Elder Nelson is my companion..he is SAWEET! only problem is he went to Granger High School... so obviously not that bright of guy... a great missionary with tons of love and talents. I swear if they do another sequel to Bill and Ted's he would be perfect. He was a musician before the mission haha...more of the Jimmy Hendrix type though...he had the nappiest dreads I have ever seen I think. He had a band and that was basically his life.. but he actually is a great piano player, too. He is an easy person to love. What I loved was that in a Guadeloupe as his zone leader I knew him and his companion Elder Julian rarely spoke french together, and at first I was worried he wouldn't be too excited about speaking it all the time. But since we have been together he has spoken only french, and he has not complained. He has a strong, powerful testimony of the gospel, and I wish I could open him up a little more. He is terribly shy to teach, to contact, or even to talk on the phone. I don't know how that works out with the whole rocker role before the mission but... I want him to be able to work more, to see at what length the Holy Ghost can really take him. I know with Elder Julian, they were not the most obedient, and a little lazy, so there are some problems with waking up on time for him, and energy in general. But, I feel things will be alright ... my only worry is being too hard on him...I don't want him to force him to open his mouth and to be excited about the work, I want him to want to...
Elder Nelson
The area in Fort de France is awesome! I am sure I'm the luckiest missionary in the world. As beautiful as Guadeloupe was...Martinique I believe takes the cake. The mountains and the tall,large buildings enhance all the already beautiful Caribbean. The best part is...no mosquitoes...YEAH! My companion, Elder Nelson, and I are in awe every day ..HOLY SCHMOKES! Slap me...the only worry I had coming into Martinique was that we had heard from all the missionaries that had been here before that the people were a lot colder, and a lot more difficult to talk to. BALONEY! The first day we had 7 phone numbers and found that they were just as approachable as the Guadeloupeans. The people are sweet!. The one problem Elder Nelson and I encountered for the first few days was not knowing our members. So, immediately we set to work on finding them. The second day we had 2 lessons with members and by Sunday we had visited and taught just about everyone in our area(as we are split into two areas for FDF, we didn't see all the members). But, how great it was Sunday when we saw the little chapel right about the cement factory full of Latter Day Saints. I had no idea that FDF (Fort de France) was such a big branch. There are plenty of priesthood holders too, well nine, but that ain't too shabby; So we are excited to get to work with the members and really change things around. I know that missionaries have had a problem of staying around members homes too long here, and I really want to change that. I believe if the members see missionaries saying "no" to dinners because we go to work, we will see the sense of urgency increase.
My testimony is growing stronger. I realized this week the importance of continually searching to strengthen our testimonies. Every day we challenge investigators to pray to know if certain gospel principals are true. Why? Because by the power of the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things. I realized while studying this week that in all things we study and learn of the gospel, we should follow that up with a prayer for that confirming answer that it is true, no matter what level we are at.
To answer your questions.. yeah the x ray is just for my titre... or visa. I'll have a rendezvous the next transfer to go pick it up... After I have that I'm legal for one year in any french area to go and leave when i want. Right now I have what is called a blue card..which is basically a temporary visa which allows me to leave and go, but its only for about 2 months.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about one of the members who is just incredible here. Her name is YVA...she is well-known among all the french members in the Caribbean because any member the passes through Martinique is taken into her hotel that she owns, and then she feeds them..SHE loves the missionaries...they are like her children, and, in fact. that's created some of the problems among the Tahitian missionaries in that they stay way too long at her house. The first Sunday we arrived she had the biggest meal prepared for us..there was home baked bread, meat, pasta, yams, baked bananas pese, salad, artichokes, ...haha I made the mistake of assuming that was the meal. NOPE that was the entré...I was dead...then came the rice, and lamb....and then 2 gallons of ice cream...MAMA! Holy schmokes. One of the Tahitians told us she will do that for the missionaries 2 or 3 times a week...of course we won't go that much, but I cant imagine what effort she goes through for all that haha...
So how much did the Utes drop in the rankings?
Happy birthday to Hillary!
Looking Back at Guadeloupe: Guadeloupe Sunset and Planning with Elder Snow
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