Lots of Rain!

Con bai?  Tur cos ta bon akinan den Aruba!

Bon dia from Aruba!  We are enjoying another P Day in paradise!  It is so awesome here.  We had a lot of rain this week, and we were driving through some of the heaviest rain I've driven through yesterday when we went to church and we got a video of it, so we will try to send it to you sometime. 

Ya, Aruba's government is very stiff on immigration, in fact I don't think it's possible to get an Aruban Visa, I don't think they exist, you either have to be a citizen or not I think, otherwise I think you can get some form of permission to study or to work.

No way, so Whitney Prince is Andrew's sister?  Wow, small world!!

Glad to hear that Dad's back is still doing ok, I hope that it stays that way!  Wow, ya, I was thinking about how Greg (Montgomery) and Kyson (Lamb) and Andrew (Lebaron) and a lot of guys I know should be getting home from their missions now!!  That is so crazy!  Hey, the Brother Wold in your ward doesn't happen to be an institute teacher at ASU, does he?  There was a Brother Wold that was an institute teacher when I was there, that would be crazy!  (The Brother Wold in our ward that we wrote to Jeff about gave a wonderful talk in Sacrament Meeting this past week, but no, he is not the same Brother Wold that Jeff knew at ASU.)

I started working out with Elder Jensen here doing P-90X, so hopefully before I leave Aruba I'll be skinny!  It's pretty intense.  We're sore most days!

We were able to set a baptismal date this week with a boy named Victor.  Victor is the son of a member, and she is inactive, but we went over to their house with our branch president, and he talked with her, and it sounds like she is committed to start coming back to church and to talk about marriage with her boyfriend. He is not a member either, but hopefully he will be able to listen some more in the future and get baptized and they could all become an eternal family.  Victor should hopefully get baptized on the 5th of November, my last weekend in Aruba, that would be sweet!!

Everything else here is going great, we're just still trying to get people to come to church.  But I know that if we just keep going and trying, then the Lord will help us out. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak on the importance of serving a mission in the Oranjestad Branch.  It was a great opportunity and privilege, and it really helped me see how important it truly is that we as worthy, capable and able young men serve a mission.  As I thought about it, it was amazing to see how much I have grown on my mission.  It seems like 50 years of experience packed into two years.  I can see great blessings from serving a mission in my life already, and growth that I don't think I would have gotten for years if I had not served a mission.  A mission truly will shape you into the man that you will be, and the instrument that you can be in the Lord's hands for the rest of your life.  I don't want it to sound like I'm a great guy, I just want to say that I know that if you go on a mission, the Lord can help you come back a man and help you learn how to be a powerful instrument in the His hands. 

I love you all and I love Arizona!!  I can't wait to see Arizona again!!  Thank you so much for the great examples and support that you all are to me!

Love,

Elder DeSpain

P.S.- Two quick pics, having problems with the computer again.  One is from this way cool second story of an abandoned house we found on top of a hill in Curacao, and the other is from the San Nicolas church.  If you look real hard out there, you should be able to see the mountain in Venezuela on the horizon, about 50 miles away I think!  (Henry will put the pictures on the blog later tonight.)