Week 48

Hi Everyone!

So to clear things up, I am now in the Trinidad, Port of Spain mission.

My president's name is President Egbert from Sandy Utah. I was kinda bummed at first because he couldn't possibly fill in the shoes of President Corbitt. President Corbitt wrote the church's official standpoint for Blacks and the Priesthood and he was the international face for the church and represented the church for the United Nations.

And President Egbert is a dentist from sandy. BUT we talked with him and had interviews and I feel like he is so much better than President Corbitt for me and for what these islands need. He has a very clear vision and plan which is kind of surprising because he has only been in the mission for 10 days. But rest assured I am very satisfied with the new president, and he is planning on coming out to interview us every 6 weeks! That’s unheard of in the islands! Also since we are the only Spanish speaking elders in the mission, we are going to be staying here in the islands as long as possible and help newer missionaries learn Spanish and Papiamento, and when/if our visas expire, we will go to Trinidad as Spanish elders and try to organize a Spanish branch! So I know in 1 transfer E walker is going to Trinidad to be the first Spanish elder there, and depending on visas I could either spend my entire last year in the islands or spend some time in Trinidad or Guyana. Vamos a ver. But I am very happy I won't be losing my Spanish and I will be able to keep working on my Papiamento.

I just got transferred to Aruba! It is the small branch in the less populated area and it’s an English branch! It’s going to be weird but E walker was there and he said that it’s still a lot of Spanish and usually we have to translate a lot so no worries there! I forgot to ask president about our address so I will try and get that for next week, but that’s about all the updates I have for now! Can't wait!!

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 47

Hi Everyone!

This week was great!! But some bad news, we found a hermit crab that was the size of a baseball and named it Steven, and kept it in this bucket, but we wanted him to be able to roam around a little so we put him up on the counter and HE FELL OFF. So no more Steven. But we now have an awesome parable of how the bucket is like the commandments. But I'm getting distracted.

We had Vaquero's baptism!! I kinda forgot to mention that last week because we were busy with the mission change but we baptized him!! He chose me to baptize him and I GOT TO DO IT IN THE OCEAN!! It was the coolest thing in the world! Also Vaquero means Cowboy in Spanish, but that’s his name! I kinda forgot to tell you that, because I forgot tu no hables espanol. I hope I don't lose my Spanish. I love Spanish!! Papiamentu is cool too but its freaking weird. Also when the Zone Leaders interviewed him they said he was the most prepared they had ever seen somebody before baptism! So I guess all the waiting and extra work really paid off!! It was great and we also baptized him on the 4th of July! Something great seems to happen on that day every year!

       As for the mission change, we still don't know very much. I am still on Bonaire with E Walker, which is good because he is easily my favorite comp! The new president is coming a week from today so next week I might have more information. I have no idea about the mailing address yet, and I have no idea how we are going to get our stuff from the DR... But hopefully president will clear some of that up when he comes. I am going to ask him to stay in these islands for as long as possible because here you still use Spanish sometimes because there are a lot of immigrants. 

      Also this past week I had a Triligual dream!! I dreamed  in English, Spanish, and Papiamentu!!! I woke up really confused haha but that’s basically what a day is like for me! English with E Walker, Spanish and Papiamentu with our investigators, and sometimes Dutch people say stuff to us in Dutch because we are white. Its nuts here.

Today we went to donkey sanctuary and I went around and doinked donkeys on the face. I got a dope video of that. Also I kept making them hit their head on the car. It was pretty much the funniest thing in the world. Best 7 bucks I ever spent. I love you so much!!

But that’s about everything from this week! I hope I will have more answers next week!

Elder Harsh

Week 46

So Elder Harsh is changing missions.  He will be part of the Barbados, Bridgetown mission.  They took the islands- Aruba,  Curacao,  and Bonaire out of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo East mission and some other islands out of the West Indies mission and made the Barbados, Bridgetown mission.  So this is exciting news for Elder Harsh.  Alot of changes for this missionary!

Hey Everyone!

Wow!  This has been easily the craziest week of my mission!! Starting off with the most important, On Friday president Corbitt came to give us the news in person that the quorum of the 12 apostles have decided that the missionaries on these 3 islands are changing missions!! That means no more DR, no more Spanish, and no more President Corbitt... Kind of a Bummer!

But we are going to be Pioneering a Brand new mission so that’s way cool! Also, that’s not the only piece of news that came out of the Office of the 12! This past Sunday it was announced that these three islands are now a district!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOO! Now we aren’t just a bunch of lost branches in the middle of nowhere! We are a district!

Also President Corbitt took us out to dinner and I had the BEST steak I have ever had in my life. Oh and on Tuesday we were doing service and we invented a game called Iguana billiards. It’s where you get giant pvc pipes and poke the iguanas out of the trees. So yeah…

One of the sister’s in my district is having problems. I mean BIG problems. She is from Mexico and her Boyfriend that she has been dating for like 7 years got kidnapped and murdered!!! WHAT THE FREAK IS THAT?!?!?! And I am the only one she wants to talk about it and she TALKS AND TALKS AND TALKS and I have gotten almost no sleep. Like one day she called me from 2 to almost 4 in the morning. I know I'm supposed to be supportive but holy crap, I'm glad I'm from America!

