Great Week! | October 9, 2017

October 23, 2017 Lauren 0 Comments

Hi family! How are you all? I'm jealous you're all going to be seeing each other this week, that's amazing! Happy birthday Lauren!

This week was so great! We had a ton of spiritual experiences, and I wrote President Egbert about them so I will just put that in here:

I am loving Bonaire as much as ever. We were able to contact a lot and meet some really awesome people this week! I have come to love contacting, even though it can be really difficult sometimes, because we are able to find new people and meet the elect. Even if they are not interested in hearing our message, I know that we are planting seeds and helping them come closer to the truth by bearing testimony. Sister Nuris was not able to be baptized this past Saturday, which was sad, but we are still meeting with her and preparing her for a baptismal date in the future. She came to church on Sunday and bore her testimony on the power of change and how she knows she can change because of Jesus Christ. It was so powerful! We have had some great lessons with new investigators. One is Brother Steven, who we just met with yesterday. His faith in God is so strong and he really has a desire to come closer to Him and learn more about Him. We are excited to keep teaching him!

There were so many great spiritual experiences this week, it is so hard to pick just one! But one that really stands out to me is an opportunity that we had to serve. We were contacting in the morning and met a Venezuelan man named Elias, who was sitting in his front yard when we came by. We spoke to him and learned that he believes in God, so we gave him a pamphlet and testified of our message. Then later that afternoon, we happened to be in the same area because we had an appointment with one of our investigators. Well, our investigator wasn't home for our appointment, so we were turning around to head out of the neighborhood, when I saw Elias with a couple of other people digging around a house. I waved and felt like I should ask if they needed help (people don't usually let us help when we offer). So I walked my bike over and before I could even ask if he needed help with the digging, he said "Can you help me?" We went over and were able to help them finish the work they were doing. It was so fun to be able to help them and get to know Elias and his friends better. Even though we didn't have a lesson, I know the Spirit was there because I could feel God's love for his children there and a desire to help them in any way I could. It was also great because sometimes we meet someone contacting, but then don't see them again for whatever reason. But this was wonderful because we were able to get to know Brother Elias better and establish stronger trust with him. I know the Lord puts people in our path who are ready to hear the Gospel and who need our help!

1. Did you have trouble meeting the weight requirements for your luggage when you flew from DR to Trinidad or to Bonaire?

Yes, I was overweight, but the people at the airport were really nice and didn't make me pay. That was from Trinidad to Bonaire. I was fine in the DR.

2. Do you have a hard time keeping busy or is it easy to fill your day?

It's easy to fill our days, I'm always so exhausted at the end of it! We are usually busy with appointments, we have a lot of those! For example, we are already pretty much booked for this week. When we need to make an appointment with someone, it has to be on either Friday or Saturday because our other days are filled! Of course, our appts fall through sometimes which is hard, but that's when we go contacting. We also try to set aside about an hour of contacting per day.

3. What do you do for exercise?

In the mornings, we each do our own thing for exercise usually except for twice a week. On Tuesdays and Fridays we go downstairs to our landlord's house and do a cardio exercise video with her! It's so hard, oh my gosh! But it's really good for us and it's a lot of fun. The other days I usually do ab and leg work outs.

4. Any idea how much bike riding you do daily?

I'm not sure how far we bike each day, but if I had to guess, I would say at least 10 miles per day. That's probably on the lower side and it depends on how many appts we have and where the investigators live. Some live way out in the boonies so that adds a lot of extra miles per day. But I would say the range is about 10-30. It's definitely a good workout!

5. How is Papiamento coming along?

Papiamento is coming along pretty well. I can say a lot as far as bearing my testimony. I can't teach too much in the lessons, so I usually testify of whatever topic we are talking about instead of introducing a new idea or topic. But I can say enough to get by!

Dallin sent me some questions too:

What kind of stuff are you eating? Both at people's houses and at restaurants, and then at your own apartment?

At our own house we eat simple meals like sandwiches, pasta, quesadillas, soup, etc. Other people that feed us are usually Latino so it's lots of beans and rice and meat and it's so good! We haven't eaten out at a restaurant yet, but we plan on getting pizza today from a little pizza across the street from our church.

What has been the hardest thing so far?

Have you been homesick at all?

Yes, I've had some really hard days! I miss you guys a lot! But I've gotten through it and I get less homesick every day. I still love and miss you guys though!

How much do you teach in a day? Are you mostly contacting, knocking doors, serving, or?

(answered above) We do a lot of teaching

Do you have district meetings with only sisters?

Yes, our district leader is my companion, Sister Montenegro! District meetings are weird because there is only the 5 of us sisters! But it's fun

Do people smoke weed?

I haven't smelled it too much or come across very many high people. I think that's more in Trinidad. There's tons of bars here though, so people are usually drunk, not high.