The area in Lamentin is going. We have 3 strong investigators who are doing all the things they should in preparing for baptism. It's such a blessing to be apart of their conversion process! Elder Snow and I are really working on being able to be the mouthpiece of the spirit for them. Just things like always having a prayer in our heart to have the Holy Ghost, and praying our way through the day that we can be an adequate messenger of the restored gospel and representative of our Savior. I'm really excited about a young man we are teaching, Judicael, 22. He is getting up at 6 o'clock to read his scriptures with us (well, we read in our apartment he in his). He has a date of baptism for this Saturday so we are praying that will go well. He is a young man of humble nature, and has even shared desires to serve a mission. We challenged him to quit smoking this last Thursday; he smokes almost a pack a day, thats just crazy! So we know it was going to be hard for him, to show him that we were dedicated to help him, Elder Snow and I each agreed to give up something hard for us...for Elder Snow it was soda, and for me bread....these frenchies know how to cook some bread... Gosh and this internet cafe is just next to a dang boulangerie so the smell of fresh bread is killin me!
Elder Snow is the best and is always making it fun to be a missionary. He works hard and is a good example of humble leadership. He is a great example of service too, always shining my shoes and ironing my shirts. It's kind of annoying to tell you the truth because after he does something I'm obligated to do something for him haha, of course I'm kidding. But, this campanionship is doing great
Finally, my testimony is there. This last week I have focused on trying to be more spiritual, to have a better sense of the sacred, and to be less light-minded. These things invite the Spirit to the work, the spirit of God that so fuels the fire of this work. I want to be that servant of God that depends solely on what the spirit tells him to say. I know that if I try to use my own inadaquate knowledge of the gospel and my own words I can accomplish very little. I know this is the work of God and I love it oh so much
We have a family night tonight with a family that has two kids who come to church every week, but have not been baptized because the mom will not let them. We did a little service for her Saturday and are gonna make a sweet cake to butter up the mom.
In the zone there are 2 who don't have baptismal dates, but they are going to baptize if they do everything they can to qualify for the Lord's help. And i think Elder Snow and I are going to do splits in their area in the next week or so to help them out.
I feel like the mission is just flying by, and I'm not doing too many "fun things" as in waterfalls, beaches and all that, but we are getting a lot done.
The McDonald's we ate at to celebrate Independance Day was super lame.... it's so dang expensive and they dont have a dollar menu!
Alright, well I love you all so much; I love all the extended family and love hearing about them. Family is SWEET isnt it?
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
"Turnabout"
TE MAL (My bad about no email last week)....... I sent a huge email last week, but it must have not gone through! It was a good one, too. Elder Snow and I have been so pumped up lately. Ever since Trinidad (Zone Leader Council) we have been overflowing with a desire to kick butt! President Robison shared with us in Trinidad the key to having 200 baptisms every month. That is that every zone has to have a magic number every month(the magic number every month is when every companionship baptizes). To this day the French Zone is the only zone never to have had the magic number. So when we taught at a zone meeting two fridays ago, we shared that it was up to us...every month. Setting goals is the only way we can progress. I think Elder Nelson said that without goals we would run up and down the field without ever crossing the goal line. We had our all the elders carefully plan and pray to fix a goal for their specific areas. I found that my faith was a lot less than that of the French Zone elders. For the year we have a goal for 155. I know that there are at least 155 souls that are prepared to receive the restored gospel this year, and I pray that the other elders and I can prepare ourselves enough that the Lord trusts us enough to put them in our path.
So I ask that everyone pray for that goal. Our preparation included a scripture study at a waterfall. Elder Snow and I found some great scriptures about how much God loves his children on the isles of the sea. How our goal is a mighty one, but God has helped his missionaries or warriors in the past. We raised our Eben-ezer (see below for definition of Ebenezer) and our Title of Liberty. It was a very spiritual experience in the tranquility of the Guadeloupe cascade.
