I forgot all of my Spanish! All is Good, God Gave me Another Latin.

Received May 17, 2010

Buenos Dias, (I think that's right)

Good morning family and friends!

First off thanks to all of you for the letters and the packages that you sent to me while I was away. It was great to be able to get back to the island and see all of that love for me in the mission office. I don't know why but I have truly been blessed with an incredible support system and I am so thankful for that.

Thank you all for your great emails and your letters and your love and support. As most of you have already guessed by now, I am back in Puerto Rico. It was kind of a culture shock when I landed on Friday afternoon. I never realized how incredibly different the work and the people are between Puerto Rico and the islands. But I am excited to be back and to get to work.

Things went well on the flight up here. I had no problems and I didn't have to pay anything which was a miracle for me. We got to the airport on Friday morning and there had been a problem with the system of the airline but everything worked out just fine and I was able to get through.

Like I said in the title of this email, I have another Latin companion. His name is Elder Moran and he is from Guatemala. This will be his fourth transfer in the mission so we have the exact same time in Puerto Rico as each other. I was here for three transfers before I went back to Aruba and Curacao. And wouldn't you know it, but his last companion was a missionary that most of you are familiar with Elder Lopez! (hahah)

I really wanted to be with Elder Lopez but it's not going to happen now that he is in the islands and I am back in Puerto Rico. But I guess this is close enough! Anyways, my companion is about 24 years old and I can tell that this is where he wants to be. He is a really hard worker which is a great blessing to me. The only problem is the Spanish (hahah). He doesn't know English. It feels a little like my first transfer with Elder Blandon again. Elder Moran speaks so quietly and quickly that it's hard to understand him. Or maybe I have just forgotten a lot of Spanish but that's OK. It will pick right back up here in a few weeks.

I have been placed in an area called Vega Baja which is about 30 minutes outside of San Juan. Our area is the biggest area in Puerto Rico (by far) and it would be the biggest area in the mission if it wasn't for the other area that i was just in. (hahah).

Anywho, I'm not really sure why it is so big but is going to be an adventure! We cover 4 pueblos or cities. Most areas in Puerto Rico cover one. And if not just one than maybe two. We happen to have four. They also called me to be a district leader so yeah....needless to say there is a lot of work to do.

I really love my new area though. It is so beautiful and the people rock. As I was driving through the town of Vega Baja I thought to myself that this is my kind of town! Our apartment is about a stones through away from the beach. I will try and include a picture but yeah it's going to be a great transfer and I am pumped!

There is a lot of work to do in our area. They just had a baptism this past week and it was the first baptism in months and months and months in this area, so the members are all really excited! They tasted the joy that comes from a baptism and they want more. So I am really excited to get to work with them to see if maybe we can find the same type of success through the members that we found in Curacao. I know the experience in Curacao was a miracle but hey, miracles happen right!

The investigators that we do have are just awesome. We taught probably our fastest progressing investigator last night. His name is Angel. He is a great man who has so much faith and he told us last night that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. We taught him the plan of salvation last night and the spirit was absolutely incredible. He said that he was willing to do whatever he needed to do to be able to live in the Celestial Kingdom. We are really excited for the potential and for the testimony that he is sharing with us. We are going to be setting a date for baptism this week so we are both really excited.

Our other great investigator is named Freddy. This guy rocks. He knows the church is true but we have just run into a huge problem with him. He is living with his girlfriend and he has no job. He wants more than anything to move out so that he can get baptized but he has absolutely no where to go. We are trying to think of something to do, but they have had this problem for a long time. At this point we just need a miracle. He's so awesome! It's hard for me to see him have to be held back because of his situation. But I know that one day all will work out and he will be able to get baptized.

Other than that things are going well. We are going to be working really hard to find some new investigators and I know that we are going to find some. They are out there I know it! We just don't know them yet! But we will soon for sure.

I love you guys so much. I included a picture of the outside of our apartment and me with Angel's puppy. I hope you like it!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support. I am going to need it this transfer! So yeah, thanks and please don't ever stop! You have no idea how much it means to me. Just keep sending letters and stuff to the mission office since I am not sure if stuff sent to my address here will work. The assistants to the president are in my district and they are in the office all the time, so I would be able to get the stuff easy!

I love you guys so much! Thanks for all you do! Say hi to Ky, Dillan, Tyler, and Jason and everyone else that is coming home!

