A day at Las Cuevas Bay

March 16, 2013

 

The Senior Couple over the Single Young Adults organized an all-day outing at Las Cuevas Bay on the north end of Trinidad.  We began the morning by picking up two young women at the Chaguanas Branch and driving with them through Port of Spain and north for about an hour and a-half through the mountains on a very narrow two-lane road.  The road was very winding and steep.  Nettie said it was the worst road she's ever been on, having previously said that Costa Rica had the worst roads. I must admit that coming around a sharp curve with another car approaching was a tight squeeze.  A few only had a foot or two of room between the canyon wall and the other car.   

 

 

 

Kellie on the left and Jenna on the right were our passengers on the trip to Las Cuevas Bay.  Kellie is a member with a very confident personality and Jenna is a non member who is still in High School.

 

 

The view from the top into the Caribbean Sea was spectacular with the lush green foliage, palms and huge ferns.

 



The beach we went to is behind the second mountain in the distance.  The first bay is Maracus which is the most popular.  Las Cuevas Bay is more isolated and has very little commercial development.

 

 

Only a few others on the beach.  Our group had about thirty young adults from the Trinidad Stake.  A surprising number were non members.  There have been four baptisms in the stake since we arrived on Trinidad three weeks ago.

 

A day with beautiful water and pristine sand.  It was probably 80 degrees with a slight breeze.  A few times we had a misty rain that added to the occasion.  All of the colors were rich and dark from the moisture in the air.

 

One of the small coves carved out of the basalt by the ever pounding sea.  The beach sand is a light grey and the water is a beautiful sky blue.

 

The foliage clings to every rock that refuses too give way.

 

A beautiful Garden created by our Heavenly Father to bless our lives and bring us joy.

 

 

When the Elders and a young woman dressed in white came down the beach we realized that in addition to having a social for the Young Adults, they were going to have a baptism.  I was emotionally struck by the humble strength of these young people and their desire to serve the Lord.  There were about thirty in attendance and we opened the baptism singing "I am a child of God" and two of the youth from the stake gave short talks and bore their testimonies.

 

 

What a wonderful opportunity to witness the power of our youth and their willingness to set aside the things of the world and to serve with faith among the children of our Father in Heaven.

 

 

 

 

We left after the baptism with Elder Lindorf so we could go back to the office and spend the afternoon working on some of the questions I have regarding finances.  We stopped at Moracas Bay to get lunch at the Shark and Bake which we had heard so much about from the other missionaries.  We were not disappointed.  They take a hot fry bread bun cut it open and put on it several pieces of breaded deep fried shark.  Next we put on various dressings from hot and spicy to sweet and mild and then coleslaw, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce and wow what a sandwich.  It was everything they kept bragging about.  We had just finished eating when my phone rang and one of the Assistants to the President said the elders who had baptized the sister were in a bad accident between Moracas Bay and Las Cuevas Bay.  We quickly drove back and found them on a sharp curve in the road.

 

 

Both cars had been totaled by a head-on collision and the Elder who was driving was shaken and in tears.  He said that when they came around the corner on a wet steep downgrade he braked and slid across the lane into the upcoming Porsche.  Fortunately nobody was seriously injured.  One of the elders was in a lot of pain on his side where he slammed into the inside of the door on impact but appeared to be fine.  Nettie spent the next hour and a half talking to the woman who was a passenger with her husband.  Nettie said the wife was impressed that when her husband got out of their car and chastised the elders the elders only gave a humble apology.  She said I could see that they were different - they had a look about them of kindness and love and she was pleasantly impressed.  She had a lot of questions about the church which Nettie answered as we waited for the police and the tow trucks to take away the vehicles.  The elder driving kept tearing up saying that he could have killed someone.  I took him aside and assured him that everything would be OK and he still couldn't calm down.  I told him to go into the trees where it was private and thank Heavenly Father for the blessing of all being well.  He returned after a few minutes with a sense of comfort and thanksgiving.  

 

The beautiful ferns and trees - perhaps a sacred moment of peace for the Elder to contemplate the blessings of safety given in a moment that could have been a lifelong tragedy.

 

A flower inches from the front of the destroyed cars.  Perhaps there was also a  blessing of opportunity to the wife who met four gentle servants of God and received an introduction to the Gospel of Jesus Christ  .