And the Lord has really poured out His Spirit upon the island. We have seven elders who are under 5 months out, and yet they are kickin butt! There were four people baptized this last week and a few will be baptized this coming week. Elder Snow have a couple of baptisms set up for 2 people in the coming weeks. I love our new investigator Juedi Carel. Elder Heiner and I found him. He was a 22 year old "gangsta", but after teaching him he has changed so much! He shaved his dreads a few days ago(without us even telling him anything. He had some humbling experiences right before we met him in which he decided to turn to God. The light of Christ has guided him to the path of God! And there is no better feeling than when your investigator comes to church for the first time and offers the prayer! He is sweet! He is scheduled to be baptized on the 19th, and hopefully Malia for the same day. We are making changes in Guadeloupe, repenting, and becoming better. That's what it's all about, becoming better. These are the days never to be forgotten!
Elder Snow and I are having a blast....Its definitely harder to have fun in French than in English... but Elder Snow is a goon.haha I'm not gonna lie...right now I'm working on finding the balance between lightmindedness and light heartedness (we're not sure what that means)...it/s easier with Elder Snow though.
PSSSS I made Gulumbo (not sure what Gulumbo is) for the first time this last week!!! It was so good!.....ok not that great!!! but I didn't throw up! Well everyone know that I AM proud to be an American...we are eating at McDonalds today to salute America (at least that's our excuse).
I love everyone! Give the love to the Knaphus family for me...I think about them a lot (nose touch for mark).
*Eben-ezer (Stone of Help) A stone set up by Samuel as a token of gratitude for deliverance from the Philistines (1 Sam. 7: 10-12). The place had previously been the scene of two defeats (1 Sam. 4: 1; 1 Sam. 5: 1).
So I ask that everyone pray for that goal. Our preparation included a scripture study at a waterfall. Elder Snow and I found some great scriptures about how much God loves his children on the isles of the sea. How our goal is a mighty one, but God has helped his missionaries or warriors in the past. We raised our Eben-ezer (see below for definition of Ebenezer) and our Title of Liberty. It was a very spiritual experience in the tranquility of the Guadeloupe cascade.
And the Lord has really poured out His Spirit upon the island. We have seven elders who are under 5 months out, and yet they are kickin butt! There were four people baptized this last week and a few will be baptized this coming week. Elder Snow have a couple of baptisms set up for 2 people in the coming weeks. I love our new investigator Juedi Carel. Elder Heiner and I found him. He was a 22 year old "gangsta", but after teaching him he has changed so much! He shaved his dreads a few days ago(without us even telling him anything. He had some humbling experiences right before we met him in which he decided to turn to God. The light of Christ has guided him to the path of God! And there is no better feeling than when your investigator comes to church for the first time and offers the prayer! He is sweet! He is scheduled to be baptized on the 19th, and hopefully Malia for the same day. We are making changes in Guadeloupe, repenting, and becoming better. That's what it's all about, becoming better. These are the days never to be forgotten!
Elder Snow and I are having a blast....Its definitely harder to have fun in French than in English... but Elder Snow is a goon.haha I'm not gonna lie...right now I'm working on finding the balance between lightmindedness and light heartedness (we're not sure what that means)...it/s easier with Elder Snow though.
PSSSS I made Gulumbo (not sure what Gulumbo is) for the first time this last week!!! It was so good!.....ok not that great!!! but I didn't throw up! Well everyone know that I AM proud to be an American...we are eating at McDonalds today to salute America (at least that's our excuse).
I love everyone! Give the love to the Knaphus family for me...I think about them a lot (nose touch for mark).
*Eben-ezer (Stone of Help) A stone set up by Samuel as a token of gratitude for deliverance from the Philistines (1 Sam. 7: 10-12). The place had previously been the scene of two defeats (1 Sam. 4: 1; 1 Sam. 5: 1).
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
These were days never to be forgotten...
Andy's Mission President and wife returned home yesterday. Although we have communicated with them only by e-mail, through the fabulous blog maintained by Sister Robison we feel that we have come to know them... at least a little bit. Sister Robison put this slide show together as a tribute to the West Indies Mission. If you have a minute, watch it. Although there are not any photos of Andy, we feel that it is representative of his experience. For the now the sound is not working. I'll try to fix that soon.
