Kevan Kingsley Clawson's Blog, page 5

Escorting the sick

One of the responsibilities Terri and I have as part of our mission is escorting sick or injured missionaries home.

Occasionally missionaries are hurt or injured or become so ill that they need to return home. The decision to send a missionary home is not an easy one, and goes through many levels of church leadership. But in reality the decision becomes quite obvious: if the missionary is too injured or too ill to work, or, if the medical care they need will take a long time, or, if the medical care they need is not available in the mission field (along with other reasons)– the decision is made to send the missionary home to heal.

All missionaries sent home for medical reasons are officially released– this way neither they, nor their family, needs to continue to live mission rules while they are healing. If and when they are sent back to the mission field their calling is reinstated.

Once the missionary is completely healed and the doctor says he can return to the mission field, they can be sent back out. Sometimes they return to their first mission, and at other times (for many various reasons) they might be sent back into the field, but to another mission–perhaps a mission closer to home, or that has better medical facilities, etc.

Once the decision is made to send the missionary home, they are usually accompanied by someone with a medical background, to make sure they made it home safely. Last week Terri and I escorted a missionary home to Canada (this would be our second trip with a sick or injured missionary–the last time was in December and we went back to Salt Lake).

This trip was an arduous one! We first traveled to Guadeloupe on Monday to pick-up the missionary, then back to St Martin (St Martin is a much better hub for long flights to other countries). We arrived back to St Martin Tues morning only to get on a plane to Canada that afternoon. Sometime after midnight we arrived at our destination and handed the missionary off to the parents (we were excited/worried to see them!). The missionary would see the doctor the next day.

We stayed overnight in Canada, then the next day we traveled to Seatle, then to Charlote, then back to St Martin–arriving on Friday. So the whole week was spent traveling and aiding a missionary to get home to their family and to better medical care. We have lost all sense of space and time…

And we may need to do it again next week!

And we thought it was going to be a slow week….

But this week is transfer week, and we find out tomorrow who is getting transferred!

Missionary service day

We spent a day aiding a member move from one apartment to another. Terri and I helped ‘supervise’ while the missionaries did all the work!

But first: a couple of pics from our last District Meeting:

Elder Moux giving a short talk during District Meeting. He is one of our Zone Leaders that works on the French side of the island.

Elder Wilson, Elder Monroe, and Elder Noho role playing. Elder Monroe is the investigator and Elder Wilson and Noho are trying to teach him.

Now on to the service day:

The missionaries waiting for the fun to begin as they wait for instructions as to what to begin moving first

Brother Constance (on the right) has a large army at his service to aid in the move!

Elder Monroe and Wilson taking a short pause in the work

A picture of Terri ‘supervising’ the work

It was a fun day– well, part of a day. After eating they headed back to their real work– teaching the gospel!

Miss pics

Here are a few misc pictures from last week or so:

Elder Monroe giving a talk in Sacrament meeting

Elder Monroe conducting District Meeting (he is our District Leader)

Sister Provsgaard teaching during District Meeting

A ‘selfie’ of Terri and I on top of Pic Paradise, on the French side of St Martin. In the background is the French Quarter.

Elder Ashcraft teaching during District Meeting

Elder Stevens having a good time teaching during District Meeting!

A dessert Terri and I shared at a local French restaurant with our two sister Missionaries

It was Sister Rindlisbacher’s birthday, so we took the sisters to one of our favorite restaurants on the island. They are sharing a decadent dessert to celebrate!

Elder Noho giving a talk during sacrament meeting. Pres Huggins is translating for him. Elder Noho actually speaks English very well…but chose to speak in French. Which is OK–we have a number of French members and investigators (and some Spanish), so they enjoy hearing talks in their native language sometimes.

Brother George giving a talk in sacrament meeting (he is the counselor in the Branch Presidency)

I taught during Priesthood this week. Prior to starting it was requested that we gather in a circle.

I talked about the Priesthood–specifically about the various ordinances that we can perform using our priesthood (such as blessing and passing the sacrament, baptism, ordination, baby blessings, etc.). We then asked someone who had actually performed the ordinance to talk about it for a minute.

For example, when we discussed the sacrament, the question was asked whether we always had to use bread for the sacrament. The answer was no– you can actually use any kind of food for the sacrament, if that is all you have. When asked what kinds of food they had seen used for the sacrament we got: all types of bread (white, wheat, rye, rolls, etc.); glutten free bread and / or crackers; flat bread; and even trail mix!

