their knowledge of the Gospel and the scriptures as well as their testimonies have increased so much while on their missions.  Elder Gubler and I enjoy being around them.

We took two Elders to teach Juliana, an investigator, this last week.  She was real receptive and anxious for them to come back.  They introduced The Book of Mormon and she committed to read and pray about it.  I was very impressed by the way they taught.  That is one thing I miss by being a Senior Missionary is the opportunity to teach investigators.  Both Elder Gubler and I bore our testimonies of The Book of Mormon.  It is the Word of God and a witness of Jesus Christ.  It is also proof that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God.

The rainy season has started.  It rains almost every day.  Sometimes once or twice a day or other times all day.  When I mean rain, it pours down in sheets.  It kind of cools it off as the clouds hide the sun.  In fact yesterday, it got down to about 80 degrees which felt really nice.  We went and looked at an apartment yesterday in Sangre Grande.  It is on the northeast side of Trinidad.  It is a long ride out there as the traffic is so bad.  The apartment was too far out of town and we had to go through a mud hole to get to it as the street was not paved.  It is hard to find apartments for the younger missionaries.

We also went to the Suriname Embassy the other day to check on our Visas.  They are still working on them, but the gal there seemed hopeful they would be here soon.  We are anxious to go to Suriname.  The Vanderbeeks, a senior couple already there, sent us a picture of a home we might like to rent.  They said it had indoor plumbing and a stream out in front that we could use in case the water was turned off.  I hope they were kidding.  Elder Gubler is doing very well with his Dutch.  I am far behind.  It is a daunting task to learn another language.

I have included some pictures of beautiful homes that we pass each day as we take our morning walks.  We are currently living in a very nice area.  I have also included a picture of our apartment and a picture of a home the Vanderbeeks want us to consider in Suriname.  A bit scary.  

 

Our apartment building.

 

Our current apartment until we get our visas to Suriname.

 

 

Middle home is the Vanderbeeks

 

They found us this home with a creek in front to wash up in.