These were days... from diane robison on Vimeo.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
"Stories We Could Tell"
HELLOOOO FAMILY
---As I regard our numbers for the week I definitely see that the need with our investigators is that they need to be challenged to baptism. Elder Heiner and I recently read a quote by a recent general authority that says any friend of the church that has attended a sacrament meeting should be invited to be baptized. That's something we definitely could work on. This week went really well, though, for not having been in Guadeloupe for over half the week. I came back and all our investigators had received exactly what they needed for their progression. I love Elder Heiner and am so grateful for his hard work! I'm not going to lie though....there have been countless times where i would have loved to put the smack down on that kid. He is by far the hardest companion that I have had yet...but how can you not love and be grateful for someone that serves the Lord. That is the unifying element of all things. Any relationship or friendship can be saved in serving the Lord, and I know that's true. I had thought Elder Heiner was one of the most prideful know-it[alls ever, but I was wrong. He loved the Lord and worked hard, and I was humbled and things worked great!
The transition this next week will be different because some other elders will be taking over our area, but I'm confident they won't skip a beat. My testimony is strong, especially after the inspiring experiences in Trinidad. I loved reading about Oliver Cowdry and his quote of his time with Joseph Smith, "these are the days never to be forgotten". I realized that is exactly the words I want to say every moment of my life...in the service of my Savior.
Elder Wright will be going to S. Martin. Elder Snow and I are back together. The boys are back....the boys are back.....he is a stud....I think he was kind of surprised that president assigned him as zone leader, but he is ready to kick butt.
Man, Chas (Barton) is such a G....He is doing work down in Trinidad and now Guyana....it was surprisingly not at all weird to see him...it did make me feel at home and like no time has gone by at all. I wonder if it will be like that with all of you....but he is my buddy, life long friend for sure....these days in the West Indies are the days never to be forgotten!!!!
All the Zone leaders in Trinidad just got pumped up...we set goals to break some records, to baptize and retain more, to work harder, to get up earlier...I love this band of brothers, and now I feel a lot closer to all the missionaries in the west indies, not just the French elders. And it's again thanks to the Lord...because we are all in this fight, working and serving him, we are unified. This week we felt the Lord's blessings pour out on the mission. We had the most baptisms in a week than the West Indies have ever had, 68...beating the record by 2...We in Guadeloupe had only three of those, but that's pretty good for us. Elder Snow and I should have a baptism coming up this next week.
Oh yeah! The first thing I noticed about Trinidad was that everything was so much cheaper...their restaurants cost the same as our toilet paper...lousy EURO! But doubles is the thing Trinidad is known for...they are very hard to explain though...its on a type of pita bread with this very diarrhea looking sauce that is full of some good spices.
"Doubles" look like this. It is a curried chick pea filling inside fried bread - usually with mango chunks and served with pepper sauce (very very hot in Trinidad)
Really I don't need much...your love, support, and prayers are enough. there was one thing i do want though that would be great. I want a stone that has Eben-nezar engraved on it....if you look in the Bible dictionary it explains what it means...it could be spelled wrong by the way. i love what it represented to the Israelites! Basically its means...alright...GO KICK BUTT
Speaking of butt....I probably ate the grossest thing on my mission this last week...straight up pig butt...it was about 2 inches thick and 1 and one half of it was the skin of the pig and the other half meat. You could taste and feel the texture of hairs and all that...I about ralphed! it took about 5 minutes to chew each bite. yuk! Most things I don't have problems with but...ya
With transfers on Wednesday, things will be wild driving all the elders around and picking up people at the airport, but hopefully not too wild.
---As I regard our numbers for the week I definitely see that the need with our investigators is that they need to be challenged to baptism. Elder Heiner and I recently read a quote by a recent general authority that says any friend of the church that has attended a sacrament meeting should be invited to be baptized. That's something we definitely could work on. This week went really well, though, for not having been in Guadeloupe for over half the week. I came back and all our investigators had received exactly what they needed for their progression. I love Elder Heiner and am so grateful for his hard work! I'm not going to lie though....there have been countless times where i would have loved to put the smack down on that kid. He is by far the hardest companion that I have had yet...but how can you not love and be grateful for someone that serves the Lord. That is the unifying element of all things. Any relationship or friendship can be saved in serving the Lord, and I know that's true. I had thought Elder Heiner was one of the most prideful know-it[alls ever, but I was wrong. He loved the Lord and worked hard, and I was humbled and things worked great!
