Mission Update - January 31, 2023

Welp, here I am again, trying to figure out how to catch up and keep up! We have been keeping so busy here in Bonaire, that it is hard for me to write anything on here/Facebook/Instagram when we are finally back home! I just tend to want to put my feet up and as Elder Ridd likes to say (and I hate to hear) - "take a load off!" Lately it has been quite a load, as my New Year's resolution of losing weight has been a losing battle for me thus far! But every day is a new day, and I guess I'm willing to take that challenge and trial to face/conquer versus other way-harder ones!

What have we been up to? I will try to start on our recent 'stuff' and go backwards. 

Every Tuesday we have an entire "Mission Devotional" via Zoom, and we Bonairean missionaries usually meet over at our little chapel in Nikiboko. We have prayers, updates, an inspirational message from one or 2 of the missionaries (young and/or senior missionaries) and also a "Spotlight" on a missionary companionship (meaning that we get to know a few of the missionaries in a better way). Their companion usually highlights what the other elder/sister enjoys doing and talks about their family and hobbies, education, background, where they're from, etc. 

Today's devotional was given by Elder and Sister France, who are serving in Suriname. They just arrived a few weeks ago, and they hit the ground running! They are from northern Utah, I believe - and sounds like they lived on a farm! (they talked about their cows, hay, and a dog). They've recently retired from their jobs (Sis. France was a middle school librarian) and they have been getting their things put in order to get out on their mission. They had to wait for their Visas to come through, so they had extra time in which they were assigned to work at the FamilySearch center before they could fly out to Suriname. Their message to us was "You have to carry your own rocks." Evidently they have 7 kids, and when they were younger, they would go on walks and of course they would pick up all sorts of treasures, especially rocks. For a long time, Sister France would carry their rocks, but finally they were getting so heavy that she told her children, "You have to carry your own rocks." This symbolized to her/the children that at some point, you need to get your own testimony. Whether or not you come from pioneer stock and have a long heritage in the Church - or if you are a new convert - you need to search and pray and find out what is true for yourself, and not depend solely on someone else's testimony to carry you. 

A scripture referenced was John 13:20, which reads: 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

After the devotional is done, we then have District Meeting with our own district. In our case, we have a total of 3 sets of full-time missionaries in Bonaire. We have Elder Ridd and me; plus one set of young elders and one set of young sisters, totaling 6 full-time missionaries. So, for District Meeting, we start over with an opening hymn (usually in Spanish), a prayer, and a lesson/thought which generally includes Scriptures as well as practical applications for this day and age. We often do role-playing too. After we do this, we then finish with a closing hymn and prayer. 

Today, Sister Kenworthy gave our devotional message. It was focused on a talk by President Dallin H. Oaks called Good, Better, Best.

We discussed Luke 10:40 where Jesus was visiting and teaching sisters Mary and Martha. 

Jesus taught this principle in the home of Martha. While she was “cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40), her sister, Mary, “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word” (v. 39). When Martha complained that her sister had left her to serve alone, Jesus commended Martha for what she was doing (v. 41) but taught her that “one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (v. 42). It was praiseworthy for Martha to be “careful and troubled about many things” (v. 41), but learning the gospel from the Master Teacher was more “needful.” The scriptures contain other teachings that some things are more blessed than others (see Acts 20:35; Alma 32:14–15).

This scripture story has always intrigued me (and sometimes bothered me a bit to be honest!!). Probably because I tend to like to be up and about and getting things ready, as I worry that people will need to eat and I don't want to be unprepared (I especially wouldn't want Jesus to go hungry!! C'mon, I'm a Daminger by birth/at heart and we can't let anyone go hungry, much less our Savior!! ). BUT - I do see that sitting at Jesus' feet would have been much more needful than running around the kitchen - although I would have wanted Him to have food!!  Anyway - it all falls into the Good, Better, Best. Listen to the talk - it was such a great one. I plan to listen/read it over again. 

