Colorado to Kingston : I'm twenty!

Bonjou! Nom wen se Ser Oman. Muen se misoyne pou Legliz Jezikri pou sen denye Jou yo. Koman ou ye?

Hey ya'll!! I hope everyone had fantastic weeks :) Ours was pretty good here in the Bahamas! We're just practicing our creole like crazy, sharing the gospel, and partying it up (missionary style) because I'm officially an old woman! Holy moly since when am I old enough to be twenty? Haha.

So... what did we do last week?

Monday: We did the usual shopping and emailing and whatnot and then we spent the afternoon at a sweet junkanoo museum place. Junkanoo is like this giant carnival thing they have every year around Christmas. They make GIANT costumes out of cardboard and crepe paper, and then run around the streets playing really loud music for sixteen hours. So we got to go look at a place where they make some of the costumes... and we even got to try a costume on! It was so fun :) Then we went to the straw market and picked up a couple of fun things, and had dinner at the Ballard's house! We ended the evening at the Taylor family's house and had a really fun family home evening lesson with them about agency and choosing the right.

Tuesday we had DLC all morning at the church and then we spent the afternoon teaching people the gospel. You know, missionary stuff ;) I had another cool experience with the scriptures... I was praying and then I got up to go get a drink and I just had this prompting to go flip open my scriptures. So I did, and the page I flipped open to had a verse highlighted that was the exact answer to my prayer. Man, every week I realize more and more how much Heavenly Father loves us... He really does answer each and every one of our prayers, no matter how small our questions may be in the grand scheme of things!

Wednesday, we had district meeting in the morning, and then we had a trade off all afternoon! I was with Sister Woolf in my area and we had so much fun haha. We started off our afternoon at Marguerite's house. Now, Marguerite doesn't speak any English, and our creole skills are still severely lacking, so we have to bring translators with us. But anyways, we had one of the most powerful lessons on the plan of salvation I've ever experienced on my mission. The spirit was so strong, and she was able to commit to baptism... which is something she's been struggling with for a really long time! It really just showed me that even though we can't really communicate directly due to the language barrier, the spirit can communicate directly with both of us. It doesn't matter what language you speak, the message of the gospel is the same... and the blessings of the gospel are the same too! We taught a few more lessons, and then we went and had dinner with Sister Woolf's cousin and her new husband. They just so happened to be in Nassau on their honeymoon and Sister Woolf was able to get permission to see them for a while! It was mighty fun.

Thursday, we had a really powerful lesson with a less active. We read part of President Uchtdorf's talk with her called Forget Me Not... that talk is just amazing! I would really recommend everyone looking it up. Then one of our favorite members, Sister Josie, took us to lunch at a delicious little greek restaurant downtown. We taught a few lessons, and then headed to the church for our first English class! I was really worried about starting English because we don't speak creole very well and they don't speak English at all... but it went really well! We were able to teach everyone basic greetings, and how to say a simple prayer in english! It was so much fun and they picked it up so fast! Woohoo!

Friday, we had weekly planning and then we taught a few lessons. We didn't teach a single person that spoke english, and we only had one lesson with a translator. But it was okay! Wilkins, one of our recent converts, is such a good sport in our lessons. We usually read a story out of the book of mormon (because he has one in creole so he just follows along), and then do our best to share our testimonies using the little vocabulary we do know! It's funny sometimes, but we can always feel the spirit, so that's good :) We ended Friday at the church for Friday fun night! It was one of the best one's we've had yet! I love this little branch :)

Saturday, we spent most of our studies making a little board of the Plan of Salvation for one of our new investigators, Cerament. It was super fun to make and it helped him remember so much in the lesson! We decided that that is how we're going to have to teach him in every lesson now... using A LOT of visuals :) Then we had a lesson with Allen, and man oh man I love that kid. He just really opened up to us and shared a ton and I think it will really help us help him now. I'm so excited to get to meet with him again. We spent most of the rest of the day finding less actives, and we ended the night at the church for Sister Smith's baby shower! I'm so happy for her and Brother Smith :) And that was Saturday!

Sunday, I woke up really sick haha. So we went to church and I had to come home and sleep for a couple of hours, then we went out and taught a few lessons, and came home again and I just slept for the rest of the night. But on the bright side, I feel a lot better today! And we were still able to see a few people and have really good lessons with them.

Today, we're going to Atlantis! Woohoo! I'm so excited... best birthday ever!

Mwen renmen ou! The church is true!

Well... we're off to the beach! ;) Have a great week!

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman

That man that I'm standing next to? Entirely made of coconut. How cool is that???

Junkanoo

Junkanoo museum! Those costumes that we have on are the smallest costumes they have at the museum. Some of the others are seriously like almost as big as a house. No exaggeration.