The Earth is a Snow Globe

September 30. 2024

 Ahhhh good morning beautiful people! It's so great to see your smiling faces! This week has been absolutely crazy, so let's get into it.

          Zone conference

       *plane sounds* *more plane sounds*

     Welcome to Aruba! We just got off of a 20-man propeller plane, in which half of the passengers are the missionaries. I love zone conferences, it gives us an opportunity to fly to Aruba and see the rest of the zone for a few days. Zone conference is always filled with shenanigans, so here are a few:

     President Van Gils and I decided we wanted the taco shop past the airport to cater for our next zone conference. And what's the best way to ensure that? Baptize him. Soooooo Carlos is now taking the missionary discussions. I'll let you know how it goes!

     We didn't have a full 14 elders in one apartment this time, but we had a full 6, which is plenty for our own stupidity. These included heated games of Texas Hold em', black jack, and belting out Spanish music. We, the elders of islands, truly are built differently.

     A lot of the elders get along incredibly well—well, to the point where now we need to get ahold of a 10-man apartment for college in a couple of years. Someone get started on that and let me know how it's going. Other than that, zone conference was a great reminder of many sides of the missionary work.

          The Earth is Flat Everybody

      I'm quitting missionary work and joining the Flat Earth Society. We were talking to an old man the other day with completely white hair (which becomes important in a moment). When we asked him about his relationship with Jesus, he said, "I tell you WHAT, you all think the earth is round. But explain to me, how could God flood a round earth? He can't. But that's because the earth is flat." So, for those of you wondering, yes the Earth is flat, and the earth from the flood all those years back is on the other side of our flat earth. Oh, the other planets don't exist, but don't tell him that you can see Mars, *whispers* he doesn't like that very much.  He also explained to us that knowledge is a sin but also doesn't exist because blind faith is the key to the universe(the one that doesn't exist). And about 30 seconds later says, "look at my hair, see this white hair? That means wisdom." Soooo does that mean your hair is a sin? Or does your hair not exist... Deep doctrinal questions. 

          Book of Mormon

     Okay this story might not be too important to most people but it's incredible for me :). I don't know if I've explained this before, but the islands don't have a full papiamento Book of Mormon. But this last week, a man named Todd Harris from Salt Lake came to Curaçao in hopes of fixing that. They are running a trial on their new translation methods, and they picked papiamento to be the language! So come a year from now, we will have a fully translated Book of Mormon that we can begin giving to people. We spent several hours over the course of the week talking with him about the translation methods, timeliness, and his overall time with languages. He speaks 7 fluently and has the basics of 65.

     But a full Book of Mormon would be incredible for the people here. Not everyone can read Spanish, so it's a miracle that soon, the amazing people here will be able to read the complete Book of Mormon in their native language.

     On another side note, both of my languages made a pretty solid leap this week. We are teaching a man who we found in my first week when I knew five words. When we went and saw him a few days ago, he almost started crying, talking about how far I've come and how happy he is that we can talk to each other. 

       "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28. Just a quick little reminder that everything in this life is meant to make us better and help us progress. I love you all. We're all children of God, and he loves us more than we could ever imagine. Make sure to watch conference this weekend!

-Elder Aldrich (the Flat Earther)

(please email me haha) 

Meeting my predecessor

September 23,2024

 Good morning my lovely people! Another week has passed, which means another email from your favorite Luke John Aldrich. I can feel your applause... Thank you. It's been a crazy week in Curaçao once again, and boy, do I have stories. So, let's hop into it.

                     Papiamento ta poppin off

     My previous trainer, Elder Seals, set me up really well with my papiamento. I'm so grateful for his training because my Papiamento has gotten pretty strong. Most people we talk to are shocked to hear I've only been learning it for 7-8 weeks, and a few even told me I speak like a native. Score. As for my Spanish, it's picking up a lot, but definitely not as much as my MTC homies, who all sound like they're rocking it. But that's to be expected with 70% of people here speaking papiamento. I have found a pretty deep love for learning languages, and I love the smiles on people's faces when they see you trying to learn their language. It's a lot of fun!

          Meeting my predecessor

     In church yesterday, there was a visitor that I went to speak to. After about 2 minutes of introduction, I learned that he was one of the first missionaries in Curaçao 38 years ago. He asked me all about how missionary work is here now because when he came, it was only him and his companion taking on the island. It was incredible to hear from someone still so in love with the island and the people after 38 years. He gave me tons of advice and we ended up talking for 30 minutes or so. It was a big Sunday booster!

          Honorable mentions

     Limpi Kòrsou

Saturday was a nationwide service project cleaning up the beaches, roads, and general areas. I got to speak to a lot of people and explain our purpose as missionaries.

     Egon

We had Egon on a date and then lost contact for the last month or so. We finally got back into contact with him again, and he wants to continue to progress! It's pretty rad, and he's an incredible man, so I am stoked!

     This is just a reminder that God measures effort, not success. If you are trying your hardest, that's what matters. Do your best, work hard, and God will fill the gaps. Heavenly Father loves us deeply, and he's got us every step of the way. I love you all! Have an incredible week!

