April 22, 2013

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, Hello to you all

Let's jump right in! I'm hoping to attach two pictures to this email, so fingers crossed!

I wanted to start out by wishing a biiig happy birthday wish to my best friend in the whole world! I love you Sister Santos! Sorry I forgot to say that last week! Also a big congratulations on your new assignment-I'm positive that you are going to do great. I pray for you every day.

Other than that, the big news from this week is that we got transfer calls! And the four of us that are on Martinique aren't moving at all! So not too much to talk about there. But, the exciting news (we've known this was going to happen for a while now) is that we are going to get two new missionaries here this week. One of them is coming from French Guiana, and the other one is coming from Provo. In fact, all I know about him is that his name is Miyasaki, and that he's actually from Hawaii. But hey, we should have some new charachters coming up next week! Just to give you the run-down, they are supposed to be covering the southern end of Martinique, but in fact for the moment they will be staying in our apartment in Fort-de-France, and they will not have a car. So...I don't know how we are thinking this is going to work, but I'm sure we'll burn that bridge when we get there. The biggest change that we'll have to deal with for now is just having four in the apartment. Like I may have mentioned before, it's really not all that big, but it's housed four in the past, so it'll work out somehow.

I really don't have a whole lot of news for this week. Come to think of it, that can't be a good sign. But...I'll work on making sure I have something great to share for next time! Just some quick experiences though. We went contacting in the rich area of Fort-de-France the other day (it's actually called Bellevue-go figure), and I discovered that even after just three months, I've gotten into a weird state of mind where white people stress me out. No joke, we were walking down a street and there were more white people than black people, and for some reason in the back of my mind I was thinking "I feel like I shouldn't be here...". So...going back to Washington and Provo will be quite an adventure. Oh, but probably my favorite moment of the week happened just this morning-we went to a little recreation area by the ocean to play basketball with some amis, and afterwards as I was just hanging around on a park bench, a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses came up to contact me. Hahaha I think the best part was when they were asking where I was from and all. 

"You're here on vacation?"

"Well, not exactly."

"Oh, so you're here for some sort of formation (that's the word in french, I'm pretty sure in English we would say training)?"

"...yeah, you could say that."

Anyway, eventually they found out who we were and left. But hey, crazy stuff happens when you're not in a shirt and tie.

The other fun thing that happend this week was that our Zone Leaders came to Martinique for two days, because neither of them has ever been here, and they wanted to know the island and us a bit better. So for Wednesday and Thursday we were a trio, and it was a great learning experience. One thing I learned is that you really do have to talk to everyone. Gordon B. Hinckley was once asked how he got so many couples at the height of their professional careers to give up everything and go serve as mission presidents. His answer? "We ask them". And while, granted, the results aren't always the same when trying to teach people, one important principle is that people cannot accept an invitation that you do not offer them.

Well, keep on praying for me! I couldn't make it by without you guys. And keep yourselves safe; I hear life has gotten a little crazy recently for the U.S.ofA. Know that I pray for you all!

Bizus,

-Elder Santos

Ps-photo is from the top of a building in Bellevue. You can see a lot of Fort-de-France from there (note the stinking huge cruise ship). Also, the sun was in my face, so you'll have to excuse the grimace.

Nothing but a photo...

But I talked about it last week, so I'll just send it along anyway. There's my Martinique Beach.

April 15, 2013

What did you do with your Monday?

I spent mine at a beach on Martinique.

Well. Part of it. And admittedly, I was unable to go into the water. But still!

And how are all of you doing? I hope you all had a great week. Keep in mind-now is not too late to decide that last week was great.

Coincidentally, my last week was great! We knocked an incredible amount of doors, and we also got to have some pretty cool experiences, especially early in the week.