Thanks again!

5 Baptisms and Mothers Day in the Same Weekend! Absolutely Incredible!

Received May 10, 2010

Bon Dia Familia I Amigonan!

I love you guys! And once again I want to say thank you for all you do.

Family and Grandma and Grandpa, it was absolutely amazing to be able to talk to you guys yesterday. It was so great to hear your voices and to be able to share with each other for a while. Thank you so much for all that you guys do and I want you all to know again how much I love you.

This week was probably the best week that I will ever have in my mission. Not Just because I got to talk to you guys, but also because of the baptism that we were able to witness of the Petrona family. I know that you my family has already heard all about it on the phone call, but I will tell it again just in case I left any of it out . . . and for those of you who were not part of the phone call.

So last week I told you that Jose wasn't sure if he wanted to get baptized without his family. Claris and her mom had told us that they didn't feel ready to be baptized. We invited Jose to ask God. We told him that we would support him in whatever he decided because we knew that he would counsel with the Lord and that he would receive his answer. And that whatever he received in answer, we would be behind him 100 percent. That was on Monday night.

Wednesday night we went back to their house and Jose came out to greet us. Then came Claris and then Monica and then the kids. We all sat around outside in the beautiful Caribbean sea breeze. We asked Jose how he was feeling about the baptism on Saturday. He said "good, really good." And then he said "ClarisTambien" (or Claris too). We were both a little surprised by that. We asked again to made sure that we really understood Jose correctly. When we asked if that meant he wanted to be baptized, he said "yeah. But not just me. We are all going to get baptized!"

We were absolutely blown away. We weren't really expecting that to happen, even though it was something that we had been praying for the whole transfer. But there it was. Jose said he received his answer and the rest of the family did the same. They all knew what they had to do. They knew that they all needed to be clean and that now was the time to do it. We hurried and scrambled and made some phone calls to arrange for our district leader to come in and do the interviews.

We had the interviews on Friday and it was so awesome. Jose told us that he had dreamed the night before that our Branch President was baptizing him and that he was there with his family and all of us standing around watching him. He knew what he was about to do was the right thing to do.

Saturday came around and we were so excited that it was hard to wait until 4:30 for the baptism. We all got there but I couldn't get the door to the church open! This was a problem because of the baptismal clothes were inside. I tried once again to open the locked and jammed door and this time I broke the key in half (ya know with my super human strength). So we had to wait a little while for the Branch President to show up.

He did arrive and and we were able to get everything going again with just a little delay. The baptism itself was absolutely incredible! Every time one of the family entered the water I could just feel this joy and this peace. I could see it on each of their faces. We all knew that what they were doing was of God and we all knew that this was a special day for them. Jose was baptized first and it was just incredible for me. In my mission I've never been to a baptism with more than two people being baptized and it was just incredible. Every time another family member entered the water and was baptized, our joy just kept building and building. This family has been through so much and they have lived some pretty crazy lives but on Saturday afternoon in the beautiful Caribbean sun, they were cleansed and had made a covenant with their Heavenly Father. I know because I felt, everyone there felt, that they had been cleansed from their sins and they had committed themselves to follow him! It was such an amazing day! But then we had
part two the next day and it was even more incredible.

Sunday morning we had the confirmations of all 5 members of the family in the sacrament meeting. The promises and things that were made and said during the confirmations blessings were just incredible. To see the light and joy that was in their eyes afterward was just indescribable. It was truly a miracle to see the change that had occurred in this family and I am so grateful and thankful and blessed to have been a part of it. During priesthood meeting Jose received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained a Priest. Then he invited his son to come up so that he would be able to confer the Aaronic Priesthood on his 13 year-old son. It was the most incredible experience that I have ever had in my life. There was no where else in the world that I would've rather been at that moment. (Sorry family but its true). Words cannot describe the joy and the peace that we felt this weekend to be able to see our friends the Petrona family enter the waters of baptism and enter the door that will one day lead them to the Celestial Kingdom where they will be able to live together forever!

I know that this is the work of God! There is no doubt in my mind. I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for his atoning sacrifice and the power that comes from it. I know He lives and I know that the cleansing power of His atonement is real. I love Him with all of my heart and there is nowhere else I would rather be than in His service.

And then after that amazing experience, I got to talk my family and tell them all about it! I hope that you guys enjoyed our conversation as much as I did! Thank you so much for all that you do and for your love and support! I love you guys.

