#16 Investigators, Volcano, Tongan Dancing...the Bus Ride.

Okay, well it is Week Three in St. Vincent.

So we have been teaching this 11 year old boy, his name is Jevvie.  He’s probably my best friend in all of St. Vincent.  He is a really cool little kid.  One day he came up to me and said “hey I want to get baptized” so we went and asked his mom if he could get baptized after being taught by the missionaries and she said yes.   We have taught him three times now and he is just the coolest kid.  He follows me around to all of our teaching appointments and he tells me all the time that when he gets older, he wants to be a missionary just like me.  It makes me so happy that I’m setting a good example for this little guy.  He always thief’s my tag and puts it on and it is just a cool experience to see that kids testimony grow and him being only 11 years old.

I didn’t put this in my letter last week but last Monday we climbed the volcano that is on the island and its name is La Soufre.  I think that’s how it’s spelled but it was a lot of fun.  Elder George and I were throwing rocks the whole time at random stuff and having throwing competitions and it was a lot of fun. As we were getting towards the top, it got really windy and it was kind of sketchy standing over this volcano with high powered winds blowing on you but it was still really cool.  I would have pictures but it stinks how bad these computers are here.  Then Elders George, Page and I ran down the volcano and that was super fun running down and dodging things and sliding on wet rocks and such. They both fell but I was lucky enough to not fall on the way down.

We had 6 investigators at church yesterday. The kid that I said was the next Ziggy Ansah came and that was really cool.  We got to talk to him a little bit more about the gospel and how everything in this life that he wants can be his because he has great desires.  He wants a family and a wife and that is hard to find in the Caribbean.  It makes me smile every time we talk about it.  He is just really cool.  Francena brought her grandson to church and that was cool and Jevvie brought one of his friends to church with him also so he is doing missionary work all the time!

On Saturday this huge missionary group from the states came and did a "religious show" for the people of Georgetown.  Since the whole town was there we went also.  It was actually really cool.  Their purpose as missionaries was just to show their love of Jesus and how we can to, so that was really cool.  The show was a Polynesian island dancing show which was really cool especially when your companion is from Tonga.  When the Tongan dancers got up to dance, half way through there dance my companion runs up there and starts dancing with them and now he is a celebrity in the town.  It was just the funniest thing see this missionary run up to the stage and just start rolling around on the stage in front of 500 people. The people said that they will put it on facebook so someone will have to tell me if it made it on there. The group is called island breeze. It was really cool though just sitting there at a religious show and having all of our investigators surrounding us asking us questions so the show was an answer to our prayers.

 On Friday we played cricket with a bunch of the youth in the town.  They said that im not allowed to bowl to them anymore because I throw to hard but it was still really cool because we were able to have some fun with the kids that come to church.

On the bus ride to Kingstown today, which is about a hour away from where we live, a lady got on the bus right after me and she was crying and just something was wrong with her.  She looked at me and saw that I had a tag that had Jesus Christ on my chest and she looked me in the eyes and I just saw this woman with fear and sadness in her eyes.  The White Handbook(missionary rules) says to not hug women but in that situation I thought in my mind when Jesus Christ was on this earth, what would he have done.   So I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close to me and she fell asleep on me for the rest of the bus ride.  I share this because as I have grown closer to Jesus Christ, I have been able to experience what the pure love of Christ really is and how important it is in this life.  I looked at this woman with the eyes of Christ, not with my human eyes where I would have seen her as a stinky, homeless, drunk old lady but as a daughter of God who needs comfort.  That’s what I have been called as a missionary to do. We got off the bus and she looked so much better. Her name is Susan. Im here to help people and that’s what brings me the most happiness in my life and it can in anyone’s life. I challenge you to try to look from Jesus Christ perspective at least once this week so that you can share that pure love with someone.

I love you all so very much and happy Valentine’s Day.  Experience the greatest love story in Luke Chapter 22

Love Elder Fokken

#15 "Be more willing to do what God has waiting for me"

So this week was a really fast one but the days. when I was living them. felt really long but overall it was a good week.