The transition this next week will be different because some other elders will be taking over our area, but I'm confident they won't skip a beat. My testimony is strong, especially after the inspiring experiences in Trinidad. I loved reading about Oliver Cowdry and his quote of his time with Joseph Smith, "these are the days never to be forgotten". I realized that is exactly the words I want to say every moment of my life...in the service of my Savior.
Elder Wright will be going to S. Martin. Elder Snow and I are back together. The boys are back....the boys are back.....he is a stud....I think he was kind of surprised that president assigned him as zone leader, but he is ready to kick butt.
Man, Chas (Barton) is such a G....He is doing work down in Trinidad and now Guyana....it was surprisingly not at all weird to see him...it did make me feel at home and like no time has gone by at all. I wonder if it will be like that with all of you....but he is my buddy, life long friend for sure....these days in the West Indies are the days never to be forgotten!!!!
All the Zone leaders in Trinidad just got pumped up...we set goals to break some records, to baptize and retain more, to work harder, to get up earlier...I love this band of brothers, and now I feel a lot closer to all the missionaries in the west indies, not just the French elders. And it's again thanks to the Lord...because we are all in this fight, working and serving him, we are unified. This week we felt the Lord's blessings pour out on the mission. We had the most baptisms in a week than the West Indies have ever had, 68...beating the record by 2...We in Guadeloupe had only three of those, but that's pretty good for us. Elder Snow and I should have a baptism coming up this next week.
Oh yeah! The first thing I noticed about Trinidad was that everything was so much cheaper...their restaurants cost the same as our toilet paper...lousy EURO! But doubles is the thing Trinidad is known for...they are very hard to explain though...its on a type of pita bread with this very diarrhea looking sauce that is full of some good spices.
"Doubles" look like this. It is a curried chick pea filling inside fried bread - usually with mango chunks and served with pepper sauce (very very hot in Trinidad)
Really I don't need much...your love, support, and prayers are enough. there was one thing i do want though that would be great. I want a stone that has Eben-nezar engraved on it....if you look in the Bible dictionary it explains what it means...it could be spelled wrong by the way. i love what it represented to the Israelites! Basically its means...alright...GO KICK BUTT
Speaking of butt....I probably ate the grossest thing on my mission this last week...straight up pig butt...it was about 2 inches thick and 1 and one half of it was the skin of the pig and the other half meat. You could taste and feel the texture of hairs and all that...I about ralphed! it took about 5 minutes to chew each bite. yuk! Most things I don't have problems with but...ya
With transfers on Wednesday, things will be wild driving all the elders around and picking up people at the airport, but hopefully not too wild.
Friday, June 19, 2009
"If the Phone Doesn't Ring It's Me"
We didn't receive an email from Andy this week. He was travelling to Trinidad for a Zone Leader Council. Thankfully, Sister Robison documented it on the mission blog. Here are a few pictures.
The Elders Hiked to a Local Waterfall ...
for Instruction and Testimonies...
and a few group photos.
Apparently, there has been a ZL change. Elders Biver, Snow & Neff, the French Zone Leaders.
Elder Biver is in French Guiana. Andy is reunited with Elder Snow.
The Elders Hiked to a Local Waterfall ...
for Instruction and Testimonies...
and a few group photos.
Apparently, there has been a ZL change. Elders Biver, Snow & Neff, the French Zone Leaders.
Elder Biver is in French Guiana. Andy is reunited with Elder Snow.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
"King of Somewhere Hot"
HOWDY DOODY, y'all
What's going on? Summer is here (like dad said) and I'm in the Caribbean! Wow, that's sweet....I'm sorry you are all stuck in dry Utah climate without coconuts and creole food....OK not really, I'm just remembering how awesome the end of senior year was and trying to make myself feel better..I cant believe that Tuck won all that junk(cash, Ipod, movie tickets). That's awesome...its been a crazy week for y'all? Those are the craziest but you're grateful for them the week after. I'm so glad to read your emails every week; they are the best. I'm happy to report that I got the little package last week. That was pretty nice, and like mom's note said, I about died when I saw the masks (surgical masks for the swine flu) ... hahaha.
