"Autour du Rocher"

Hey mother dear
Things went all right with Eva, we have seen her twice since then and both times she really was not doing very well/ Luckily there was a lot of family around for her. It didn't help that he (Adonai) was catholic before he died and was not baptized yet/ So it was a catholic funeral. I'm not going to lie; I was upset when Elder Garotta and I showed up and 20 people kept repeating the same prayer over and over again for an hour. They were all reading off some sheet of paper..how comforting is that to the Her? zilch! Elder Garotta and I sang a couple of cantiques(hymns) for her. and I hope it helped a little bit more I don't know, I shouldn't put down their church, but there just isn't much healing that goes on.
That's cool tuck used the story in sacrament meeting though! Sorry I don't write very well so he could quote me...I'm the worst writer. I don't have time to comment on most of what you write me, but its sounds like you are all doing great and I love hearing and seeing how much the family is growing spiritually.
Oh but i HAVE to make a comment about trav's and dianna's baby "hahahahaha" that is so sweet! I love the name and that he is a big boy! Such perfect for them! He is gonna be a monster football player.
Things are great here in Moule. I appreciate the prayers and I promise they do help the work so much! Especially when they are coming for the best family in the world...Last Tuesday I did splits with Elder Williams, the zone leader! He is so sweet! He is going to be playing for the Utes next year so he and I get along pretty well. I'm calling him right after this to talk about the TCU game (thanks dad you're the best). It's definitely a lot easier to understand conversations when with him; he speaks well but doesn't speak as fast as Elder Garotta. He had to take a breathalyser test that night for driving...he wasn't driving bad but they don't like Americans here.
The big news this week has been the election. It's ridiculous how many people ask us about that, and how amazed they are that we have a black president Everyone we talk to that's the first thing they ask is what we think about the election (they realize by my look and then by my french that I'm American). It's funny though, they do not care at all what he says just that he is black.
So mom will be proud of me, Saturday i made about 75 pancakes for a pancake party after church yesterday. Yup. lets just say I'm a pro pancake maker. haha. It was amazing to see how many people have no idea what a pancake is! They loved them...but we did it as a way to start building better relationships in the branch, as well as pump them up for a game night we are going to start every week, as a way to invite investigators to get to know everyone in the ward. The first game night is in two weeks and the theme is the letter P ( I stole the idea from Paul and Sarah Taylor for theme nights with letters). The missionaries are gonna make pizza; I'm going to be playing the piano; we are going to play spoons or another game cuz that doesn't work haha; and teach about the priesthood....sweet! If you have any ideas for other games for other nights let me know. I love you all and you are in my prayers. This week my scripture has been Alma 34...i love the scriptures....Remember that we must worship god in everything we do, in spirit and in truth, and while we do this we must always be thankful for the endless mercies and blessings we must receive from him... It is a blessing to rejoice in our God and when we have trials be grateful for them and remember verse 41 of Alma 34( I don't remember what that says but I wrote it in my journal) there is never a reason to fear as long as we are worthy for eternal life. The church is sweet! Love you guys and keep it real in Utah for me.

