Kevan Kingsley Clawson's Blog, page 8

A local walk

The missionaries used the truck today for a service project, so I took my morning walk close to home (rather than on the bridge).

A picture just doesn’t do justice to the road we live on! It is very steep, and I am breathing heavy by the time I make it to the apartment! When first driving up the road, you think the truck is going to tip over backwards…

Just down the street there is a lot of new construction going on. This is a new Jewish Synagogue going up across the street from the Atrium Hotel where a lot of the Church visitors stay.

Here is another site just being prepared for a new building. Not sure what it is going to be yet.

Just across the street is a shopping area with lots of restaurants and large dock.

We finally found an Indian Restaurant we like– who knew we would find it right at the bottom of our street! We had tried a number of Indian restaurants that had been ‘recommended’ by others, but didn’t like any of them. This one we loved! It reminded us a lot of our favorite restaurant in Lubumbashi…

Farewell ye fair Sisters

We said farewell to the two Sister Training Leaders, Sister Robinson and Maughn

Sisters Robinson, Provsgaard, Call, and Maughn at airport

Terri and I with sister Robinson and Maughn

Misc pic

Here is a new friend I found on my morning walk:

There are a lot of iguanas on the island, some that get very big!

General Conference

We had a great General Conference weekend…although not without its problems!

When we arrived at church on Saturday to see the first session, there were problems with the satellite system: it just wasn’t working. Then we turned to the church’s internet system, which also wasn’t working!

After spending quite some time trying to work things out, Terri tried to get conference on her Blackberry phone–via audio only. This worked for a short time, then it failed too.

We finally decided to move everyone to our apartment where we could use our internet to watch. Although late, the group was able to watch the entire conference (Terri was able to go back and see what we missed). As we had several investigators attending, it was great to finally get it working so we could enjoy the talks.

Saturday night Priesthood Session was watched at members’ homes (all the missionaries had been assigned to go to a member’s home to watch this session), while Terri and I watched from out apartment.

On Sunday Terri decided she could take our internet router to the church and use that to get conference there–where there was more seating. Good thing, as there were many more people that came, including about six from one of the cruise ships!

We set-up a TV in the Relief Society room, which ended up to be quite full. The rest of Conference was watched at the Church.

Although not all seats are seen full, we had more come later, and had to bring more chairs in–so the room ended up to be packed!

Next Sunday is District Conference (they will not be televising the District session on Saturday). As usual, it will all be in French (we are part of the Guadeloupe District, which is French), so we may not have a lot of members stay to watch, as we do not have translators for the sessions either. But Terri and I can understand a little French, and there are the occasional English speaker, so we intend to watch the session along with all of our French members on the island.

It is just one of the many challenges one faces here in the mission field!

 

Brother Benson from North Logan

Welcome to the island of St Martin, Brother Benson!

District Meeting

Here are some recent pics of our District Meeting. Terri was asked to participate in role-playing, and did a great job!

Elder Whipple leading the discussion in our recent District Meeting. He always does a wonderful job getting the other missionaries to participate, and always has a strong, positive message to share.

Terri with the Sisters Call and Provsgaard, with Elder Monroe, role-playing.

On my morning walk I came across this interesting boat. It is much larger than it looks, and its grey exterior makes it look like something James Bond would own!

Easter in St Martin

This week was Easter in St Martin. They take this holiday seriously here–closing for three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Well… the law says all businesses must close all day Friday, and most people take off Monday as well, but then everything is open again and active on Saturday and Sunday (Easter). So they close on Good Friday, but are open and having parties on Easter Sunday!?

The Branch had an Easter breakfast on Good Friday, with an Easter egg hunt for the children. We also watched a short video produced by the Church about Easter, and Terri was asked to say a few words about the Easter holiday. Terri went through the time-line of the Easter Holiday: the last supper and Christ’s atonement on Thursday evening; His betrayal, trial, and crucifixion on Friday; His preaching to the spirits in the Spirit World (Paradise) on Saturday; and His resurrection on Sunday.

After a prayer on the food, we all ate a great breakfast.

President Huggins and the missionaries preparing the breakfast table in the Relief Society Room. Many members brought food to share.

Elder Moux with Brother Merchant and Brother Benjamin waiting for breakfast to start.

The Elders taking a rest and waiting for someone to give them directions

Terri and President Huggins ‘overseeing’ the work of the missionaries as they set-up chairs for those who are coming

The breakfast table is filling up with good food. I made cherry-jello-salad and brownies, and Terri made two egg casseroles and lemon bread. The missionaries brought pancakes and others brought juice and potatoes and pumpkin fritters, and things I didn’t have a clue as to what it was–but it was good!

People begin to assemble in the Chapel for the start of the short meeting prior to eating.

