Break a Leg - 10 Auguest 2015

...where do I even begin?

Well, so, I broke my heel last Monday. Long story short, Sister Roubidoux and I fell into a 6-foot ditch and my heel cracked. So guess who is wearing a cast! Yay! (really not yay) It really doesn't hurt very much. Everything thinks I'm just being tough, but for true, I didn't even believe it was broken until I saw the X-ray. We went into the bakery the other day and a woman looked at the cast and said exactly what I have been thinking: "Dat is problem." So, I'll be wearing it for the next six weeks.

In other news, Sister Roubidoux and I are both being transferred . . . and we're both training! I am going to Couva in central Trinidad to train Sister Leishman who is coming from New Mexico. I'm so excited but nervous to train. Also, President Egbert blindsided me with the news that I will be the new Sister Training Leader! This is a huge responsibility, because I will be looking after the sisters in south Trinidad and loving them and going to tradeoffs and thing. It's going to be crazy with everything else that is going on, but I am super-excited!

What else, what else. Sister Cole recovered from her surgery and got back on Saturday! So, she is back in the mission field. :D

This is a funny thing that happened just a few hours ago. We went to the DMV to get Sister Roubidoux's license, and some random guy showed up and started preaching from the Bible against "sodomites." A woman, evidently a lesbian, yelled at him to stop judging and infringing on her rights. It ended with them both trying to cast devils out of each other. Everyone just sat back and enjoyed the show. Boy oh boy, where would you see that but in Trinidad? :D

Sorry I don't have any pictures; I have no idea where my camera is. I think it's lost for good.

So basically the craziest week of my mission. This next transfer is going to be super-exciting. Stay tuned!

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

T-Possum is Awesome! - 27 July 2015

It's been a busy week. Sister Cole had to go home because she has kidney stones, and no one trusts the medical care here to accurately remove them (even the local doctors). So, she will be gone for a couple weeks :( Her companion, Sister Mitchell, has been with us whole week, and it has been CRAZY. We are working both areas. It is interesting being back in my old area; I get to see some of my old less-actives and thing. Something that really stuck out to me was when we visited Scott: I don't know if I ever told you about Scott, but he is a recent convert/less active that I visited when I was that side. Scott is . . . interesting. 

Sister Hendricks and I never really felt comfortable visiting with Scott because he was weird and crazy and honestly didn't really seem interested in keeping the commandments. So, we handed him over to the EQ and didn't go by very often.

Then, I went back with Sister Mitchell. Scott is still weird and crazy and, well, Scott, but he has changed so much! He was telling us stories about crazy stuff he did when he was younger so that we wouldn't make the same mistakes. Guys, the Atonement is real. Scott is not a Peter Priesthood by any means, but I see a great difference in him. I am so grateful that he decided to allow that change to happen, because boy . . . Well, anyway.

Other news . . . hmm. It's been raining a lot. Sometimes it rains so hard we can't hear each other over the sound of it on the galvanized roofs. It's fun :D

That's been my week, basically :)

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

PS We went to Hindu prayers on Saturday. We didn't participate, obviously, but we ate the food. The singing was very good.

Scott has a squirrel too. It bit him and then he wanted us to hold it ???????

Roti

 

Scott with his squirrel (rated PG-13 for blood)

Chuck-o-Rama - 20 July 2015

Not a lot to report for this week; Today we had a Trinidad sisters activity where we went to Chagaramas (past Port of Spain) and the beach there. It's super-pretty up there! Too bad it's only elders that side. Not much else happened this week, except our investigator Samantha FINALLY came to church! She said that she was afraid everyone would think she was goth because she loves wearing black, so we wore black too, including the elders :) It was fun. 

I know where Santa Claus goes to church - 13 July 2015

Exciting things happened this week! Zone meeting with our mission president, a tradeoff, and a baptism!

