My favorite food Roti

Roti...my favorite food, with Zr Wood

Roti is a flour pan cake or wrap, similar to, but lighter than a tortilla, and filled with various food , including curried chicken. West Indian roti are mainly made from wheat flour, salt and water.
The word roti also refers to a dish of stewed or curried ingredients wrapped in a roti skin.
What I am having here is a vegetarian version of roti that round thing is an egg.

Serving & teaching

Visiting and teaching this lovely Sister with companions Zr Zegelaar & Zr Wood

Transfer week!

See if you fit under the table challenge :)

What a crazy week it has been. Thank you all for emailing me each week, I cant reply to every one but I very much appreciate your support!

So...I got into a biking accident, its not too bad though, we were contacting  with our bikes and decided to go down this one road which was really busy as everyone was coming from work. You should know in Suriname no one can drive so its very normal to see reckless driving. As I was biking, a car came extremely close to me which led me to be pushed towards the concrete side walk. I wasn't able to beak as one of my breaks broke a while ago. my foot was stuck between my bike and the concrete sidewalk, which unfortunately got a ton of skin of my two little toes! Luckily we were near by a member who fixed me up. She even made us some food, however she noticed that I wasn't eating any of it. When I told her that I do not eat meat..she almost fainted out of shock. It was pretty funny.

The next day we were teaching a less active sister. It´s not unusual to see animals such as ants, lizards, birds and so forth in her little house as she does not have any doors and her windows wont shut. I was talking about the importance of temples and all of the sudden I felt something on my foot which has been injured in the accident...I looked down...and there must have been 50 red ants on my wound biting me, even though I was wearing multiple band aids!! The ants went under the band aids. I then did a little scream and started killing those ants...it was really scary!

We received transfer calls on Saturday. Currently I´m in Balona Park but now I will serving in Kwatta with Zuster Jensen. I´m very excited to do this! Zuster Jensen is awesome! This also means I am still in the same ward as before so will still see Zr Wood & Zr Zegelaar.

I was quite surprised though when the Elders told me that I will be transferred but I am really excited to serve in Kwatta; I was able to go there for exchange with Zr Ashkraft. I love it there as there are a lot of cool members and they have a good amount of investigators. Zr Jensen told me that they get fed multiple times a day. This might mean I will gain a bit of weight. Unfortunately I think I will need to eat meat.

Oh and I will start in my new area on Wednesday ;)


The church isn't as organized as the rest of world...for example: they do not have activities for the youth, which is really sad. Luckily, we as missionaries, are allowed to train the members so they can fulfill their callings. At the end of Relief Society´s  lesson we were singing: Love one Another and the Sister teaching the lesson asked us to hug everyone whilst singing...was the strangest thing but it was so funny. I really like this ward, there is a lot of work to be done though.

On my way to church I also saw a snake!! My companion told me later that it was poisonous...I wasn't scared though...was kinda cool to see plus it was a small one.

I love you all, keep reading the scriptures, it will benefit you so much! Stay safe...speak to you soon.

Karawafodie Family

The Karwafodie Family; they love Elder Vernes ;)

My Zone

My Zone: 7 Zusters & 11 Elders

Exchange

We have few investigators, however we had to drop one of them. Sadly she wasn´t progressing and we would have just wasted our time with her. We also had exchanges which was really cool. Zuster Zegelaar and I were in Zuster´s Ashkrafts area. We went to visit a ton of people! Their investigators are awesome! Also we visited a new investigator however it was his mom´s birthday and the guy we were visiting was drunk. He tried to hug and kiss Zuster Zegelaar, it was pretty funny. He then shook my hand and kissed it multiple times. Luckily he left so we started to teach his mom. She started to cry because her son´s werent´t behaving. We were able to make her feel better which was quite nice.

with Zusters Zegelaar & Ashkraft

One month on my mission already!

Boi I don´t know where to begin. Boi is a word that everyone here uses. Its pretty funny when people say it.