Andy

Mopping Up Moule

Things are just great in the Guadeloupe area. The work is really coming along....and although it sucks because I feel limited as far as the actual teaching goes (due to the language), I feel I'm contributing. We had the sweetest experience for zone conference with Elder Vinas of the Seventy this week. He really was blunt when training the missionaries about what we need to do and how it is to be done. My hand was sore after because of all the notes I took....it seemed like one really long sweet quote. He he did all in English too, which is not his native tongue. He is truly a man called of God and that receives revelation for this area. After zone conference he gave a talk for all the members on Guadeloupe and he left it open to questions. He was understanding the french half the time (and he doesn't speak it), but ya very cool. Things are still going good with Elder Garotta, we are still rocking a sweet diet of fruits, veggies, yogurt, and other awesome fruit. I have been introduced to some very different foods here including this fruit called "fruit of bread" or "fruit a pan". We have some that grow by our apartment. Its kind of like a huge potato. It's good for breakfast with eggs though. I'm loving cooking here, its so crazy seeing what stuff works with what. Who knew that you could make a killer pasta with tuna? So we had a baptism this week of a boy in the branch named William; Elder Garotta did it. It was an awesome experience, and we also set a baptismal date with a 64 year old man Adonai on Friday. He has been taught for a while and was a great ami (friend) of the church! He had read the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, and had wanted to wait to get baptized with his wife, Eva , but she had been very stubborn about her baptism. After about a month of waiting for her, he set his date by himself. He had been coming to church and was even going to bare his testimony in church on Sunday. We got a call on Saturday morning, the day after we had taught him and set the date, that he had had a heart attack and passed away that morning while fishing.... I could not believe it. It still feels unreal to me...it got me thinking a whole lot just about how short life is and how we have to be living right at all times so when that day comes we are ready. I know he is being taught and administered to by missionaries in the spirit world We are going to visit Eva tonight. The work is awesome. I can't wait to get your letters, and sorry if my letters are lame. Tell the family hi and I love ya

More Q & A.

Do you live outside of Moule (is that why you have a long walk to the bus stop/church)? Yea, we kinda live on the outskirts of Moule. The plus is we get a pretty decent apartment because its cheaper, but I'd rather trade for a crappier one.

What is the geography of Moule like? Is it hilly? Flat? Moule is very flat, there are hills, but for the most part flat... The other side of the island where the volcano is is the more rocky part. Today for preparation day we went as a Zone to go to a waterfall! It was unreal how amazing it was! I'll be sending pics for sure. But Guadeloupe is beautiful everywhere! I thought I had some sweet pictures of sunsets and stuff, but I have been looking at some other Elders' pictures, and I don't have anything good in comparison!

Are you always near the ocean? Is the coast sandy or rocky? We are mostly by the ocean, but Moule is a big area...our area covers about 1/4 of Guadeloupe, so it does change. I have not even seen it all yet.

Do you have washer/dryer in your apartment? Yes, we have a washer and then we just hang stuff up...luckily I have not ruined any of my clothes yet.

Is your apartment clean? Do you see some weird bugs in it? You would be so proud of me....mom. Ours is the only apartment that is kept in any type of good condition (as far as I have seen). There is a bunch of stuff that's broken, but as far as cleanliness goes its good good

What do you do on P-Days? I have not done anything until today. The first 2 p-days we just read the BOM for a Guadeloupe-wide challenge.

"Stranded on a Sandbar"

So my clothes are taking a toll with all the walking and sweating we do...and also you will be very disappointed to know that a pen exploded in my pocket this week haha wow I'm dumb...but its all good, they are fine.

The work is going good though, we taught a sweet family (the Ferrands). Its a brother and a sister who are so freaking nice! They were so receptive and so willing to listen to the gospel. and even though a lot of people are willing to listen. Usually we just walk up to an open door of a house, and doors are always open cuz of the heat, and we say "TO-to-to" the English equivalent of "knock knock knock" and then they let us in too teach, but don't accept what we say. This family, though. loved what we had to say, and we made baptismal dates....I think I'm only gonna be able to do one email a week, but ill send a letter today.

In response to some of our questions, Andy wrote:

If the walk is so far, why don't you ride bikes? I think its cuz they would probably get stolen...but honestly it would be a good idea. It really messes with schedule...because after studying in the morning its about 11(cuz of language) but if we left to go knock doors we would have to walk a half hour and we would have to walk a half hour back for lunch (we dont have enough funds to eat out every night) I think its ok though cuz we usually just make phone calls from 11 to 12 to set up appointments and get members to come (it really is so much better to teach with members, not only is it more powerful but now that investigator has a friend at church other than the missionaries). But the time from 11 to 12 gives us time to make our day more efficient, and then we just skip dinner...so it ends up working out alright. Elder Garotta has really got the branch going, last week we had as many member lessons as the entire district combined; he is a great missionary.