The rest of our investigators are doing well. The Burnabella family is now in Venezuela working to get married. We are really on edge because Clifton only has a few weeks before he gets back here and if they can't get married before that, Madeline probably wont be allowed to re-enter Curacao for a few years. Your prayers and your faith worked this last week for the Petrona family, this family needs those prayers now too! I know that whatever happens will happen but at this point, they need all the help and blessings that they can get. Their faith still astounds me. They are so converted and want more than anything to get baptized. I just hope that all will go well.

We are working with Jose's mother and her family and they are absolutely amazing too. I won't be able to be here to see them get baptized but it was an amazing experience to be able to work with that 7-member family too! Iris, Jose's mom, has gone from smoking three packs of cigarettes a day to none in just one week. And wouldn't you believe it, we haven't taught them the word of wisdom yet. They came to the baptism and they received their own witnesses that is what they needed to be doing and working towards! They are so fired up for their own baptism and we are excited to get them there! Once again it has been an absolute miracle for me to be able to work with these families. There is absolutely nothing that we did to find or teach these families. They were given to us by God and I am so thankful that He knows His children and He knows what they need.

This week I am leaving Curacao and it's going to be sad for me. But I am excited to get back to Puerto Rico and start applying the things and lessons that I have learned down here in the islands! I will get there on Friday so if you want send me a letter, it would be great to hear from you all.

I have been thinking of Brother Howe a lot this past few weeks and so I just want to say Hi to him! I hope all is going well Brother Howe. I want you to know how much I love you and how thankful I am for the time that I was able to be with you in priest's quorum. All of us young men, but especially me, were so influenced by your strong testimony and your love for the Savior. I know that I wouldn't be the same as I am today if it wasn't for your love and your friendship that you shared with me. Thanks for being such an incredible man! I hope that all is going well!

Thanks again to you all for all you do. I love you guys and I am loving every minute of my time here. Your love and support keeps me going. I don't think you realize just how much it means to me so thank you!

Attached is a picture of us with the family after the baptism. Jose gave me a huge hug and I got all wet but believe me, I wanted to get as wet as I could get! What an incredible day!

I love you guys!

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY MOM! I LOVE YOU MOMMA! WITH ALL MY HEART!

Received May 4, 2010

Bon dia,

FIRST OFF!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

To all moms but especially to my mom!

Mom I love you so much and I am so thankful for all that you do for me! You are so amazing! I love you so much! I hope that you have an amazing week! It will be exciting to hear about how all has been when we speak on Sunday!

I love you mom!

I hope that you all have had a great morning so far and a great day and that everything is going well. I am sorry that the email is one day late. We had the kings birthday to celebrate this weekend and so when everyone was off for the day, we got to go out and work! It was fun. But I'm still really confused about why everyone had a day off for the queen's birthday. Oh well.

This week has been a crazy week. I feel like I have been on an emotional roller coaster for the past week and a half. We have been super super busy trying to prepare the Petrona family for baptism and also to maintain a progressing work on the island. And to do this all while having to deal with problem after problem with the cars and the house. But it is awesome and I am loving every minute of it. But I am just shocked by how crazy things are.

We have a baptism that is supposed to occur this Saturday and we are hoping that all will go well. The Petrona family is so awesome and it has been such a blessing to be able to know them. Our journey with them started almost 6 weeks ago and there have been challenges all along the way. Why would it be any different for the week of their baptism . . . right?

They ended up getting kicked out of the house where they have been living last week so at this point they are in a frantic search for a house. As much as they know that this message is true, we aren't really the top thing on the priority list right now. And a week before a baptism it is a little difficult for that to be happening, but it's good. They know that they want to be baptized and they are going to do all that they can to get there. It all depends on what they feel and the will of the Lord as it always is.

But we had a cool experience with them on Saturday. Because they got kicked out of their house they are living with a friend. It turns out this lady is pretty hard core anti-Mormon. She was in the room with them when we sat down to teach them on Saturday. The first thing out of her mouth was "listen, I want you to explain to me, no to all of us, including them (the family) why they need to stop drinking coffee before their baptism." She wanted facts and medical reports and I thought "oh boy here we go." But a voice just came to me in my head reminding "you don't need to, just testify." I opened my mouth and the words just came out. Her heart was touched or something because for the rest of the lesson she was on the side of supporting the baptism of this family. I don't know what I said but I know that I didn't say anything to change her, it was all the spirit.