This week we stayed inside all day for two days because of the intense rain and winds so just for safety we couldn’t leave.  It was rough sitting inside all day and trying to entertain ourselves.  I found a tennis ball and that did the trick, because I was working on my transitions for two hours and like Coach says, "It’s all about the transitions!"  I also read through all of Mosiah and such for those couple days and that was awesome to be able to just read and read and learn so many amazing things of how I can become a better disciple of Jesus Christ. 

This week we found a guy whose name is Ivis and he has a Backyard Ghetto Gym.  We are starting to go and work out every morning.  Ivis is just super cool because first he lets us in for free but really his life story is so amazing.  His life journey, where he has come from, etc…he is probably my biggest hero here in St. Vincent so far.  He just motivates me to do better every day.  I mentioned to him about playing baseball when I get home and this is what he said to me, “Fokken, don’t be stupid... You love something, do what it takes to be able to be at least close to it." So you could say that this week I have been missing baseball a little bit.

We are teaching this lady whose name is Francena.  She is super amazing.  She is already in 3 Nephi of the book of Mormon and she said she is going to be baptized when she finishes.   She is just super great and she lives about 20 feet from the ocean so it’s what I like to call “the Spirit and a view”. 

Well really nothing special. If you are wondering what I eat…I cook myself chicken most days.  I don’t eat anything really special here.  We do eat something called plum roses and those are pretty good. 

I am still having a lot of fun and I am learning so much from the people here in Georgetown.  It’s really cool seeing the people make so much out of so little.   Makes me be more humble and willing to do Gods will even more. That is my goal this week, to be more willing to do what God has waiting for me.

Love Elder Fokken

P.S. I have a little 5 year old Valentine and she is the cutest little thing ever.   Hopefully the problem uploading pictures on this computer will be fixed and I can send pictures next week.   

#14 Out in the Jungle

Okay, I’m going to try my best to write this email to the best of my ability because I am just so tired.   

So I arrived here in St. Vincent on Wednesday and my area is Georgetown.  It’s about an hour away from civilization.  We live in a house on a cliff that oversees the ocean so that is pretty amazing.  We have a lot of coconut trees around our house so we get our cutlasses and climb up them and get coconuts.  I only go up the smaller ones because I’m not to skilled just yet but since my companion is from Tonga, he goes up there and gets them down for me so he is the hunter and I’m the gatherer.   When we go out in the bush, I’m the one who hits the animals with my rocks so I am the hunter then.

The people here speak with what’s called a “Vincie” slang.   It’s where every word that ends with a “le” is pronounced with “lio” so like bible is biblio and people is peoplio so that is kind of cool.

Alright, so my new area is the bush like straight bush.  We have beautiful scenery everywhere but it is still super rundown so it’s weird.  My second day in our area we were trying to find some people and we asked this little girl where they lived and she said follow me.   We followed this ten year old girl through the jungle to this little hut and found these really amazing people.  This area has some really great people but the people here do not like white people at all.  I am just trying to be really good to the people so that they can see we just want good for them and hopefully we can gain their trust.

So ya, I have a machete with me about two days a week so we can get through the jungle.  It’s pretty sweet and the best part is there is really nothing out here that can kill me so I just truck through there swinging and going crazy on things.  I seriously do not even know what to email about because there were just so many things that went on this week and I can’t pinpoint on one thing to talk about. 

In our area we don’t even have a branch (official organized church group).  We have about 30 people that rely on us for guidance.  This past Sunday we had to cram every one of us into a little van and drive to the other branch 50 minutes away for branch conference.  It was pretty interesting hanging out the window to make room for everyone but it was a good breeze though.

Right now Elder Tupou and I are just trying to find people to teach.  The area doesn’t have a very good school program so it is really hard to find people that can read.   Also in St. Vincent they have something here called sunset rum.  It is 80% alcohol drink so most the people are drunk too.  It has been kind of rough in our area but we are just working really hard trying to find those people that are just waiting for us to meet them. 