SO, this week has been amazing...Elder Heiner and I have been doing some good stuff, I think. We had a great experience with Christopher's grandma this week as we sat her and her whole family down to commit them to read the Book of Mormon every week...we used Moroni as an example of how he went around fortifying his cities just after war instead of laying back and waiting like Amalikiah. We said that we never know when the next battle will be, and and that's why it's important to fortify ourselves every day by reading the Book of Mormon. It went so well and ever since then she has been reading really well as well as the rest of the family. We are hoping she got an answer to a date we gave her and asked her to pray about. We will see tonight at family night with President Eclar(our district president, aka " the kick butt guy"). He is the best, he is our closer. He is a great example for me...same with President Gamiette (the soon to be "new" mission president).
This week we have been helping him a little bit to get ready for the move. His family are such champs, his daughters especially who are already great missionaries. I'm excited for him to be our mission president. He gave an incredible testimony yesterday in Fast Sunday where he talked about how he had ran a triathlon last week. He expressed how hard it had been and how the only thing that kept him going was the fresh bottle of water at the end of each 2 kilometers. He said that during the race his thoughts turned to the atonement and to church and how no matter how hard life gets there is always Sunday, the sacrament, where we renew our baptismal covenants, and as a fresh bottle of water renews our strides. HE expressed his love and thanks to the members and wanted them to know how much he loved them even through times where it might seem he is reprimanding them...Well other than that it was a pretty normal week.
Elder Wright and I got to shuttle around a seventy on Sunday that was fun. Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you... apparently I'm flying to Trinidad next week for zone leader council...now its normally not that big of deal, but I was stoked 'cuz I heard Chas was a zone leader there, so I'll get to hang out with him for a few days! Well, it's that time again...I love you all.
Avec amour,
Elder Neff
Madame Gustav's Baptism ... Andy helped find and teach her
Christopher's Baptism... hopefully the rest of the family is baptized soon
What's going on? Summer is here (like dad said) and I'm in the Caribbean! Wow, that's sweet....I'm sorry you are all stuck in dry Utah climate without coconuts and creole food....OK not really, I'm just remembering how awesome the end of senior year was and trying to make myself feel better..I cant believe that Tuck won all that junk(cash, Ipod, movie tickets). That's awesome...its been a crazy week for y'all? Those are the craziest but you're grateful for them the week after. I'm so glad to read your emails every week; they are the best. I'm happy to report that I got the little package last week. That was pretty nice, and like mom's note said, I about died when I saw the masks (surgical masks for the swine flu) ... hahaha.
SO, this week has been amazing...Elder Heiner and I have been doing some good stuff, I think. We had a great experience with Christopher's grandma this week as we sat her and her whole family down to commit them to read the Book of Mormon every week...we used Moroni as an example of how he went around fortifying his cities just after war instead of laying back and waiting like Amalikiah. We said that we never know when the next battle will be, and and that's why it's important to fortify ourselves every day by reading the Book of Mormon. It went so well and ever since then she has been reading really well as well as the rest of the family. We are hoping she got an answer to a date we gave her and asked her to pray about. We will see tonight at family night with President Eclar(our district president, aka " the kick butt guy"). He is the best, he is our closer. He is a great example for me...same with President Gamiette (the soon to be "new" mission president).
This week we have been helping him a little bit to get ready for the move. His family are such champs, his daughters especially who are already great missionaries. I'm excited for him to be our mission president. He gave an incredible testimony yesterday in Fast Sunday where he talked about how he had ran a triathlon last week. He expressed how hard it had been and how the only thing that kept him going was the fresh bottle of water at the end of each 2 kilometers. He said that during the race his thoughts turned to the atonement and to church and how no matter how hard life gets there is always Sunday, the sacrament, where we renew our baptismal covenants, and as a fresh bottle of water renews our strides. HE expressed his love and thanks to the members and wanted them to know how much he loved them even through times where it might seem he is reprimanding them...Well other than that it was a pretty normal week.
