Yes Aruba is everything they sing about... and more!
We returned home last week from our luxury holiday and it was so fun! Bob Van Komen and his brother George were the perfect hosts. They gave up their room for us, it was air conditioned! the bed was wonderful, the Marriott Surf Club is a luxury time share and it has anything you could possibly need or want. They had the lazy river that was very fun, the serenity pool, hot tubs, an exercise room, TV, and Martin tried snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea.
There is a huge grocery super store in Aruba called, Super Food, that has everything! (except green chilies) and all foods Dutch. Bob & George had been shopping for all the dutch delicacies when they first arrived and then when we got there we went shopping again to get more dutch delicacies! YUM! YUM! Bob cooked for us and did everything to make us feel welcome and pampered. We enjoyed hearing about George's experiences as he served as the President in the Independence Missouri Mission a few years ago.
Aruba is very different than Bonaire. It is actually smaller land- wise than Bonaire but many many more people. It is very touristy and busy with many cars and big roads and intersections and stop lights and people, people, people!
We walked along the beach in the mornings and explored the big fancy hotels - there was one that looked like the Manti Temple!. We saw the nature park on Aruba, ate at all you can eat ribs, ate at Texas de Brazil all you can eat, ate at a Dutch Pannenkoeken house and had poffertjes and were serenaded by a saxophone player. People kept paying for our dinner because they said, "we always feed the missionaries!" We ate like pigs and loved every minute of it!
The highlight of our trip was going to the San Nicholas English speaking Branch to church. We saw our Elder Harsh who had just moved there from Bonaire. We hadn't ever heard him give a talk in English so that was nice and he did a great job. We saw kids from youth conference and heard Bob give a beautiful talk,
They asked everyone to stay after the block because Juan David, one of the young men from the youth conference, had received his mission call and was going to open it! It was the sweetest thing to see this young man who had just baptized his mother last year and was serving as a counselor in the branch presidency and had only been a member of the church for little more than a year open a call to serve the Lord. His reaction was so great when he read... you are called to serve in the Paris France Mission...Spanish speaking! There were cheers, tears, picture taking, hugging, laughing it was so wonderful, so sweet, so dear to see how the Lord works in the lives of people and to see the the joy living the gospel brings.
The cherry on the top of Sunday was being able to sing the hymns in English. I didn't realize I missed it that much until I started to cry as we sang. We sing the hymns in Bonaire of course, but in Espanol. I had missed the beautiful words and the way they make you feel as we worship through song. Martin said after that he did too. The words of the hymns are so powerful.
Our Aruba adventure was a wonderful break from the every day of the mission,but we were glad to get back to tranquil Bonaire and to our branch members, our missionaries,and our everyday mission life. We are truly blessed. We love you all.
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