We met this kid who’s name is Junior.  He is 6'4 and we played volleyball with him one day as a part of a contact.  He is really cool and pretty much jumps up over the net.  He is going to be the next Ziggy Ansah story.

  

Couple of cool & odd things:

I caught a Scorpion, his name is Randy.  Now I just need to find other little critters to fight him.

Our house is haunted and that is no joke.  Our power goes out every day and that makes the house being haunted just a little bit more fun.

Well I really wish there was more for me to write about this week because there has just been so much but it has just been a blur and I really just cannot think of anything else.  This week was just really tiring riding through the mountains on bikes every day for 6 hours so hopefully next Monday I will have something a little more entertaining for you.

Well I love you all so much.  I need you to keep doing what you’re doing and stay strong in what you have faith in and wait for more knowledge to come.

Love Elder Fokken

#13 Off to St. Vincent Island...Machete and all

Well, it is the end of transfer #2 and you know what that means…will I stay or will I go? Looks like I will go. I am being moved to and will be living and being a disciple of Jesus Christ on St. Vincent Island, Georgetown.  I am super excited.   I will be companions with Elder Tupou who is from Tonga.  He is a really awesome missionary and I am really excited to work with him.  I hear my area is the jungle and I pretty much carry around a machete with me so that will be really exciting.  (Good job president, give Elder Fokken a sharp object everyday)   I will live an hour from the main city so every Monday we have to travel an hour to get to email and buy groceries and such so I am super excited.  

Okay so this past week was an interesting... well normal but whatever. We have an investigator who is hiding from the cops so that is always fun teaching someone and then them having to go hide when they hear a knock at the door.   Honestly it is not that weird, it feels pretty normal to me.  He is actually a really amazing guy.   He has just been in Barbados for a little too long and he is waiting for his visa to come through. His house got lit on fire so that’s a good smell while teaching but he is just a great man, he is always doing his best to do the things that we ask him to do because we know it will help his life greatly!

Honestly though nothing special happened this week, we had a huge missionary broadcast on Wednesday and that helped me out a lot with my teaching and how I can feel the spirit and follow the spirit more abundantly in my teaching.  I received a lot of guidance that I needed for myself.

My favorite part about being a missionary is when I am teaching someone and I look into their eyes and tell them, "Heavenly Father loves you and I love you and we are all here for you no matter what.”  It is just the best feeling ever saying that to someone and actually meaning it and knowing that it is true.  Before I left on my mission I gave a talk about love and how I just need to love the people that I am teaching while I am out here.  I have realized that as I love these people more and more, I gain a higher lover for Jesus Christ and his Atonement and what he has done for me.   I can never show Jesus Christ fully how thankful I am for what he did for me but I am going to do my best because I love him so much.

I will be leaving to St Vincent on Wednesday so the next time you hear from me, I will be in the Vincentian land.  I am really excited and I love you all so much. 

Love Elder Fokken

#12 Performing first Baptism --- "Big White"

Well I never like starting these letters off negative but here we go… Elder Cox died this week (What you call it when a missionary goes home) and that was kind of sad.   I mean just seeing him have all of these “last time doing this” and “last time doing that” on his mission.  I could tell that he was really going to miss this place.  It just makes me want to get as much out of my mission as possible even though I know I am going to always wish I did more.   

Aright so today was P-Day and it was funny because all of the missionaries who play cricket in my zone have been challenging me to play cricket with them and since one of them leaves next week I figured I would play this week.  Well I feel kind of bad because these 3 missionary were talking a whole bunch of trash and in cricket you only get 7 bowls (or pitches).   I waited for my turn until those three guy were next to bat.   I went up there and pitched to them, well I only got to bowl 3 times because I hit the wickets on all three of them my first three tries so then the game was over and my team won 18-2.   Cricket is a weird game and definitely not a hard as baseball that’s for sure.