Tuesday, we started out with a Zone meeting (it's kind of like Zone conference's punk little brother-best part is that Martinique participates by Skype, and as such we are very lucky to really hear half of what goes on) in which we all got our butts thoroughly kicked. But hey, what's gotta happen has got to happen. Afterwards, we set a goal to have one solid contact from the time that we left our apartment to the time that we reached the area we would work in that day, 20 minutes away. Well, God did us one better. We're walking down the street, and a middle-aged man yells out to us "Mormon!". Some of you might be surprised to know that that happens all the stinking time-for some reason, as soon as people see us, they feel obliged to yell whatever words they happen to know in relation to us (Just today, as we were walking down the street-"Ey! Joseph Smith!"). But then he took a deviation from the normal routine by asking us to come talk to him. So we walked over, not really knowing what to expect. He starts by asking us a little bit about ourselves, but then gets into his story. His name is Phillipe, he speaks english because he spent a chunk of his life living in the US. He's not what you would call a "practicing" catholic, but he does say his morning and evening prayers. He has a drinking problem. He has three children in Martinique that he loves very much. He doesn't see them very often, by their choice. He knew the missionaries a little bit in the states. He wants to stop drinking and be better for his children. He wants to change. Now, I will be perfectly honest with you-if we were just going around trying to find someone to teach and we saw this guy, I very likely would not have tried to talk to him. Even now, he's got a lot of changes to make and it's not going to be easy for anyone, but I thought of Samuel's experience, in which he learned that God looks upon the heart. Elder Shepherd and I had the chance to tell him that he has a Heavenly Father that loves him and wants the very best for him. We told him that thanks to his Father, that he could change.

Then there was Wednesday. We started out by knocking an absurd number of doors in an area that I haven't really worked in yet, and then we started the walk to another area to work. Decided to go exploring by a new road we hadn't ever been on before, but which we were relatively sure would eventually get us where we needed to go. Pretty sure that's the definition of a good idea. But. We're walking along, and halfway there, we walk by a young man who was just getting into his car to leave. He saw us and stopped us, asking us who we were and what we were doing. We told him that we were representatives of l'église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours (Mele, don't translate that-if they can't figure it out, then that's the price you pay for being oblivious), and then he said something, the likes of which I never thought I would ever hear ever. "J'aurais bien aimé appartenir à cette église".(literally, "I would have liked to belong to this church"...but I'm not sure if it's supposed to be in the past conditional tense, or the present conditional...?) ...wow. So, we exchanged information and told him we would come back later. That night, I realized just how unlikely that experience was. First, in location-we just chose to go trailblazing that day, and our meandering course just happened to take us by his house. Then, there's the timing-it takes, in a relative scheme of things, a very small amount of time to get from your house to your car-a very small window in which you are in the street. If he hadn't been getting into his car at the exact moment that he was, we absolutely never would have seen him. This was a place where almost no missionary would have ever gone contacting, so him being found at home was very nearly impossible. But, magically, we happened to be walking by that place at that time, and he chose to open his mouth and talk to us. That, for me, is a miracle. Thank you, Heavenly Father.

But that's about enough for this week. For your general information purposes, today officially starts the last week of this transfer, and it has flown by. I unfortunately don't feel as though I have accomplished as much as I would have liked to, but I'm on God's timeline. Or at least, if I'm not, it's within my control to choose to be so. So yeah, Friday will be transfer calls, and I will officially know where I will be and who I will be with for the next six weeks. Hopefully no one has been putting things in the mail recently.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: So fun fact, I'm reading through D&C right now. I strongly recommend it to all of you as well, but anyway. I'm in section 76 right now, and just read the prolific phrase. "After all the testimonies that have been given of Him, here is the testimony, last of all, that we give of Him: That He lives!" I did that from memory, so it might not be exact. But my point is that, for the many of us who are still in the process of getting our testimony, we may feel that we're not moving fast enough, or we may feel deep misgivings, fears that what we profess to be faith may in fact be nothing more than a fragile belief. Remember that Elder Holland told us that believing is not something to be ashamed of. I add to that statement the additional fact that we have some great testimonies to rely on, while ours are still in the works. Maybe I believe that He lives, but I'm sure that Elder Holland knows. I'm positive that Joseph Smith knew it too. And I know that each of us can know as well, in a process that passes largely through belief. We have many testimonies of Him-most importantly, of the fact that He lives.