Good, Better, Best

We also talked about how we need to simplify. 3 Nephi 9:22 talks about becoming as a child. We need to help our friends - and ourselves - simplify the Gospel, and see what is truly important. We can find this out by listening to the Holy Ghost. 

One funny part about today was when we were almost finished with our meeting, Elder Nyfeler ran out of the room for a few minutes. We decided to all switch chairs and see if he noticed. When he came back, we were all sitting in different spots, and Sister Ellison even put on his legendary aviator sunglasses.  I had put on Elder Lopez's suitcoat as I was sitting in his chair. Anyway, it was silly, but we had a fun time and I think we confused Elder N! It is his last day here in Bonaire, as tomorrow he flies to Aruba since it is "transfers week." (Transfers usually happen every 6 weeks or thereabouts).  We will miss Elder N and his big personality, but he will do great things in Aruba, no doubt. We will get a new missionary from Aruba here to take his place, Elder Pedersen, who we hear is also an excellent young elder. We are excited to meet him. 

Another takeaway from today is - God asks us to serve with all our heart and mind, and we should always strive for our best. The only thing I would add to this is...I am so thankful for God's grace, because it makes all the difference. We can never "do" enough...it is only through Him and through Jesus's atonement that we can be saved. 

After our meetings, Elder Ridd and I ran over to the DA Drogist (pharmacy) in Hato to see if they had heating pads or the like. A few weeks ago, after doing a big hike starting at Seru Largu (the big cross up on a hill); then doing beach cleanup on the rocky coral, and then helping right after at the Pakus di Pruga (animal shelter's Saturday flea market) for about 3-4 hours (standing the whole time - we take donated clothing and hang it up, and put out on racks for people to buy)....and working on some "non-Zumba" Zumba routines each day to teach at the Zumba class on Tuesday - my knee became super sore and hard to walk on. The closest thing we found to a heating pad was a gel pack that you warm up in the microwave, and then place in a cloth holder and put on your sore area. It felt so great when I did this when we got back home! After it cooled off, Elder R put it in the micro again - this time for much longer than I recommended (which I had to put into Google Translate word-for-word, letter-by-letter - as it was in DUTCH which has the LONGEST words known to mankind). Anyway, the gel pack burst and now I've begged him to go out to buy another. 

Elder R is now at a lesson with one of the elders' friends. There is a rule where the elders need another person with them when teaching people, so Elder Ridd was asked to go sit in the lesson. We like to do this - BUT - it does get very hard when the lessons are usually in Spanish or Papiamentu! We are still studying Spanish each day, and we have several Papiamentu lesson books/dictionaries that we try to study. We did better studying Papiamentu when we had weekly studies with the young missionaries. Maybe we can start that up again. We also do DuoLingo Spanish each day. Not to brag, but right now I am on Day 189 on studying Spanish on DuoLingo and I'm in the Ruby League haha!! Elder R is doing DuoLingo too, and he has never studied a language before we started with tutoring in Spanish for the mission. He is getting remarkably good at español!! 

The toughest part of the mission is not speaking any of the other 3 languages. Although this is a Dutch island, most Dutch people understand English. Maybe we've met a few in our volunteer work that don't speak English. We do have Dutch people at church; however, most of our branch members speak Papiamentu and/or Spanish. We sing hymns in Spanish. Our Sacrament is blessed in Papiamentu. Our talks are either in Papiamentu or Spanish. Sometimes they are a bit of a blend of the two. Now you can see why the Ridds are confused much of the time! 

However, with this all being said, the easiest thing here is loving the people. The Holy Ghost speaks through the language of the heart. As soon as we enter the doors of our chapel, we give each person a hug and a kiss. And they grab us in case we miss them! They do this with each person! And we say "Bon Dia" to each other - which means "Good morning" or "Good day." When the speaker or whomever is conducting the meeting stands up at the microphone, the first thing they say is "Bon Dia" - and the whole congregation says it back to them. It is seriously the sweetest thing and has totally warmed the cackles of my heart.