June 10th, 2018

Dear Family and Friends

We have begun the last tour of the mission before departing for home June 30th. It has been difficult to anticipate the emotions, as we are always traveling in and out of the same countries every six weeks for Zone Conferences, so the routine seems the same. The missionaries and members have been so thoughtful and expressed their gratitude in such touching ways. 

In Guyana, the missionaries sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again...complete with harmony!

Dad held a temple fireside for the all the members in both Berbice and Georgetown. There was a great spirit at both meetings and the attendance was a testimony to President Nelson's admonition for all of us to "Stay on the covenant path." Many of the members had to travel 2 hours to the building and they made the sacrifice.

One member painted us a picture of the famous Kaiteur Falls in Guyana. She had the members sign the back of the canvas for us. Others brought food, jewelry and little souvenirs of the country. They don't even know where tomorrow's meal may be coming from, yet they share what they have today.

In Suriname the missionaries presented us with a wooden journal filled with all their testimonies. Since it was Dad's birthday, they also sang Happy Birthday to him and Sister Vermeeren made a black forest cake for all to enjoy. After the temple fireside, the members presented us with matching plaid pangi's. The native people wear this fabric wrap proudly and embroider fun designs on it. They also gave us a wooden plaque with the coat of arms for Suriname.

Tot Ziens Suriname!

Trinidad has been in transition since the pending move, but we enjoyed our last zone conference in the old mission office with the missionaries and the William's, our new senior couple. They also gave us a book of their testimonies and some chocolate for the road.

Our next goodbye's will be in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Then we will have our last transfer of missionaries and the arrival of President Baird and his wife.

We love you and are counting the days,

Trini and Dad

May 13th, 2018

Dear Family and friends,

It's official...the mission home and office contents are on a ship headed for Curacao. They predict a 6-8 delivery and we are praying that we will be able to unload just in time for the new mission president and his wife. It has been bittersweet to see a mission home that has been used by nine mission presidents come to an end. It was a wonderful home for us for the past three years and always held a special spirit as we welcomed and said farewell to over 200 missionaries. Even though we were seldom at the mission home for more than a week a month, we looked forward to sleeping in our bed and enjoying the wonderful mangoes, bananas, birds and iguanas.

We were so tired after readying our personal items for one crate and then immediately getting the items earmarked for the mission home shipping to Curacao, that I took a moment for a therapeutic and well-deserved cry. Sister Melville, who has worked at the mission home for the past four presidents helped me with the final clean up once everything was out the door. She had a hard time seeing the home completely. I will really miss her. She is such a humble, sweet, Guyanese woman who has taught me so many things. I would like to put her in my suitcase and bring her home with me. 

Just as the last of the items were being placed in the moving van, Dad received a call from our immigration liaison in Trinidad, stating that 26 Overseas Missionary Permits had been granted. It was ironic to say the least, since we were leaving Trinidad because we had not received an OMP in about a year and our missionary force in Trinidad and Tobago was at five companionships. In a matter of three years, we had gone from fifty-six missionaries to ten. I guess the proof of the pudding will be if there is any consistency to the approvals moving forward. 

We have one more tour of the mission and then we will wrap up in Curacao, just in time to greet the new mission president and his wife. Today was the last Sunday spent in Trinidad and the members were so kind to us. Somehow we are still standing and we know it is a direct blessing of trying to serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength.

Thank you for your prayers. We can feel your love and support and it continues to sustain us as we approach the finish line.

Love you all,

Trini and Dad

March 30th, 2018

Cam, Tiffany, Nic, Heather, Jon, Jenny, Marielle, Conner, Julianne, Garrett, Marissa and Greg,

Londyn, Dylan, Harper, Blakely, Luke, Paige, Liam, Rylee, Bo, Britton, McCrae, Hannah, Heidi, Paityn, Kamden,and babies yet to love....

We are thinking of each of you this special Easter week. We love you and are looking forward to enjoying General Conference this weekend. We will miss Pajama Sunday and breakfast together, but are grateful to be able to listen prophets and apostles and their inspired counsel. So grateful to have answers to questions and guidance in a world with so much confusion. We testify that He lives!

Happy Easter,

Mom and Dad

PS Please remember Cam in your prayers this week as he prepares for another back surgery on April 5th. We will be fasting that day, if you would like to join us. 

March 25th, 2018

Dear Family and Friends,

This month has probably been the busiest month of our mission, at least from a travel standpoint. So far this month, we have been at home in Trinidad 22 hours...Just enough time to wash and repack our suitcases. We have not only been traveling through the mission for Zone Conferences, but added to that, have been District Conferences. They are held with the Districts in our mission just like Stake Conferences. So twice a year, Dad basically is responsible for conducting 4 Stake Conferences and the associated meetings. Auxiliary training sessions, youth and YSA firesides and the Saturday and Sunday sessions have kept us very busy. The youth and YSA fireside was a question and answer session that went very well. These youth are amazing and living gospel standards was the focus of the majority of their questions. It is hard to be such a small religious minority in Caribbean countries that have so little regard for gospel standards.

Sandwiched in the minutes in between, we managed to spend time with our wonderful senior couples and grab a few photos. We saw some children headed home after school and Dad couldn't resist their best Ninja imitation. We also heard about a jaguar that had been shot because it had entered a neighboring village and was terrorizing livestock and poultry. Josh, our leather crafter friend, acquired the hide and Dad couldn't resist a photo op. We had also been trying to capture a picture of rice being dried on the road before bagging for shipping. For a few Guyanese dollars, the rice farmer let Dad take a picture. 

We are "EGG"cited for Easter and General Conference. What a blessing to sustain a new prophet and 2 new apostles. 

Love you all,

Trini and Dad