We were at the beach at 5:45 AM

We had a baptism on Saturday morning. We were at the beach at 5:45 AM so that the baptism itself could be done at sunrise. We have some pretty cool pictures of it. I will send some next week.

Sint Maarten is great. The people here are just like people in the US. That means that they aren't very humble and baptisms won't happen as often as they did in Guyana. It's okay though.

We eat a lot of American food but there are people from so many different countries that I have eaten all sorts of crazy stuff. I won't even go into detail because I don't want you to get sick! We had lunch in the town of Marigot on the French side yesterday. From the beach front house we were at, we could see the island of Anguilla. From my half of the island, we can see St. Barts, Saba and St. Eustatius. It's so cool to be on an island!

We go to Guadeloupe in the morning for Zone Conference. I am excited about that. It will be the 17th country that I will have gone to! (I counted it up the other day)

On Halloween our mission president is coming to the island and he has scheduled interviews with the 4 missionaries.

Before I forget, I am in 2 Nephi 27 in my personal Book of Mormon reading.

The scripture of the week is D&C 50:40-42.

I am still taking my vitamins and antihistamine everyday. I have regained my weight and I am up to a healthy 152 lbs!

Bumps, bruises, and cuts

I was sure glad to get the chance to talk to you. I think that it came about because my companion is leaving at the end of next transfer and his grandparents are coming to get him. President wanted them to finalize their plans and he thought it wouldn't be fair for just him
to talk to his family.

We have been doing a lot of service because of hurricane Omar and
I have a couple of bumps, bruises, and cuts. It's not too bad though. It's very satisfying to help clean stuff up. I actually feel like I am doing some good that way!

I am the 4th English speaking missionary to go to St. Maarten in the last 2 1/2 years! One of the other 3 is Elder Ritchey, my zone leader in Guyana. He told me to learn French and Creole as well as brushing up my Spanish, German, and Chinese! He also gave me a whole list of things to do and people to see. I live on the Dutch side of the island
but I will still get to see the whole island. There are only 4 elders and 1 couple on the entire island!

The area is good. We actually have hills! There hasn't been a baptism here in over 2 months. Elder Nielsen and I are going to change that. It turns out that he and I were both trained in the same area in Guyana. I was able to give him updates on his converts so that was cool. We have only been together for 5 days and we have already set a baptism date with a lady for this weekend. He doesn't know what changed her but she seems excited.

Church yesterday was interesting. There were white people there. Most of them are medical students but one couple manages a t-shirt company. They are a really great couple and the guy, Christian, took us fishing this morning. It was cool and I got some good pictures. We didn't catch anything but it was nice to just chill out. We got to watch the sunrise from the second farthest point south on the island. If you look at it on a map, we went to the west side of the Great Bay. It was pretty cool. It was hard to sit there on Divy Point and know that less than a mile off shore is a sunken ship that is a great dive location.
I could see one boat full of divers go out to it around 7:30 AM.
I was jealous!

My life has completely changed since I came to this island! It is a lot different but I like it. It's wierd to switch back to US money and to driving on the right side of the road! I haven't had a cold glass of milk yet but I am still hoping for it someday soon. I have had one warm shower but the power is still giving us some problems so the heater isn't working at full capacity. We have clean water! No more loosing clothes because of rust stains!

We go to Zone Conference on Guadeloupe next Wednesday. I'm looking forward to that. We stay there for 3 days! They don't speak English so I have to learn enough French to survive.

The scriptures of the week areD&C 133:8, 1 Nephi 22:4, and 2 Nephi 10:20.

Hurricane Omar!

Less than 24 hours after arriving in Sint Maarten on Wednesday, Jonathan weathered Hurricane Omar!

We had an incredible surprise this evening! Now that power has been restored to Jonathan's apartment, President Robison had him call home to let us know that he and his new companion, Elder Nielsen, survived Omar. Believe it or not, Jonathan slept through it! He said he was exhausted because he traveled all day on Tuesday, October 14th to go to Georgetown, Guyana. Then he got up at 3 AM on Wednesday, October 15th to catch his fight to St. Maarten with brief stops in Trinidad and Barbados. He did report that the pilots had some concerns about getting to Sint Maarten before the hurricane. Apparently they closed the airport about 5 hours after his flight landed. He also told us that he was traveling alone from Guyana and was the only missionary on the flights. What he seemed most excited about was getting to have a cheeseburger for lunch after leaving the airport!

