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