Another question arose about wearing white during the performance of ordinances. At first most suggested that it was necessary to wear white. But after some thought, and real-life experiences, it was found that it was NOT necessary to wear white, but just tradition. For example, in the Congo where Terri and I served it was often impossible to find white clothes for members of the church. Would we then deny them baptism or other ordinances because of the lack of white clothing? Of course not! When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized, I doubt they did so wearing white clothing– they simply wore what they had on at the time. But over time the tradition has risen that men should wear white while performing ordinances.

It was a useful and productive meeting as we all reviewed the ordinances and procedures that we must use as priesthood holders to perform our duties.

A view of Simpson Bay from Pik Paradise

Priesthood Commemoration

Last Saturday the Branch celebrated the restoration of the Priesthood by having an all-day training and lunch at the meetinghouse. The meeting began around 9:00 am and ended about 4:00 pm, with a great lunch in the middle.

President Sommersaul was conducting the meeting. In the morning we talked about the restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizadek priesthoods, with some videos. In the afternoon Brother Constant taught about home teaching.

Some of the Elders begin to gather for the meeting. We even had an investigator that came and stayed for the whole time!

Elder Stevens with friends. JP to the left (Terri’s seminary student) and his cousin Ali

Elders Smith, Wilson, Okano, and Johnson

Elders Monroe, Moux, and Noho with JP and Ali

The missionaries were determined to share their cooking skills with the group…. Obviously their Mom’s failed in passing down any cooking skills to these missionaries…

Pretty sad– but they WERE eatable!

The group had a real feast laid out for us– BB ribs, chicken, fish, salad, etc. And don’t forget the missionary dessert!

It was a great day had by all, and there was a little food left over for some to take home to eat later!

Pik Paradise

Terri and I had a ‘p-day’ for once, and went to the highest point on the island:

Here you are looking down at Marigot, on the French side, and Sandy Ground, the arm that separates the ocean from Simpson Bay

This is looking down on the other side of the island. To the right is Philipsburg and Point Blanche, directly below is Dutch Quarter/ Belvedere

A closer look at Belvedere area

This is French Quarter

 

A picture of Anquilla– looks very close!

More pics of Marigot and the north side of Simpson Bay

The water heater incident

We woke up one morning this week and found our bedroom floor flooded with water. Turned out that our water heater (located on the wall next to our bedroom) was leaking.

Our landlord sent Ben to fix the problem. We both ‘assumed’ the tank had been emptied, as Ben took out a part at the base of the heated that had rusted and was leaking (there was no water leaking at the time– hence the thought that no water remained…). To our surprise, as soon as the part came off, water gushed from the tank, flooding the room again!

We spent time mopping up, and then Ben came a couple of days later to install a new water heater.

Here is Ben and I after the water heater flooded. The heater is high up on the wall behind us.

You can see that Ben got the worst of it! He is holding the rusted part from the heater. They were not able to find a replacement part, so ended up getting a new heater.

District Meeting

We had our first District Meeting with a new leader: Elder Monroe

Sister Provsgaard was asked to teach during the District Meeting

Elder Monroe during leading the meeting and teaching a lesson on planning time wisely

 

A walk around the pond

I have been doing a lot of walking lately– yesterday and today I walked 4.6 and 4.8 miles. Here are some pics:

The owners of this home are trying to keep the front nice, in spite of it being on a very busy and dirty road.

Lunch for the missionaries!

Found this Medical School hidden away down a dead-end back road

They are working hard on this lot to build something– just not sure what it will be yet

This is the new Jewish Synagogue going up by us. It keeps getting higher, but not sure what it will look like when it is done, or where people are going to park

There is a lot of dredging being done in Simpson Bay

Summer is definitely here! It is really hot all the time.

Changing of the Guard

Elder Monroe began his stint as District Leader on St Martin this week!

Elder Monroe bearing his testimony to the Branch

Elder Monroe leading his first District Meeting

Odds and ends

Last Saturday the Branch had their yearly ‘whole building’ clean-up. This is where the whole ward is supposed to turn out to deep clean the entire building.

While missionaries and Terri cleaned the inside of the building, three members and I cleaned the outside. Here are Michael and Brother George.

Sister Solomon got her power washer and cleaned the outside of the building and the windows (I did the hard work–holding the ladder…)

It took a lot longer with so few people, but we got it done.