Keeping me here to be a "closer"

I'm sorry that I don't have much time to write today so this will be quick. It is raining cats and dogs here right now so hopefully the power doesn't go out.

It's transfer week! The 3 elders that were sharing the apartment with me have been transfered back to Guadeloupe (now that the riots have calmed down). I heard that they are all stuck on St. Barts on their way back to Guadeloupe. Oh well! Island transportation can be fun!

Our investigators are doing good. We just got a bunch of new ones from the other elders that just left. I think that they will probably go somewhere. President is keeping me here to be a "closer" so that we can baptize all of these people before May 12 when I will leave. It is going to be a good transfer I hope. We were able to teach quite a few lessons this week but zone conference messed us up a little bit.

The week went well but it sounds like I will be staying on the french side until Thursday when my new companion, Elder Kelley, comes in. I'm nervous about having to teach district meetings from now on and I don't know what to do to keep it interesting.

Sorry to hear about Aunt Maurine passing way. Is Uncle Keith doing okay? I think that the idea of the digital photo frame for him was a good one.

I also just got an e-mail from Cam (Jon's hockey buddy, Cameron King, who is serving in the Dominican Republic) which was exciting.

Mystery Solved!

A package from Jonathan arrived this week but it was addressed from Guyana! He left there last October! Anyway, we figured that it had just been held up in the unreliable Guyana mail system. Today Jon provided the solution to the mystery:

I am glad that you finally got that package. I found out about a month ago that it ended up in the Larsen's (Guyana Senior Couple) possession and it had somehow ended up under a seat in their truck. After talking to them they said that they would take care of it and apparently they were true to their word.

The scripture of the week is Helaman 7:7-9.

I will be the new district leader

These are a few pictures from yesterday's zone conference on Sint Maarten.

All of the Sint Maarten missionaries.

Jonathan and his companion, Elder Neff.

Lunch time!

Things are going well here. We had zone conference this week so p-day was pushed to today. I was told about this coming transfer a few weeks ago and originally I was supposed to go to Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad. Then yesterday I was told that I will actually be staying here on St Maarten for one more transfer and my new companion will be Elder Kelley. We will be in a co-companionship and I will be the new district leader.

I have had a little struggle with some of my companions. Believe it or not the reason that I get frustrated with them is because they are whining and complaining. It's total immaturity when you leave a lesson that didn't go perfect and your companion says that it was a total waste of time because the investigator didn't accept the commitment that you tried to leave him. It's even worse when your companion starts an arguement with someone and then expects you to bail him out. Then, when you don't he gets mad at you! That's the reason that I have had trouble with this most recent companion.

I was super surprised on Monday when I saw Elder Hamilton, my trainer. He came to St. Maarten for 3 days with President Robison for zone conference. I had no idea that he was an Assistant to the President. He came teaching with me for the whole time he was here. We had a great time. We are good friends, we just weren't the best roommates.

The scripture of the week is Alma 33:21-23.

He surprised me by saying Abinadi!

We had an okay week. The work went really well but I am getting very frustrated with some of the people we are working with and with my companion. He is a nice guy and we get along most of the time but I have the attitude of a pirate if you know what I mean. (The white handbook "is more what you call guidelines that actual rules") We still work hard and we don't break any rules but I can't even make a joke about breaking one without him freaking out! Whew... now I've vented. The rioting is over and Elder Neff is suppose to go back to Guadeloupe and finish training in French at the next transfer on April 1st.

So still no progress with our main investigators. Do you know how molasses moves on a cold day? We do have a "new" guy named Samuel that I think will get baptized as soon as he gets married. I asked him who his favorite prophet from the scriptures is and he surprised me by saying Abinadi! Apparently he has been reading from the Book of Mormon since I left one with him back in October! We turned him over to the Platt's in October so they would have someone to teach. Since they left we decided to pick him back up. He comes to church on his own and still reads. It's awesome!

I knew that the Aggies were playing well against Nevada but I didn't ever hear the final result until you told me. I think that they might be able to beat Marquette but I worry about having to play Missouri. It will be interesting for sure. You should record the game and send it to me. It isn't hard to get sporting events approved by President for us to watch. I would like to watch it! We get to watch Ratatouille tomorrow. (That's the movie about the rat chef).

I got a package from Calvert's on Tuesday. It had a Rocket's t-shirt and a pair of Rocket's PJ bottoms in it. That was cool.

We have Zone Conference here on St. Maarten again next Tuesday, here's the focus if you want to study with us:
- Preach my Gospel chapter 11 - How do I help people make and keep commitments?
- The principle of repentance from lesson #3

The scripture of the week is D&C 43:15-16.

Luckily we have the Plan of Salvation

I've been a little down for the last 2 weeks or so. I don't know why but I'm working through it. I didn't help that today I found out that another one of my friends (Jordan Goonan) died this past week. That makes 2 since I left on my mission. Luckily we have the Plan of Salvation that lets us know that death isn't the end. It's just a step into another, better, life.

Not many of our investigators look promising for baptism soon. We have 4 people that could any day but they all have to get married. That's not an easy thing to do on this island!

Things are still going alright. I got a little frustrated at Elder Neff a couple of times during the week for various reasons. One being that he dropped one of our best investigators (without forewarning me) just because the guy is a little nervous about proposing to his girlfriend. Needless to say I was extremely unhappy about that!

The other time was yesterday after we got into a heated discussion with a guy named Romero. After the encounter, Elder Neff started saying a bunch of crap about how the guy was stupid and stuff like that. Being a pretty emotionally neutral person I just shrugged it off and walked away. Elder Neff kept going and so I let him know that he was acting just as bad as Romero had just been. I regret to inform you that I raised my voice about a half decibel. Sorry!

Other than that, it's just business as usual. We had a bunch of visitors come to church yesterday. One in particular was a couple from River Heights that are here on vacation. They are the Mickelson's. It turns out that Sister Mickelson knows dad because she works in the hospital!

We have to disinfect the apartment today. All of the apartments are getting disinfected because people are getting boils like crazy all over the mission. I'm immune though, I don't have any. None of the elders in my apartment have them.

I am in Luke 7 and Moroni 8 in my personal scripture reading.

The scripture of the week is Matthew 7:13-14.

This week in the Church News there was an article about the first Stake being organized in Trinidad. Click HERE for the article on the Church News website.

It hurts my head!

It is a lot of fun having 4 elders in the apartment. I love both of the elders in the other companionship. I like my companion too but he is a little OCD.

This week I have been trying to show Elder Neff, my companion, the ropes of working on St. Maarten. We split the Dutch side of the island in half and sent the other companionship to work. Elder Neff and I are trying to find a lot of French people for him to talk to (he was called to be a French speaking missionary). We have taught a couple of lessons entirely in French. It hurts my head! There are too many rules and exceptions in that language!

Our two best investigators have hit road blocks. One needs to get married. The other needs to get remarried. That guy got divorced but they live together for their daughter's sake. We didn't know they weren't married. They have talked about getting back together so we are trying to help them.

This week was pretty quiet. I lead the music in Sacrament meeting, but I do that every week. I gave a blessing of comfort and counsel yesterday to a guy named Pra after church. It was cool because I had to completely rely on the spirit to tell me what to say. I also annointed someone on Tuesday because she fell off her balcony and broke her L1 vertabrae, her shoulder blade, and her hip!

Tell Michael that I like the bunny!
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I'm in Mark 17, Ether 10, 1 Nephi 8 (in French) in my personal scripture reading.

The scripture of the week is Mosiah 2:21-25.

Cheer loud for the Aggies!