Jonathan said that their apartment is in a little valley so they didn't get the severe winds they had on the coast. They only had a little bit of water in their kitchen. They had minimal damage in their area and have spent time helping to clean things up.

Jonathan had really been looking forward to having a cold glass of milk and a hot shower when he arrived in St. Maarten (he has had neither since leaving the MTC). Omar has delayed both. Their power was been out beginning before dawn on Thursday, so they have not been able to keep their food cold. They did find a case of Ramen Noodles and bag of pancake mix and that is what they have been eating for most of their meals. Jon also said they bought some frozen burritos yesterday. They needed to be eaten so he and Elder Nielsen each ate 2 for dinner last night and 3 for lunch today!

We are so glad to know that he is safe and in good spirits.


St. Maarten Emerges Unscathed After Passage of Hurricane Omar

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten, Oct 16, 2008 -- Water & Wind Damage Reported - No Deaths Attributed to Storm

The Government of St. Maarten reports that Hurricane Omar,
a Category Three storm when it passed St. Maarten in the early morning hours of Thursday, October 16, 2008, did not result in any deaths or significant damages to its infrastructure or hotel sector.

While most of the damage appears to be limited to beach erosion and scattered debris that are associated with a storm of this caliber, it is anticipated that within the next 12 hours all public utilities, including electricity, which experience scattered outages during the storm, will be fully functional. The Princess Juliana International Airport is expected to open the morning of October 17th and will resume operating on a normal schedule, as will banks, financial institutions, supermarkets, hospitals, pharmacies, and other businesses.

"We are very thankful that our beautiful island only sustained minor damages and that our residents and guests weathered the storm safely," commented Roy Marlin, Commissioner of Tourism.

(St. Maarten is the little black dot. Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Today we received this e-mail from the Platts.

Brother and Sister Larson,

We are the senior couple serving in St. Maarten.
Elder Larson asked that we send their address to you.

Elder Larson
Killebarn Drive 2
Sentry Hill, Cul De Sac
Sint Maarten, N. A.

There was little damage in the Elders area from the hurricane- just some banana trees down. The coastal areas were hit the most. They do not have power and probably won't get it for 4 mored days but they cook with gas and have food and are doing great. They may not be able to do emails on Monday but we may send them to the French side which has power and water as they weren't badly hit.

Elder and Sister Platt

This is a copy of today's post on the mission blog:

Omar and St Martin

Hurricane Omar passed over St Martin early Thursday morning,
Oct 16th. Poor Elder Larson was transferred there on Wednesday.
He got there just in time for the adventure. We kept in touch with the Platts - the missionary couple and all the missionaries stayed inside and were safe. Here is the latest report from the Platts:

Dear Family and Friends,

It is 4 am on October 18th and the power just came on. The hurricane came through here just after midnight on October 16th and left about 4am which means we have been exactly 48 hours without power so far. We had a brief 10 minutes of power the early morning of the 16th when I sent a quick message saying we were fine. The paper says we will be without power for 7 days except briefly as they try each area out so I will send this now.

It was a category 3 hurricane but the center was 90 miles from us. The damage sustained was from winds and strong waves. We are grateful that damage was mostly minor such as fallen trees, lots of debris, minor leaks and such. There was a curfew even after the storm so the crews could clean the roads of sand, huge rocks and fallen trees. They did a great job. Everyone spent the 17th cleaning up. The salt water that was carried inland causes the plants to turn brown so people were hauling debris to the curbs, garbage trucks spent the day yesterday constantly on the move picking up debris. People were washing plants, vehicles, houses etc. to get the salt off.

Our area has underground electricity so we hope to have full power soon. Much of the island has overhead power and they must repair all the poles before they will get power.

But we were very fortunate not to get a direct hit so food supplies
and such are not badly affected. Planes began flying late yesterday afternoon. Wharf repairs should be complete in a couple of days.

It is amazing to see the force of nature. The Elders on the French side just got a little water in their apartment from a leak. All French power is underground so they have been fine.

The Elders in Philipsburg have had no power so far. Their landline
is out and they can't charge their cell phone so we try to check with them when they are in their apartment but they are far from the sea and had no damage. Until they went out they didn't think it was bad!!!