So yeah, we are working really hard with them. Jose told us last night that he is not really sure if this week is going to be the best week for the baptism. I was really sad to hear that. I just hope it's honestly because they don't feel prepared not because of something that somebody is telling him. This family has so much faith and such a testimony, but it's still new to them. We need your prayers to make this happen. At this point it's fifty-fifty. I would love to be able to see them be baptized but in the end it really isn't about what I want, its about what God wants and what they chose to do! So we'll see. It seems that on Sunday you will be able to figure out if we had a baptism or not! What a cliffhanger, huh?

As for the other family we are teaching they are doing just great! We set a baptismal date with them on Saturday and the lesson was just awesome. We got to the end of the lesson and it seemed like my companion wasn't wanting to set a baptismal date. I asked him about it and he told me if I felt it to do it that I should. I committed the family in a way that I had never done before. It was almost weird. I was talking about things that really didn't matter to baptism but were things that I know that family needed to hear. The dad of this family is a little rough and is a little cold to our message. When we invited the family to be baptized, they all agreed, including him.

The dad said it was a goal for him. He really wants to know if the gospel we are teaching them is true and if they should join the church. He said that he will do whatever he needs to do to come to know for himself. But he didn't want us to be mad at him if he is not ready on the date when it arrives. While I was pleased I was also a little shocked that he was willing to go this far and I know it's because the spirit touched his heart. Really, once again I'm not sure what I said but I know it was not me that touched his heart and gave him the desire to know. It was the spirit that he felt from the truthfulness of the message.

I wish that you all could have seen the joy that was on the mothers face. She wants more than anything for her family to be baptized and accept Christ together. Hearing her husband agree to work towards baptism made her the happiest that I have ever seen her.

As for the other people, the Burnabella family is doing just fine. They fly out to Venezuela on Friday to get married. We need a miracle to make sure that everything goes well. They have the faith that they everything will work out well and that Maedeline will be able to get enter Venezuela and then be able to leave again without any problems! I love this family so much! I won't be here for their baptism but I know that they are going to do great things in this gospel! It has been an absolute blessing to be able to work with them and help them along this path.

There is one miracle story that I do want to tell you about. As I said last week, we had to get the cars registered and it was ridiculous. We ended up spending all day last P-Day at the DMV. We went on Thursday to get the car inspected and we had some more issues to resolve but eventually it all worked out. We had finally jumped through all of the hoops to be able to get the car officially registered. We did it and it felt amazing.

Then my companion said that we should hand them the paperwork for the other car at the same time to see if they would let us pay for the other car too (and not have to go through the week-long process again for that car). We did it and it worked! I was so amazed and so happy. You have no idea! Such a blessing and a miracle to help us be able to return our focus to the work and the people that we are serving and teaching. It may not seem big to you guys but it was a huge blessing to us. It was yet another chance for me to see that our Heavenly Father truly knows us and the issues we are dealing with and that he loves us enough to help us, even with silly things like registering cars!

I am so thankful for all of you guys and the blessings that you are to me in my life! I am excited for Sunday but there is a lot of work that needs to be done before then so pray for us! We need all the help that we can get!

I love you guys! And once again . . .

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL!!!!!

Aruba and Back in one day Congrats Grad! Way To Go!

Received April 26, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope that you all had an amazing week! Way to go Mckay on graduating from BYU.
That is so awesome! I hope that you had a great day doing so! It was also great to hear that Jenny was able to finally make it home safe and sound! Sounds like it was quite the adventure. But I am glad that you were able to make it home.

It was also crazy to hear that Jason Harris had to wait for a while to get home from his mission. It doesn't seem right that it is the time for all of those elders will to be coming home in the next few weeks. It seems like they just left yesterday how crazy is that! Keep me updated on the calls of Jonny and Preston! Way to go guys! I am happy to hear that we are going to get two more solid warriors in God's Army. Maybe both of you will be lucky enough to get called to the BEST MISSION ON EARTH -- Puerto Rico, San Juan. Keep your fingers crossed!

Well this week was just great. I hope that it was all good for you guys too. Once again, I thank you for all of your letters and your love. I just love hearing from you guys.

