25 January 2016

Dear Family,

Flipping caimans, this week has been hectic. And next week doesn't look much better.

So, Sister Tongi is going home on Thursday, so I am getting a new companion! Sister Tilby is great; she's coming down from San Fernando. I will get the pleasure of sending her home in six weeks! (*crying inside*) It'll be fun, because everyone, even President Egbert and our own companions, get our names mixed up ;) Funny thing, if I get to be companions with Sister Watson, I will have been companions with ALL of Sister Lapides' companions! We'll see what happens :) [actually, not true; I never even met Sister Crompton.]

Other than that . . . Elder Renlund is coming on Thursday and we are singing for him. Then Elder Martinez is coming Saturday and I guess we're singing for him too. So excited! And just so you know, Carnival is the 8th and 9th of February, so we won't be emailing that Monday. I don't know if we will email on Wednesday either, because that is our zone conference . . . we'll find out :D

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. I need em! I pray for you guys too.

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

18 January 2016

Dear Family,

Pretty crazy week, as always! We have been teaching Mozzie to try and prepare her for baptism this coming Friday! There are a lot of distractions, though, so we are getting trouble to sit down with her and teach her the lessons.

Funny story: the night we were to teach her the Word of Wisdom, we visiting a member named Sister Kunjal. While there, she gave us each a piece of cake. I thought it was very tender and moist and started downing it, but as soon as Sister Kunjal turned her back Sister Tongi waved her arms and whispered: "This has alcohol in it!" Oh. Awkward. We secretly snuck it into the trash after that. I'm not sure if it was a good thing that Mozzie turned out not to be home that night, so we could not teach her the WoW :) Trinidadians make this cake, called blackcake, around Christmastime, and don't seem to worry about the word of wisdom when they do.

Also had a cool experience at Book of Mormon class. The elders had an investigator come, so we just read the Introduction for class. He did not understand the need for another book of scripture: classic 2 Nephi 29:3. He was being pretty stubborn about it, but then we shared Ezekiel 37:15-17 and 2 Nephi 3:12 and bore testimony and his heart really softened. I don't think he was fully convinced but he did not argue anymore and he was interested in reading it. We asked him, "What if the book was true?" He said, "Then it needs to go into the whole world." I was reminded of Brother Leal and how he wanted to nail the Book of Mormon on every lamppost in the world :D

Sister Tongi is going home next week and she is not excited :) It's amazing how missions can change you. You love home and miss your family but at the same time you put so much time and effort and love into the people you don't want to leave ever. Trinidad is my home. These people are my family. I will miss them a lot when the time comes.

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

11 January 2016

Dear Family,

It's been an interesting week! I have done things this week that I have never done before, like: fishing; re-upholstering a stool; and washing clothes by hand. The things you learn on your mission :) I caught the first fish, and because we helped a recent convert named Robert with his upholstering business we will now get free hammocks. Score! I've been wanting a hammock.

We also had Missionary Leadership Council on Friday. Elder Devn Cornish came and taught us which was an amazing experience. He just expounded upon the Atonement which was mind-blowing. We also talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. One of the elders from Guyana told a story that they had had with one of their investigators. She's a Guyanese lady who cannot read, so they've been trying to help her learn and giving her very simple verses like Jacob 6:12 to read. They came back to followup on her reading and she told them them that although she did not have success reading it she did pray and then had an interesting dream. She dreamt that her family and friends came to her and invited her to come to a party, but she told them she could not come because she was doing a church thing now and meeting with church people. Even though they had bought her a really cute outfit and shoes she still refused to come. She told the elders that she distinctly remembered the Book of Mormon was in her hand and she felt this urgency that she needed to read it. The Book of Mormon has so much power in it, because it is that pure doctrine. It has all those plain and precious things still in it. I love this book and would encourage anyone that has not begun a serious study of it to do so. If you're having troubles and trials in your life, the Book of Mormon has the answers and solace you are seeking. It answers questions on the soul. I know this book is true.

Last item on business for the week: Elder Dale Renlund is coming on the 28th on Trinidad! It's really amazing that they are sending an Apostle to such a small island with so few members (Trinidad and Tobago has fewer members than Hemet Stake). But they've chosen to send him here. A few missionaries (me included) are doing a musical number at the fireside. We are all really excited!

Hope all yuh have a great week! Love you!

