Kevan Kingsley Clawson's Blog, page 11

Our ship has come in?

Here is just a taste of the many large boats coming and going out of Simpson Bay this time of year!

New Years on St Martin

We had a good New Years Eve. Somehow we were able to stay up late enough to see the fireworks. St Martin has a LOT of fireworks to please the tourists. From our balcony overlooking Simpson Bay we were able to see at least six different displays, all going off at the same time!

The closest was Simpson Bay, just below where we live. Then there were two out towards the airport (Maho Beach and Cole Bay) which we could clearly see. And there were 3-4 going off on the French side of the Bay, near Marigot. These were farther away, but we could see them clearly.

We had to keep turning our heads to see all the different displays going off. Of course, they were not nearly as good as Chris can do (and there was no music accompanying the fireworks), but it was quite a good show.

It was so good, we forgot to take pictures!

Nomad Missionaries

One of our responsibilities is to take care of nomad missionaries– Elders that are using St Martin as a stopover point, not a destination.

Yesterday we picked up Elder Charles at the airport, brought him home to give him something to eat, and to let him sleep a while, then took him back to the airport to make sure he made his plane out.

Elder Charles is a new missionary from Granada that is traveling to the DR MTC to begin his missionary training. It was the first time he has ever flown.

He was very tall, and very excited to be on a mission!

Goodbye Sister Stewart !

Sister Stewart has been transferred to St Lucia. We will be getting Sister Lamb, a previous Sister Training Leader, to be Sister Call’s new companion.

Sister Call giving a talk in Sacrament meeting

Pictures from our most recent District Meeting. We all had to say goodbye to Sister Stewart, as she is leaving today for St Lucia!

Elder George and Elder Cox giving a presentation about getting along as companions. It was wonderful!

Elder Cox giving a talk in Sacrament meeting

Elder George giving a talk in Sacrament meeting

Elder Page conducting District Meeting. He is our new District Leader since Elder Spencer left. He did a great job. Elder Page is a natural leader and a great missionary!

 Here is our St Martin Zone/District.

Back row: Elder George, Elder Merritt, Elder Nixon, Elder Jones (Jonesy), Elder Page, Elder Cox, Elder Savard, Elder Marae

Front row: Elder & Sister Clawson, Sister Stewart, Sister Call

President Huggins was taking the picture!

Pictures of Paradise

Although we live in paradise–much like our time on Tinian–there are some drawbacks… it is a very noisy place. Across the street live some very friendly, and loud roosters (anyone skyping us has discovered this). We also have very noisy frogs that make themselves known:

 But we have great weather, a good view of our little world, and the best part–the opportunity to serve others   Not all the boats that come to St Martin make it out alive…    The sheer number of fancy boats in the harbor at this time of year is amazing! The long bridge you can see in the distance is where I walk every day. There are few places you can safely walk on ST Martin–the roads are narrow with no sidewalks. But there are pedestrian walkways on either side of the bridge, so we can drive to the bridge and then walk. A round trip across the bridge and back is about 1.5 miles.

It will soon be a new year, and we wish everyone that follows our blog to have a happy and blessed new year!

St Martin Christmas Program

Today we had a fabulous Christmas Program for Church. The entire Sacrament meeting, instead of talks, was made up of individuals reading scriptures about the birth of Jesus Christ, and singing– songs from the entire congregation, from individuals, from the Choir, and from the Primary and Priesthood! It was great!

Christmas Program for St Martin Branch: 27 December 2015

Presiding: President Huggins

Conducting: President Huggins

Pianist: Sister Clawson

Chorister: Elder Page

Announcements

Opening Hymn: 207 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Invocation: By invitation _____________________________________________________ Sacrament Hymn: 196 Jesus, Once of Humble Birth

Administration of the Sacrament _____________________________________________________ Christmas Program

Prophecies of Christ’s Birth

Readers 1 through 7 come to the front.

1. 1 Nephi 10:4, 5 (Lehi)

2. 1 Nephi 11:13-15, 18-21 (Nephi)

3. Mosiah 13:33, 34; 15:1 (Abinadi)

4. Alma 7:9, 10 (Alma)

5. Helaman 14:1-4 (Samuel the Lamanite)

6. Helaman 14:5-8 (Samuel the Lamanite)

7. Isaiah 7:14; 9:6, 7 (Isaiah)

202 Oh Come All Ye Faithful – Congregation

Readers 8 through 11 come to the front

8. Luke 1:26-28

9. Luke 1:29-31

10. Luke 1:32-34

11. Luke 1:35-38

Silent Night – Priesthood

Readers 12 through 14 come to the front

12. Luke 1:39-44

13. Luke 1:45-49, 56

14. Matthew 1:18-24

Guard Him Joseph – Branch Choir

Readers 15 through 17 come to the front

15. 3 Nephi 1:4-8 (Nephi, son of Helaman)

16. 3 Nephi 1:9-11, 13-14

17. 3 Nephi 1:15, 19, 21

If I Had Been in Bethlehem – Zoya Joseph and Sr. Clawson

Reader 18 to the front

18. Luke 2:1, 3-7

Away in a Manger – Primary

Reader 19 to front

19. Luke 2:8-12

On a Still and Starry Night – Choir

Readers 20 through 22 to front

20. Luke 2:13-14 203

Angels We Have Heard on High – Congregation

21. Luke 2:15, 16

22. Matthew 2:1, 11

Remarks by President Huggins

Would I Know My Savior – Choir

Benediction: By Invitation

  Terri and Zoyah Joseph sang a song The Primary singing a Away in a Manger  Two of the French members reading a scripture as part of the program

The program took about an hour (we started late), and ended about 10:30. Then the Branch handed out the Priesthood/Relief Society manuals for next year. Then we all went home.