Tell us about the food. I have not had too much of the creole food cuz we usually make our own, but elder garotta makes some mean pasta that is SO good...he also made some boquets the other day ( i don't know if that is something found only here or other places as well) ...we were able to eat at a members house (President Gardel) and they served this awesome creole soup bouillon...it was amazing...unfortunately I have no idea what was in it but a lot of spices...I'm loving cooking though, I have learned how to make a lot from Elder Garotta...and I have even made a few things...we made your chili mom as well as your apricot chicken...we don't have the best cooking stuff so that one turned out kinda...different..oh and i made some money banana pancakes!

Tell us about your living arrangements. The house has three rooms, our kitchen and our bedroom, and then one 10 by 8 bathroom, that is probably the most efficient bathroom I have ever seen. You can be going to the bathroom and showering at the same time. It doubles as both...its cool too cuz its self cleaning.

Tell us about the branch. We have about 15 active members. the primary consists of one family...the Vautiers she has 5 boys who are sweet. This one kid he just turned 12 is tight. He doesn't make me feel too retarded when I speak to him in my french so i have made buddies with him. He is smart though, he speaks a little English and Spanish, and he speaks perfect french! Can you believe that! French is a hard language. Anyways...I told him I have a sister a little younger than him..Ashley? mwhahaha...but then there are a few other members that are good. President Gardel is the man. He helps us tons with member lessons, and never turns us down when we ask. He speaks such slurred french though; I have never had a conversation with him because I can never understand him (je ne comprends pas!). It is a good ward, and the members are very friendly with the investigators we bring. We had 5 last week but it should have been more. Oh and the primary had their primary program yesterday which consisted of four kids, two ladies who spoke, and me playing the piano for their songs.

Is the French spoken proper french or more of a creole? I don't want to talk to much about the french haha...its so bad...the adult people that have moved to Guadeloupe from France or something I can understand pretty well, but kids my age or people that have lived here there whole life I can't understand at all. Even after I tell them I don't speak creole and they speak in french, it is tough...Elder Garotta is teaching me some creole now though, but all in all I'm progressing pretty well.

When does Elder Garotta go home? Is he still the man? haha Its true I suppose; its easy to love your companion for the first week but once you get comfortable with each other its not as good...but not us...he is still sweet, he is a goofball. I took him on a run this morning that was pretty far haha and he kept freaking out at me that we should turn around and go back after about 20 minutes, but then i talked him into believing that although how hard you work during your mission decides your blessings after mission, the workout time and how hard you work then decides how pretty of girl you marry...haha he was all for the run now..no joke that is the only reason he kept going.

Have you had your stitches removed? yea it really was not a big deal at all...they are out and I don't think i have a scar haha I'm a spaz.

I don't remember if I told you last week but our two zone leaders are both football players going to BYU and Utah when they get home...they said president is maybe going to let us watch that game (their dad or someone will send it) I would have a heart attack if we got to see that...cross your fingers

"Trying to Reason with the Hurricane Season"

Hey family!

Well im finally here! It is awesome! My companion is Elder Gorotta and he is a cool frenchman. He knows how to work hard and is defintitely pushin' me. He has already been such a help to my french...he also allows me to do a lot when we teach (more than i am actually comfortable with sometimes, haha but its good for me, but it always works out good). Elder Gorotta is so good with people! He is friends with everyone i swear! I'm so stoked to be with him, and he has an accent that is fun to make fun of....but anyways we are serving in Moule, a small town...and there are no worries about getting fat, 'cause we have to walk everywhere! The nearest bus is about 45 min walk, and the church is an hour and a half walk (with contacting and stuff), so I'm getting at least 5 miles of walking in a day. After emails we are gonna have to carry our groceries back (yikes). The people here are good...I say good not great because there is no doubt they are the nicest people ever...anyone here would invite you into their house and gladly talk to you for however long you want, but not " great" because its hard to find those that are willing to do anything with our message...but I know the Lord will lead us to those that will...the members are great...President Gradel had us over for dinner the other night and we have just started to get him helping with missionary work, we still need to get the other members to help more but Pres Gradel is great! He invited 6 friends over when we ate over that we were able to teach (k well i bore testimony of what my companion said haha, im not at a good enough french level yet, but i did do a sweet magic trick for entertainment)....crap i ran out of time, but ask me in your emails this week what else you want to know and ill tell ya....k i love everyone and am praying for everyone

Additional information gleaned from a response to emails included:

• The weather is so crazy! it will rain for about 10 minutes at a time so hard! harder than i have ever seen anyzhere else; and then it will just stop! its so hot too...and its winter! im sweating so much! but its good.


