We went to the beach! | September 25, 2017
Don't worry, we're not apostate...it was for a baptism! The Dutch sisters have been teaching Renzo since we arrived, and he got baptized on Saturday! It was super exciting! And since there's no font in Bonaire, they do baptisms in the ocean. That was really cool to experience a baptism on the beach. It was beautiful because it happened right at sunset too. I'll send pictures!
Here is a little bit of my letter to President Egbert about our investigators and a really cool experience I had this week:
Bonaire is wonderful! Our investigators have been progressing really well. We are still hoping Nuris can be baptized on October 7, but we are still waiting for the man that she lives with to move out. We've had a special fast and we pray for her every day, so I have faith that it will happen so she can be baptized! We are really relying on the Lord for this miracle. We were not able to meet with Oscar this week, sadly, but we ran into him on the street and were able to set up an appointment with him for tonight. The only difficulty with him is that he works so much, so it's hard to find time when we can meet and teach him. But he always seems happy to see and we are hoping that he kept his commitment of reading 3 Nephi 11 from last time! We have another investigator, Fania, who we have met with three times. She is awesome! We usually teach her and her 11 year old son, Vincent. She loves having us over and learning more about God and Jesus Christ. We gave her a Book of Mormon last time we went over and she seemed very interested in reading it! She said some things in the Bible confuse her, so she's hoping that the Book of Mormon will clear some things up for her. We testified that it would and that it is a book of Holy Scripture from God.
I had the most amazing experience this week that made me realize why I am here on my mission. It happened when Sister Montenegro was on splits with the Dutch sisters here, so it was just Sister Burrup and I for a day. We were nervous because we wouldn't have our native-speaking companion with us in our lessons. But we prayed really hard for the Gift of Tongues in each prayer we said. One of our last appointments of the day was with Nuris and we were teaching about prophets and the Word of Wisdom. We had reviewed what we were going to teach and were just praying that we would be able to communicate it to her. Sister DeLion, a member, joined us for the lesson. The lesson went so well! Sister Burrup and I discussed it after and noticed that we both understood everything that was said, and we were also able to say what we wanted to say without too much difficulty! We communicated the lesson clearly so that Nuris could understand. As I was sitting in that lesson, I realized that the Lord is really with us when we teach and when we have the Spirit. I also realized the reality of D&C 84:85, that we will truly know what to say and how to say it when we need to say it. I felt so much love from Heavenly Father and feeling that I can do this, and learn Spanish and Papiamento because I have the Spirit and the Gift of Tongues. My testimony of my capability as the Lord's missionary was strengthened so much because of this experience.
1. What do you do on p-day?
In the mornings, we clean our apartment and then have studies. Then we meet with the Dutch sisters to go grocery shopping. After that, we go back to the apartment to finish laundry/put groceries away/etc. Then we ride to the library to email (my favorite!)! And afterwards, we usually go down to Playa and get dinner and ice cream at our favorite place (Gio's). Sometimes we do some shopping too (like today!).
2. What is your apartment like?
Our apartment is really big and quite old. A lot of stuff breaks a lot, but that's okay, it keeps it interesting! We have AC in our bedroom which is super nice because it can get so hot in there. We live on the second floor of a house (there's only 2 apartments, the top and bottom) and our landlord lives under us, which makes it easy when we need something to be fixed. The cold showers are actually really nice because I'm pretty much always hot here (and I don't think I've stopped sweating since I got here...so gross, I know).
3. Do you speak more Spanish or Papiamento with the residents of Bonaire?
We usually speak Spanish. Most of our lessons are in Spanish because we teach a lot of people from South American countries like Peru and Venezuela. But when we contact, we usually speak Papiamento. But it doesn't really matter which language we use with people because Bonairians speak Papiamento, Spanish, English, and Dutch. So if I'm speaking Papiamento and don't know how to say a word, I can just throw in the Spanish or English and they'll understand.
4. Is church in English?
Church is in Papiamento, so one of the missionaries (it has been Sister Montenegro so far) translates for visitors and the Dutch sister missionaries.
5. How long of a flight is it to zone meeting? How often will you go there?
The flight to Curacao is about 15-30 minutes depending on if we have a tail wind. We only have zone conference once per transfer, so it won't be too often. And Aruba has their own zone conference, so if I get transferred to there or Curacao, I won't have to fly for it. It's only if I stay in Bonaire.
6. Do you spend much time with the other companionship- English/Dutch sisters?
We see the other companionship almost every day because of meetings and things that we have (District meeting, branch coordination, church, etc.). We will also see them leaving their apartment sometimes because their apartment is in our contact area, so that's always fun to run into them!
7. What kinds of things do you eat for meals? Do members feed you at all?
We eat a lot of simple things like pasta and sandwiches. We've started making meal plans for the week so we can have more variety (we're having tacos this week, woohoo!). We've had dinner with our branch mission leader and his family once. He used to be a professional chef so it was so amazing! He made Surinamese chicken and sweet potatoes with a cream cheese filling. It was so good! Other than that, we haven't been fed, but we have a lunch appointment with one of the members this week and she is Dominican, so we are all really looking forward to that!
8. Are you still 'Hermana' in Papiamento?
Yep, I'm still Hermana Davidson! :) The word for sister in Papiamento is rumamuher, but I think they only use that if you're talking about a member of your family. Because they still call us "Hermana" even when they're speaking Papiamento.
Are you all excited for General Conference? I can't wait! We got to watch Women's Conference here live! They show it in English and had translations for the sisters who needed Spanish. For next weekend, they will have Spanish going in one room and English in another. I really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk about how we have to a good attitude! Our attitude is what determines how we feel and react. I loved the story he told of the three sisters: Sad, Mad and Glad. I'm striving to be like Glad!
I'm about out of time, but I will try to reply to as many emails as I can. I love you all so so much and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Davidson
Hermano Vaquero (That's his nickname. It means cowboy.) He has goats and we got to pet and feed them! He is from the DR and had a big ranch when he lived there. He is the best, I love him
Hermana Nuris and I
A cute house that Sister Burrup and I found while contacting
We were so excited to go to the beach!
Salt dunes! They harvest a ton of salt from the ocean here...so cool!
The beach!
Ya girl living the island missionary life!
After Renzo's baptism
(left to right) Brother DePalm, President Albus (branch president), Renzo (newest member of the Bonaire branch!), and Brother Mens (branch mission leader)
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