Kevan Kingsley Clawson's Blog, page 10

First Baptism of the year

Saturday we had our first baptism for the year: Alberto Chekino Austin Romney (we all call him Keno).

Earlier in the day the Primary children had an activity: making valentines in preparation for Valentines Day!

Brother Keno and Elder Marae, who performed the baptism

 

Everyone waiting for the baptismal service to begin

Elder Ashcraft played the piano for the meeting (as well as Terri)

President Huggins conducting the meeting

Elder Stevens and Sister Lamb gave talks prior to the baptism

The missionaries preparing to baptize Keno

Here are some pictures of those attending the baptism. We had quite a few investigators who came–some of whom are preparing for their own baptismal date!

It was a great service. After the service the Branch Leadership held a meeting in which they went over the goals they have for the branch: missionary goals (how many baptisms, etc.), and goals for reactivation and temple attendance, etc. It should be a great year!

Mornings in Paridise

Here are some pics from my morning walks. It has been beautiful weather here! It’s so hard to serve the Lord here…it’s no wonder so many senior couples decide not to come….

   There are lots of large boats going in and out of port when the bridge is up in the morning.  Just one of the many rainbows you will see while staying on the island    Some of the sailboats have huge masts!   Most of the rain comes at night, so in the morning it is cool and dry, but enough moisture in the air to have great sunrise and rainbows!

District Meeting

We are trying to go on a ‘healthy’ diet. Terri is creating some fabulous meals for us–better than any restaurant!

This is a fish dinner with mango salsa- yum!

Elder Ashcraft and Elder Cox reporting on their week in District Meeting

Sister Call and Sister Lamb reporting on their area in District Meeting

Elder Ashcraft was given the assignment to give part of the lesson in District Meeting

Elder Whipple conducting District Meeting. He was terrific!

A local draw bridge to let the large boats in and out of the harbor

Elder Marae and Elder Moux reporting

Elder Merritt and Elder Whipple reporting on their area

Elder Stevens and Elder Jones reporting on their area.

After the meeting we shared some banana bread!

Fire on the Water!

There was a big boat fire in Simpson Bay yesterday. It was quite exciting. We were just going home from Church when we saw the smoke. We had planned to stop and get some bread at our favorite French bakery (soup that night!), and the bakery has a back patio that is right on the water. We were able to sit and have a front-row seat to this big event!

Eventually there was quite a crowd gathered. There were three boats that were destroyed. It started with a man working on the fuel line of his boat, which caught fire. The man was on fire, so rather than attempt to put out the fire, he leaped into the water. For some reason there were no fire extinguishers around, as the small fire turned big and eventually spread to two other boats. A fourth almost caught fire–they use small hoses to keep it wet, and finally got someone to move it away from the fire.

To our surprise there were no fire boats in the harbor–they were using normal fire dept., which could not get to the fire! The streets were backed-up with traffic and the fire trucks were out in the street, quite far from the actual dock area where the fire was. A fire boat could have put out the fire very easily and quickly. With all the multi-million dollar boats in the harbor this time of year, to have no fire boats is nuts!

Well, it was a good show while it lasted!

Welcome new Missionaries!

Here are some pictures of the new missionaries to St Martin:

Elder Whipple (new) and Elder Merritt who work in the Ebenezer Area of St Martin and live next door to the St Peter’s Elders. Elder Whipple is the new District Leader on the island.

Elder Jones and Elder Stevens (new) who work in the St Peter’s Area. They live in an apartment right next to Ebenezer.

Elder Ashcraft (new) and Elder Cox who work in the Pt Blanche and Belvedere Area and live in Pt Blanche. They have the best view of the island from their apartment!

Elder Marae and Elder Moux (new) BOTH from Tahiti, work on the French side of the island in Marigot. They both speak French and English. Elder Moux is the new Zone Leader on the island.

 Saying goodbye to Elder Savard, who travels to Guadelupe    Elder Savard and Elder Marae  Picking up the new elders at the airport

We are excited about all the new missionaries!

January Transfers

We will be having a big transfer here this week! Elders Page (District Leader), George, Savard (Zone Leader), and Nixon will be leaving us! So every companionship except our two sisters (Call and Lamb) will be changing.

Elder George speaking in Sacrament meeting this week.

