#3 David who defeated Goliath

First off, Parker asked us to post a link to a short video that has helped him a lot so far on his mission.   It is directed towards missionaries but it might help anyone that might be having a hard time or just asking “why is life hard?”.    

Link:   Salvation was never easy

Hi everyone.   This week has been very interesting.  There are a lot of people on this island that are kind of crazy. We were just walking to the library today to do our emails and a man jumps out of nowhere and starts karate chopping the air and then stared at me and Elder Miller.  It scared the crap out of Elder Miller but I couldn’t help laugh.   Raymond, the crazy guy I mentioned last week, gave me my Biblical name.  It’s David who defeated Goliath.  He says I am here to defeat the big guys who cannot be defeated otherwise!  Raymond believes that he is the master of all the missionaries and he commands us to go and teach his word!

So more on a serious note, there is a lady that we teach, her name is Martha.  She is about 70 years old and is going to get baptized December 5.  She loves telling us that nothing is holding her back.  The cool thing is that when we first started meeting with her, she was cussing like crazy and was like super insane.  Now she is like the sweetest old lady I have ever met.  She has a little shop that she sells snacks and drinks out of and even though alcohol is a main income to her, she said that because of the things that she has learned, she wants to stop selling it.  She says, “The Lord will provide a way.”

Last week, at a service project, we cleared out a forest area.  We were all really confused why because it was in the middle of nowhere.  After a while, we started to haul away everything and we see a 10 by 10 shack.   We find out an old man is living there.   It was literally the worst conditions I have ever seen and yet he was still surviving somehow.  Barbados really isn’t to gross or anything, it’s just that people really don’t care about self-hygiene or self-care.  Anyway, 4 hours later, we were able to make his home livable and kind of safe. It was insane.

Today for our PDay, our Zone of about 20 missionaries went and played some sports on the beach.  Some missionaries went and played volleyball and futbol(soccer) and the men went over and played Rugby with some locals.   I love rugby!  Especially when playing with men form Australia, Kenya, Samoa, and a football stud from Utah.   Everyone calls us crazy but I just love just running around having fun like that.   Elder Miller thinks I’m crazy but it’s was a blast.

 Food here is not that great.  It was great that we did have a meal with a family in our ward Tuesday.  They are the Spalding’s.  Brother Spalding works for the embassy as a Police man, he is awesome.  It was good to talk to people who spoke English not Bajan.  Just so you know family, I have not pooped my pants yet but maybe soon. (Dave: We where told by someone who served there that every missionary poops their pants at least once from eating the food so we always joked with Parker saying we are going to have a "Parker pooped his pants pool")

   

It is really interesting what a mission does to you.  I look in the mirror every day and some days I see a man and some days I see a boy but every day I see someone who wants to do good.   I am working really hard to be a good missionary.   I’m definitely not the best missionary but being led by the spirit, I know that I can at least make some people’s lives better.   

P.S. Cricket is a dumb sport.  I throw it so flippin hard and the freaking cricket guys just lay there bat in front of the wickets or whatever it is  so you can’t get them out.   Coming here I thought I would like cricket but I’ll stick with rugby.

 I Love you all so much.
 Love Elder Fokken