Since President Egbert is new to the mission, he wanted to visit every zone meeting; ours was Thursday. It was a really good meeting. We talked about preparing to learn, interacting to edify, and inviting to act. President and Sister Egbert are very inspired, and they have a lot of good ideas for the area. In my interview, he told me that his desire for each of us missionaries is for us to become true disciples to Jesus Christ, for us to be converted to the gospel so that even after our missions we continue to work hard. He talks so fast! :D

We have two STLs, now, Sister Mitchell and Bennion, so I went to Curepe with Sister Mitchell and Sister Bennion went to Arima with Sister Roubidoux. It was weird being back in my old area, but we were able to see three recent converts/less actives that I used to teach and get to talk about old times. It was fun. One of the less actives baptized his son on Saturday :)

Remember the wedding last week? The bride was baptized on Saturday! Her husband, who was recently reactivated, wasn't able to be there sadly, but his brother baptized her. Our district leader was so happy to be there, because he is going home in a few weeks.

This morning we went to Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain and played American football with a lot of the missionaries. I was mumble mumble awful mumble mumble. It's okay though :)

I hope you guys are doing great. I am sitting in a room with a lot of chatting sister missionaries, so I am finding it hard to concentrate right now, but I love you all!

Have a great week,

Sister Aida Tibbitts

 Art, by Sister Tibbitts (in my journal)

I Walk By Faith - 29 June 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been an up-and-down sort of week. We were going to have a baptism on Saturday, but we couldn't meet with her all week, so we have rescheduled it. Hopefully it will work out this week. It is Natalia, and she is so excited to be baptized!

Our Sister Training Leader, Sister Giles, was transferred to St Vincent for her last transfer, so we have new leaders, Sister Mitchell and Sister Bennion! Sisters Galea'i and Giles stayed with us Monday and Tuesday, which was interesting. There is a part of our area that we aren't allowed to go tracting in; we can only go there if we have a set appointment. We met a man who lives there and were going to go visit him on Tuesday, all four of us sisters. Let me tell you, there is a reason we don't go there. You'd think the men had never seen a white woman before! And they have these freaky-looking apartment buildings that are painted all sorts of garish colors . . . and we had to go into them! We went tramping up the stairs very slowly and cautiously, with plenty of clinging to each other. Sister Galea'i, being quite tall, looked around the last corner and saw a whole crowd of guys liming at the top, and so we turned and scampered back down! We found a guy we had talked to earlier and begged him to accompany us up. He did, saying, "Hey, let the girls through, let the girls through." It was pretty creepy, but we got through. Let me just say that we will go there a little as possible.

Saturday Arima Branch and Curepe Ward hosted a stake talent show. We had thirty-something performances that evening. Sister Roubidoux, Natalia, and I sang the song 'I Walk By Faith.' Natalia did not have much time to practice, so she kind of, well, didn't sing much, but she tried :) There was a man from Chaguanas that did a super-awesome looking kathak dance, with traditional dress and everything, and then a young woman who did a lovely dance to a Bollywood song. One of the elders' investigators played the flute and the saxophone; he held one note for about two minutes! Then, they announced that President Mehr was doing a piano solo! He was quite surprised, considering he doesn't play the piano. As Sister Mehr set him up, he told us that he MIGHT remember a little bit from when he was young. He then proceeded to play three notes over and over again on the piano. After we were laughing too hard to hear him, Sister Mehr called up Sister Baker, who added a little bit, then she called up me, and I played a descending scale, then President and Sister Gould, and Sister Miller and then herself. It was crazy! all of us on a little keyboard. Eventually it turned into "Give, Said the Little Stream." Sister Roubidoux has a video somewhere, maybe I can get it to you sometime :)

So, it's been a fun week. Today we had a game morning with our zone. I played chess with Elder Parker, though Elder Haderlie finished for me (he swept the floor with poor Elder Parker). Plus, I am awful at basketball, as if you hadn't already figured that one out ;D

I just read President Mehr's last letter to us. Is that a tear? We are getting our new mission president this week.

I hope you guys are doing well. Love you!

Sister Aida Tibbitts

Transfer Six - 22 June 2015

Boy! Crazy week! Good news, though: Sister Roubidoux and I are together until August at least. And this transfer ends on my birthday! :D Just, you know, so you know *wink wink*

I learned to make buss up shut roti this week! It's super-easy; I will make it when I get home, kay? Also got chased by a dog into an investigator's house, which is for sure a first. Now I can say I have been chased by a dog!