Okay, so i almost "killed" my companion Zuster Wood! Basically we have a gas oven. And we normally light it with Q-Tips, and than blow in order for the flame to set. I turned on the oven and asked Zuster Wood if she can light it. As she was blowing...all of the sudden this massive flame with a bunch of fluffy stuff flies towards us! I start yelling: "ARE YOU OKAY?" Whilst this is happening my other companion Zuster Zegelaar jumps up from the sofa..sprints towards the door and...is gone!
Zuster Wood still in shock, her first question was. "Is my hair on fire?" I reassured her that everything was fine. Zuster Zegelaar returns...and we just started laughing. We then tried to figure out why that happened. I than realized that I turned on the oven and let the gas on, leaving it and went to the bathroom after that Zuster Wood lighted the oven. It was pretty scary but now we just laugh about it.

I still find it hard to remember where people live and members names. We visited a less active member, I love her, she´s the sweetest person you will ever meet. She´s not very educated though so she finds it hard to understands certain scriptures. However she has been reading them every day and when we asked her what it meant she actually knew the meaning of it!! It was amazing to see that! I definitely think that THAT is Heavenly Father blessing her!

Unfortunately I don´t have much time to write more but just know...I love you all/ Mi lobi yu (Sranan)

Zuster Wood & me

Me and my companions. They are so cool! 

Zuster Zegelaar, Zuster Wood and me...rocking our helmets

Tanned with mosquito bites

Getting a farmers tan

...and than there are mosquito bites; I hope I wont get any more!

Fasting

Why do we fast?

We also met with a less active, she's very poor and lives in a tiny shed with 4 others that are not very nice to her. She normally comes only for Sacrament meeting. We had a lesson with her about church and why its important to stay for the whole 3 hours. Last Sunday she stayed for the entire time and that was really cool!

Another member lesson that meant a lot to me: I felt inspired to prepare a lesson about fasting. As we were teaching a member about fasting; she admitted that she has never fasted even though she has been a member for a long time. We promised her that she will see blessings just pouring over her when she sacrifices a few meals. She than almost cried as the Spirit was extremely strong, she said that she will start to fast. I cant wait to follow up on that!


Now why do we fast?

To fast is to go without food and drink voluntarily for a certain period of time. Fasting combined with sincere prayer can help you prepare yourself and others to receive God´s blessings. It is a source of spiritual strength. Thru fasting we feel closer to Heavenly Father and strengthen our testimony. Fasting also includes giving a generous fast offering for those in need.

Read in:
Esther 4: 10-17,  Matthew 4: 1-11, Alma 17: 1-3, 9, D&C 59: 12-14 (fasting a source of spiritual strength) Isaiah 58. 3-12, Matthew 6: 6-18 ( The Lord describes a proper fast, which includes fast offerings) Alma 5: 45 -46, Helaman 3:35 (Fasting helps strengthen testimonies)

Proselyting

So much had happened...I  have got no idea where to start. My trainer had to leave for a two day meeting in Trinidad...which leaves me and Sister Zegelaar. We had weekly planing on our own which always takes ages but we tried our best. We looked at the Area book and contacted a ton of people that used to be investigators. We had a lot of appointments on those days but unfortunately some got cancelled or some just did not open their doors. Normally when this happens I just brush it off. But for some reason it was hard to do that, I decided it was best to just proselyte and talk to some people. That day we contacted 12 people which was pretty cool. However after a few hours we could not find anyone and again our appointments fell thru.

I felt discouraged and felt like I was wasting the Lord´s time whenever we did not have anything to do and I really just want people to have the gospel in their life. I decided to pray and as I opened my eyes I looked at my companion and told her that we should just prepare for our last appointment which is with an inactive member.

We decided to bike to a Chinese shop and sit down at the back of it. As I was about to open my scriptures, a young man came (he must have been in his twenties) he then asked if we were members of a church and asked what our purpose is. At first I did not really want to talk to him cause I thought he wasn't interested but my companion already had the pamphlet in her hand and started to share a message! I then stood up and bore my testimony. The Spirit was very strong and I knew that Heavenly Father sent him! He told us about his past and he said that he needs God in his life and he wants to change. Unfortunately he is not in our area or even near us, he also doesn't have a cell phone but we gave him a Book of Mormon and a church address. I have no idea if he went to church but I know that he could feel the Spirit just as much as I did! I know that Heavenly Father doesn't want us to feel discouraged but he can also only help us if we ask with faith!

I´m having so much fun here. I really love being on a mission even though it´s very hard but I know I need to be here and I´ve already learned so much!!

