First Ever! ABC Islands District Youth Conference "We shall Embark"

At the airport ready to go!  -left to right -  
President Albus, Gari, Genesis, Nefi, Richard and Kevin in front

Greetings from sunny Bonaire!

     In July the Youth of the ABC Islands gathered on Curacao for the first ever Youth Conference. There were 31 youth plus chaperones and leaders. From Bonaire there were 3 young men and 1 young woman. Elder VV and I were asked to be chaperones and to make a presentation from the Strength of Youth pamphlet on Language, Dance and Music.  That assignment caused us no small amount of anxiety and stress; however, it was a wonderful experience to be a part of a life changing event for so many of the youth.

Just the right size! - Kevin Albus

     The Young Men Young Women theme for 2015 is "We Shall Embark" We started to prepare for the conference by singing the theme song in Sunday School for a month in anticipation of the conference.  That song was an ongoing unity builder throughout the conference.

               There was a wonderful variety of presentations from the Strength of Youth pamphlet, the sexual purity by Sister Hansen was especially well done. They had workshops, a service project, dance and fiesta!  There were classes on the scriptures, church leadership, modesty, communication in the media and family history.

 

Juan David - the YM who just recieved his mission call

Sister Buckley and Ralph

Gari (in coral) with partner

Salsa or Merengue?

      Our Youth from Bonaire were Genesis, Nefi, Gari,and Richard. None of the youth on the different islands had ever met each other before. You could see the trepidation as they slowly and cautiously approached this new experience.

     As chaperones we gathered the girls together in the evening before bed, to talk and get feedback and hear how they felt about the first day.

Chaperones and room mates

 There was an overwhelming feeling of delight and gratitude, and perhaps a bit of surprise.. They had never had friends who had the same values and goals and feelings about religion and life. They all seemed to become friends instantly. There was such a feeling of acceptance and love among them all. Genesis reported that in her room of 12 girls there was no drama! She was surprised and pleased.

Genesis Saragoza headed for home

      Genesis has always been the only girl in the branch/on the island who was a member of the church. Since the conference she has visited both Curacao and Aruba to stay with her new friends and strengthen her friendships.

     In the modesty class a nonmember who had come, said that she had never thought about her body that way and the need to cover up and dress modestly.

     Before the Conference in talking to Genesis I got the impression that she was just going to "settle" in the marriage department and that she didn't think she would ever find some one who could take her to the Temple. After the conference she told me about talking to one of the other girls and how they were planning their Temple weddings to their returned missionaries. It was a complete turn around in her view of what the future held for her.

     By the end of the Conference everyone was crying hugging and didn't want to go home. They had come "home" and had a whole new "family". Facebook and instagram and whatsapp have been on fire with all the texting and chatting and whatsapping between the islands.

The the youth who didn't come this time can't wait till next year.

     There were many bumps in the road at the first youth conference. Many glitches, problems with accomodations, food, miscommunications, and much could be improved.  But the kids did not care. It was a wonderful life changing and strengthening event for the youth.

We were able to see and watch as the youth got a vision of all the possibilities that lie ahead for them, as they embrace and live the gospel.

We feel very blessed to have been there.

Goodbye Elders - Hello Sisters

Greetings from sunny Bonaire!

   

We are having a lot of "firsts" here in the church on Bonaire. 

Last October Bonaire participated in the first ever ABC Islands Temple trip to the Santo Domingo Temple. 

July 1st the ABC Islands became part of the newly formed Trinidad/Tabago Port of Spain (English/Dutch speaking) Mission. Consisting of the ABC Islands,Suriname,Guyana and of course Trinidad and Tobago. Mission President Gregory Egbert (from Sandy Utah) - actually Granite) 

At the first of July we had the first ever ABC Islands Youth Conference  held in Curacao, 

They created the first ABC Islands District in July, and

This month we had the first ever pair of sister Missionaries on the island.

Everyone has been all a twitter and delighted to have Sisters here. 

This meant however that our two Utah boys were transferred. Elders Harsh (Murray) and Walker (South Jordan). We have loved all our Elders and our Elders love Elder VV.

One day they said, ".. Hey when we get home from our missions we will be able to hangout with you guys!  We'll get to see you even more than we do now since we live so close!" I thought....More than we see you now? could that be possible? We have you to dinner every Sunday, go fishing every Monday on p-day w/ Elder VV, play basketball every Wednesday with the branch members, and that doesn't count all the other times we gave them rides and went on appointments with them and when they come and help us with the computer mysteries. We help them with their flat tires and broken bikes, sewed their ripped pants from the dog attacks! etc. I just wasn't sure there was enough time in a week to see them more...but it made us feel loved and appreciated.  The Utah boys were fun because we had so much common ground and familiar reference points. 

Now this week we are having two more Elders come to serve on the island. One is from El Salvador and Belgium and speaks speaks Dutch and Espanol and English.  The other is from the Netherlands and speaks Dutch and English. They were sent here to find Dutch people who are ready to hear the gospel. Both the sisters speak English and Espanol and will take care of the Spanish and Papiamentu population.

We love the missionaries!

Our Aruba Holiday

"Aruba, Jamaica, ooooho I wanna take ya, to Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama!"

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.

Interesting...

Our daily (6 days a week) morning walk along the Playa has been happening for about 6 months....that's about 24 weeks.....from one end to the other.  That means we see everything 2X daily or so far so....about 288 times.

 It's kinda like reading The Book of Mormon, each time you read it, you learn or discover something new!

 Today on our walk, we saw the post in front of a house with 2 klompen on it!  It's been there all the time but we didn't "see" it.

 Sister VV asked me to take a picture..."that would be cute to do at our house in Sandy".

 OK, yes, we can do that.