We had an interesting experience Saturday night. So, our investigator Natalia is getting baptized soon; she a young woman who comes from a poor family. At first, I thought she wasn't really understanding anything we were teaching her, but then we showed her the Restoration video and she just started lapping up everything we taught. She has gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and just loves church. She can't read very well, but she and her mom have read some. Saturday night we met her as we were driving to a lesson with her. She was walking down the road, so we stopped, and she told us that a boy beat her up. She had a few scratches on her face and neck and pretty sure she had a concussion. We helped her clean up. When we talked to her mom, she didn't seen too surprised or concerned about it, like it was an everyday occurrence. I suppose if you live in those kind of conditions, it probably is. We asked Brother Duff to come and give her a priesthood blessing, so we sat around and watched Mormon Messages while we were waiting for her. Sister Roubidoux was so angry about it. She said if the boy had still been around, she probably would have busted HIM. Natalia has had a really hard life, you can tell, but she has remained strong and she is really excited about getting baptized on Saturday :D I was afraid she would not be able to come to church because of her head, but she was ready and came to all three hours. She's really cool :)

Not much else to report, other than the mission is splitting next week. As of July 1, I will no longer be in the West Indies Mission, but the Port of Spain Trinidad Mission :) We are all sad about President and Sister Mehr leaving, but excited for President Egbert.

Have a great week! I love you all.

Sister Aida Tibbitts

 

Hamilton in his gangster mask. Just kidding, he uses that so paint and varnish don't get into his hair.

 

Trinidad Sports Day: Sisters Lapides, Giles, Mitchell, Tibbitts, Roubidoux, Cole, Galea'i, and Bennion.

 

President and Sister Mehr playing basketball at their last sports days.

Mango Season! - 15 June 2015

It's been an interesting week! I know I say that pretty much every week, but we had some strange stuff happen. Sister Roubidoux got food poisoning on Wednesday and threw up all night. Where was I? Dead asleep. Then she slept all day Thursday. I studied and watched a lot of Church videos. I accepted the fact that we weren't actually going out that day around 5:30 and made cinnamon rolls.

The other day I was telling someone how to spell my name and said: "T-I-B-B-I-T-T-O. . . . what did I just say." Apparently I can't spell my own name.

Saturday . . . boy. It is officially mango season. While contacting someone, a random guy named Moonan came up and gave us all mangos. We were like "...thanks!" Bishop Ramdhanie (from Curepe Ward) drove by and I gave him mine. Then, this huge truck bearing gas tanks drove by and the driver called to us: "Hey! You want mangos? My brother is a pastor in your church! Here, mangos!" It was nice of him, but we gave them to Hamilton. I have decided that mangos are kind of like fruitcake: there is a time of year where everyone is giving it away, but everyone has some already, so you either use it as an object lesson on tithing or you re-gift it. It's all good though; mangos are really good.

Zone conference was on Tuesday; President and Sister Mehr's last before they head home in July. It was really, really good. Sister Mehr encouraged us to realize the depth of our testimonies. Sister Roubidoux and I did a roleplay with Sister Francom in front of all the north Trinidad missionaries; she was a less-active we were trying to get back to church. First we weren't bold enough, then we were too bold---it was pretty funny :) President Mehr then got up and told us all we needed to be more passionate about the gospel, because guess what? this is only our salvation we are talking about. While waiting for interviews, we talked with Sister Mehr about recognizing the Spirit when it comes to knowing who to marry (her advice? Don't worry about it until you get home. Just focus on living righteously so the Spirit will be with you). She is seriously an inspired woman.