Cycling and scary dogs

So I´ve mastered cycling a bike without using my hands which is pretty cool. We bike so much here and its hard with a skirt. My companions were so close by being bitten by a dog! The dogs here are way scary. For example yesterday we had an appointment with an investigator, we took a member along (Sister Ibrahim, Jeff should know her, she´s amazing) who drove us to the investigator´s house. As soon as she parked, there were about 10 dogs who started to attack the car. And I kid you not..those dogs had muscles!! It was really scary!! So Sister Ibrahim took an umbrella out of her backseat..started yelling some "weird stuff" whilst she was swinging the umbrella and the dogs luckily left us alone. The elders here kick the dogs because they really try to bite you especially whilst cycling.

Lots of streetdogs

Service

Service Time

Sister Zegelaar and I had the opportunity to serve at a member house.

We did a lot of stuff in their garden. We were told to get rid of everything! So...we did! However I didn't realize that I also got rid of their garlic plants...and my companion broke their tree. I felt really bad but the dear sister just laughed and said it was fine. It was fun to do a bit of service! 

Me and Sister Zegelaar

Its really fun chopping things with this Machete. Dont worry I did hurt myself but its just a blister

So we meet again

Kromopawiro Family

When big bro was on his mission in Suriname...he and the Kromopawiro family became friends!
In 2010 we met them during our vacation in Curacao...that was the last time I saw them!
So you can imagine the joy of seeing them again at church after 5 years!! Thanks to Stefanie for sending this photo.

Fast Sunday & Gecko experience

Last night after our day was done...I took a shower and suddenly I saw a GECKO on the bathroom window! I quickly grab my towel and ran to my companions!! Told them that there was gecko: They started laughing cuz apparently this happen a lot!

Sister Zegelaar then tried to get rid of it. But it was so fast that when she grabbed it; its tail fell off!!
However the animal was still alive and so was the tail! It was really gross. I got all of that on film though so when I come back..you´ll see! I also took a few pictures.


Church was a bit overwhelming. Every single person who read my name tag asked if I was Elder Vernes´s sister... And if I could play the piano!!

As it was fast Sunday I bore my testimony. I talked about my bike story and how I tried to keep biking but wasn't able to move. I told them that...That can happen in our lives. We sometimes get stuck even though we are still peddling as hard as we can! Its important to remember what Heavenly Father gave us (The Atonement) and why we need it in our lives! I think it went well as I was getting some nods from the crowd.

I love being a missionary!! Its so much fun. I cant wait for tomorrow!! Tomorrow will be even an better day!!

I love you all!

Suriname people are funny & humble

4th January 2016 

We went on our bikes to visit some investigators. Suriname is really cool! I love the people here already, they are really funny & very humble. After we finished our day & biked back home, all of a sudden my bike stopped working. I would peddle but I wouldn't get any where! It was the strangest funniest thing. My companions just started laughing, we were basically stranded next to a hotel so we called our Zone leaders to pick us up.

My companions picked me up from the airport Sister Wood & Sister Zegelaar. I´m so lucky to have these two sisters as my companions. They take good care of me!

I love teaching the gospel. It makes me appreciate it so much more! Some of our investigators cancelled on us. Its sad when this happens but I try not to be discouraged! Because it means we will find someone who cant wait to hear about the church!! We have quite a bit of new investigators as well. When we taught them the first lesson...they just got so excited!! You could really see the light shining in them!!

Age of accountability

Happy New Year everybody! Wishing you all a very blessed year, full of new adventures, fun and spiritual ones! 

About 8 years ago (see also eldervernes.blogspot.com), my big bro left to serve for 2 years! During his mission he taught many and many were baptized...

...his first baptism though was me 11 years ago! 

The age of accountability.
Why am I baptized when I´m 8 years old? And their children shall be baptized for remission of their sins when 8 years old, and receive the laying on of the hands. D&C 68:27 Not long after Moroni was called a prophet, disagreements arose in the church whether little children should be baptized. Moroni wrote a letter to his father, Mormon, asking for advice. Mormon prayed to Heavenly Father and received an answer: " Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they who are sick; where little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin" (Moro 8.8) "Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach- repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin...And little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold baptism is unto repentance..unto remission of sins. But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world" Moro 8.9-12