Christmas in St Martin

We had a nice Christmas day in St Martin. We slept in late, then prepared for a breakfast with a member and two missionaries (all the other missionaries had been invited to spend time at members’ homes or investigators homes).

  There are an incredible number of large boats coming and going every day. There are two bridges in Simpson Bay that stop traffic while the boats come in and out of the bay–backing up already busy traffic. Last week our 5 min drive to church took 45 minutes!

     On Christmas Eve Terri and I joined Elders Page, Jones, Nixon, and Sisters Call and Stewart in singing Christmas Carols to in the Ebenezer neighborhood.        We spent about 2 hours walking up and down hills in the neighborhood singing carols to those who would listen. If they came out to talk, the Elders gave them a wrapped present: a Book of Mormon. They gave out a ‘Santa’s Sack’ full of Book of Mormons that night!        St Martin on Christmas Eve night   Elders Clawson, Cox, George, and Brother Merchant (in the Santa hat) at Christmas breakfast Santa Merchant  Elder Cox and George   Elder Clawson with a map of ST Martin in the background  For breakfast we had ‘egg-stuff’, orange rolls, ham, and a coconut tart (a local favorite) that we were given by our sweet landlady. We also had cherry jello salad and potato salad for later in the day. After breakfast we watched last year’s Tabernacle Choir broadcast: A Christmas with the Muppets.

That night some of the missionaries came over to watch a Disney movie.

 

Zone Conference / Travels / Transfers

The last couple of weeks has been busy! We had our 2nd visit to the island from President and Sister Herrington–who came for a Zone Conference. We left the same day they did–they for another Zone Conference and we for Salt Lake– to travel with a sick missionary who was going home (he is fine), and we returned just in time for transfers!

 Rather poor quality pictures of the Zone Conference on St Martin. They held meetings in the morning, then had lunch about 3pm, then had interviews with the President.  The lunch turned into a mini-disaster for us…Terri had planned on serving an Indian/noodle dish, but the power went out–which meant that we could not get back into our apartment to get the food (the hurricane shutter was down). We quickly went to our favorite French bakery and bought enough sandwiches to feed the group (it was during a slow time for them, so it worked out!). The power went off at the church also, so all the missionaries had to ‘sweat-it-out’ during the Zone Conference.  Here are some Elders at the airport as Terri and I were leaving for Salt Lake.  It was such a whirlwind tour of Salt Lake, we didn’t even take pictures! But we had a fun time with the family, and ate some great food. Then it was back to our lovely island.  You can see how busy the island is now! Each day more and more boats come into the harbor. I keep thinking there can’t be any more room…but more come in anyway!   There are all diff. kinds of boats–yachts, sailing vessels with huge masts (over 100′ high), and lots of small boats to take passengers to and from the larger boats.  Here are some pictures of our last Zone meeting, prior to transfers. On this transfer we will be losing two missionaries, and gaining none (so we will be shutting down one apartment for a while). Elder Pohl is leaving for home, and Elder Spencer (our District Leader) is heading for Granada. Elder Cox will move to work with Elder George, and Elder Page becomes the new District Leader. We have only one Zone Leader now–Elder Savard.  Here is a rather bad picture of Elder Marae and Elder Savard   Elder Pohl, on the left, will be leaving the island for home Elder Merrit and Elder Nixon talking about working in their area    Elder Jones (Jonesy…) and Elder Page    Elder Cox and Elder Pohl  Sister Call and Sister Stewart  Elder Spencer leading his last meeting prior to leaving for Granada  After the meeting we all ate lunch together    We are sorry to see Elder Pohl and Spencer to leave, but happy that so many of our missionaries will be staying for longer!

The new St Martin

Just in the last month the island has changed a lot. It is now ‘high season’ for tourists (from ships and planes), time-share condo owners, and other visitors to come to the island. That means that the number of people living on the island has doubled or tripled!

The best way to see this is trying to drive around the island. It is like driving in bumper-to bumper rush hour traffic all day long! What used to take us 5 minutes to drive to church now takes us 15 minutes or longer. Even the farthest missionary apartment could be driven to in about 20 minutes…now it takes an hour.

We are having to cancel meetings, or change the times of meetings, or use other means of meeting or communication just because a person cannot get around the island anymore.

But it is still a beautiful island, and the missionary work here is going well.

 Picture of the bridge swinging open to let a sail boat through into the main bay.  This is the route I take every morning when I walk. It is about a 1.5 mile course that crosses Simpson Bay.  Here are some pictures of the bay now. Take a look at all the large yachts in port now! 

Large crowd at the electric company waiting to pay for their service. In spite of St Martin being quite a modern island, with internet, etc., they do not permit people to pay for their utilities on line, or even by check or credit card…you have to come in and pay in cash!

 Here are just a few ships in port. There are many days now that there are 6-8 ocean liners in port at one time, repeating almost every day! Thousands and thousands of people exit the ships and come onto the island each day. That is in addition to all the people coming by plane or that own time-share condos on the island… 

Here is a view of Simpson Bay from one of the highest hills.

More Baptisms

This was another good week for St Martin, as we had two more people get baptized! We have more scheduled in the weeks to come, and with so many missionaries here we should be able to continue this trend.

Here are a few of our missionaries (and an investigator in the back, who will be baptized in a couple of weeks), waiting for the baptismal service to begin.

Sister Katerina (Kat) Jircikova and Cameron (a member and her soon-to-be husbund). Cameron baptized her, and Elder Savard gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 Nichaulle Jacob and one of her missionaries, Sister Stewart. Nichaulle was baptized by Pres. Huggins, the Branch President, and she asked me to give her the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Things are going REALLY WELL here on St Martin. The missionaries are healthy (mostly) and happy, and working hard–and we are seeing the fruits of all their labors!