We had Zone Conference this week. it was originally scheduled to be held here in
Curacao. We were going to have 8 elders in our apartment again. But the conference
was moved to another island and a different day. Wednesday morning Elder Wilkes and I
woke up early early so we could get to the airport to and catch our 7 o' clock flight to Aruba. We got there without a problem. It was really weird to be in Aruba again. But I loved it. We got picked up at the airport and we drove straight to the church where we had an amazing zone conference. There were just the 8 of us missionaries and the Mission President and his wife. After the meetings we drove right back to the airport. Zone conference ended up getting out really late and we got to the airport like 40 minutes before our flight. It was like home alone with missionaries! (hahah) It was fun though and we were blessed to get there right at the time that we needed to. We then flew back to Curacao. When we arrived we took the Mission President and his wife to their hotel. We went up to their room to help them unload some stuff. It was really weird to be in a hotel room. That is something that I never thought I would see in my mission. But none the less it was cool. So yeah, that was our day. We got back at about 4:00 and went out to work! It was crazy but a really cool experience. We flew to Aruba and back in one day! We thought about doing it again for preparation day. No . . . I'm just kidding! That would be fun though!

Anyways, that was a cool story for the week. But now I will give you an update on our
investigators.

The Petrona family is doing just great. We had a little trouble this week with the other family. Jose's sister had some troubles at home and ended up going into a panic attack. She stopped eating for the entire week and didn't recognize who we were or anyone in her family. She just recognized our voices. It was really a strange phenomenon. On Saturday we were able to give her a blessing with the Branch President. She woke up on Sunday morning back to normal! It was quite the miracle. It was also just another testimony to me about how true priesthood power really is.

But like I said, the Petrona family is doing just great. Jose is an absolute rock and is reading the Book of Mormon every single day. He has completely turned his life around and all he wants is the best for his family. So he is really excited for his baptism and the baptism of his family. We were able to meet with Monica and Claris alone this week which is something that we have been trying to do for a long time. Jose is a rock, but we were feeling that Monica and Claris were having some doubts. We went by on Wednesday afternoon to talk to them. It turns out that Claris had started to fully read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she was loving every word. But Monica told us that she was little worried about being so old. She was worried that she would start to fall behind as the others kept learning. She expressed some other fears. As she was talking I just heard this voice in my head "Fear Not, only Believe." Then I thought about it one more time and it hit me. That is from the Bible. I didn't know exactly where it was but I opened the Bible to look for the scripture and I found it within seconds. That is something that rarely happens to me when I am looking for scriptures (hahah). I started to talk and all of these words just started coming out of my mouth. I was saying really bold things that I don't usually share with people and then I shared the scripture in Mark 5:36. (As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe). I told her to put her name in the scripture in place of the ruler of the synagogue (also something that I don't usually do) and I was completely floored by the effect that it had on her. She lifted up her head and she said "that's it! That's exactly what I have to do! I can't fear. I have to believe."

I was so thankful that I was able to have that experience. I know that, without a doubt, it was the spirit teaching her. I knew that was the exact scripture that she needed to hear at that very moment and it was so amazing to be able to just be taken away and have to words just start to flow. It was amazing and it's just an amazing blessing to be able to have experiences like this every single day.

We found a great new investigator this week. She is actually from a reference we received from another member! (Member references rock!) It turns out that her son played in the Little League World Series. I have come to find that this is the goal of every little kid here in Curacao. As for her . . . she is so awesome. The member who gave us the reference doesn't even know her that well. The member worked with her a little bit at the doctor's office. She said that she has been hearing a lot about our church lately and that she thinks God is trying to tell her something. We gave her a Book of Mormon and talked about how her family can be together forever. She loved the message and was really excited to get going! We are really excited to follow up with her this week to see how everything went!

Well I have to get going. We have to go wait in line at the DMV to get the car registered. You know how long that takes in America. Imagine how long it takes in a place like Curacao (joy and rapture, hahah). But at least we can do it on our preparation day and not have to worry about it another day.

I love you guys. Thank you so much for your love and support. I will try and attach a
picture! I hope you enjoy it!

This is from my birthday with two members, Annie who is from Jamaica, and Sherman who is from Curacao! Happy 20th!

I love you all! Have a great week!

My Miracles :) I love that family

Received April 19, 2010

Good morning Family and Friends,

I hope all is going well back home! That was so crazy to hear that Jenny is trapped in London! Jen I hope everything is going OK! You are in my prayers big time! I hope and know that everything will work out just the way that it should! That's so crazy that something natural could cause such a big mess for the entire world!

