Contacting at Carnival

Greetings from Bonaire!

Carnival is one of the biggest cultural events here on the Island. It happens 40 days before Easter. It is in connection with the Catholic period of Lent when everyone celebrates before they start the time of fasting.

There are parades, brightly colored costumes, loud music, dancing in the streets, eating and drinking, and it goes on for a few weekends. This year in February it is a 4-5 day celebration stretched over 2 weeks.

      
Usually the parades in Kralendijk are on Sunday, but there is a children's parade on Saturday in Rincon (a small village about 20 minutes away from the main city). The missionaries decided it would be a good idea to go where lots of people were gathered so they could find contacts, so we went to Rincon on a Saturday morning. They placed a table on the sidewalk with Books of Mormon, pamphlets on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Restoration, and the Plan of Salvation in the Dutch and Spanish and Papiamentu languages, and waited. They were prepared to find contacts. 

We set up on the main street where the floats and singing children and loud noise passed by. Lots of families and children came by and though the music was deafening I was surprised at the number of people who stopped to listen to the missionaries and take a pamphlet or Book of Mormon.



The Sisters are now teaching one of the contacts they made in Rincon that day. He happened to be a man that Elder VV knows from playing Basketball on Wednesday nights. Elder VV and the youth of the Branch play basketball at the Kompleho Deportivo (a big indoor community gym) on Kaya Amsterdam.   

One night, Brian, the investigator, came up to Elder VV and asked him what the name of his church was. He said that he had met the Sisters in Rincon and he gave them his name and phone number, but they had not called him! He was reading the Papiamentu Book of Mormon the Sisters had given him, and was in 2nd Nephi. He hadn't heard from them and he had some questions about what he had been reading!

Elder VV quickly let the sisters know and they made an afsprack (appointment). 

At first I wondered about the idea of going to Carnival to find the pure in heart, people who are ready to hear the gospel. It seemed an unlikely place.

We must never under estimate the power of the Atonement and the Holy Spirit. The gospel can ring true wherever there is an open and willing heart. When someone is searching for the truth they will recognize it. Even at Carnival in Rincon.

Lionel

Greetings from Bonaire!

More of the rest of the story...

We talked to the missionaries on Aruba recently, who are teaching Lionel. They said that they taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday. After the lesson they asked if he thought it was a true commandment. He said, "Of course! God wants me to live longer. I am only 80 years old."

They asked, "What are you going to do now?" He hobbled over to the cupboard and gathered up all his tea and coffee and put it in a sack and gave it to the missionaries.

They said, "What do you want us to do with this?"

He said, "I don't care. I don't need it any more."

He is getting baptized on Easter Sunday March 27th.

The Blue Book

Greetings from Bonaire!

While we were in Aruba a few weeks ago for Zone Conference we stayed a few extra days. Elder VV needed to do the financial audits for the Orangestad and the San Nicolaas Branch and the new ABC District. 

We were there on Sunday so we went to the English speaking San Nicholaas Branch. When we arrived the Elders, Shepherd and Hunt asked if Elder VV could take them to pick up a new investigator for church.

Lionel saw the missionaries one day in December 2015 as they rode their bikes through town. He called them over because he had been looking for them. He asked them if they had a "purple book" called the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" .

Many years ago (possibly 3-7 years according to the missionaries names written in the tract) some other missionaries had met him on the street and offered him a "Blue Book" but he said no and wouldn't take it. He said that he was a 7th Day Adventist and that he didn't need any other religion. They offered him the purple pamphlet. At first he refused but then took it. He just put it on the shelf and there it sat for years. One day he had had a very hard night and was looking for God. He remembered the purple book and picked it up and read it. It made him feel good. He read the purple book every day from then on for years.

Now back to the present...Years later in December 2015, more missionaries were riding through town. He called out to them! "Wait!" He asked them if they had a purple "book." He didn't want the blue book they offered even though they said that the same stuff was in the purple book but more...finally he took it. He told them he lived "in the little white house over there" and then the Elders hurried off to the appointment they were late for... and forgot about Lionel. 

February 2016 came and another appointment fell through. They had forgotten about Lionel but as they were thinking of who they should visit, the spirit reminded them both at the same time about Lionel. Elder Shepherd thought, "I wonder where Lionel lives?" and then Elder Hunt said, "Do you remember where Lionel lives?" They both had the same impression to find Lionel. They found him in the little white house.

He asked for another purple book for his son because, "He needs this too," he said. He asked them, "What church are you from?" They showed him the name on the pamphlet: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He asked, "Can I come on Sunday? Am I allowed to come?" That was the Sunday we were in San Nicholaas when Elder VV went with the Elders to pick him up. 

The next Sunday when the Elders went to get him for church he was standing outside of his house waiting for them with a towel in his hand. They asked, "How long have you been waiting?" "Oh just for about a half an hour." "Why are you holding that towel?" they asked. "I wanted to be sure that I had a towel for when I get baptized." The missionaries explained that it was not going to happen that day. He said he was so excited about getting baptized he couldn't sleep all night.

Lionel is so excited about finding the Gospel of Jesus Christ he wants to tell everyone about it. He wants his family and friends and children to all come to his baptism so they can know about the wonderful news! The great plan of happiness and the peace he received when he read about the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" in the purple book.