-Elder Aldrich

Second Transfer Adventures

September 16, 2024   

Happy Monday, my beautiful people! Welcome to season 2 of 16 of my life for the foreseeable future. This week has been a blur and also an eternity, but let's just get right into it!

          P-day adventures

      For P-Day last week, we decided to hop in the truck with our zone Leaders and hit the "open road." The open road lasted about 20 miles or so, so then we started driving through off-road trails out in the boonies. We wound up by the ocean (who could've guessed?). We snapped some pretty cool pictures and threw some rocks, you know, missionary man entertainment. I miss driving dearly, so it was nice to have a little adventure in the car. 

         Transfers

      Transfers rolled around, and I got a new companion on Tuesday. Luckily, on Tuesday, we ran a trio with Elder Seals, Elder Schiffman, and me. We introduced Elder Schiffman to a bunch of the people we were teaching and got him a decent understanding of how this area goes. We were on our own on Wednesday, and I learned a few things on the first day that will shape this transfer.  But that means my Spanish and Papiamento are going to be cracked by the time I leave Buena Vista.  I've been teaching the majority of each of our lessons, so my Papiamento has already picked up in confidence quite a bit. 

     I wish I had more for you all. This week has been pretty interesting but full of little comforts. I can't say I've ever felt so many scriptures come into my head throughout this week. I have been reading a lot from the Saints book this week and was reminded a lot of the struggles that the early saints experienced. Through it all, God did not leave them comfortless, and they were always able to rejoice in Jesus Christ and the safety that he brought them.  

      "And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." - Mosiah 24:13 & 14

        I love you all. Rejoice in Jesus Christ and remember his love for us. It's a pretty special thing. Shoot me an email if you get bored. 

Ayó

Elder Aldrich

Everybody Wave Goodbye to Seals

September 9, 2024 

It's that time of week again! It's time for another email from your favorite person!

     I was pretty sure that this week was going to be super low-key, nothing crazy whatsoever. It's the last week of the transfer so nothing crazy could happen. I was terribly mistaken, and this week came with a wawaroo (tornado, I just like the word now) of events.  And so, like a wawaroo, you're not getting any of the days in order.

          Choppy Choppy

     Welcome to Wednesday, I hope you enjoy your stay. People here apparently don't like their grass. So, like totally sane people, they take a "choppy," which is basically a caveman's hoe, and rip the grass up. What's left is uneven dirt, and according to the Curaclanians, it looks much better that way. Well, on Wednesday morning, we got a call from an older lady asking for help with our yard. Once we get there, we start talking to the sweet old lady and figure out what she would like help with. She points to the yard full of grass and says. "mi ker e pa bai" or "I want it to go." So we took our blade on a stick and started hacking. It took us a few hours, but we were able to get all of the grass out of the yard. It's honestly a lot of fun, and the lady enjoyed our Papiamento jokes. So it's a win all around. Plus, she owns perhaps the sweetest dog on the island. I miss nice dogs, haha.

          Punda 

     Punda is the touristy downtown area of Curacao. It's a beautiful area right next to the ocean, and it's exactly the kind of place my parents would want to visit post-mission *cough cough*. But for our p-day last week we walked around and experienced some of the tourist culture for Curacao. The tourists are super easy to pick out, and they all loved seeing American missionaries there. One of the people said they had a friend on a senior mission and asked to take a picture with us. Nothing else too crazy happened; it just was the first time playing tourist in a while, and I was stoked.

          Bin Bin Gangsternan!

     Welcome to Gino. Gino is not a day. Gino is a hilarious member of ours. He calls me Mr. Don't talk because I met him on my first day, and to be fair, I did not speak. I talk to him quite a bit now, but the name has stuck, and I don't think it'll go away any time soon. In a family home evening we did with him and his family, he yelled, "bin gangsternan bin!"  And out waddles his 85-year-old grandma and his little nieces and nephews. Yes, he calls his grandma gangster, and I Flippin love it. 

          Church adventures

     Saturday night around 8:30, elder Seals and I get a text from the branch presidency. "Hey, Elder Aldrich, sorry for the short notice, but can you speak tomorrow?"  Ah yes. Greenie speaks in church, there hasn't been a good dumpster fire in a few weeks. One month in, 8-minute talk. And if you have heard me talk, you know I despise scripts, so I only ever use talking points. A little scary for a language I've been speaking dor a month. But it's either the sickest story or a great laugh. My Papiamento has been taking leaps, but speaking in the church still felt like a stretch. I roll into church on Sunday with about 10 talking points and 4 scriptures ready about prophets. And to my surprise, after taking a deep breath, I just started talking. I talked about prophets, used a Papiamento Bible for scriptures, and bore my testimony. 8 minutes of straight Papiamento.   It was an incredible miracle that I deeply needed. Aldrich, the church's Papiamento translator, said it was some of the best Papiamento he has ever heard from someone as new as me. It was an incredible feeling to know that what I was saying made sense. 