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

Kelvin's Baptism

Kelvin, his two nephews, Sister Tongi

Same, with the addition of Sister Graziano

What are YOUR goals for this year? - 4 January 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year! We've been talking with people a lot about what they want to do in this coming year. One of our investigators, Kelvin, decided to make a big New Years resolution and was baptized on New Years Eve! It was a very great baptism at the beach. He and his recent convert brother Keith are both wanting to go to the temple as soon as possible. We are working on converting the whole family: Kelvin is the eldest, Keith is a triplet with a sister that we are teaching and a brother that the elders are teaching. We are hoping that somewhere along the way the youngest brother Kelly will become interested; hope springs eternal :) We had a great FHE with all of them where we talked about the story of Nehemiah and how he had to build a wall around Jerusalem. It's something that President Egbert had taught us about to help "build our wall" with the members. We focused on Nehemiah 4:6.

A couple days ago something funny happened. Our branch mission leader, Bro Baldeo, showed up at our door at 7:30 in the morning with doubles, Coke, and flowers. Sister Tongi says he does that all the time because he really thinks of us as his daughters. He's a funny guy :) Apparently he has 21 children O.o

So far it's been a great 2016 (!!!!). I have restarted the Book of Mormon and have been looking up all the footnotes along the way. It really helps me to understand the background and other crossreferences so that I can understand the scriptures better. It's slow, but good.

Hope your New Years was good! Love all of you!

Sister Aida Tibbitts

28 December 2015

Dear Family,

Crazy week! So much service. I haven't painted so much in my life. Trinidadians (well, West Indians in general) really change their houses for the Christmas season, putting up new curtains and painting inside and out. It's pretty crazy. Good thing I like painting, ent? :D Even though I was surprised and sad that I was leaving Couva, I am really loving it down in Point. It's much more bush here, and the city is a lot smaller than the others I have served in. There were about 15 people at church yesterday, which was a little weird, but it's cool, I love the people that I serve here. One of our recent converts, Keith, has been helping us teach his brother Kelvin. Kelvin wants to be baptized on Thursday for his New Years Resolution, so we've been working hard to teach him all the missionary lessons before then. So far, so good. He's a good guy. We've done a lot of service for Keith and his sister Mozzie. Keith lives at an old sawmill that shut down a while ago. There's a lot of bush around him, so we and the elders came over one day and helped him cut bush, pick sorrell, and pull cassava. (Sorrell is a flower that WI use to make a red drink they have around Christmas.It's really good.) Christmas day we just went around and visited people and ate a lot of good food. It's funny; in Barbados everyone gave us ham, but I didn't see any ham for Christmas here, just chicken and rice and sorrell. Christmas eve we watched 'Mr. Krueger's Christmas'. There's an extra on the DVD with old MoTab Christmas concerts, and there was one where they sang 'The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy' and they had steel pan! Steel pan is basically the national instrument of Trinidad; we even have a panyard right next door to us. You should look the song up, it was pretty good.

Skyping was weird. After the screen blanked out for me we couldn't get it to work for Sister Tongi, so she and the elders had to scramble to find another place to Skype. It all worked out okay in the end, though. So I am glad I was able to Skype all yuh!

That was basically our week: service, food and music. Trinidad has a local Christmas music called parang. It's very bouncy. We are looking forward to New Years'; it's funny because last year for New Years I was on a tradeoff with Sister Tongi in Barbados, so this will be our second New Years together. :D She's a great sister.

Love you guys and hope everything is well with you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, Sister Aida Tibbitts

21 December 2015

Dear Family,

Psych! So, I got a call from President Egbert Sunday morning telling me that they had to transfer a sister from South in Point Fortin, so they are sending me to replace her. Point is quite south: it's the farthest down missionaries go in Trinidad. My new companion is Sister Tongi. I am so sad to leave Sister Buckhave, who is a wonderful sister, but duty calls! I cried when I shared my testimony yesterday in Couva ward. I have loved it here so much, but I know there are people who I will love in Point Fortin. Since I only have six months left, I might stay the rest of my mission down in Point.

Also, about Christmas . . . yeah, I don't know where we are skyping or what time anymore. They told us we could call on Christmas day just to confirm plans, though, so I will find out what time I am skyping, and then I will call on Christmas before so that you know what time I will be on. I'm sorry, last minute change of plans make things kind of crazy.

When I'm done email here, we are going up to the mission home to carol around and then have a lunch. I guess we are watching It's a Wonderful Life after, which I'm pretty excited about. Love that movie :) Should be fun.

I hope all yuh are having a great Christmas season. Love you!