Hello family! I'M IN BONAIRE! Wow, I have so much to tell you guys.

So my last few days in the MTC were very bittersweet. I love that place so much, so it was really difficult to say goodbye to all the friends I had made, but I was so excited to get out into the field! We flew into Trinidad and I was there for a couple days. One day was spent in the mission home having orientation with the mission president (President Egbert) and his wife...they are so amazing! The best mission president/wife in the world! They are super nice and friendly and willing to help with anything. Also Sister Egbert's cooking is some of the best I've ever had. The second day in Trinidad we spent on splits with some of the sisters who serve in Trinidad! It was super fun. We had some great lessons with investigators and one with a less active recent convert. It was weird teaching lessons in English since I had always practiced that in Spanish, but it went well and the Spirit was strong in each of them. Then at the end of the day we stopped at a street vendor and got doubles! Oh man, they were so good. Remember the ones we tried at the Trini restaurant in Long Beach? Yeah, these were about 100 times better. They are a huge grease ball, but they were amazing! Then after that day (I think it was Wednesday), we went back to the mission home and got our assignments for areas and companions!...So now this is the exciting part:

I was assigned to Bonaire!! It's the first time that sisters have served here for 2 years. It was an elder's only island for a long time because there is no senior couple on the island and there has to be a senior couple to have both elders and sisters. But President wanted to change some things around, so he switched Bonaire to a sisters' only island! So there is one set of Dutch speaking sisters, and then there is me and my two companions (I"m in a trio again! I have yet to experience the actual 1 companion missionary experience, but that's okay because I love trios). A lot of people that live here are from the Netherlands, and then there are lots of Latinos too, so we need missionaries that cover all languages! The Dutch sisters cover everyone who speaks Dutch and English and we cover everyone who speaks Spanish and Papiamento (I'll be coming home trilingual!). The whole island is one area. This island is tiny! It is the least populated ABC Island, with only 18,000 people living on it! Mom, I feel like I'm in Hermiston! It has such a cute "small-town" feel, I'm in love with it already and I never want to leave. There are no stoplights on the whole island, just roundabouts and stop signs! The downtown area, Playa, is super cute and has lots of cool restaurants and little shops. We also see lots of tourists down there. Something fun about Playa: The mission rule is that we are not allowed to go to the beach, but Playa goes all the way down to the water practically! There are restaurants and sidewalks that reach all the way down to the ocean (there's not really waves here, it more of a bay kind of feel...like how the beach at Balboa is), so when we are riding our bikes in Playa we like to stop and take pictures of the beautiful ocean! The water is super clear, so we can always see awesome and colorful tropical fish. Apparently Bonaire is a great spot for diving, so lots of the tourists that are here are divers, which is cool.

For the first couple of days while we were here, we couldn't actually do missionary work because the elders in the apartment before us left it so dirty! It was disgusting...so we had to spend a couple days holed up in apartment cleaning, which was a little rough because I had been really eager to get out and work. But now our apartment is clean and we have been doing lots of contacting! We've met a lot of awesome people. One in particular that comes to mind is Oscar, who is from Venezuela and has been living here for about a year and a half. He is a young guy with a family, but they all live in Venezuela and he is here to work, which is kind of sad. But we talked to him about his relationship with God and he said he prays a lot and he's seen God's hand in his life when he prays (He told us an amazing story of when his 3 year old daughter was really sick and was going to have to have an operation, so before she was going to have the surgery, he prayed that everything would be okay and his daughter would be able to heal. Then about 5 minutes later, the doctors came out of the operation room with his daughter and said, "We don't know what happened, but we don't need to operate on her anymore. Your daughter is okay!" Wow, that story was amazing. I got goosebumps when I heard it.). But he seemed really interested in the Gospel and said he always wondered what happened to Christ's church after He died and left the Earth! So we are really excited to teach him more, we have an appointment with him later this week. We were super blessed to find him as one of our first contacts. Also, the members here are amazing! There are about 40 active members and there is no church building, we just have church in a house (but it's a house that the Church bought and uses for a church...if that makes sense). When we got to church yesterday, everyone was super friendly and inviting and excited to meet us. There is no ward here, just a branch but we are hoping to make it grow! The branch president and his family are amazing and have been super helpful to us as we have all been new on the island.

My companions are so awesome! My main senior companion and trainer is Sister Montenegro from Peru, who's been out for 14 months. She is so amazing, I love her a ton! I met her when I first got to Trinidad and was hoping she would be my trainer and my prayer was answered! She is fluent in Spanish, English, and Papiamentu so she helps me a ton! (By the way Papiamentu is such a fun language! And a super lazy one. There are no conjugations and a lot of words have multiple meanings, which can be confusing, but also makes it easy to learn too. I don't know too much yet because I switch off days of studying Spanish and Papiamentu, but I can bear a very simple testimony in Papiamentu...Mi sa ku Dios es nos Tata Celestial. Mi sa ku E stima nos. There ya go!) My other companion is Sister Burrup from Idaho. She has been out for 6 months and she is so sweet and nice! Both of my companions are super amazing and have been really great in training me!