But yeah, everything will work out the way that it should just like it always does. I hope that you are able to make it home and I hope that soon you and your parents will be able to get back to London to go on the huge trip that ya'll were excited for. It was kind of cool to hear that information from like four different people. You sure are loved! Good luck.

This week here has been great. We have been busy with a lot of missionary work. We
are starting to get on top of the workload but sometimes it still gets the best of us. For the last two preparation days we have been working on closing apartments and cleaning (yuck) just silly things like that. Today we are planning to go to the the outskirts of the island and check out the national park. It will be a nice hour or two of relaxation. Something that we have needed for a long time.

But I'm sure that you all don't want to hear about that. You want to hear about what we did this week. So I will tell you!

This week was awesome! I chose the subject for this email because this week we were
able to have an absolutely incredible experience with the Petrona family (that's Jose and Claris and Monica). We went over on Tuesday night for the teaching appointment that we had and we took 4 members with us. Not only the members but we were also on a trade-off with on of the assistants. Then we also had their family of 5. We were all gathered around their house under their porch light as the sun was going down. It was so awesome! Having like 12 people gathered around talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ was so celestial!

Anywho we taught them the gospel, faith repentance, baptism, etc. and at the end the
spirit was just incredible. We knew that we needed to set a baptismal date with the
family. We invited them to be baptized and Jose said yes right off the bat, without a
doubt. We then talked to his wife and the Grandma. Claris said that the change that she has seen in her husband's life has been a miracle. That he has completely changed his life around and has chosen to follow Christ. She said that she knows this church is true and that she needs to do what her Savior wants of her. She said that she was going to be baptized. Monica agreed to be baptized too. She told us again that she is afraid of putting her head under water but she said that she would do it, if that is what she needed to do. The best part were the two teenage boys. We asked them and they were just like "yeah", like it was no big deal! I love it! It was awesome! We set the date for May 8th, which is my last Saturday here in Curacao and it is the Saturday before Mother's Day so yes, we are all very excited.

And then . . . on Saturday we called them to check up on them and they said that their dueno had turned off their water and that she was really mad at them for some reason. So they were kind of having emergencies. We offered to help but there really wasn't anything we could do. We were a little worried though because we had an appointment scheduled with them and then church the next day. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to meet with them or if they were going to be able to come to church. We went to their sister's house (who is the other family we are teaching) and wouldn't you know it, they were all there! We all crammed into their beautiful humble home and it was just awesome! There were like 14 Dominicans sitting there learning about this gospel and it was just incredible. I wish I could have taken a picture because my description doesn't do it justice. But it was just awesome.

Then on Sunday they came to church and were all smiles, even though they are going
through something really really hard. They still have the joy knowing that what they have found is true. Their testimonies are new but they are so strong. They asked us on Saturday how we have so much faith and we told them that we were just talking about how our faith is nothing compared to theirs and it's true! The Petrona family is amazing! I love them and I am so excited to see where they are going to go! This family is going to be sealed in the temple someday and I can't wait to see that day.

We also set a baptismal date with a lady named Amada. Amada is a really special story
for me too because she is a referral that I received last transfer from some other elders. They called us one Saturday morning at like 10:00 and said there was this lady who they had talked to and the cida was at 11:00. We were a little ticked because we had plans and stuff already and we decided we would not go to visit her and keep our other plans instead. But I just had this huge strong feeling that we needed to go see that lady. We ended up dropping what we had already scheduled and we went to visit her. Now, here we are a few weeks later and she has committed to baptism. It is just amazing. She is searching for peace and stability in her life. She is reading the Book of Mormon and she loves it. We taught her some of the commandments the other day and my companion talked about how when we follow Christ we find stability in our lives. She told us that is exactly what she wants she asked how she could do it. We responded with a baptismal invitation. She accepted and will be baptized on the 22nd of May! We are just pumped!

The Burnabella family is getting all of their papers together and they are flying out to
Venezuela at the end of April to get married! We are all so excited for them. Madeline came to church yesterday and I was watching her in the congregation. She looks like such a normal member. Both she and Clifton are awesome and set to be baptized! I might not be here to see it. But that doesn't matter. I am just so excited for them. They are on their way to the Celestial Kingdom and I can't wait to give them a great big hug when we all get there. That will be an amazing day!

