Serving in Sandals: Tobago Branch 8th Anniversary Celebration

April 1st was the day the Tobago Branch began 8 years ago with the baptism of Patrick and Pamela Ramkissoon. So in honor of that event we planned with the branch council a celebration that would focus on reaching out to the in-actives and the members non-member friends. We thought the movie "Meet The Mormons" would be a good way to introduce neighbors and friends to the church. We began planning in December and started out with grand ideas....inviting the Prime minister of Tobago and other important people. Each month the plans were scaled back. The final plan was for a short meeting, then the movie and then refreshments. The day of the celebration our key speaker couldn't come. At 3:00 p.m. when everything was to start we had 8 people.....6 missionaries and the Georges. A bit disappointing even though we had delivered 100's of invitations. By the time we started the movie there were about 30 members. Sister Cupid was the only one who brought an investigator. Although everything didn't go as expected and was not as grand as first hoped, those who came did enjoy themselves.

Sister George's decorations were beautiful.

Ready for the movie, which I love so much!

Although, the branch has made progress, there are still many firsts yet to take place in the branch....like becoming a ward, sending their first missionary, first member married in the temple, getting our own building, separating youth classes etc. I did this board to help them look to the future knowing there is still much to do. It was interesting to me to type all the names of missionaries who have served here. Almost 70 in eight years have worked hard to keep Tobago moving forward. I was happy to add our names to that list.

Brother George was baptized in 2010.

Christian, James and Kristen were baptized when they were children. They have had the blessing of growing up in the church. That will make a huge difference for the future of the branch.

The Baynes girls also have grown up in the church.

Sister Dookran was baptized in the first year of the branch. She travels every week for an hour to get to church and is here faithfully. An amazing lady!