ever...its ridiculous. So this is a more desert island, but
the ocean is SOOO blue. It's a lot different than Guadeloupe;
there is not near as much green, but it's still beautiful.
The island is only a 6 mile circumference, and right now there
are 8 elders (there were 14 until yesterday!) Elder Catherine
and Elder Julian and Elder Larson and I will be handling the
Dutch side of the island. There are about 4 different languages
that are the primary languages here: French, English, Spanish,
and creole. So now my plan is to learn some Spanish. Learning
languages is SO dope though! It's fun.
Right now in st Martaen there are 3 progressive investigators.
Celine needs to be baptized pretty soon, both her parents are
baptized and basically we are just praying and fasting for her
dad to do the baptism. Celine really wants her dad to baptize
her, however, Her parents are going through a divorce right now,
and he is being really stubborn. This Sunday we prayed and
fasted for them and I'm pretty sure if he is not going to
baptize her we will have someone else do it, but I know hearts
can be touched, and we would love it to be her father that does
it. Troy is also pretty close to baptism. Right now he knows the
church is true I'm pretty sure but he is working on cleaning up
some things in his life. He has quit smoking and this week we
challenged him to quit drinking. He usually falls susceptible
over the weekends, but I know by prayer and the help of the
Savior he can do it.
The area has just been big time blitzed so we have a lot of
new potential investigators and a lot of new numbers to be working
with. We are excited and grateful for all the hard work of the
elders who were here, and even though for some I think it was a
little difficult to work with a lot of enthusiasm, I felt we did
an overall good job. Elder Larson is great. He is a hard worker
and I'm excited to be with him. He knows his scriptures very well,
and it's great to be able to teach with him. My testimony is
strong and i feel great to be giving it my all everyday for this
great work.
Church was really fun yesterday though. This branch is about the
same size of the other branches I have been in but a lot less
developed, so the missionaries have to do a lot more. It's weird
though because there were about 8 tourist couples that showed up,
and I knew it was a touristy island but I guess its like that every
week! Crazy! The members are funny though, they really are new to
the church. From talking with the branch president the biggest
problem is that members become inactive when they receive a
calling....so ... lotta work to do.
It's cool to hear Grandpa Taylor is still a pimp(at the stake
dance)! I'm gonna have to have him teach me how to dance when
I get back! Is Tucker just taking notes?
Questions we had for Andy include:
• What area are you working on St. Maarten? Dutch side/ Dutch quarter
• Tell us about the branch there. I'm still getting to know the branch a little bit but as far as members there are not very many strong ones....the Relief Society President, Sister Lake. is awesome as well as another sister. But other than that everyone is really new. Elder Catherine baptized the branch president last year so....young. One thing that is cool though is there is a medical school here and there are about 3 young couples, both from Utah, who stay in the branch about 2 years. They help but President Robison doesn't like us to give them callings which is smart.
• How long has Elder Larson been out? Where is he from? he came out with Chas....he is from Logan I think...he is cool and we will get along great..he likes sports(accept he likes the aggies????)
I definitely agree about president being inspired to get us out of there...we have been continued to be blown away by stuff that has happened there Guadeloupe)..and what the Larry H Miller? That blew me away!!!!!! I was so sad. I heard actually the other day about this. So D Will still tearing it up?
Love you. You guys have no idea how grateful I am for all you do.
4 comments:
Wait what did Dad do at the stake dance?
Have you heard of the Locomotion? He had the entire stake doing it! No, he just spent time dancing with DeAnna which fulfilled her need to dance and my need not to dance.
Maybe we should all do a cruise that includes St Maarten and show up for Church
Funny about the Larry Miller news. Trent just found out and was disappointed that we didn't share more about his condition the last few months.
I'm happy to hear how positive he still sounds with all the crazy changes.
Post a Comment