Mama and Family!!
I'm sorry that you have been worried sick about me! I made it here safely to the island of Barbados! It took me a few changed flights and two hotel rooms to get here though...I am doing SO good so far! My companion is a cool Elder. You already know his name, I read on his e-mail that you and his mom have been in touch on "Missionary Moms". His name is Elder Friebe (Free-buh). We get along really well. He's been showing me around town and helping me understand the people here. Everyone speaks so weird here! I'll give you some examples at the end of this letter. My P-Days are on Mondays, So you should have an e-mail every FHE night. Our apartment is pretty nice compared to the rest of the houses around here. Most people live in a shack or small house like the ones you see on cool runnings. People aren't very rich around here. Lots of houses are small and packed with people and their stuff, but the people are SO nice. They'll listen to what you have to say even if they dont agree, which I dont like all the time, but most of the time they'll just tell you politely that they're not interested. Its a pretty crazy place here though. I have been offered and "intimate" relationship a few times by ladies that answer the door, we usually just hand them a chastity pamphlet with our number on it and tell them they can only call us when they've finished reading it. :) We haven't ever had any call back. We stick out pretty badly here, but it doesn't bother me anymore. Everyone around here walks around with their shirts off and in shorts and sandals. We're white, with shite shirts, and long pants. Everyone refers to us as the mormons, so at least people know why we're here. Often times, we're referred to as "whet bay" (white boy), "de marmans" (the mormons), "dem whet poleese" (White police). Everyone talks to us though. I'm just now getting used to how the speak and I'm beginning to understand them. They have VANS around here that act like busses, but they're only 8 passenger and they're PIMPED out!!!! they always have loud sound systems, underglow, a cool paint job, and shiny rims. Its 2 barbados dollars per ride per person. Oh yeah, the money exchange rate here is 2 to 1. So 1 US dollar is worth 2 Beigan dollars. "Beigan" is a term like Utahn for Barbadians. We usually ride busses every day into town. To get someone to answer the door, we just say "Hello Inside!" or Hello good day!" through a window or through a gate. People always answer unless its raining. Oh yeah! It rains like CRAZY here! One second its 100 degrees, the next, its 70 Degrees and POURING rain! The raind drops are HUGE too! Like the size of a 50 cent peice! We usually get soaked, but we dry quick when the sun comes back out.
Man! I wish I could have been there to play softball with Dad and Robbie! I miss playin in the field for them, and by the sounds of it, it looks like they're missin me too. ;) ha ha. Tell dad to quit losing and to not get hurt! He still needs to be fit enough to play on the same team as me when I get back!
So a little bit about Barbados. I am serving for the next 6 weeks in Oistins/Silver Sands Barbados (LOOK AT PICTURES ON GOOGLE!!) It is a BeAuTiFuL place! There's plam trees all over the place, its warm, we're RIGHT by the ocean (The beach is soft and white/silver in color) , and there's fruit trees all over the place! I eat like five or six mangoes per day fresh from the tree!! There's TONS of lizards and frogs around here. Coleman would love it. Colorful lizards are out in the daytime (Green, blue, and yellow ones), and frogs come out in the night time. Some of them are HUGE! Some frogs/toads get to be like the size of a cantelope (I think I spelled that right.....). Its so cool! We catch frogs and lizards in our apartment.We have killed around seven or eight cockroaches in the past few days too. They usually come out at night. It stays hot all day and night. It is usually around 90 degrees and the humidity is KILLER! I've never sweated so much in my life! I'm losing weight!!!! AAAAAAgh! At least i;m getting tan! Oooh babay! But my chest is like sour cream white. That'll be fun when I get home to try and tan out. Ha ha. I haven't seen a white girl in about 7 days. Its so weird!!!! Dont get me wrong, Beigan girls are pretty cute, but its hard to find a virtuous, honest, and chaste daughter of God out here. So its not really tempting being out here. :) No worries!
I've eaten a TON of new things here! I'll list a few of them because I'm bringing a few back home to show everyone. DONT BUY them until I get back home!!!!! I want to show everyone how to cook them and what it is! I've eaten Phoulorie (A fried bread, kinda like a scone), curry, currant (raisins rolled into a tortilla and dipped in a syrup with cinnamon on top. YUM!), Plus drink (A bottled beverage that is healthy for you, but tastes gross) flying fish, lamb chops, tons of rice, bread fruit (Tastes like a potato but it looks like a coconut), sorrel (A delicious fruit drink), and Mauby (a drink tht I cant explain really, we'll try it when I get back home.) BUT, I think I might be allergic to one of them, because my face has been swollen for the past three days. DONT WORRY, its nothing bad, its just itchy on my face and neck and the senior couple here brought me some stuff to put on it and it's been helping. I'll add a picture so you can see how it looks. but like I said, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ME!! I'm keeping the rules, i've been up on time, we've been working hard and teaching lessons, and I have God watching out for me here and the family back there! No worries!!!! I cant believe that I've laready been away for a month! Holy cow! Times gonna fly out here. I'll be back in no time.
I LOVE and miss you all, but this is where I'm supposed to be! I'm really loving it out here, and its beautiful! You should definately think about coming out here to pick me up after my two years is up! I'll add some "Beigan Terms" below!
Barbados terms:
gap - street; ex: "turn at that next gap"
dat, dem, dere, de (pronunciation: dat, dem, dare, day) - That, Them, There, They/The
Marman - Mormon
Alright or Good Evening - Like saying "Whats up" no matter what time of day it is. :)
Get from dere - Get away, get out of here
I'll write more next monday! Let me know what else you want to know!
Address:
Elder Bradley Wilson
2A Round Rock
Breedy Land
Silver Sands
Christ Church
Barbados, West Indies
824-3304
Love you TONS!!!! I cant send pictures off my SD card here because the computers are old. I'll send a envelope full of pictures in a day or two so we can see how long it takes for mail to get there. I'll send them 4x7 so they'll fit in that picture case thing. Hopefully you get them soon!! Love ya love ya love ya!!!!!!
Elder Wilson
6/20/11
