Week 85

Hi Everyone,

What a crazy week it’s been! First of all it’s been a solid 3 weeks since I have been on an airplane and it feels weird!  haha also this week was full of a bunch of different traditions. There are Muslims, Hindus, and Christians here so this week we kinda got a little of all their cultures which was great!

 We got fed TONS of Curry! Duck curry, chicken curry and some other stuff that I have no idea what it was but it was good! Also last Wednesday was a holiday called Pawgwa. It is basically the hard core version of the festival of colors. The thing they do in Utah. It’s like that except they use that chalk stuff, paint, water, dyes, and basically everything else that ruins a white shirt, and the streets and just madness with everybody painting and soaking everybody. It was the funnest thing in the world! I'm white so I was obviously a big target and got COVERED in paint! So another white shirt bites the dust.....

So that was awesome and then Monday we had to change our P-day because everything was closed. It was the celebration for the Resurrection so the custom is to go out to the sea wall and fly a kite and have a bbq. So we went with some members and flew a kite and it was so fun! There was easily twice the population of Bonaire just around where we were and EVERYBODY was flying kites! There were literally thousands of kites in the air! I tried to take a picture but it didn't really work haha but it was way cool!

On top of that Arifah came to church and loved it! She likes to talk a lot and that night when we passed by all she could talk about was how much she loved it! Also we reactivated a family and their 9 year old daughter wants to get baptized so we are really starting to get the work moving along in this area!

Besides the fact that it is only one language I love it here!

Love,

Elder Harsh  

Week 84

Hi Everyone,

Well another week has gone by just like that!!

 To answer your questions its pronounced Guy-ann-a and they speak  English, if you could call it that. It’s like what you would picture Jamaican English but worse and with less grammar.  People here only speak English but a few days ago we had a tender mercy of the Lord and we contacted a guy from Cuba! E. Alatasi starts talking to him and to every question he kept saying "good" and then tried to walk away. I asked him if he spoke English and he said a little and from that accent I got really excited and started speaking Spanish to him and 30 Mins later we were best friends and E Alatasi was lost. haha It was so nice to talk Spanish again and it was cool to hear what a Cuban accent is like.

 Other than that this week was pretty normal for Guyana. E. Alatasi had a bad habit of not making appointments with people and just showing up so I have been trying to beat some sense into him so that we can actually have people to teach instead of just walking around aimlessly. At first he was kinda against it but after we tried it for a few days he was blown away by how well it worked. We have a really good investigator named Arifa. She is 18 and we recently started teaching her sister and sister's husband as well. She has a Muslim dad and a Chistian mom that died a few years ago and she is loving the gospel and is really studying it out. Like she literally writes reports on the chapters and stuff we assign her. Who does that?? It’s going very well with her and she has a lot of faith.

 Also tomorrow Pres. Egbert is coming with the Church Historian and we are going to have a conference so I am pretty excited about that! The only bummer is Pres. Egbert decided to have interviews today, which basically ruined our P-day....

But that’s about it for this week!

Elder Harsh

Week 83

Hi Everyone!

Greetings from South America!!! Man this place is cool! It is kinda like the DR but the culture is way different! I like it and there are TONS of people!!  Maybe it’s cause I am used to tiny rocks in the ocean but I feel overwhelmed when we go to the town center and I see the entire population of Bonaire walking about! Pretty weird!  

My companion is a big Somoan dude from Australia and he is way cool! I am a district leader because President says he needs my help down here but the zone leaders need to know the area to drive around and stuff so he told me he wasn't able to keep me as a zone leader, which I had NO problem with! Less responsibility :)  haha anyways I got to Guyana and the airline lost my bag with all my clothes and underwear and I just barely got that today so that was fun.

 On my first day somebody was burning trash on the other side of the house that we were teaching at and it lit this entire field on fire and we had to go and dump buckets of water on it to try and control it. It ended up getting way out of control but we were able to help enough so that the house didn't burn down and then the fire department came and did the rest. Pretty great first day! Also funny thing, Elder Atkinson (my companion from Bonaire) lives in the branch I am serving in! So that was cool to see him and everything. You can't drink the water but we always have running water and power so its better than the DR! The accents are hard and they speak broken english so just when I thought I could get transferred without having to learn another language/dialect I was wrong! But it’s pretty humble here and the people are nice.

To end I want to tell a story from my last Monday in Aruba. We had a family night planned with one of my favorite Venezuelan families and I was really excited! It was my birthday but they didn't say anything about it so I assumed they didn't know. They came out with a big cake and surprised me and sang happy birthday and I was really touched because they are really poor and to buy a cake must have been tough on them. So we cut it up and I thought it had sprinkles in the middle of it but AFTER I had finished my piece I noticed that the inside was MOLDY.  I thought meh, what is a little mold gonna do? So we said goodbye and as we were biking home my stomach exploded and I puked up all of the cake and dinner right there on the side of the road! Happy Birthday. The best part was E. Nance didn't want to be sick and so after seeing me puke he forced himself to puke so we were puking together on the side of the road! We bonded that night. Anyways,  hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 82

Hi Everyone!

Well sorry about last week! I got flown off to Trinidad and that destroyed my P day! But SO much has happened I don't know where to start! First off we went to Bonaire and had such a good time there! We worked with the Dutch elders so it was kinda weird because I spoke Papiamento and Spanish and he spoke English and Dutch so between the two of us we talked to EVERYONE but he had no idea what I was saying and I had no idea what he was saying! haha but I learned a fair amount of Dutch! I can bear my testimony in 4 languages now!!!