          T-Doc

     Ahhh yes, Transfer Doc. The new bane of my existence. We will rewind one more time for kicks and giggles. Welcome to Tuesday, end of transfer interviews with President. In my interview with President he told me I was doing tons better than some greenies do, and that he was super proud. Then he told me about his future plans for my mission, ah scary, but ah really cool. Either way I was confident nothing would be changing for my second transfer.  Same trainer, same area. T-Doc drops on Saturdays at 9 usually. We get a call at 8:45, "President Van Gils."  He talks to us for a few seconds and then tells us how great the two of us are doing together. "Elder Seals, since you did such a great job with the first one, I need you to come train another one." Elder Seals is off to train a new greenie in another area in Curacao. "Elder Aldrich, this is going to be a challenging transfer, but I trust you." I am still technically training, but I will be leading out my area with a new trainer who struggles with the languages.  It is not for lack of trying, though. He is an incredibly hard worker and a great missionary. I am super stoked to work with him, and I am so excited to see how this transfer will go!

     This week was full of spiritual experiences. The biggest was seeing how quickly I've been able to pick up Papiamento with Heavenly Father's help. My dad shared this scripture with me, and I will share it with you all: Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

I love you all!

-Elder Aldrich

Aruba, Airplanes, and Adventures

September 2. 2024 

Hello, my beautiful people!

     This week was an absolute blast, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. We are in the last week of my first transfer in the mission, and it's insane to think it's already over. The first transfer flew past, and I've learned so much that it's crazy, so I'm going to tell you some random things I learned in my first transfer in the field. My Spanish is still pretty garbage, but my Papiamento is much better than it was, and I'm surprised at how quickly I'm learning.  They call this place a desert island, but I think they're lying. I am pretty confident that there are actually more dogs than people on this island, and I am even more confident there are more cars on this island than dogs and people combined. I'm still shocked by how many old people just straight up don't have teeth, and I've seen the gospel bless so many lives.

          Aruba 🇦🇼 

     The Zone in my mission is the entirety of the ABC islands, so when we have zone conference, everyone flies to Aruba, and then we have our zone conference. The mission President allowed us to fly to Aruba a day early and have a game day with the zone, and I hope that becomes a tradition of ours. It was great to meet the rest of my zone because if they weren't in Curacao, I'd never met them before. We played all sorts of games, one involving water balloons, which immediately just turned into a water balloon fight. Many other games were played, and a lot of fun was had. I think the only con to that is that no matter how much sunscreen we all put on, we all turned to lobsters by the end of the activities. Zone Conference was great, I love all of the elders, and I made plans to hang out with several of them post-mission already. President Van Gils is a homie and loves all the missionaries. Oh yeah, during Zone Conference weekend, we had 14 elders in one of the companionship houses. I bet that never happens again cause every square inch of the house had someone sleeping.  Not to mention, that's way too much room for shenanigans and not nearly enough AC to go around. 10/10 experience, and it probably will never happen again, haha. 

          Airplanes

     So, part of flying between islands means taking tiny prop planes. I now have a deeper desire to one day own my own small prop plane. The plane to Aruba was an 18-seater. With the wind on takeoff and landing, you move around a lot, and I learned that flying diagonally is a thing, but I enjoyed the adventure. I love small planes now, and I want my own. I used my terrible Papiamento and had a conversation with the pilot before we took off. Really cool guy, very Dutch. Apparently, the planes to Bonaire are literally just 5 seaters, sick.

          BAPTISM

     Buena Vista had a baptism this week, that's us! It's the first baptism from our area in almost a year, so we are pretty stoked about that. His name is Josi, and he's a super cool guy. His testimony is super strong, and it was amazing to see him light up coming out of the water. In a few weeks, he is off to Holland for a little while, but we have already set him up with the missionaries in Holland, and then he will be back in Curacao. 

     We also put someone else on date this week. Egon is an older guy but he seems really interested in the gospel, and his wife does as well. The first time we met him, we were actually teaching his daughter and grandchildren, but they were leaving for Holland. Our last night seeing that family was when we met Egon and his wife (whose name is complicated, and I don't know how to spell it). Hopefully, things continue to go well with the two of them, I have lots of hope. 

          Misc.

     On our way back from getting a lesson rejected, we found an iguana and decided to catch it. It wasn't a huge iguana, but we caught it. Note to everyone, iguana claws are sharp, so be careful. 

     It rained twice here this week. Desert island is a lie I am telling you. Makes for cooler but more humid days.

     Shoutout to Elder Bryant for being the token Southern guy for our mission. Every mission should have a token Southern guy.

     The racist old lady is still very old and very racist. She also thinks we don't know how to speak Papiamento, so she very angrily explains to us how to greet people immediately after greeting her that exact way. I love old racist ladies, they bring me joy. 

         My week was a little insane but I loved every second. There were countless miracles, and I'm greatful for every one of them. Transfers come Saturday, and I'm most likely staying in Buena Vista, but with the way it's looking, it could be crazy for everyone else. I love you all, have an amazing week, and I will talk to you all later!

Ayó

Elder Aldrich