 This Wednesday I will say goodbye to the DR which is really sad,  but like I always say "a donde me mandes Ire, senor" (I’ll go where  you want me to go, sir) 

Can't wait to start (another) new adventure!!  

  Love, Elder Harsh

Week 45

Hey Everyone,

Man the weeks go by so quick!

Yeah we do go fishing every P day in the mornings, really early! We start off this dock in the main touristy part of town and catch a bunch of little guys that we keep in a bucket and then we drive down to this other place and balloon out and use the little guys as bait! It usually works pretty well but today we got nothing!

This past week we have been really focusing on this less active family who is made up of an investigator sister who lives with the mom, and her two less active sisters who each have their own family. We have also been working with Vaquero and planned out his baptism with the ward council for the 4th of July!! America!! Anyways that will make that day awesome which is good because I am not looking forward to spending the fourth of July outside of America!

Also today we come home from fishing and our water didn't work! That’s kinda a normal thing for me coming from the DR, but E Walker kinda freaked out haha we went downstairs and turns out our very responsible Landlord forgot to give us the bill for the past 2 months so the dang city shut off our water!! So we showered at the Vander Vuers house and it was the first hot shower I have had in 10 months!! IT WAS INCREDIBLE.

Tonight we are going to teach Vaquero about family night and play dominos (he is dominican) and eat dessert! Keep praying that he will stay on track for his baptism!!

Oh yeah, I ate iguana meatballs…..

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 44

Hi Everyone,

This was a great week! We did a lot of work with less actives and managed to get a few of them to church this week! Vaquero came as well so it was a great day yesterday!

Elder Walker is from South Jordan, There is an average of about 30 people more or less at church every week and only about 15,000 on the island haha.

 As for my responsibilities as a District Leader, I have to just make sure my district is doing ok. So basically that means I have to call the sisters every night and hear EVERY SINGLE DETAIL about their day. woo.

Vaquero is progressing really well. We had an awesome lesson about Priesthood Authority and he had actually been studying on his own a little of the Restoration again so that was awesome to hear! We just need to make sure he understands the Sabbath Day really well and then we will dunk him!!

Today we went fishing again and caught 6 or 7 fish. I caught one that was a nice size and really cool looking so I put it in a bucket and ran up to grab my camera out of the car. I grabbed it and as I get back down to the beach I arrive just in time to see Elder Vander Vuer (the senior couple missionary) cutting up my fish and using it as bait..... hahaha so no pictures of my fish this week but I'll be quicker next week!  Sorry Mommy!

Elder Harsh

Week 43

I had told Blake not to ride the wild donkey’s and this was his response!  Silly kid!

Hi Everyone,

Elder Walker and I were JUST talking about riding a wild donkey like 5 mins ago! You read our mind!

                But things here are great! Me and Elder Walker are having a great time! We met back at the CCM so we were already friends so when the transfer stared there was no awkward first day and we have been having great lessons! Our teaching style is very similar so we are going to do well this transfer! His Papiamentu is better than mine and my Spanish is better than his so depending on who we are teaching one of us just takes the lead!

 But bad news about Vaquero, He had some sort of work problem and couldn't come to church and so we decided not to announce his baptism because he wasn't there and we want to make sure he fully understands the importance of church attendance and the Sabbath day. But we will keep working with him! It’s important to remember that the preparation is the most important part. So we will be working on that a lot! Hope everything is good at home!

Elder Harsh

                                                           Elder Harsh and Elder Walker

Week 42

Hi Everyone!

Well just to update you, that one guy that got a disease and stabbed (Vaquero) is doing very well and we just planned his baptism for the 13th of this month! Also transfers came and I am staying here with a guy named Elder Walker. He is from Utah and he was in the CCM with me so we are already good friends! I am so excited for him to get here! But we still have NO information about the mission change, so who knows what’s going to happen.

We really don’t get to eat too much fast food, because there is just one place on the entire island, but we are living in a dutch culture with Dominican amount of money so we have to be careful.  We eat with members a lot J

Also this week I had been studying how to keep the spirit with me more and how to recognize the promptings of the spirit better. I read some really good scriptures one day and I was thinking about them while we were checking out at the grocery store, and I realized I was staring at this lady the entire time I was thinking. She kinda gave me a "what do you want" kind of look, so I figured I better act quick. I quickly grabbed E. Vandeur Vuer and offered to help her take her groceries out to her car. Elder V was talking to her about grocery prices and (with help from the spirit) was able to change it to a gospel conversation and it turns out back in Holland she had met with missionaries and loved it but then she moved here and lost contact with them. She gladly accepted a visit from us and gave me her business card and told me to call her to set up an appointment. It was a neat experience about learning to follow the spirit. I am also curious to know if you make a contact like that, are you supposed to wait the 72 hour rule too or is that just with girls? Anyways it was a great experience and we have a very hopeful investigator!

Love,

Elder Harsh

This is one of our Zone conferences