• Elder Garotta is the man he speaks really great english, he does pronounce some words wrong, and i love making fun of him when he does (you see he secretly wants to be american, and so he wants to speak perfect english)


• Man that is sweet 'bout Tuck! (Tuck had a touchdown catch last week) What a stud! I can't wait till we are all back home and playing some turkey bowl again...i wanna smoke him again.
• Island life is so awsome! its unbelievable how beatiful it is here! I wish we had more time to enjoy it though, its bad but im already looking forward to when i can come back and really enjoy it haha
• I think i have sort of got the hang of things, i still need to adjust to just how tiring missionary work is, the mornings are a little bit of a daze as of late cuz im so tired. but im sure ill get used to it.

"Travellin' Clean"

As described on the West Indies Mission blog (maintained by the fantastic Sister Robison):





Hurrah! The newest elders are here but it wasn't easy. They were supposed to arrive at the Trinidad airport at 8:00 PM Monday night. We got them Tuesday night at 10:00 PM - 24 hours late. Here is the story of their 40 hour journey:

Monday

• left the Provo MTC very early Monday morning
• arrived at Salt Lake City airportflight delayed out of Salt Lake
• arrived Atlanta , missed departing flight to Trinidad by a few minutes (had to catch tram, run to gate, oops wrong gate, find right gate, no plane)now what?
• contacted Delta personnel, got in touch with us - everyone scrambled
• no easy way to get to Trinidad so...
• early evening 5 elders fly to Cincinnati
• an hour later the other 2 fly to Cincinnati
• sleep a few hours in hotel

Tuesday

• morning - all 7 catch flight to New York City
• early afternoon - all 7 fly to Trinidad
• 8:00 pm - arrive on time
• line up in immigration
• immigration officer doesn't want two of them to enter
• frantic calls to President Robison and Sister Coleman to bring permit to the airport
• 9:30 pm - march triumphantly through gate!
• met by President Robison and the assistants
• 10:00 pm - dinner (?) in the mission home
• 11:oo pm - 12:30 am - handle necessary welcoming and training (finances, paperwork, orientation)
• 1:30 am - finally to bed
  

Wednesday

• 5:00 am - elders serving in Guyana head to the airport (Elders Harris, Brenkmann, Lee, and Coronado)
• right now (8:30 am) - Elder Neff (going to Guadeloupe) is being interviewed and I haven't yet seen Elders Jones and Noah (serving in Trinidad)

Andy wrote us quick e-mail. It follows.

Hey mom and dad I don't have very much time. But I wanted to let you know i arrived in Trinidad just fine. We got here last night and Elder Barton(chas) was at the mission home because he was being transfered! He said it was one in a million chance we would see each other, but thats just another one of the tender mercies of the Lord. I probably won't see him again on the mission due to different islands. This morning I woke up early and have been chatting and interviewing with President and Sister Robison. They are awesome! They are so nice, and make you feel right at home! It makes me sad they won't be here the whole 22 months for me. But I am off to Guadeloupe in an hour to serve with Elder Garotta as my senior companion. I guess he is a native of France. Ya i'm screwed...no doubt he will make me speak 100% french. But i'm so excited! I'll be making 3 flights to get to Guadeloupe today....is that a record? i'm pretty sure...7 flights in 3 days! holy schmokes..k well gotta go. love ya

"Come Monday"