Saint Martin/Sint Maarten Facts

Today Jonathan is traveling to Sint Maarten. In his e-mail on Monday he said, "I will be flying out of Guyana early Wednesday morning to Barbados! From there I will fly to Antigua! And then to St. Maarten!"

There are two sets of missionaries currently serving on Saint Martin/Sint Maarten, one is mostly French speaking and the other is mostly English speaking. Jonathan will be living in Philipsburg and will be mostly English speaking. (I think Elder Larsen was a little confused). The Platts are the senior couple serving in Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten.
(This is our second post this week. Be sure to check the last post for the rest of Jon's e-mail from Monday.)


Saint Martin is a tropical island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 185 miles east of Puerto Rico. It is known as "the culinary capital of the Caribbean," and is home to approximately 77,000 English-speaking inhabitants island-wide. The island is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands Antilles;
it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations.
The southern Dutch half comprises the Eilandgebied Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles.
The northern French half comprises the Collectivité de Saint-Martin and is an overseas collectivity of France.
Together, the two territories are known as "Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten".


Sint Maarten Flag



The island area of Sint Maarten is one of five island areas of the Netherlands Antilles, encompassing the southern half of the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten. Philipsburg, the largest city and has a population of 1,228.

The currency is the Antillean guilder but the US dollar is widely accepted.
A planned restructuring of the Netherlands Antilles on December 15, 2008 will see Sint Maarten become a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (like Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles are now).
The island area of Sint Maarten is ruled by an island council, an executive council, and an administrator appointed by the Dutch Crown.

History
In 1493, Christopher Columbus embarked on his second voyage to the New World. According to legend, Columbus sighted and perhaps anchored at the island of Saint Martin on November 11, 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours. In his honor, Columbus named the island San Martin. This name was translated to Sint Maarten (Dutch) and Saint Martin (French and English). When Columbus sailed these seas, St. Martin was populated by Carib Amerindians. The former inhabitants, the Arawaks, had been chased by the warlike Caribs coming from the North coast of South America a short time before the arrival of the Spaniards who followed Columbus. The Arawaks were a relatively cultured, agricultural people who fashioned pottery and whose social organization was headed by hereditary chieftains. The Caribs, on the other hand, concentrated on warfare. They killed and allegedly ate the Arawak men, then "married" the Arawak women. The English word cannibal is derived from an Arawak word which referred to the Caribs.

The Caribs' territory was not completely conquered until the mid-17th century when most of them perished during the struggle between the French, English, Dutch, Danes, and Spanish for control of the West Indies. The Dutch first began to ply the island's ponds for salt in the 1620's. Despite the Dutch presence on the island, the Spaniards recaptured St. Martin in 1633 and, one year later, built a fort, now Ft. Amsterdam, and another artillery battery at Pointe Blanche to assert their claim and control access to Great bay salt pond. The Spaniards introduced the first African slaves to the area in the 16th century but the main influx of African slaves took place in the 18th century with the development of sugarcane plantations by French protestants and Dutch Jews. When slavery was abolished in the first half of the 19th century the British imported Chinese and East Indians to take the place of slaves. St. Martin and the other islands of the West Indies are populated by a mixture of Amerindian, European, African, Indians, and Asian peoples.

On March 23, 1648 France and the Dutch Republic agreed to divide the island between their two nations by signing the Treaty of Concordia. Since 1975, several versions of a legend about the division have become popular. An often repeated story is that the island was divided into two sections through a race; the French-dominated community chose one person for the race and the Dutch-dominated community chose another. The two representatives were put back to back in one extreme of the island, and made to walk along the coast in opposite directions. They were not allowed to run. At the point where they eventually met, a line was drawn across the island, connecting their starting point with their meeting point. According to the legend, this became the frontier which divides Saint-Martin from Sint Maarten. The reason for the difference in size between the two sides was said to be that the French representative moved faster than the Dutch.

Geography
The main towns are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The island has approximately a total resident population of 85,000. The official population on the Dutch side is 50,000 while on the French side is 35,000. In addition, there is an average of 1,000,000 tourist visitors per year.

There is no river on the island, but many dry guts.
The average temperature is 81°F (with lows in the low 60's°F and highs of about 95°F) and sea surface temperature 80°F.
The total average yearly rainfall is 39 inches, with 99 days of thunder.

It is going to be an adventure to say the least!