Also this week I got to go with elder Cox on his last day of being a missionary and the first guy we contacted that morning we ended up getting in his car and talking to him for a little bit and we gave him a Book of Mormon and it was just kind of funny. Also we talked to a lot of weird people and Elder Cox was just like “man I’m going to miss all of the crazy people here”.   I already know that I will too because I love getting sung random songs about Jesus Christ and about Mormon people while were walking through the ghetto and stuff.  Don’t worry, only about 30% of the people here are crazy.  There are sane people here too.

I really don’t have that much to talk about between last Monday and today except two more things so bare with me. 

I like sports so when possible I like to find time to play with kids and stuff.  On Friday there were a lot of youth play a huge football game in a field by our church.  We stopped and played with them.   It’s just crazy how good these kids are.   Because were bigger we push them around and such but it’s just crazy having these little kids just flying up and down the field kicking balls and doing crazy moves.  I feel really inadequate when I’m playing but it’s still fun.  They like it when I play because they can just say "Big White" and I know who that is.  We are going to try to get these kids to come to church some time because they are really cool kids.  They are kids and they don’t often live up to their word but we will keep trying. 

Alright, so now to the thing you have been waiting for. Verna was baptized this last Saturday and I got the privilege of doing the baptism.  It was a very unique experience because it is the first time I have ever done it and I was definitely nervous. When we stepped down into the font the spirit came over me and felt so comfortable down there.  I knew that I was going to do just fine and I wasn’t going to mess up.  It made it so much easier for me to see the spirit inside of Verna and to see her and the difference between before she went under water and when she came up. When she was about to go down, she was very nervous and really scared but as I comforted her and put her under and pulled her up she came up in tears and was crying and saying thank you.   It was just so amazing.  I almost gave her a hug but then I realized that I am not allowed to do that but it was just a really amazing experience to be able to do that for someone and to see how far she has come to being able to make this covenant with Heavenly Father.  I know that she will be blessed greatly for the choices she has made.

I love this place so much.  I know when it’s my time to go home I will not want to leave because even now when I think about having to leave this place, I just can’t believe that someday I actually have to leave this place.  I have never felt the spirit more strong than when I have been here. I love you all so much and good luck to Paloma Valley baseball!  I think the season is coming up soon. 4 Peat!

Love Elder Fokken

😇

#11 Weird Barbados

Alright, I will try to make this one a short and long one at the same time because this email will consist of a lot of weird and disturbing things that make being a missionary in the Caribbean a very hard but rewarding thing to do. 

First I will start with the great thing that will be happening this week. We will be baptizing our investigator who’s name is Verna.  She is just a super sweet lady.  She used to have a lot of problems and struggles but seeing the gospel work within her heart and to see how Jesus Christ and his example has set for her and all of us has changed her life forever. We had her baptismal interview on Friday and hearing our district leader, Elder Kuru walk out of the interview saying without hesitation, "she is ready!" was just a great feeling in my heart and to think that I was a part of helping her get to the point that she is now and to see that nothing can stop her!  Her testimony has grown so much over the last little bit and it is just so beautiful to see. It grows my testimony to see how the simple actions of just showing someone love and showing them that we are hear for her always and that we will do anything that will help her to be happy in this life.

Now to some things that are really just weird.  So Elder Cox, Elder Pape and I were walking around finding people to teach and we start talking to this lady in a fairly rich area.  We are telling her about what we do and how we are out here for two years and we want to share a message about families and how it can help bless the family.   She just stop us and says, " okay! hold on just one second!" so she leaves and were just thinking okay, she is going to go get her husband so we can talk to them both or that she is going to go get some voodoo dolls to cast us away and were not really paying attention and we just hear this, " hehe...  Hello Elders!"  We look up and we see 3 girls like our age.  We, being the good missionaries, just freeze and stand there because we have no idea what to do. And we are just so confused and we literally have no idea what is going on.   So us being even better missionaries... we give them a book of Mormon because the gospel blesses families and well, there was no other way to get out of that situation without just running away, which we probably should have done. This isn’t the first time that someone has tried to set me up or anything or flirt with Elders because were White and American, even though we are weird and super poor they think were cool. But this experience was just so weird that it was unique in ways.