Welllllll...thanks for the letter mom and dad. I'm just sending an email this week since i'll be talking to you on monday So plan on monday morning from about 6-8 sometime..sorry for the large window...Thanks so much for the package too...as usual the cookies were quite the hit...well the gingerbread ones were.Were those other cookies a new recipe? i miss your home cooking...i have managed to get through 9 weeks of fattening all you can eat MTC crap with only gaining 6 pounds! Its unbelievable but kids put on an average of 15 here i think. Its ridarn diculis...it probably wouldn't have even been 6 but this last week the packages of food have been flowing in (Clara, Ange, the fam) I should call you all satan! but I appreciate it..mom it sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now... I know what you are doing is hard but that you are being blessed for it...and no you don't sound proud, just supermom is all. During the priesthood session (Which was awesome by the way)president Eyring talked on stretching ourselves as children of god and that as we grow spiritually heavenly father is going to rely on us more...soo keep doin what your doin:)...but ya I hope ya'll saw me, Tucker said he did, but we watched it as a choir on tuesday and I only saw my face in a crowd of about 20 haha. I got the shaft by the camera men! but its was awesome being there and feeling the magnitude of righteousness in those chairs in front of us. K so funny story....last night I was lying in bed, and a must have been having a bad dream or something cuz i jumped in bed and came back down and smacked my head on a bar, i woke up after that and was all upset cuz I knew I'd have a huge bruise the next day, and my head was throbbing! haha It does take some serious skill to sleep apparently, but I laid my head back down and i saw my pillow was all bloody! i don't know how in the crap I did it but i had a huge gash on my right eyebrow ridge!. I tried to go back to sleep with a towel around my head(it was like 4:30 in the morning) but couldnt fall back to sleep cuz it wouldn't stop bleeding...i tried going to class and stuff with it but it wouldn't stop so at about 8:00 I went to the doctor and they sent me to the hospital down the street for stitches . hahaha! And the award for dorkiest stitches story ever goes to?! Andy Neff, in learn how to sleep! but ya I guess I'll have to find someone to take them out in the in west indies or something. So no worries over here, I'm taking care of everything and we will talk to you on monday! Au voir mon famille! "I like ya a lot"

Final Week at the MTC

Dear .... Everyone,

How goes it up north? I can't believe that you would go to the cabin without me! That's lame, and good luck having fun... just jokin'. I am jealous though. Mom, thank you for the amazing cookies and recipe book. The cookies were gone that night (I only ate two luckily). The recipe book will be nice though. Word on the street is that we have a cook in the West Indies though. I kind of hope not so I can get better at cooking. But, on the other hand if we don't have to cook, there is more time to do missionary work. I'm sure you are getting kind of bored of my letters from the MTC. Nothing really happens. I do like it here and enjoy the study time, but I'll be grateful to leave.
I appreciate your advice on being district leader, mom. I'm sorry if last week sounded like I was shrugging the duty off as "no big deal". Truth is, it is difficult for me because I have to act the leader role and its tough finding the balance between fun guy and serious district leader. I just didn't want to sound as if I was complaining last week, hence, the "no big deal". But thanks for the advice. I know you are doing a great job as Relief Society Pres.
Anyways, nothing too much to report other than that. I just wanna hear more about how everyone is doin'. I hope letters won't be this boring for everyone in the West Indies. Tell Tucker he needs to start dating. I'm dying to test out some french lines that he could use. So, he can fill me in on that, or if not, tell him to write me about football.
I know this church is true and that Christ lives. I know that Joseph Smith was called to open this dispensation and through our testimony of him we can have a testimony of our entire church. He was so sweet! Au revoir, Andy

And from his email: I just got back from another day at the temple. Its cool that all the missionaries go through every week. Each session the probably has 5 different languages everytime! its wild! I'm going to miss it. So i should be getting my flight plans tonight sometime, i'll let you know the low down next friday...I'm stoked for singing tomorrow night...we get to the conference center around 3 and practice till about 5. Apparently i'm singing 2nd tenor but i think by the time i'm done singing the songs my voice has covered about every part haha. Mostly i'm just excited to hear the direction we will recieve from the brotheren this weekend. HOw awesome is it that these men that recieve revelation from God, are all talking to us in two days. and i know there will be something in conference for everyone. HOw are my buddies doing out in the field? it sucked to have pat leave the mtc, i didn't even realize how much of a comfort it was having him there until he left. K well you all have fun, i'll talk to you later, Elder Neff