I think I was the most surprised to get the call from President Robison last week. I will still be relying on English as my main language but I will have to learn some French so I can contact everyone. I've also been told to learn how to greet in Spanish, Dutch, Chinese and Creole. It is going to be an adventure to say the least!
I will be on the "Dutch side" of the island in a place called Philipsburg. I can't wait to go! I will be going to French zone conferences on Guadeloupe every 6 weeks. How cool is that?!? I don't know how all this came about but it's pretty stinking cool!

Dad was right about me teaching a lot of lessons. I don't know an exact number from this transfer but it's a lot. I haven't finished adding them all up yet. I did teach 113 lessons with members present this transfer. That's 2nd most in the entire mission! I have helped in the baptisms of 13 people in Guyana in just 4 months.

Well, I gotta run. I will send you my address in Sint Maarten when
I find out what it is. I have taken a lot of pictures since I got my transfer call because I realized I probably won't be back in Guyana for at least a year. How sad. It has become my home. It's bittersweet.

The scripture of the week is D&C 10:5.

(Please check back on Wednesday. We will add a post with information on Saint Martin/Sint Maarten.)

I have now helped bring 10 people into the waters of baptism

I am doing well. We got to watch conference at the only chapel [with satellite] in the country outside of Georgetown, the capital city. It also happens to be the building where I get to go to church every week. I laughed on Saturday when I noticed that the tie Elder Bednar was wearing is identical to one of the ties that I have. I enjoyed the Priesthood session a lot because the entire First Presidency spoke! I personally think that Sunday morning was the best session. What was everyone's favorite talk? Mine was President Monson's on gratitude during the Sunday morning session. I am going to try and print it out this week if it has been released. The guy that gave the closing prayer for the Sunday morning session is our area president, President Johnson.

It has been an interesting week because I have been in a threesome since Wednesday. That is because Elder Jones, my district leader, got Dengue Fever. He is starting to do better so he should be back to work by Friday, hopefully. [Dengue fever is an acute febrile disease, also known as breakbone fever, which is found in the tropics and Africa, much like Malaria. Dengue is transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which feeds during the day. It presents with a sudden onset of severe headache, muscle and joint pains, fever, and rash. There may also be gastritis with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days. A variation called dengue hemorragic fever can also cause a tendency to bleed because of a decrease in the number of platlets. Treatment is supportive (wait it out!) with IV fluids to treat dehydration and prevent shock from bleeding. There is not yet a vaccine but there may be one in the near future.]

We had another baptism this week of a lady named Sarah. I got to confirm her yesterday between sessions of conference. I also got to stand in on 2 other confirmations from the area right next to mine of some people that I have helped teach. They are a great couple.
I have now helped bring 10 people into the waters of baptism.
We have 2 more baptisms planned for this weekend. Things are going well right now!

I finished the Book of Mormon this week and I have started again.
The scripture of the week isPsalms 31:23-24.

Periodically Shane & I visit the blogs run by the senior couples in Jonathan's area. We found these 2 pictures on the Myers' blog, a brand new senior couple serving in Guyana. The first is a picture from Jonathan's recent Zone Conference with the quote that accompanied it on their blog.

"Then Elder Larson and his companion taught the rule about not staying too long to "lime" (chat) in members' or investigators' homes."

They also had this picture of a typical Guyanesse mailbox we thought was interesting.

Jonathan's Neighborhood in Guyana. His apartment is the building with the Red Roof with bright white spot in center screen. He is 4122 miles from home. That's a long way!


View Larger Map

If you want the exact location in the Google Earth program click on the following link then click on the Google Groups link on the next page: Jon's First Apartment.

Now that we have shown you how to locate Jonathan's apartment in Reliance, Guyana we have some interesting news. We received a surprise e-mail from Elder & Sister Larsen, the senior couple in Jonathan's area, that said, "Elder Larson is being transfered to St. Martin, to learn French. The transfer will take place on the 15th give or take a day depending on flights. Letters will be forwarded, but packages are more difficult. He seems excited to learn French, and can fill you in on the details next Monday." That's kind of a surprise. We know that we included a quote from one of his letters a couple of weeks ago about his reading the Book of Mormon in French and trying to get a French copy of Preach My Gospel, but none of us thought he would need to know French soon, if ever! We will try to put together some information on St. Martin in an upcoming post.