It will be hard to say goodbye to these elders! Some have been with us for more than six months, so we know them well. Elder Savard will be  going to Guadeloupe, so we will probably be seeing him again soon, as we cover that island now. The others we may see at a Zone Conference, or at some future transfer.

There are new members that recently moved to the island of Saba, which is part of our Branch here in St Martin. We have been asked to go visit them in the future, as we work with Pres Huggins to make sure they can participate in the Branch in some way, and get visited occasionally.

Recent Sacrament Speakers

We have had some great talks recently, many from brand-new members.

 Elder Jones (Jonesy) gave a great talk today. He is quite literally loved by everyone! He cannot stand in front of a group without turning bright red…but today he worked through it and gave a great talk on charity.   Ayana is a new convert giving her first talk. She has such a great bubbly personality! I was privileged to be asked to baptize her.  President Otto came last week to visit the Branch and speak. Here he is with President Huggins (who translated for him from French to English). St Martin is the only English speaking Branch in the District.  Sister Lamb gave a talk last week as well Another new covert giving her first talk. It is quite amazing the powerful testimonies that new converts can share!

It is exciting to be a part of the lives of all these wonderful people. To be able to see them accept the Gospel and watch their lives change for the better!

Our trip to Guadeloupe

This week we traveled to Guadeloupe– part of our new responsibilities. It was not a fun-filled trip, but just a work fest…

We left after Church on Sunday afternoon and got to the couple’s apartment (where the Richmond’s used to live before they went home) about dinner time. The missionaries picked us up at the airport and drove us to where the couple’s car was being stored, so we had a car to drive.

The next day we had to go to the bank to get a signature sheet signed (with the aid of Pres. Otto), and arranged to have another apartment put on electronic payment. We also traveled to a missionary apartment to sign a renewal of a lease for the apartment.

We spent some time going through paperwork in the apartment, copying documents for the mission office, etc. We also had to write out a few checks and pay some bills (fortunately, most bills are paid electronically).

It was a busy few days, and we were happy to get home to St Martin!

 Here is the group of missionaries we worked with while on Guadeloupe

 This is a new thing on St Martin: a mini-cruise around Simpson Bay for vacationers… I took pictures of them, and they took pictures of me!  The number of large boats seem to grow and grow. There is one just outside the bay that is so big, it can’t fit inside the bay!   We are definitely full-up– not sure they can fit any more boats in this small bay!

Our Travels Begin

Terri and I have been assigned to travel to Guadeloupe to take over for the Senior couple who left there. We had originally thought this would be just a one or two time thing, as there was a couple coming that would be assigned to that island.

However, we have had many couples leave the mission recently, and don’t have many new couples coming out…so things have changed. The couple that would have come to Guadeloupe is now going to Martinique (and probably covering another island also), while we keep Guadeloupe.

As a result of these changes, Terri and I will need to visit Guadeloupe on a regular basis to pay bills and deal with apartments and cars, etc. Because of the strange French laws, most of the apartments on French Islands (including the apartment on the French side of St Martin), are all paid from a bank in Guadeloupe. We cannot pay French bills from outside ‘France.’

We are not sure what are actual schedule will be yet. We may spend half the time on Guadeloupe and half on St Martin. We will see how things go.

Hopefully we will get more Senior Couples coming on missions, and assigned to Barbados–then we can all go back to normal!

Visitors to St Martin

This week we had a couple of visitors to St Martin: Sister Robinson and Sister Maughn came from Barbados for training (Sister Lamb, the Sister Training Leader, is now on St Martin).

We had the chance to invite the four sisters over for a meal at our apartment (we were all so busy talking we forgot to take pictures!).

Simpson Bay– you can see all the boats that have come in for the season!

St Martin from the hill above Simpson Bay. You can see the causeway/bridge to the airport.

We have been having lots of accidents recently! We seem to see one every day here– mostly people driving too fast.

Sisters Maughn, Robinson, Call, and Lamb

Terri and I saying goodbye to our visitors: Sister Maughn and Robinson.

The Sister Training Leaders do training with all the Sisters. They either have the sister missionaries come to them, or they travel there. The District Leaders and Zone leaders do the same, only they do not have to travel between islands. Often the Assistants train the Zone Leaders, and so they have to travel, or the Zone Leaders have to travel to them.

The Senior Missionaries occasionally get training, where we travel to the Mission Home.