June 10 , 2013

Gwada!

Elder Santos

Les Palétuviers

Apt 17 Bat A

Moudong Sud

97112 Baie-Mahault

Guadeloupe

Good, well now that's out of the way. For those who have been wondering, anything that shows up for me in Martinique from now on will probably just be held onto until the next Zone Conference. Hopefully they'll remember to bring it.

But anyway! Yes, I am in Guadeloupe! I don't have my camera with me, but now that I know how p-day works here I should have it next time. In general, it's very similar to Martinique, except for the fact that there are less buildings where I am now than there were in Fort-de-France. Just to remind you, I am in Abymes, working with Elder Sosa.

MAIN CHARACHTERS:

Elder Sosa: I think I've already said that he is from Canada-I learned this week that he is also from a family from Honduras. He is the youngest of four children(but the third only beat him by 5 minutes), 22 years old, and has exactly one year more of mission time than me. He is a quiet person, but still enjoys cracking jokes and having fun. So far I've been loving working with him.

Elder Pratt: He came into the field one transfer after me-I actually just recently learned that he knew Elder Millett in the MTC! He was looking through my photos, stopped on a picture of him and I, and was like "hey, the Tahitian Missionary! He was great!" Crazy stuff. He's from Oklahoma (big Thunder fan), a hard worker who's doing his best and is making lots of progress in French. He is in the same branch as me, but one area over.

Elder Heiata: is his companion, who just started his last transfer. He is from Tahiti, and, true to form, loves laughing, people, and food.

The good news is that I've been speaking exclusively in French with Elder Sosa, which I haven't really gotten to do before now. The bad news is that our area is on bikes.

THE BIG THINGS: I'm still alive.

Because really, I wasn't sure about that the entire time. For those of you who don't know, I learned to ride a bike when I was about 9 (by my memory). Then, shortly thereafter my bike broke. So we put it in the shed, where old outdoor toys go to die. Since then, I haven't put foot on a bike. Until Wednesday, when we rode between rendez-vous on the side of a highway, a few feet away from cars going car speeds. So. Yeah. I've been praying a LOT, because this has, without a doubt, been the most mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting experience of my mission. Prayers are, as always, what is keeping me alive. Thanks for that!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT (kinda):

One great thing about this area is that we meet in the only church-owned building in Guadeloupe and Martinique combined. I know that the people in the building are the most important part, but believe me when I say that being in a place where the church is really established is more of a blessing than I ever could have appreciated at home. For those of you at home reading this, I say that the building you meet in, the stake to which you belong, the church auxilaries available to you, and all those other things around you really are greater blessings than you can imagine. God loves you so much! I hope one day to be able to see these faithful members here enjoying those very same blessings.

So did I mention that we're in a paid computer place now? I'm under 60 seconds left. I love you all though! Until next time, my prayers stay with you!

-Elder Santos

June 4, 2013

Hey all. Sorry I'm late...I actually don't have a good excuse this time. Mais bon But good.

Anyway, it's been a fun week. The big news came with transfer calls-I am leaving Martinique. This time tomorrow, in fact, I will be on a plane to Guadeloupe. What I know so far is that I will be working in the area of les abymes, with Elder Sosa. I've met him at our zone conferences-he is from Canada, and from a spanish family, so he is fluently trilingual. That should be cool, because I decided to try to learn spanish! It's just so frustrating meeting someone and not being able to talk to them. Wish me luck!

Quick story for the week-we were out working Friday afternoon (actually shortly after transfer calls), and were out knocking doors. Found a residence that was open, and decided to go all the way to the top. We knock the door on the right, and then we knock the door on the left. Nothing. Start going down to the next floor, and we run into a woman on her way up. So we start talking with her, explain who we are and all that, and then start talking about the Book of Mormon. She immediately accepts a return appointment for Sunday, and then asks if she can come to church! Okay, so it may not sound exciting for you, but that's the first time anyone has asked if they can come to church.

But yes, she came to church, we had a little lesson with her after church, and then she immediately bonded with some of the members. Like, they're already facebook friends with pictures up and everything.

But anyway, after that came Monday night, when our branch president invited us over for FHE. Everyone said some very nice things, and I must say that I really am sad to be leaving these people. I know that the Lord has got other things in store for me now and I'm going to go meet another great group of people, but still.

...also, this is my first time changing areas on my mission. Weird. Wish me luck with the packing! I should probably start that soon...

Anyway, sorry I don't have an address for you yet-I'll be sure to get it for next week. I'll try to get some pictures and other info too.

THE LITTLE THINGS: Actually, this is one that I've been thinking of for a while-but you've got to love black culture for one thing because it is very proud of itself. My example for this week is store names-since I've been here, I have actually seen stores with the following names-"Black Style"(Useful for being able to show Pono what she's NOT allowed to wear), "Black Hair"(Again useful for Pono), and "Black Nutrition"(Which, in what has to be a blow for civil rights everywhere, only sold protien powder). But then, I guess people must say the same thing about Americans, because I've also seen stores named "American Style", "U.S. Barbershop", and "McDonalds".

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: So as I was reading in Ether this past week, I realized something that I had never really thought about before, regarding the story of crossing the ocean. For the actual text, you can go to the beginning of Ether 6. But just put yourself in the shoes of these people for a moment. You just built these tight barques, and Jared's brother just showed up with some glowing rocks, which is pretty cool. But then, you all get into these boats with all your family and belongings, and you just head out into the ocean, "commending [yourself] unto the Lord". Soon enough, things start getting pretty crazy. Lots of wind, huuge storms. "mountain waves" and "terrible tempests", we read. I don't know how much these people knew, but if it were me, I might have started asking questions. "clearly something has gone wrong-I can't believe that God wanted us to be tossed about on the waves like this..."

But then I had an interesting thought-even the most violent winds, tossing us along on the waves of life, can be a blessing from God-so long as we're being tossed in the right direction. We are moving towards something better. Sometimes we wish that the trip were a little smoother, sometimes we want to know how much farther we have to go (remember that these people probably had no way of knowing on day 340 that they would be on dry land in a week). But you know what, the fact that we only see one day at a time allows us to excercise our faith. We don't really know where we are on our trip, or what's in store for us, but I can promise you that God knows just as perfectly where you are right now as he knew where those little barges were, all those thousands of years ago. And if it's going to take a "furious wind" to get you back to Him, then dang it, that's what He's going to give you. He loves you too much to do any less.

Well, that's about it. Picture comes from Church this week-me, the family Occolier, and Elder Johnston, who is also leaving Martinique after just under a year straight on the island.

I promise to come back with a mailing adress!

Je vous aime tous I love you all,

-Elder Santos