I could go on forever about Bonaire and how much I love it here, but I only have limited time, unfortunately. I love it here so much! Although there are great things, though, I have been struggling a little too. I've been getting really frustrated with myself with Spanish and Papiamentu because a lot of times I can't follow what's being said when we're contacting. That was really hard the first few days, but I have learned that if I just testify of the things that I know to be true, the Spirit will be there and will guide me with what to say. I still get nervous to talk to people, but I have to remind myself that I am a representative of Jesus Christ so I have no reason to fear! I am on the Lord's errand and I am doing His work and if I open my mouth and testify of what I know, though it may be simple, I know the Spirit will be there to testify of the truth of this Gospel to the people I talk to. I am so happy to be a missionary!

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful emails! I will probably have time to read them all, but I might not have time to reply, so I'm sorry if you don't get a reply from me. Thanks for all of your support and prayers, I feel blessed every single day! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Fun facts: It's way more dry and deserty than the other Caribbean islands here! It's still humid but not as much. There's tons of cacti everywhere and also wild donkeys! It's super cool. We'll just be riding our bikes and see donkeys running across the street! I'll try to get a picture in the future.

Riding bikes right next to the water in Playa! Please excuse my very fashionable bike helmet

Dear Missionary Families,

We are grateful to have spent the day with your sons and daughters in orientation and training for their mission responsibilites. They will be in their new areas by the end of the week and will email you on Monday (Preparation Day) to fill you in on all the details. In the Caribbean there are many holidays that seem to fall on Monday. Please do not worry if you do not receive an email. When holidays fall on a Monday they will be emailing on Tuesday. We know how important emails from home are to the missionaries. Thank you for corresponding weekly to your missionary and sharing your support and love with them. We appreciate the opportunity to serve with them.

President and Sister Egbert

Sincerely,

President and Sister Egbert

Wow, I can't believe this is my last CCM email! I'm super nervous for the field, but I know it'll be amazing to finally get out and start teaching and doing hardcore missionary work! How are you all? I love you guys so much!

This week was really good, but there wasn't anything super amazing for me to talk about. It was just a normal week with classes and Spanish and reading the Book of Mormon and learning how to be a good missionary...which means it was a great week!

Yesterday we did service at some really cool theater/museum grounds. We usually go to the park across the street to pick up leaves, but this week we got to walk through the city to this museum area and pick up trash on the grounds! It was super fun! And hot...it's always hot. I'll be outside for 5 minutes and be drenched in sweat! It's pretty disgusting but that's how everyone else is too, so I guess it's not that bad. It's actually way better than dry heat, I've gotten to really like the humidity! My skin definitely loves it after living in Utah, it's never dry!

On Sunday, we watched a devotional from Elder Bednar (he has become my new favorite apostle, his devotionals are my favorite). He talked about the character of Christ and how He would always turn outward and serve other people. He said that in order to put off the natural man and become a saint, we can't be thinking about ourselves. He used a really good and funny analogy of the Cookie Monster. He said that Cookie Monster is the epitome of the natural man ("I want cookie now!"). Many times in our lives, we are so focused on what we want or what we think we deserve and this is the natural man. But if we are to obey the Lord and put off the natural man, we need to think about others and serve our brothers and sisters. He used the example of after Jesus had fasted for 40 days and Satan came to tempt him. Jesus never once thought about himself and what he needed, but instead stayed focused on His ministry and purpose there. Elder Bednar referenced Matthew 4:11-12. The scripture in the Bible reads that angels ministered to Him, sounding like they ministered to Jesus. But the Joseph Smith Translation clarifies that Jesus sent angels to minister to John the Baptist who had just been put in prison. So even after Jesus had fasted for 40 days and been tempted by the Devil, he was still thinking about others and their needs and how He could serve them, instead of how He could serve Himself. It is so important for us to serve others! When we are doing that, we are doing the work of the Lord and we are truly serving Him. I encourage you all to try to turn outwards and serve others when the natural man would have you turn inwards and focus on yourself! It will truly make a difference in your life. Matthew 16:25- We can only truly find ourselves when we are focused on others and losing ourselves in the service of God!

We also watched a great Mormon Message this week from Elder Holland called "Where Justice, Love and Mercy Meet". He tells a great story about a couple of boys who go rock climbing. I don't want to spoil it for you, because it's really good and you should all watch it! It's one of my new favorites.

I love you all so much! Read the Book of Mormon!

Love,

Hermana Davidson

P.S. I got my itinerary for leaving to my mission. We leave at 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning! We go from here to Panama and then to Trinidad. I should be in Trinidad on Monday evening! I also got flight information saying that I'm flying to Curacao on September 7! I'm not sure if that's my first area or what, but I have a ticket to fly there!

P.P.S. Fun fact that I learned this week: Roosters say something different in Spanish than in English! If you were to ask a kid who speaks English what a rooster says, they would say "Cock-a-doodle-do!" But in Spanish, roosters say "Cucurucú!" Which is way more fun to say :)