President Huggins setting up the video we will watch about Jesus Christ

President Huggins shared a short message about Jesus, then turned the time over to Terri, who went through the timeline of the Easter season and what Christ’s last hours were like. Then, after a prayer, it was a mad dash for the food!

After eating the children were gathered to go find Easter eggs and other prizes.

Meanwhile, the missionaries stayed behind to finish-off the food!

Some of the young children coming back after finding eggs and prizes

Brother Kasanwidjojo taking a rest from eating and chasing after his young daughter

President Huggins did his best to keep control of the excited crowd as they ran for eggs and goodies

Brother Somersall and JP taking a break from the action

Some of the children counting their treasure

As you can see, there was not much left of the breakfast! A testament to how good it all was!

Sister Call and Provsgaard trying to escape from the mayhem

Some of the Elders resting before having to clean up. Elder Stevens and Moux

Elders Cox, Jones, Monroe, and Whipple

Elders Ashcraft and Sabin

Finishing off all the gifts brought for the children

On Sunday, we held fast and testimony meeting. It was a great way to celebrate Easter. There were some powerful testimonies shared of our love and devotion to Jesus Christ.

Sister Call was asked by Pres. Huggins to lead the music

She also shared a powerful testimony of the Savior with the congregation

 

It was a great weekend! I think everyone had fun and was uplifted.

Two missionaries escape St Martin!

We had two missionaries escape St Martin and leave by ferry to Antigua…

Most of the accidents and problems are caused by tourists– like this one that couldn’t decide which way to go, so ended up high-centered on the median!

Elder Jones is again magnifying his calling– he is often called upon to play the piano and/or conduct the music in meetings. He does a great job, and his smile and good attitude are infectious!

Elder Monroe speaking in sacrament meeting

Sister Call and Sister Provsgaard, with Elder Jones emailing home

The missionaries having p-day at our apartment. Normally they go to the Church to email, but the Church’s internet is down, so they all came here. We also have a local issue with our cars–the missionary cars are parked until further notice because of some legal/paperwork issues with the local government (they won’t let us get our new plates until all of our paperwork is correct…). The Church has its lawyers working on the problem, so it shouldn’t be too long!

Elder Stevens and Elder Moux ‘chillin’ on our patio overlooking Simpson Bay.

The ferry Elders Jones and Cox took to escape the island of St Martin. Missionaries staying on St Martin can only stay for 6 months. After that time they are required to leave the island. When they return, with a new ‘stamp’ on their passport, they can stay longer. Elder Jones was out of time and had to leave. So he and Elder Cox received permission to leave the island and travel to Antigua (another country) so they could get the new stamp on their passport. Terri and I have left the island several times on trips to Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe…so we are good to stay for a long time!

The local port for the ferry to Antigua.

Fortunately the missionaries got back to St Martin alive and well, and didn’t end up like this poor soul–shipwrecked!

District Meeting / March 2016

Here is a picture of our new District, since the recent transfers.

Left to right: Elder Whipple (District Leader), Monroe (new), Moux (Zone Leader), Ashcraft, Cox, Jones, Stevens, Sabin (Zone Leader), Terri, Sister Call, and Sister Provstgaard (new).

The Zone Leaders will be traveling to Barbados this week for training, and Jones and Cox will be traveling by ferry to Anguilla to get their passports stamped. As visitors, missionaries can stay on St Martin for six months at a time, but then have to leave and come back. This is quite common around the world. For example, while serving in the Congo, Terri and I were required to leave the country and return– we drove to Zambia, crossed the border, then came back, just to get stamped–proving we had left the country. We do the same here on St Martin. In most cases this come naturally–missionaries travel for transfers, training, Zone Conference, etc., and in the process, get their passports stamped (for example, Terri and I have traveled to Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe during the time we have been on St Martin). However, occasionally a missionary stays in place 6 months and so has to leave the island. This is the case with Elder Jones. So they will take a ferry from St Martin to Anguilla, and back, and in the process leave the country and and return, getting their required stamp in their passport.

Each island in the mission is different. Some islands are getting more and more difficult to enter and leave. We have had cases were missionaries were rejected at the airport–they were refused entrance into the country–and had to return to where they had come from. Others sit in the airport for hours while we work out technical problems with their passports or visas to get them into the country. The Mission Office has their work cut out for them in this mission, as each island is a different country with different rules and customs and laws…that all have to be followed in order to move missionaries around during transfers. But we are all careful to abide by the laws of the countries in which we serve, understanding that we are guests in their country. We always want to be a benefit to the countries we serve, and never a burden.

New missionaries on St Martin

Here are the two new missionaries on St Martin:

Sister Call and our new missionary Sister Provstgaard (good luck pronouncing it!)

Elder Whipple and our new missionary Elder Monroe

Welcome to St Martin!