I've gotta get going but I want to thank you all for your love and your support. You are all amazing! Mckay, felicidades on making it all the way to graduation! I am little saddened that I will not be there to witness it but I want to let you know how much I love you and how much I admire you! Way to go man! You made it! you are on to bigger and better things! You rock! Congrats again. We will celebrate when I get home. Congrats again man that is so awesome!

I love you guys and you are all in my prayers. Thanks for all you do.

Birthday Blessings :) WOW!!!!

Received April 12, 2010

Bon Dia pa Tur Gende!

Mi Ta Spera Ku Boso Tabatin un Seman Hopi Dushi i Ku Boso ta Bai tin un Seman Yen Yen di Felicidat I Exito!

Hey family and Friends!

I thought I would throw down a little Papiamentu for you guys. If any of you understand it write me back and tell me what it says. I would be impressed.

Well thank you so much for all of your birthday wishes, support and prayers. As I said last week, this has been a super busy time on the island of Curacao. So those prayers were needed big time. Not only were they needed but they have helped so much.

A lot of you are asking about my birthday -- it was amazing! I woke up and had a great surprise. I opened a letter and it was full of pictures! I couldn't believe it! It was perfect. And then we went to church and it was even better! Heavenly Father truly does know and love us because I got a huge birthday present this past week. We had 11 investigators in church yesterday. Something that hasn't happened on this island for a LONG time (if ever). I am not being prideful because there was nothing that we did to get these people in church. They were all blessed by a loving Heavenly Father who knows that there are two young men in Curacao who are completely lost but still trying their best, and he sure blessed us.

Eight of those investigators came from two families that were referrals from the branch president's family. They are both way cool families and are way into our message! I am really excited for these two miracles that we have been given. They both came to us in phone calls. We didn't do a thing to find these people. The Lord just blessed us with these awesome golden investigators. Both families are from the Dominican and they are really excited about the first few lessons that we have shared with them.

We met them for the first time on Wednesday. It rained all day on Wednesday so it was a perfect day. Those of you who know me know how much I love the rain :), it was awesome! Anyways, we met up with the branch president's family and went to get to know these two awesome families. The first family is Iris and her daughter, and her daughter's daughters. They are all just awesome and they are all reading in the Book of Mormon. Their daughters said that they would rather have it in Papiamentu when we went over on Saturday so that is just awesome. They all came to church yesterday and they absolutely loved it. When I asked them if they were coming back next week they said you betchya! I was pumped!

The second family is also way cool. Monica is the grandma. Jose and Gladis are the parents. And there are two teenage boys. Jose is so into the message. We taught the Joseph Smith story and he loved it. He took away one principle and has applied it to everything in his life. If you are lacking knowledge ask God and he will tell you! They all came to church yesterday and they absolutely loved it as well.
We are pumped to have these two awesome families. But we are also pumped to get some more youth into the church! These kids are so awesome. I know that this is what they need and I am so excited for them. Like I said before, these are miracles in my eyes and I am so thankful that Our loving Heavenly Father loves us and is always willing to bless us.

The Burnabella family is doing great. They have made plans to fly to Venezuela to get married towards the end of April. They will be back sometime in May to get baptized. I may not be here when that happens but it doesn't matter. I couldn't be happier for them.

I had an amazing experience this week. On Friday we woke up and drove to the other side of the island. We had a cida with one of our investigators in the afternoon and I have been studying a lot about God's love for his children. We were both pumped to teach that lesson. Well we got to the other side of the island, had our lunch appointment, and then got a call from the investigator who said she couldn't do it. I was so discouraged. Things kind of kept falling those two days and so I was kind of bummed. I was thinking of who we could visit and a recent convert's name popped into my head. We went and she said, "I knew God would answer my prayers!" It turns out that she had been going through a really hard time in her life. All of her family is getting ready to move to Holland and she is going through a bunch of medical problems. She said she felt so alone and she only wanted somebody to talk to. She also suffers from depression and she told us how depressed she was. She said "today I asked God to help me, to just give me anything, anyone to talk to, and then you Elders came to my door.

I was so shocked and amazed at the way God had led us to her house to answer her prayers. Not only were we there but I had studied all morning and had a book full of scriptures about God's perfect love for his children. I know for a fact that God led us directly to one of his children who was in need. At the end of that lesson I was so thankful that I had the opportunity to be a part of that experience. It was just awesome!

