September 22nd, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

We left last week for the ABC islands to hold Zone Conferences with the missionaries and District Conferences with the members. When we finished our meeting schedule on the island of Aruba, we flew through Miami to return to Port of Spain.

Although it is nice to touch down in the USA, it makes for a very long way home to Trinidad...like 2,736 miles and 7 hours of flight time. But we had to be home on Monday, to leave for Guyana on Tuesday and there were no flights to Port of Spain from the ABC's until Tuesday. So, no choice but to go through Miami. There was still a lot of clean up going on from Hurricane Irma, but the people of Miami were impressed at how much help they had received from other agencies in different states during the emergency. Our mission has been very blessed to have been out of the path of the hurricanes and for that we are extremely grateful.

We thought you might like a taste of what one 24 hour window looked like in our week. I began to write the craziness down, because I couldn't believe all the situations that presented themselves and for some reason I knew that someday it might become comic relief.

1. Left Aruba via Miami at 10 am

2. Had a 5 hour layover so we decided to take a taxi to TJ Maxx (My clothes are falling apart) and grab a bite of Amercian cuisine.

3. Our taxi driver was a member of "Team Jesus" but he missed the turnoff and added another 30 minutes to the trip.

4. When we returned to the airport, we were selected for TSA pre-check, which allowed us to go straight through security without all the ususal unpacking and de-shoeing. But as we went through the security arch, a bell went off that signaled we had been arbitrarily selected for a full pat down and carry on inspection.

5. Arrived in Port of Spain to a 1 1/2 hour immigration line. As we got in the line, we got a call that a missionary in Guyana had run away. He had no money, could not understand Guyanese English and had only been in Guyana 1 week.

6. When we made it through immigration, we picked up our luggage and my suitcase had been damaged.

7. We got to our car in long term parking, loaded the luggage and the car would not start. Dad canvased the parking lot at 11pm and found a car that was willing to help charge the battery.

8. Headed home and Dad began to make phone calls to church headquarters in SLC about our missing missionary.

9. I began washing because we were leaving the next day for Guyana. When I went to put the clothes in the dryer, I found that the spin cycle did not work. I began to wring the clothes out manually and get them ready to dry.

10. Heard at midnight that the missionary had returned and Dad began to call all the contacts with the good news. HALLELUJAH!

11. Wrote emails until 2 am and finished the laundry. Went to bed.

12. Woke up at 7. Dad was feeling like a scrambled egg and when he cracked open the egg, it was ROTTEN! The smell was nauseating. Nothing else in the house to eat!

13. We showered and Dad left for the mission office at 7:45 am. The car wouldn't start again, so the assistants had to bring him an extra mission car.

14. We began packing, and discovered that my hanging make-up bag was no where to be found! I had left it in the hotel in Aruba, with all of our toiletries inside. 

15. Made an emergency stop by the pharmacy on the way to the airport to grab some essentials. Found out that make-up inventory for a white caucasian female is hard to find on the shelves in the Caribbean. I wish my skin was some of the shades I had to choose from. Great practice for Halloween!

16. Reached the airport and checked in for our flight to Guyana at 10 am.

24 hours in review and we are not quite ready to laugh yet....but I'm sure someday we will.

The work is still moving forward!

Love,

Trini and Dad