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