Elder Wright and I got to shuttle around a seventy on Sunday that was fun. Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you... apparently I'm flying to Trinidad next week for zone leader council...now its normally not that big of deal, but I was stoked 'cuz I heard Chas was a zone leader there, so I'll get to hang out with him for a few days! Well, it's that time again...I love you all.
Avec amour,
Elder Neff
Madame Gustav's Baptism ... Andy helped find and teach her
Christopher's Baptism... hopefully the rest of the family is baptized soon
Thursday, June 4, 2009
"Guadeloupe Farewell"
PRESIDENT & SISTER ROBISON'S LAST FRENCH ZONE CONFERENCE
What a great week we had last week! President and Sister Robison are the best, and I have appreciated them for all they have done for me, for the members, and for also for my testimony. Each zone conference was always such an uplifting experience, and was always centered on the atonement of Christ. Its so true that that subject, that atoning sacrifice, is the center of all we work for as a church. We had our last zone conference and it was great. It was the final hammer or the final nail in the coffin of their mission. Later after the conference, we had interviews with President Robison...and he wanted to do them differently where he would give us words of wisdom, or his advice for after the mission (kinda trunked me out a bit, but only for a minute). That was really nice, and helped me decide a little more about some things.
Overall the week was kind of a roller coaster. Elder Wright and I really were able to get the missionaries pumped up that we would have 10 baptisms...we fasted and prayed all week, not knowing how it would happen but knew it could have been done. I honestly thought for sure it would be a miracle that would happen, and two days before Elders wright and Julian had a breakthrough with a mom who hadn't let her two daughters get baptised for over a year even though they had been going to church. They got her to say yes...we thought our prayers were answered and were so excited to tell all you all we would have 10. Little by little our baptisms started falling through. First, I had an interview with a lady and her son, but they were just not ready. Second, some elders had two of their baptisms get cold feet, and lastly that mom we talked about had a change of mind the day before! Talk about a hole in your sail! (we think he didn't learn that phrase in Salt Lake) But, we tried not to let it get us down...we were still able to have two baptisms: Christopher, who Elder Heiner and I had been teaching, and Madame Gustave in Moule(whom Andy found with Elder Garotta and had been teaching prior to missionaries moving back to Moule. It was a great reunion, and Christopher's family was all there so it really was a blessing. Thanks for all your prayers ... it really means a lot to me, and to the Lord. But I still feel most of those baptisms will be baptised in the next few weeks. It's great though, Guadeloupe is still baptizing faster than it ever has and its all thanks to the obedience and hard work of elders, members, and also your prayers.
It's true that our zone is really young, but some of these new elders are studs! They are strong and ready to kick butt. There are even two elders who have only been out 2 months and they are together tearing it up.
We are still finding many people to teach. It's getting tough for me because as much as is going on with having to do things for the other missionaries, legality things, and having many people to teach I don't feel like I'm handling it the best. I'm not the most organized person and I'm just shooting myself in the foot...luckily no lost wallets or keys....yet ....but hopefully this will help me overcome my weakness of unorganization (is that a word?). One of my favorite scriptures is Ether 12:27, and it really applies to all things, even something as lame as organization.
The French is getting better...Elder Heiner is such a hard worker, but still kinda struggling with the French so we have been going all French and it's really helped me a lot...I can probably say the French of the West Indies is probably no where near as good as the French of the French missions in Europe, but it's just different.... BUT THEY CANT SPEAK CREOLE!
Well it sounds like everyone is doing well. I cant believe Tuck is graduating! That blows me away! He is old! Pretty soon he will be 19; I still can't believe homes is 18! I miss ya buddy. You need to let me know what's up with the sports, and the uncles...I heard from deeds that Alex, Spence and John started a kick ball team? That is awesome haha! Anyway, sorry emails are late this week...hopefully they will be regular for Monday.
Love ya all.
Andy
Andy and his companion, Elder Heiner
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