I Am An Eating Powerhouse

August 26, 2024

 Hello my lovely people! Like all of the other weeks, this week was a blur and I don't know how I got here again already. But here we are. Another p-day, more stories to tell. Also here's my Google photos link in case you miss my face cause like... why wouldn't you?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xMb8wnNyoj4pxfZcA

          Why do 7th Days hate us?

     Cause we are too cool and haters gonna hate, that's why. I don't really have much to say here, the 7th days just really don't like us and, to be honest, watching them absolutely go off on us brings me just a little bit of joy. I think most of that comes from their lack of teeth and hatred of the shirt and tie. Anyway, moving on. 

          I miss American construction.

     No one likes closed roads because of construction in America. But in Curacao, it's a whole different beast. To get from one side of the island to the other in a straight path, there is 1 road. The other night we come across an insane amount of traffic and see a sign on the main road basically saying "we've closed this road, come back tomorrow." Getting home was a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But American traffic lights and such just have it down.

          Las Abuelas me aman 

     On Wednesday, we had a lunch appointment and then a dinner appointment 90 minutes later. First up, all the missionaries had lunch with this super sweet Colombian lady. She handed each of us quite literally the biggest plate of food I have ever seen. It was incredible. She saw me absolutely pound the food and, without saying a word, took my plate and completely refilled it. I sounded the second plate and then secretly helped several of the other missionaries eat their food too. All in all, it was a good 4 plates of food. And 90 minutes later the elders went over to a lady who set us up with massive plates of Haitian food. Once again, I pounded all of the food. Everyone who makes us food absolutely loves me cause I eat everything. It's nice to know I'm still an eating powerhouse, and I don't need Spanish because I have a big stomach. 

          The Seals stories

     My trainer, Elder Seals, is a hilarious guy. He reminds me a lot of some friends I have back home, so we get along super well. He's also a goof so it makes for some fun stories!  During our comp study, we heard a buzzing and saw that there was a bee trying to get out of our apartment. In a panic, Seals gets up and runs into the kitchen while yelling, "I GOT THIS! I GOT THIS!" He comes in with a strainer and a lid, yells "MIRA!" And slams his hands together and catches the bee. He runs for the patio and says "Be free my friend!" My other story I'm rather fond of this week comes from when we had the ZLs truck for a few days. We were cruising around with the windows down saying "awo" to all the drunkies and homies. At night people's driving gets significantly more chaotic and Seals frequently would just say "bro are you drunk?" But with the windows closed so that no one could hear him. Funny guy, fun times!

       This has been a good week full of blessings and miracles as well. My Spanish hasn't made any dramatic changes because there haven't been many Spanish people this week. But my Papiamento has progressed so much faster than I ever expected or ever could've asked for. I'm certainly not fluent, but I'm certainly progressing. The other day, we came across a lady who studied at a Bible school for a while and knew what she was talking about. She was throwing questions about the Book of Mormon at me, and where I would usually have to pass it to my companion, I was able to answer all of the questions. It was truly a miracle for me. We also have a baptism coming this week, which is an incredible miracle because our area hasn't had a baptism in almost a year! He's a super cool guy and it's been fun to be able to talk to him more and more each week.

      I love you all dearly. Time flies when you're having fun, and time is flying! I love my area, I love the missionaries on Curacao with me, I love my comp, and I love the people. 

Ayó!

Elder Aldrich