May 12, 2012

Pictures: We hiked up waterfalls last week. One day this island is going to run out of waterfall hikes and we'll have to find something else to do. But for the moment, here's some pictures!

Also, here's a story from this past week that I didn't think about yesterday.

So on Friday night, we were supposed to pick up five missionaries from the airport. Four of them were american, and came in without a problem. The fifth one is from South Africa, and is not allowed to come into france without a visa. Which, apparently, we didn't know until (you guessed it) Friday night. He ended up getting detained by the police. We spent the next 24 hours trying our darnedest to get him into the country, including fasting and praying, and eventually it was all that we could do to get him going to a place that wasn't outside of our mission. Saturday evening, I was tired and frustrated from a full day of talking with airline agents and police officers. As I was praying to finish my fast, I had an interesting conversation with the Lord, which went mostly along the lines of "I don't get it. Why, after all that we could do, did this not work?"

The moral of the story, for me, comes from something that Truman G Madsen said in a talk that we listened to recently. Sometimes we go to the Lord with the attitude of "Thy will be done-so long as it's my will". We may not yet understand what it means, to be willing to submit to all that the Lord sees fit to inflict upon us. True discipleship has never been practiced or learned when everything goes our way. Even the Pharisees loved their friends. Our test is of a higher order, for we must learn to be faithful when nothing goes right. Maybe that's what Elder Holland was talking about, when he spoke of the "other part of discipleship". 

Anyway, I love you all! It was great getting to see you.

-Elder Santos

April 28, 2014

Zone Conference!!!


It was crazy. From Monday to Thursday, we basically just drove nonstop. Picking up missionaries from airports, dropping them off at various apartments, picking them up from the church, dropping them off in their areas. We drove more than 700 kilometers in three days. And come to think of it, I really have no clue how much that really is, but it seemed like a lot.

But! While all that was happening, we managed to get some other good stuff in. Thursday, we got to teach Karine with Sister Afoy. Basically, we say the prayer, "amen", heads go up, and then Sister Afoy turns to her and says "So Karine, when are you getting baptized?".

So she decided on the third of May. Which is this Saturday. We're going to have a soirée familiale family night with them tonight. We're excited!!!

So during zone conference, I kept on having to get up and leave the room every five minutes to go find something or fix something or talk to someone, and then I translated for the second half, which made it a little harder than usual to get good notes. But one big doctrinal takeaway came from a little lesson that we had on Justice and Mercy. There was this sixty second video that President showed us-not a church produced thing, that was about speeding. Two Australian guys that get in a car crash, but right before the collision, time stops and they have the chance to have a short conversation together. It was chilling, but also interesting to learn gospel principles from something like that.

My interviews with President have gotten more business-y. Basically, we started with a prayer, he told me everyone's transfer, asked me my opinion on some transfer related things, asked if there was anything else we needed to talk about, and then we finished with a prayer. But hey, it was cool!

So yeah. I'll tell you all about that next week.

Keep praying!

Love,

-Elder Santos

Picture from this morning's activity. And yes, that is a Seahawks Superbowl champs shirt. Thanks for asking.

April 21, 2014

The easter crab doesn't lay eggs...

Dear family,

so, since I awkwardly forgot to say it in last week's email...

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Birthday Pono!!!

Je vous aime, toute deux! On va fêter ensemble l'année prochaine. I love you, any two! We will celebrate together next year

Speaking of which, JJ sent me the Easter pictures of the girls and of the other girls. Y'all are dorks.

And, while we're making this email look longer than it actually is...

Happy Easter everyone!!!

That's where the title comes from. I don't know if anyone remembers this from last year, but the Easter tradition down here is to eat crab. So last Easter in Martinique, what that meant was getting invited to a member's house to eat crab the Monday after Easter. Nothing too crazy. This year was a bit of a different story. For those of you who don't know, Morne-à-l'eau is known as the city of crab. So having a crab holiday is what this place was meant for. Basically, when we went downtown to teach somebody after church on Sunday, roads were blocked off, music was pumping, and the entire place smelled like what I can only imagine was crab. It was a party. And that's how we celebrate Easter!

I capitalize all my "Easter"s because the red squiggly line bothers me.

But enough about that. We also had a really good week of working with members, including some truly inspiring efforts to refer us to people who we otherwise never would have met. I'll share a little thing that I told Elder Glover on an exchange this past week; we can only talk to so many people in a day, as finite beings. But a member of the church has just as much of a chance of finding a celestial being as we do. So if a missionary works alone, his chances of finding that special someone are "x". If he works closely with a member, then that chance becomes "2x". The math whizzes in the audience have probably already figured out where I'm going with this. Member work!

Does everybody know the names of the missionaries in their area? I don't suppose anyone knows who they're teaching? "Until we know a person's name and face, the Lord cannot help us to know their heart". A quote from a conference talk from last October. S. Gifford Neilsen, or something like that. It's a good one!

Anyhow, this next week is zone conference! We're just going to bring our blankets to the airport, because it's more practical that way. There will be 44 missionaries on Guadeloupe by sundown. And on a more serious note, I'm sure I'll have some cool revelation things to share next week. I'm pumped.

Love you all!

-Elder Santos

April 14, 2014

"Butt hurt"

Apparently it's a Utah kids thing. Those crazy utons.

Anyway, it came up because I got to go on an exchange this past week in Lamentin. It's a bike area. A very hilly bike area. First time I've been on bikes in three months, and it was rough. But, it was also super cool! We found one woman who was seriously so excited to talk to us. But in general, exchanges are fun because they teach you to be a better missionary.

But yes. I'm thore. Well, it hurth. Henth the title.

Also, Saturday was an interesting day for us. Among other things, we got to attend a baptism, which was inspiring. Visiting one of our member families was exciting too (I secretly love you more if you're in a family with young children). Then, on the way home, we received a call from a recent convert who was having one of those crises of faith that tend to come up. This time, it was someone who I taught before baptism and who I care for very much, so hearing them fret and stew and ask how to have their name taken off of church records was particularly discouraging. Basically, I went to bed feeling disappointed and wondering how much good I had actually done in my mission.

Sunday morning started on about the same note-both of the speakers in our little group called to say that they couldn't come. But then, as church started, a bunch of less-active members who we had visited in the week showed up. I started, finally, to realize all the blessings that the Lord had given me. It's amazing how many prayers are answered by people who are simply trying to do the right thing.

 The best miracle, which came with a big lesson, was later in the afternoon. During coordination meeting, we told our DMB about Karine, who since her baptism fell through, had sort of been avoiding us. He said that it was time to get back in touch with her, and he offered to come with us to knock on her door. Well, that's what we did on Sunday afternoon. She was surprised to see us, and you could tell that everyone was aware that normally you don't just drop in on people like that, but she invited us in. We started talking, and during that lesson, she finally said "you know, I woke up two days ago, and I really just felt something telling me that 'you've got to get baptized, you've got to get baptized!'". We got a return appointment for Wednesday, and she said that she'll tell us what day she wants to get baptized then.

First lesson-listen to your priesthood leaders. I'll be honest, I was a little bit less than enthusiastic when our DMB said "okay, well let's just go to her house!", but we did, and the Lord prepared a miracle for us. When we act in faith within our stewardship, we will find that He will support our righteous desires and actions. Second lesson-O ye of little faith. I wonder how many miracles we walk right by, because we didn't even bother to see if they were there. Faith is, in part, knowing that God is doing his part of the work, and acting in a way that shows it.

Yep! This is our prep week, because next monday we have 24 missionaries flying into Guadeloupe from St Martin, Martinique, and the DR. Wish us luck!

Love,

-Elder Santos