Bon Bini from Bonaire: The Tower of Babel

The gift of tongues would come in handy here in Bonaire

                I just finished Ether in the Book of Mormon.  I feel like I can identify with Jared and
                       his brother better now. We really can't complain though, we can always find
                      someone who speaks English and Elder VV loves to speak Dutch and gets lots
         of chances. So, even though we can't speak Espanol or Papiamentu we are doing pretty good.

Bonaire is a "green" island and is very aware of environmental issues like protecting and keeping the coral reefs safe, saving the turtles, etc. The water is desalinated from the sea and is safe to drink right from the tap!

Here on the island of Bonaire the official language is Dutch spoken by 8.8%. All the government information, street signs, official documents, etc. are in Dutch.

Papiamentu is the language on the street. It is the universal language spoken by 74.7% of the population, Papiamentu is a language that is mainly spoken on the ABC (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) islands. The slaves made the language up so their masters would not know what they were saying. It is a combination of Spanish, Dutch, African, Portuguese and Creole.

Dutch is taught in the schools as well as English. English is the first language of 2.8% of the population, and Spanish is the first language of 11.8%.

When our friends Margot and Steve Kimball were called to serve in the Frankfurt Temple Mission, I asked Margot what were some of the things she missed the most. She said one of the things was........ not understanding what people were saying. Yikers! I was worried!!! Both she and her husband speak German!

It certainly is a challenge to not speak the most popular language. Only parts of the Book of Mormon have been translated into Papiamentu and it is not taught in the MTC. They say if you speak Espanol, though, you can figure it out after a while. That is what they say anyway.

As MLS (Member Leadership Support) missionaries our job is to support the members and leadership like the Branch President. President Albus asked us to train the members who are largely new to the church. I called and made an appointment to meet with the Relief Society President, Nurjia Charino, who has only been a member for 1 1/2 years. She is a native Bonairean so she speaks the 4 languages, but mainly Papiamentu, Dutch and just a little English.

I am never quite sure how much she understands because she smiles a lot and nods her head. Elder VV and I went to meet with her because she was to teach the 4th Sunday Relief Society lesson on a Conference talk and hadn't had much experience doing more than just reading the talk. So there we were...... I was speaking English, Elder VV was translating into Dutch, as she was reading the talk in Papiamentu on their computer screen and her husband was there helping her understand the concept of the lesson, tithing. It was like the United Nations. What an experience! Then we met a few times more and on the Sunday when she gave the lesson....she read the talk!!! in Papiamentu. I must not have made it clear that she could just tell the stories in her own words! anyway, she is a sweet woman. We will try again.

In church, the meetings are conducted in Papiamentu. There are translating headphones for me and Elder VV and any other visitors. One of the members - a cute young woman named Genesis just 16 years old and really great at speaking English is our translator. Elder Atkinson is from Guyana and can speak English so sometimes he translates also.

Elder VV and I teach the youth the Sunday School lessons. We have 4 young men and 1 young woman. They are a very sharp group and smart. They like to have the class taught in English because they learn it in school. We have a good time with them. They branch is a very diverse group with people from Bonaire, The Dominican Republic, Colombia, Holland, America (West Valley), and St. Martin.
It is hard to complain about having to learn a new language when practically everyone here speaks 4 languages!