THE LITTLE THINGS: I am grateful for the blessing of walking in the rain. I still am surprised evey time I think of how far from home I am (And I'm not as far as I could be-see Pono), but when I am walking in the rain, for just a little while, I'm home.

Oh, and fun fact-my glasses are magical! Every time I wear them, it rains. Another fun fact-I can't see squat through my glasses in the rain.

Aand, the place is closing again. Thank you all for your prayers! Know that I love you!

-Elder Santos

ps. Pictures! Actually, I wanted to send three, but it's not even letting me do two. Ps, I'm a water bender.

April 8, 2013

Happy General Conference!

In the spirit of conference, I decided to attach a picture of me chillin with my bro. I call him Neal.

 

But hey, enough of how famous I am.

 

Hello friends! How is everyone doing?

 

Me, I'm doing great. I got to watch my first session of conference as a missionary, so that's as good as you can ask for. Hah, but really-Elder Shepherd says that as a missionary, conference is cooler than christmas. I haven't had a Christmas in the field yet, so I can't really say, but I believe him. In response to some questions, yes, I got to watch conference live. I mean, for as far away as it feels, I'm only two hours off of mountain time (only one further than most of you, though admittedly in the other direction). So Saturday and Sunday were mostly filled with that. Hah, I was just thinking that I didn't want to give away any details that would ruin the surprise for Pono, but then I realized that she's not going to read this for another week, so hopefully by then she will have seen it. Pono-if you haven't watched conference yet, don't read the spoilers! And yes, it is a big deal. This is as cool as it gets.

...Isn't it fun just kind of getting an unfiltered stream-of-conciousness thought train? Hold on tight, things get pretty crazy up here sometimes.

 

Anyway, conference was great. Confession time-I'm pretty sure this is the first time that I was awake, attentive, and in attendance for all ten hours. And I've got to say, I wasn't disappointed! I think I'll have to try that again next time. I would love to simply throw all of the cool stuff I found at you all at once, but I forgot my notebook at home. I'll probably end up spreading that out over the next six-ish months. Here, we'll just get a couple big thoughts. (Pono, now would be the time to skip ahead)

 

First off-I'M SO MAD. Well, maybe not mad, because Elder Holland said that "envy is the mistake that just keeps on giving". So I'm not upset at others' good fortune, but I am slightly...envious...of those BYU choir students who had the chance to sing for the Saturday afternoon session of conference. It was interesting seeing many, many people that I knew, including tons of faces from concert choir last year (I saw the two basses who sat on either side of me for eight months), and two of my good friends-Mckenzie Moline, who was in Elder Millett's ward, and Sydney Wise, who was one of my very best friends at school. Hey friends! Know that I'm thinking of you! And wishing that I could have had that chance too-Pono and I totally should have been there!! Okay, I'm over it.

 

But as for the actual conference itself...I think one of my favorite talks was from the Saturday Morning Session-a member of the seventy who spoke about God's forgiveness. The amazing message that he shared was that God loves us more than we think-that He actually wants to forgive us. Think of the moments when we mess up the worst-the pain we feel and the desire we have to be liberated from our guilt (another cool insight from this conference-guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body. In both cases, it is not an illness itself, but rather an indicator that something is wrong. -DABednar); in those moments of our greatest imperfection, God's desire to forgive us far outstrips our own desire to be forgiven. The proof? Never has someone made the proper effort to be forgiven without God's giving immediate pardon. Sometimes, He doesn't even wait that long-"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". To reach into another talk-with one brilliant exception, God has only ever had imperfect children.(-JRHolland) I imagine that he's used to the fact by now. God wants to forgive. The question, then, becomes this-do we want to be forgiven?

