Birthday

Greetings from Bonaire!

The traditional month long celebrations for Sister VV's birthday started early on Friday the 1st of July, due to an eventful Saturday with the YM/YW fund raiser and a baptism.

We had heard about a restaurant with great reviews. Sebastian's. 

We were seated in the perfect spot, on a little balcony right next to the sea. It was so beautiful and serene. We were the first people to get to the restaurant at 6pm. 

The sun was getting ready to set. Our waitress and waiter were very attentive and charming.

First we were brought a fruity drink with the cutest little tiny straw! 
Then bread with dipping oil and salt, followed by Israeli couscous.

We shared a spinach salad with bleu cheese crumbles, nuts, apple slices, and a balsamic dressing and a bowl of lobster bisque. Lekker!

For the entree we chose the barracuda on "melted" tomatoes. so yummy! and the salmon on pasta with a lobster sauce, served with sweet potato fries and truffle mayonnaise.

The food was divine and the setting was exceptional. It was so beautiful...a lovely breeze not too cool and not too warm. 

As a sail boat glided by in the distance the sunset turned from shades of blues, grays, and pinks to brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows as the sun slowly disappeared into the sea.

It was a scene from the movies! What a fun way to start the month of July!

The Vander Veurs visit the Vander Veurs!

                              Bon Bini Na Bonaire  Barry and Emily!

Yea! They are here!

        We had such a wonderful visit from Barry and Emily last week! It was interesting how the two visits from the children were quite different! We did a few of the same things, but we had a bunch of firsts too.

  One of our friends arranged for us to visit the Cargill Salt Company operation. We learned the processes involved in getting the salt from the pink salt pans to our dinner table. Very interesting. We all got a souvenir chunk of salt!

Susan - on the right - arranged for the visit to the Salt Company. Poppy- on the left - was our instructor

Mountains of salt

From the sea, to the salt pans, to the table

Emily and Elder VV went snorkeling, we walked along the beach and found some really unique coral formations and a mountain of conch shells.

By the sea

Conch shells galore. We have been encouraged to not to eat the conch as they are protected on Bonaire

South shore by Lac Bay

We explored the Mangroves rowing in a kayak

Lookin' good in the mangroves!

Mangroves are shrubs or small trees that grow in costal saline or brakish waters. The mangrove forest on Bonaire acts as a huge nursery for Bonaire's coral reefs. Managing a kayak is a bit harder then it looks...it was fun to paddle around and see some of the sea life, even though we got stuck in some sea grass!

We dined on a "family favorite" -. kapsalon. A dish of french fries, topped with shawarma meat,chopped up cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and some yummy sauce.

Then for a little more gourmet evening we tried a lovely restaurant - "Ingrid"ients that had a view of the sea at sunset.
We also enjoyed our morning walks along the sea.

Dinner at "Ingrid"ients Restaurant

Spelunking

Stone bench on the overlook to Rincon

Rincon is the small village north of Kralendijk. It was the first settlement on Bonaire. Tucked away in a little valley it was naturally protected from pirates and raids.

Gotomeer is an inland salt water lake on the way to Rincon. It is a good spot to catch a glimpse of the flamingos

We went to discover the donkey sanctuary where we were surrounded and then chased by them. Emily and Barry brought some carrots for the donkeys. When the carrots were gone, one tried to take a bite out of the side view mirror on our car! there really is a spot where he scraped off the paint!

The donkeys were introduced to the island by the Spanish in 1526. Donkeys and goats are free to walk around the island, but recently some have been captured and taken to be cared for in the donkey sanctuary . They captured the interest of Emily. It must have been mutual because they kept following her around!

Where are my carrots!

Seru Largu is the 2nd highest elevation on the island. The monument is of religious nature. It provides a great view of the island.

                                    We finished off the week at the outdoor movie.

At Empire Cinema waiting for  "The Jungle Book"  to begin and for our Thai dinner to be served

Bye for now! we had a great time!

            What a week! Just one mad round of pleasure. 
       We really enjoyed our time with the Vander Veur's.
                                  Thanks for coming!

Homeward Bound

Greetings from Bonaire!

Our 18 months are almost spent. Time is up! We're outta here! Adios amigos, Wij zijn weg!  We are homeward bound.  Time to go. We bid all a fond farewell, Sayonara, Auf Wiedersesehen, Hasta lugeo. Tot ziens. Ayo. Au revoir. Mission accomplished. Farewell to Bonaire! 

We are headed to Trinidad on the 12th of July. There is a missionary goodbye meeting at the mission home and then on the 14th of July we are winging our way to the USA, arriving in SLC that evening.

We will be speaking in sacrament meeting on the 24th of July at 9 am. We know Sunday is a busy day. Please do not feel any obligation to come that early in the am.

That said, we would love seeing any of you who would care to come. You are welcome to stop by the house after the meeting.

Our church building is at 1970 East Viscounti Drive in Sandy Utah. Viscounti Drive is approximately 8600 South. Approach from Highland Drive (2000 East) and turn west at the light onto Viscounti (not East on Alta Canyon Drive).