 Also I got to see Vaquero and it was incredible! He has progressed so much! But is still the same ol’ Vaquero! haha We showed up and he was reading the Liahona! He is doing so well! He even remembered my birthday!! Then we went back to Aruba and on Monday I got a phone call that said I am flying off to Trinidad in 4 hours so that was a surprise! I had to go and get my fingerprints done to try and apply for my papers in Trinidad.

So I came back on Tuesday and here comes the biggest news of all! We received transfer calls this weekend, and no I am not going to Curasao like we thought, I am not going to Bonaire........Drum roll please.......I AM GOING TO GUYANA!!! SOUTH AMERICA HERE I COME!!!! Yeah that was the curveball of the century.  I am still in the paradise called Aruba but leave this week.  I am pretty excited but I am bummed because they speak English there and I am going to have to say goodbye to my beloved islands. But it’s all part of the adventure! Guyana is third world, kind of like the DR so I am pretty excited! I will let you know next week if it’s anything like the DR! But that's the huge news for this week! Next week I will be writing from South America!!  I officially have the coolest mission in the entire world, If I didn't already have that. :)

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 81

No letter!
He was flying from Aruba to Bonaire, to Trinidad.

Week 80

Hi Everyone,

Welp, just like that another week down! This week was kinda crazy but I feel like I always say that so I guess I could say this week was normal? I was able to stay in the country this week but no worries, this Thursday I am flying out to Bonaire for 2 days to work with the Elders over there and I get to see Vaquero!! I am so excited to see him!

But this past week was great! Last P day I finally convinced the other Elders to bike the island with me! We went from the very south tip, dipped our hands in the water, and then went up to the north tip and dipped our hands in the water! It was way cool and I feel very accomplished! It honestly isn't that big of deal because this island is tiny but it’s still cool to say!

 Then this week was busy because our branch had 2 activities that we had to set up for, help run, and help clean up! The members always call us to help them with stuff like that but it’s ok because they are all so cool we love spending time with them! Also E. Nance got sick so that killed a day, so I was able to watch the restoration video in 12 different languages! That was kinda fun, but I was so bored!  Hahaha!

And Saturday morning we had a baptism of an 8 year old member in San Nicolaas, (my old Aruba area) and he wanted me to be a witness for his baptism! So that was SO nice to go into the Caribbean water! Also, plot twist, there is a tradition in San Nick that I didn't know about to always push the elder in the water so he can get wet too #thanks so the guy's dad pushed me in right before they took the picture after the ordinance! I wasn't even mad :)

Also I don't remember if I told you this or not but I am really pushing to get more Papiamento materials for the church down here and after months of pestering I finally convinced Pres. Egbert to get us Papiamento Nametags! He is still in the process of ordering them but it’s gonna happen! It doesn't sound like much, but stuff like that really means a lot to the members down here. When I told Sis. Odor that we were going to be getting Papiamento nametags she started to cry. It really does mean a lot to them. So that's about all that I can remember right now!

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 79

This is the only thing I got from Elder Harsh this week.  I totally forgot to write him!  I have never done that! Ever!!! I felt so bad, but then I just laughed at his response.  So I had to draw from Keven’s and Josilyn’s letter for this week’s report!

My letter…

Hey remember you have a kid on a mission......out here.....lonely........with an empty inbox........missing you.........

Love,

Elder Harsh

 From Keven's letter:

The Chacon Family is doing good but we are adjusting their baptism date. We had it for this Saturday but they aren't ready yet, but they are progressing very well! They accepted the Word of Wisdom like it was nothing and threw out all the alcohol from their fridge and haven't drank any coffee since! The mom stopped taking care of children on Sundays so she will be able to come to church and the dad is looking for another guy to help him in his carpenter shop for the same reason! They aren't ready but they are preparing very well! Did mom forget about me? or is she just mad because I wrote on Tuesday a few weeks in a row. Haha!

Aruba is great! I told President I want to finish my mission in Aruba and he said probably not. Well he actually said "I am not in control of that" which means "no" so bummer so I am probs going to Curacao or something which I am alright with I guess, but Aruba is by far my favorite island.

Mom forgot about me this week so that’s cool. #StillFavoriteChild

This is from Belinda's letter:

Wow the one week that you write me my mom decides to forget about me! At least I still get to say hi mom this week. Hi mom!

 From Josilyn's letter:

Looking back on my mission is weird. Thinking back to when I was in the DR feels like forever and a half ago, but when I was in Bonaire (first area in the islands) feels like last week! I really feel like I have put my whole self into these Islands!! Like really every area I have been to, I have had to start at 0 either because I whitewashed, opened up a new area, or saved it from a bad missionary who wasn't working. It has been so tough starting new every transfer like that and not really seeing much success as far as baptisms go, but as a zone leader I see all the numbers of the missionaries and I see all the areas that I opened and saved and I see them flourishing and teaching tons of people and baptizing and it honestly makes me feel so good. Even if I can't be there to see the products I know that I was there to plow the ground and plant the seeds and it’s a really great thing to see. I love these islands.

So even if his Mother forgot to write- he sounds like he is doing great!

Thanks for everyone’s support!

Love, 

Valerie