4th of July in Bonaire

The Elders insist that the 4th of July is their favorite holiday.  They asked us to look out for shirts or flags or anything American-Flag like to wear today.

Sister Vander Veur got creative and fashioned ties for all 3 of us.  Amazing what some people can do with a glue gun and ribbons!

We helped out at the Branch BBQ today.  It's a fundraiser for the Temple trip and Youth Conference.  178 meals were sold for $10 each.  Rice, coleslaw, peanut sauce and bar-b-qued Chicken and Ribs.

Now we're getting ready to attend a baptism for Vaquiero at 5:00pm.  He'll be baptized in the sea. A great day for this fine man!  This was the other reason Elders Walker and Harsh were excited for today.

Speaking Spanish

Greetings from sunny Bonaire,

     The Prophet Joseph Smith...said,"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book" .

     Our Branch President has been concerned that many of the members have not read the Book of Mormon all the way through. This is not a culture where reading is important or encouraged. So,he has started a program to read 5 chapters all together each Sunday during the 2nd hour. We are scheduled to finish in December.

      Everyone sits in a circle and takes a turn reading. It was painful when it was Elder VV and my turn, we were so terrible. He asked each person to read 3-6 verses. He asked us to read 2-3. We had no clue how to say anything, and I'm sure people just cringed when it was our turn. We took so long and sounded so bad. They just quit trying to correct us and gave up. We were terrible, really terrible.

     Elder VV and I started to read the Book of Mormon in Espanol each day together. We also listen to it on the tablet so we can hear how it is supposed to sound. We have improved.

      One day after my turn to read one of the Dominicans let out a woop and a thumbs up. This was after another Sister from St. Martin, who speaks English, had told me that at first when we started I sounded like a little child trying to read and since I had improved she said, if I could do it, maybe she could too.         

     After general conference a recent convert told me she was so excited that during a conference talk she heard one of the scriptures that we had read in the BofM reading time.

     Now let's be clear, we do not speak Espanol well. We are still bad, but, we are much better than we were. 

     President Ezra T. Benson - "It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the  Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But, there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called "the words of life" and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance."

     We feel so blessed to have the Book of Mormon, El Libro de Mormon, Het Boek van Mormon. I would encourage all to read it in whatever language you wish and recieve the blessings of reading this book.

Tons of Iguanas!

One of the interesting things we've shared before, is that there are lots of iguanas on the island.

About a month ago, we participated in a fund raising activity for the branch.  Our members prepared some goods to sell at the monthly (last Saturday of each month) market held at the Cultural Center in Rincon. 

Among other items prepared by the members, like Pumpkin pancakes, cupcakes, and other treats, we sold Iguana Burgers!  Hermano Chirino and President Albus sold all 30 that they brought!  They were B-B-Q'd  at the market and served with a stack of hot French fries, for $8 each.The burgers were the draw of our booth!

It couldn't just happen be itself.  Before such an activity could happen......we needed some Iguana to make the burgers!

I was able to go on an iguana hunt on a hot Saturday afternoon with 3 members of the branch, Ellery (the hunter and expert), Hensley (Counselor to our Branch President) and Hensley's wife Diana (Primary President). The 4 of us hoped to return from the adventure with 6 iguanas.

We wandered through Ellery's 6 acre "kunuku" looking for victims.  Diana was a great spotter and shortly after the start led us to a tall cactus that had a fairly large iguana clinging to it.

The theory is that Ellery, with his extension pole, opens the pole up and puts the nylon line loop around the iguana's head, tightens the noose and yanks the iguana off the cactus so we can grab them and tie them up.

After about 10 minutes of maneuvers, we had to give up.  That smart iguana kept climbing higher up on the tall cactus until the pole was insufficient to reach him.  That one "got away".

Shortly thereafter, another was spotted.  This time we were successful! Our 1st catch of the 6 we hoped to capture.

One of the attached photos shows how as Hensley held it while, Ellery tied it's legs together behind it's back. First the front ones were tied, then the back. Then it was laid on the ground, like a little handcuffed criminal, unable to leave!

A short time after that, we really hit the jackpot.  We found a cactus that had 6 iguanas on it!  After some work and tying their little legs behind them, we ended up with 3 of them. The others, again got up too high to reach with our pole. They'll have to wait for another hunt!

We wandered through the brush looking for more, but to no avail.  We got hotter and thirsty and gave up. Those 4 were all that we were able to get......we were short a couple but we had the product needed for the Fundraiser.

The 4 helpless victims, with their "hands" behind their backs, laid on their tummies in the back of the truck as we drove back to the town.

Since that day, I've seen many more iguanas.  Daily we spot them on the side of the road running into the brush, or on the bush against the house in our backyard (see photo!) looking down at the swimming pool.  We often see them by the Elder's apartment where the vacant lots, grown over with brush, provide refuge.

The biggest surprise for me, however, was on this past Wednesday. Elders Atkinson and Harsh invited me to work with them to do some cleanup ("service project") at Edgar and Marta's. 

The Elders said, "Elder Vander Veur, you've got to come to Edgar's".  "There are tons of iguanas in their backyard". "They live under the backporch".

I doubted the accuracy of their tale. It wouldn't be the first the Elders stretch the story a bit!

So...... as we arrived at the house, I quickly walked around the back to check out the accuracy of their claims. 

WOW!    Iguanas everywhere!  At one point, I counted, within my eyesight, 17 at once!  Various sizes, some greener than others, some huge and some smaller, but tons of 'em!

I'm a believer!  Today I told Ellery about them and asked when we could "hunt" right there minutes away from home! Not sure when we'll do that.  I'll have to wait and see. 

Tons of iguanas!

Elder Vander Veur

Land of the Iguanas