We're In Curacao Again!

Bon dia di Cursow!

We are in Curacao again with Elder Holt and Elder Annis! Not a big deal, but because they gave us problems coming back into Aruba a couple of weeks back they never did give us our extension so we had to leave again.  We just couldn't get the extension worked out so we had to leave the country and come over here to Curacao to renew our time.  Then we will enter Aruba again tomorrow morning with a prepurchased ticket to be able to leave Aruba on the day that my permission expires.

Wow, I was so hoping that the memory card would get to you safe and sound!! That's awesome, you got it!! I've got a couple more videos on my new card of when we were flying the kites, so hopefully you'll get to see those soon!  (On Saturday we received in the mail a memory card from Jeff's camera!  He accidentally left his first camera at an Internet place and it was never "found".  This is the first time he as sent home a memory card with pictures on it.  We have had fun this weekend looking at many of his pictures and the few videos that he has taken so far.  Hopefully Henry will put some of the pictures on the link on the blog soon.)

That is so awesome about Uncle Daryl, Aunt Eileen and Amanda! That would be such a neat experience!! Hopefully I'll get to do something like that in Aruba!  (My brother Daryl and his wife and daughter leave tomorrow for a week in Chile where Daryl served his mission about 30 years ago.  The Church is having a big celebration in honor of the Church being in Chile for 50 years!)

Wow, Highland Band is tearing it up! Great work Todd and Leah, you are doing awesome! It's awesome to see your hard work pay off.

Ahh, I'm sorry Mom that you've got a migraine, those are never fun.

To answer Dad's questions, we haven't been able to see the Priesthood Session of Conference yet.  The Oranjestad Branch Building is still under construction and the Internet is horrible in the San Nicolas Branch.  It just kept freezing up, but we will see it I think.  We should get the Liahona and Ensign down here through the branch too, so we will be fine, but thanks!  As for district meetings, we get on to Skype with the Elders in Curacao, then someone talks about what they have learned in study, then someone talks about something from the Doctrine of Christ, and then someone does a Preach My Gospel topic, and then I usually do something from the eight points of emphasis.  We don't get to play basketball after District Meeting like Dad did, haha!

Well, here in paradise, everything is good. We have finally got some investigators in San Nicolas, but still nobody that seems like they are quite ready for a baptismal date. We passed by Miriam and Victor this week a couple of times. And they seem like they are doing great! It's so awesome to be able to be a part of building up the Lord's Kingdom, and to be able to see the blessings that these people receive through following the Lord. We would love it if you could keep it in your prayers to ask for us to be able to find those who are ready. It's been kind of a struggle to help people come to church the last couple of weeks. Yesterday we didn't have any investigators in the Oranjestad Branch, but we did luckily have some that went to San Nicolas. That's a big blessing from the Lord!

I forgot my camera in the house in Curacao!!! I'm sorry I won't be able to send any pictures today, but it's ok, because we will hopefully be doing the fun stuff after this, and then maybe we can get some pics. We flew a 16 minute flight last night. Haha, how is that for the shortest flight of your life? It's just a hop from Aruba to Curacao, we only get up to 7000 feet, not even high enough to go over the top of Mount Graham.

It's amazing to see truly how blessed I am, and truly how blessed we all are to have the Gospel. It's amazing to think about, but truly, it seems to me that everybody in this world is looking for the same thing - happiness. In the end, I think that that is the desire of people deep down in their hearts, they all want to be happy. But, when you think about it, the only way to be truly happy, and I mean with a real happiness, not just a happiness that comes for a little while and then leaves, but a happiness that lasts, a feeling that truly is a peace of eternal nature, the only way to get that kind of happiness is through living the Gospel. The adversary will tell us a million and a half other ways that he tries to get us to believe will bring us happiness, but truly, the only way to have real happiness, a happiness that never will end, is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How grateful I am that it has been restored in its fullness in these days through a living prophet. It appears to me many times that truly, when you look at it that way, you can see that everybody is looking for the Gospel, whether they know it or not, but we have been blessed with the Gospel, the way to be happy. I am so grateful for it and I know that this is the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know that He lives, that Heavenly Father lives, and that they know and love each one of us, and that as President Uchtdorf said, we are important to them.

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again! Tell everyone that's been writing me that I'm really sorry, it's harder to get letters back to them from here because the Mission President hasn't come down for us to send our letters back with him. We will have to try to send some with tourists at church, haha. I love you!

Elder DeSpain