Contacting is just weird in general.   We can be thinking someone is a super amazing guy and that we will be able to teach him and then he will just turn crazy and start like running down the street after dogs or something.  It’s just a really weird.

Now finally, it has been Elder Cox's last week on his mission and leaves this Thursday. It has been really weird for me because of the relationship I have grown with Elder cox over these last couple months. He is great Missionary and has taught me a lot.  Something that he has really taught me just by his example is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I have learned that no matter what stage you come out on your mission or whatever stage you are in life, that if you have a desire to get better and to become a better person you can but you have to do something drastic, either change how you think about the people you are around or how you think about yourself.  Before I went on my mission and sometimes out here I think that I am not enough but I think about the things Elder Cox has taught me and I remember that I have to make a change.  I have change this because if I don’t, I will just go down and down and it will be harder. He has set a great example and I will cherish the time I have left with him. 

I love the Savior Jesus Christ and I know it is through him that I can make these changes and I will be the man I want to be!

Love Elder Fokken

#10 Old Years Day...Learning by Fire

It is always so weird starting these emails but here goes…

So this week was something called “Old Year’s Day”.  It’s basically like New Year’s Eve but with a ton of drinking and doing drugs all day.   It was a very interesting day because if we went to go and to talk to people in the streets, it was almost pointless because they had no idea what was going on because they were under the influence of something and totally out there mind. So doing actual missionary work on that day was really hard but oh well. We tried. 

This past week, now that I think about it, was a really boring week.  Well not boring but just normal (it is never boring here).  The assistants have been coming out with us a lot more than usual.  Like four or five times a week and since I am the only one that knows this area, I get to plan for everyone and try to figure out what 14 people need to be taught every day but as I pray for help and guidance from Heavenly Father, I know he will make sure that I know what to do when the time comes. I have been learning by fire but I guess that’s how it has been done most of my life, either in baseball always playing with kids older than me or if it is in school, taking classes that were too hard for me ( like calculus).  I like learning by fire and Heavenly Father has definitely done that for me here in Barbados.

Sometimes I get to be like a Junior companion to the Assistants.  Whenever a missionary is going home after their 2 years is over, they come out proselyting with me and Elder Mykolyski.  We get to see the end of mission trunkyness ( homesickness) every other week so we get to hear all about marriage and what they’re going to do when they get home.   I don’t even get homesick when everyone talks about home because it is just normal thing for me now.  Don’t get me wrong I miss home but I love being out here getting to serve the Lord every single day.  This is the place that when I have to leave in 2 years, I will definitely be sad to go.

Well I don’t have any really cool stories beside when a big Pitbull rolled out on the street and faced us down.  He was ready to come at us and since I already got bit by a dog, I was not going to let it happen again so I ran at that dog and stiff armed it and kept going thinking my companions where following me.  I turn around and Elder Mykolyski and Elder Malyon (he is form England and went home last week) were both just still standing there probably thinking I was crazy.   So I had to go back through the dog and get them.  I still didn’t get bit, I just pulled a couple Heisman trophy poses moves.

Since news travels fast, I have to say this... Alabama still stinks and I can’t believe they made to the championship game! 

Last but not least!  There is a lady named Verna who we will be baptizing in a couple weeks.   She is just an amazing lady. She is always wanting to do here best to please the Lord and it really sets that example for me to make sure that I am always doing my best to do what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want me to do.   Jesus Christ Saved us and we can show our thankfulness to him in our daily actions.   The things we do show our love for him.   I love Jesus Christ, my older brother, and I cannot explain how thankful I am for what he did for me.  I am his vessel and I will let him guide me.

I love you all sooo very much and I hope everything is going okay in the crazy states.

 Love Elder Fokken