A funny story and then I have to go. We were teaching the Dominican family and here in the Caribbean they have these windows that are just panes of glass that fold out to let air in. They had their windows open and the curtains were covering the window. I was teaching and then something started to come through the curtain and right as I turned around the curtain fell and something fell on me. I let out a high squealed Mckay and I screamed. Then a cat came crawling out of the curtain. I felt like such a wimp but we also had a good laugh.

God loves us and we are His children. There is no doubt about that in my mind! Thank you so much (all of you) for all that you do for me. Thank you as well for the example that you are to me in your service to others. We are the Lord's hands here and I know that when we serve as the instruments that we truly are, amazing spiritual experiences come about!

Conference Was Incredible! I miss it already :(

Received April 6, 2010

Bon Dia!

Caitlyn and Ian! I didn't forget your birthdays. I just didn't realize they were so close! I hope the 2nd was a great day for you guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

OK . . .

Sorry that I am writing you on a Tuesday instead of a Monday. There is a funny story
behind it. We had our p-day yesterday as usual, and there was still a lot of work to be done cleaning and moving stuff out old missionary apartments (as there has been all week ICKY!). So we went over to do that in the morning. After we had done the moving and cleaning we wanted to we came to do email -- and absolutely everything was closed down. Curacao was dead. Apparently they have a big parade the day after Easter to celebrate! So yeah, that's why I am emailing you all today instead of yesterday.

By far the best part of last week was conference. We got to watch all of the sessions
because the church here has a satellite set up which is nice. For two of the sessions I watched in in Papiamentu because there were some investigators here with us. It was pretty interesting to watch conference that way. Conference was so incredible! Each and every speaker spoke about something that I needed to hear, something that I could use to grow closer to Christ. The Sunday morning session was absolutely incredible. It blew me away. When President Monson got to the end of the talk I just started to bawl like a baby. And then when the choir sang "He Is Risen" I just kept right on bawling and bawling. The investigators started to cry too. It was kind of a funny sight I am sure. The investigator and I are both like 6-3 and 200 pounds (big guys) and it was a funny sight to see us both bawling. But it is a testimony of how strong the spirit was during that session of conference.

Anyways this week has been absolutely crazy. On Tuesday we had to close one
apartment by moving stuff out and cleaning it. It was a hard day. All I wanted was to
be out teaching and I couldn't because of these menial chores! But it was a good
experience. I learned so much. All morning things were going wrong. I had to go to the bank 5 or 6 times because we had to jump through hoops to pay the rent, the morning was just going bad. I kept praying and I knew that eventually it would all work out. Every time I felt like giving up D&C 121 and 122 kept going through my head and I knew that this was something that needed to be done.

Towards the end of the day everything just worked out perfectly. We had to get a bed
out of the apartment and we did not have access to a truck large enough to move it. I
prayed for a miracle all weekend and it came at the last minute. A member said he could help us and the rest of the night went by without a problem. The apartment was closed and it was a huge load off of my shoulders.

That has been much of my week this week but it has also been a great week of teaching
and finding new people. We had a lot of investigators come to sacrament meeting and
they absolutely loved it. We had inherited a baptismal date, we had never taught her and there was still a little more to teach her. So went over Saturday in between conference sessions to finish up the lessons on the commandments. She kept asking what she needed to know to get baptized so we just kept going. She was so awesome. For some reason she didn't come to conference though, so the date has been changed to a later date. I was excited to have a "white birthday" but that's OK . . . maybe next year!

Oh and thanks to all of you who wished me a happy birthday. You have no idea how
much that means to me. I love you all!

Well I have to get going. I am sorry that there isn't more but I don't have a lot of time. We have appointments all day today with members and we have got to get going.

I can tell that this is going to be a very busy transfer and a great opportunity for me to learn a lot. But its also going to be a pretty stressful time so I want to thank you for all of your prayers and support. That support and love got me through this week as the Lord blessed me! Keep me in your prayers as I will keep you in mine! I love you all and have a great week!

The church is true! There is no doubt in my mind about that. How blessed we are to
have a living prophet on the earth along with 12 living apostles! As they said I want to add my testimony! Christ lives and He is the Savior of us all! How blessed we are to be members of His true church!

Have a great week you guys! Until next Monday.