Anyway, it's been a good, but crazy, week. Scripture of the week is 1 Chronicles 28:9-10

Have a great week! Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

 

President and Sister Mehr (last zone conference)

 

Puppies at the Seegobins :)

Grateful in all Circumstances - 8 June 2015

Dear Family,

It's been a great week! We've found a lot of really great people. We met this guy named Dean who has read up to chapter four in 1 Nephi! Which is cool, let me tell you. Yesterday, he gave us food that he got at some Hindu prayers, like roti, channa and aloo, and chutney, etc. It was really nice of him :) Then we visited our investigator Natalia, who is hopefully getting baptized in a few weeks! Her family has very poor living conditions; I cannot even describe it---it's not even a shack, I mean, at least a shack has walls. It kind of looks like a bomb went off in their house . . . IDK. Sister Roubidoux said that during the whole lesson she just kept feeling like she needed to give some of the food to Natalia's family, so she asked her mom if they had had dinner. Her mom had not, but she gave her kids some biscuits and tea, which is basically nothing. So Sister Roubidoux gave them some of the roti skin and the chutney. It's very humbling to teach people who live in these circumstances. It makes me want to be better, you know? I have so much, even here. Don't be wasteful or complain because you have vegetables instead of chocolate. Some people have literally nothing. I want to be better at that.

Yesterday was Fast Sunday. President Mehr had encouraged us to have a special mission-wide fast, where we visited members and reminded them of the purpose and power of fasting. Yesterday fast and testimony meeting was great. So many people got up and shared their testimonies of the power of the Atonement and the scriptures. It was amazing. I know that fasting works. Our investigator Hamilton loves fasting, especially as he has tried to overcome his various addictions.

This is a picture of a cat who loves me. Every time we go over to this member's house, it goes around my ankles whining, because it wants me to sit down so it can come on my lap. It's crazy. It doesn't like me to pet it, though . . . it tries to bite my hands. IDK, I think it has trust issues.

Have a great week! Love you!

Sister Aida Tibbitts

Adios, Elder Perry - 1 June 2015

Dear Family,

So, found out yesterday during church that Elder Perry passed away. Someone was giving a talk and mentioned it. Sister Roubidoux almost started crying. It will be interesting to see who his successor in the Quorum is, but I know he is leading a missionary force in the spirit world :)

It's been an interesting week. Yesterday, Sister Roubidoux got beer, throw-up, and frog urine on her hand.

We've been working with a man named Hamilton. Hamilton met the missionaries in September, and he comes to church every Sunday. He just has some a few problems left before he can be baptized, which is sad considering he is more converted than some of the members.He has finished the Book of Mormon and is trying really hard to overcome his challenges. We gave him a book to help him overcome his addiction to smoking: he gave up weed, rum, and cussing, but he has this last addiction. Plus he lives which his girlfriend, which is another set of problems. Hamilton is so cool through. He calls us his angels. We set a baptismal date with his for August 15th. We hope and pray he will make this date.

This morning we went up with the other missionaries and a member and visited the Lopinot Caves. So, it's basically a winding hole in the mountain, quite slippery. There were bats, which was mildly freaky. Brother Rampersad told us that at the end there was a small pool with a blind fish that we would not find anywhere else in the world, but I don't think we found it. We did, however, find a rather large rock blocking our way. Oh well, probably the pool was dried up with rainy season anyway. Then we came back and Sister Rampersad had made us delicious roti and phulouri. We have now gained five pounds :)

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

With Sister Roubidoux - 25 May 2015

How are you! I am here with Sister Roubidoux, who is awesome. She has been out two transfers in Barbados, but she is super-prepared.

This week has been very fun as we have gotten to know each other. Yesterday, we walked with one of our investigators to church. She is a young woman named Natalia (Sister Cole thought her name was Lativia for weeks, lol; though to be fair it does sound like Lativia when she says it). Today we had a spa morning with a few of the other sisters. One of the senior sisters washed all of our feet! It was a relaxing experience.

A woman in the ward had her house burn down a few weeks ago, so we helped clean that up on Thursday. It was basically a pile of sheet metal, wood, and burned paper. Her Book of Mormon was almost intact, though! Her poor daughter lost all of her textbooks the week of exams :P

 

The half-burned Book of Mormon (her LDS neighbor asked if he could have it)

 

 Cleaning with the elders

 

Sisters Tilby, Mitchell, Sommer, Francom, Roubidoux, Cole, and myself