 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: It was somewhere up there.

 

Other than that, this week has been fairly in line with the last couple. One good thing that has been happening this transfer is that we are getting a lot more comfortable with the members; we're working with a wider range of members, and actually have had a few people approaching us to work with us now. We talked with one woman this week who grew up in a family of thirteen children-the missionaries knocked on her door and taught her family, but she was the only one to be baptized. Had another chance to visit with a couple, during the course of which the wife told us that her husband read the Book of Mormon with the express intention of proving it false to the missionaries. Today, he is the Elders Quorum President and one of the strongest members in Martinique. I guess one of the great lessons I've gotten to learn is that there is no such thing as ordinary people. That goes for you too, you know. You have something that makes you extraordinary. And as great as it is to have, that's not why your Father gave it to you. You have been placed in a very special position to share your light with others and make them better. I pray that you have the courage to do so.

 

On another note, Happy Birthday Mom! 67 and still going strong! (:P don't hate me). I was supposed to put in a photo to your letter, but the photo printer thing didn't work. Sorry in advance, mom and pono. But hey, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for a letter to get from Martinique to Nouvelle Caledonie. I prayed before I put it in the box.

 

Oh, for the other picture-that is my left forearm. Duh.

 

That's all I've got for this week. Know that I love and pray for you often, and am always grateful to hear from you.

 

-Elder Santos

April 2, 2013

Poission d'Avril!!!

Bonjour chère famille!

I'm a little late this week to write, but for those of you who have already read Pono's email, she did a pretty good job of explaining how that works. Although, here we still had Easter on Sunday, but...we also have it on Monday. I think it has something to do with us using the metric system. Also, apparently I sounded pretty sad in my last email. Which, I mean, I wasn't suuper happy, but hey, life goes on. In any case, thank you all for your concern and your council, because it does help.

This week has been lots of fun. In fact, it's been pretty similar to last week, with the main difference being that I feel better about it. But! I still got to learn a couple new things. Let's talk easter! First of all happy easter to everyone! I hope you enjoyed the great american tradition of chocolate bunnies, because they got nothing of the sort here. Haha holidays in general for missionaries are...different. The best way I could sum it up is by quoting the missionary handbook, which says that "Holidays and sundays are great opportunities for finding people, because many families are together at home. Use these opportunities to the best of your ability..." or something like that. Basically, I celebrated Easter this year by going to Church (I got to sing in the branch choir! We sang "He is Risen" right out of the hymnbook. And that, not too terribly well), eating lunch at Sr. Jean-de-Dieu's house, and then knocking on a lot of doors. Fun fact-the missionary handbook was not written in Martinique. Or anywhere where people take siestes.

Then, on Monday, there is a great tradition here in which people celebrate Easter Monday by eating crab and rice. Fun fact for this week? Crab is so not worth the trouble. I mean, for those of you who haven't gotten the chance yet, they give you the whole thing still in its shell. So I get a plateful of crab, turn to Elder Johnston, and ask him "comment est-ce que ça se mange?" How do you eat this? Because I had no clue what to do with the stinking thing. His response? "Il faut écraser" We crush it. Hahah funnily enough, I spent the entire time thinking of the dinner scene in Shrek 2 when the dad crushes the crab and all the little pieces go everywhere. Turns out that was not a joke or an exaggeration. Before eating, each of the missionaries was given a towel to tie around our neck like a giant bib. Even that was only partially successful. But really. The meat was good, but it's kinda like the coconut thing. If you're going to put that much effort into getting at your food, it had better be the best thing you've ever tasted.

Oh, and the subject line-that is the name of "April Fool's Day" in french. I have no clue what that has to do with anything, but hey, I don't make the rules.

Fun fact, turns out the email place just closed. Guess that means I'm out of time.

I love you all!

-Elder Santos