Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya... | October 16, 2017
Hi family! Transfer calls were this week! And as you may have guessed from the subject...I'm going to Aruba! This was a huge surprise because I was originally supposed to stay in Bonaire but then I got changed to Aruba. But I'm so excited! Aruba sounds super awesome. Of course I'm sad to leave Bonaire and all the wonderful people here, but I'm excited for the new experiences I'll have in Aruba and the wonderful people I'll meet.
To answer Mom's questions:
1. Do you sing the hymns in Papiamento?
No, we sing the hymns in Spanish. There's no hymnbook in Papiamento. But there are also Dutch members in the branch who sing in Dutch, so it's a mix of both Spanish and Dutch which is fun!
2. Any idea where your companions from the CCM are? They've taken all of the missionaries out of Puerto Rico and relocated them to the US until PR basics are back up and running. I didn't know if you three email each other.
I know one of them is in San Diego CA, but I'm not sure where the other one is. I heard about all that stuff, that's crazy! I think a lot of them went to CA and TX because of the Spanish-speaking aspect, but that's just what I've heard.
3. Do you have a funny/weird/crazy story from the week?
We woke up on Friday and as we were doing our workout, we noticed that there were a bunch of flies flying around our apartment. It was so weird! So we started trying to kill them with our shoes when they would land. Well for some reason, our apartment was totally infested this day because we would kill one and then three more would appear. We spent so much of the day (when we were in the apartment) killing flies! So now we are pros. At first it took us forever to kill them because we would miss or be too slow and they would fly away. But there were so many and we got so much practice that now we can kill them with one try and we can even get them out of the air! So if anyone has a fly infestation, just let us know and we can take care of it. It was actually really satisfying to get rid of all those flies.
4. Does Bonaire have food that is specific to that island?
No, we sing the hymns in Spanish. There's no hymnbook in Papiamento. But there are also Dutch members in the branch who sing in Dutch, so it's a mix of both Spanish and Dutch which is fun!
2. Any idea where your companions from the CCM are? They've taken all of the missionaries out of Puerto Rico and relocated them to the US until PR basics are back up and running. I didn't know if you three email each other.
I know one of them is in San Diego CA, but I'm not sure where the other one is. I heard about all that stuff, that's crazy! I think a lot of them went to CA and TX because of the Spanish-speaking aspect, but that's just what I've heard.
3. Do you have a funny/weird/crazy story from the week?
We woke up on Friday and as we were doing our workout, we noticed that there were a bunch of flies flying around our apartment. It was so weird! So we started trying to kill them with our shoes when they would land. Well for some reason, our apartment was totally infested this day because we would kill one and then three more would appear. We spent so much of the day (when we were in the apartment) killing flies! So now we are pros. At first it took us forever to kill them because we would miss or be too slow and they would fly away. But there were so many and we got so much practice that now we can kill them with one try and we can even get them out of the air! So if anyone has a fly infestation, just let us know and we can take care of it. It was actually really satisfying to get rid of all those flies.
4. Does Bonaire have food that is specific to that island?
Not really, it is mostly Latino food or Dutch food. There are these things called Pastechis that are kind of unique to the ABC Islands, but they are basically just empanadas. I'm not sure what the difference is and I've asked multiple people and they don't know either. I think they are probably the same but the ABC Islands wanted to have their own food so they changed the name. Who knows! But they are delicious.
5. How many missionaries in your mission? Do you know how many in each area (each island and Suriname and Guyana)? How many Elders/Sisters?
There are 135 missionaries in our mission, but I'm not sure how they're split up. I know there are 21 on the ABC Islands though! There's a lot more elders than sisters because Guyana has a lot of missionaries and they are all elders. I think there are 9 sisters on the ABC Islands, so we are a smaller group, but it's fun!
We had a cool experience while contacting this week, and I told President Egbert about it in my email to him:
One spiritual experience I had this week happened when we were contacting at night. Our appointment had fallen through so we decided to contact the last few houses in our designated contact area. We called into one house and saw a man sitting inside who looked at us kind of skeptically, but finally came out to talk to us. We introduced ourselves and that we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and right when we said that he started waving his hands and shaking his head as if he wasn't interested. He said he doesn't like religion because no one can know that God exists and if God did exist, He would have come down to Earth already to fix everything that is wrong with humanity. We tried testifying of God's love but any time we would start, he would interrupt and tell us there's no way we could know that. I felt some contention beginning to rise and I didn't want to fight with this man, so I decided to change the subject and asked him where he was from. This led to us talking about his family, his work, and then the places he has traveled in the world. By the end of our conversation, he had totally opened up to us and were talking to us as if we were his close friends. We gave him our number and told him that if he ever needed help he could call us. He said he was retired so he never needs help because he has all the time in the world, but then he added, "But I really enjoy talking to you all, so if I ever need someone to talk to, I'll give you a call." This was such an amazing experience. He was so stubborn and unwilling to hear anything we said at the beginning, but I know the Lord softened his heart so that we could get to know him more. He also told us that when he sees people like missionaries, he usually just tells them to leave before they can speak, but he felt like he should come and give us a chance. I know the Spirit prompted this man to come out and talk to us. I also know that if we strive to have Christlike love for everyone, no matter who they are or what they believe, they will feel that love and respond to it. Even though we weren't able to testify of God or His love with our words, we were able to show that love for this man by continuing to be kind to him and getting to know him. I know that being a disciple of Christ does not just mean sharing the Gospel with words, but also loving and serving others through our actions. And I know the Spirit works through these actions to testify of truth to others.
I love being a missionary and having these awesome spiritual experiences! The Lord blesses each one of us every day, we just have to recognize His hand in our lives. It is so important to realize how much He does for us and show our gratitude to Him. Don't forget to pray and read the Book of Mormon! I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Davidson
P.S. My thing that I use to attach pictures isn't working. I'm trying to figure it out but I might run out of time, so sorry if I can't send any pictures! I'll send extra next week hopefully.
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