We have appreciated your support the past 18 months. Thank you for your comments, prayers, and encouragement.

Love,
Elder and Sister VV

Visiting Teaching

Greetings from Bonaire!

Today Nurjia and I went visiting teaching to Jessica. The June message is on Temple Ordinances and Covenants.

Jessica has not been able to come to church lately. She is in charge of the breakfast buffet at a resort on the island. She has to work every Sunday. Even though she has not been able to come to church, she continues to say her prayers and have faith in God. 

As we visited she was excited to tell us about some blessings she has received the past few months. Then she told us the BIG news (it was the perfect lead-in to the message). Sterling (the father of her 2 children) had asked her to marry him! She was very surprised and happy. We pointed out that this was the first step toward being sealed in the Temple with her family. 

Jessica is a great example of repentance. She was baptized, met Sterling, made bad choices, came back and now is looking forward with hope.

As we make and keep sacred covenants with God we can have the power to smile through hard times and have hope and direction and peace in a world full of troubles and uncertainty.     

God is in the Details of our Lives

Greetings from Bonaire!

Yesterday we had the Dutch speaking Elders come to dinner and they were all smiles when they came in. They had had a miracle happen! They had ridden their bikes up the hill to Republic, where we live, in the thick humid Bonairian heat. They had been contacting for about 3 hours and had no water!

They were very thirsty and tired and wondered together what they could do, and probably asked a silent prayer. The next door they came to they met a Dutch woman. She said she wasn't interested in their message but then asked them if they wanted a drink. They were so surprised and relieved. She brought out two cans of pop each for them.

It seems like a little thing but two two very thirsty and diligent missionaries certainly felt the hand of the Lord in that small tender mercy.

Testimony Meeting

Greetings from Bonaire!

Today in Fast and Testimony meeting several youth bore their testimonies.
Both were recently baptized.

Sygried is just 12 years old. She is a friend Melody brought to church last year. Several sets of  Sisters taught her over the months when she was just 11. She is the only member of the church in her family. Her parents agreed to let her get baptized last December but they are very protective of her and she has been grounded from church a few times for coming in late and other infractions of the rules. She has been having conflict with her father about the rules of the home and just about growing up. 

Today she bore her testimony about the power of prayer. She told of how the atmosphere at home was strained and not comfortable. She decided to pray that things would get better between her and her dad. She said, she prayed and prayed and then prayed some more and then one day he father sat down with her and told her how much he loved her and how he knew she was growing up and she told him how she felt. It was a good conversation and things are much better between them. 

She bore her testimony of the power of prayer. I think what impressed me most is that this sometimes silly, flirty just 12 year old girl had the maturity to turn to her Heavenly Father to get help with her earthly father, just like she did when she went to Him to ask if the church is true.

At the next meeting for the Dutch "group" Freddie DePalm bore his testimony about the blessing of keeping the Sabbath Day holy.

Frederick was baptized at the first of the year in January. Freddy is also the only member in his family and is friends with the youth in the Branch. He was introduced to the gospel through Wednesday night basketball with the youth. He is more than 6 feet tall, skinny, soft spoken and had to be held back in school because he had cancer in his teen age years. 

Freddy told about finals week before graduation. They were being tested on everything they have learned over all the school years. 

The missionaries gave him a lesson on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. He decided not to study on Sunday even though it was just before a big test on Tuesday. So, Monday night he stayed up late studying but gave up because he couldn't find the answers and was very tired. He went to bed but then he heard a voice say to get up and try again. He got back up, started to study again and finally found the answers he had been looking for. He studied till 5 am then took a little nap then took the test. He got like 95% on the test and a testimony of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and a testimony that the Lord knows him and cares about him individually.

We have been so blessed to know the exceptional youth in the Branch. They are faithful and trying to follow the prophet  and keep gospel standards in a world where it is difficult. 

The future of the church in Bonaire looks hopeful.

Youth Conference

Greetings from Boinaire!

It is that time of year again.Youth Conference will be the 6th of July in Aruba. Last year the 4 youth who went to Curacao had such a wonderful life changing experience that 4 more want to join them this time. 

So we had a fundraiser last weekend. 
All of the 8 youth who plan on coming put in their time at Magazina de Rei (think Pioneer Village) and the Taste of Bonaire (an event where local restaurants and vendors sell their food at booths in the Willhelmina Plein).

So all day Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm at two separate events the youth worked at cooking and assembling, taking the orders & money, looking for customers and passing out flyers. 

Burgers anyone? We have iguana, cabrito (goat), fish, chicken, and plain old beef burgers... with fries of course!

They were  successful ventures that will be repeated in the next few weeks all leading up to the ultimate Bar B Que ( ribs, chicken, cole slaw, & moro (rice and beans) sale on July 2nd where they could conceivably make $1,000.00!

It looked like they were having a great time together creating memories and sharing fun times.