Rough week May 2

This week was a little rough...my companion and I were both sick! I had some really bad stomach aches, Zuster Jorgenson was sick...didnt have a voice. So we had to cancel our appointments, we still went out but when we felt weak or worse...we had to go back home. Actually it was kinda fun, it was nice to stay inside whilst its raining and having fun together, but then on the same time...we did not like it because all we want to do...is go out teach and serve others!! Luckily this week we feel a lot better so I´m excited to be out all day!!

Unfortunately Kalusha, our boxing teacher, his Dad died a few days ago. He called us with the news, not my favorite phone call. Kalusha is quite sad about it though, we were still able to text him uplifting messages and deliver some homemade brownies. The funeral will be held this upcoming week, hopefully we´ll get to see him soon.

Hugo is now on date...his baptism will be May 28th!!! I´m pretty excited and he has progressed a lot! We also had to fill the baptismal font on Friday as there were 4 baptism on Saturday. It definitely got me pumped up to work harder so then the next time we´ll be filling the font...it´ll be because an investigator of ours is getting baptized!

We visited with Sister Ria, she hasn't been coming to church in a really long time, she had to take care of her mom while her Dad went missing. Thats the reason she hasn't come to church, however her Dad randomly showed up again and is back home and still she´s not back at church. I really dont know what is keeping her from coming, whenever we have a lesson, the Spirit is super strong! Last lesson we shared our favorite verse in the Book of Mormon. And I know she can feel it, even she admits it. However so far she hasn´t been to church. We contacted her sister, Anna, she is now receiving visits form the Elders and has got a baptism date! Someone form her old church came and told her that she is doing something wrong by getting lessons from the Mormon church. Anna than pulled out her Bible and bore her testimony, she said: "In here it talks about the Holy Ghost. I can feel it whenever I go to the LDS church, I was never able to feel that before. And every time I get a visit from the missionaries, I feel the Spirit just as strongly. And that is how I know that I am on the right path!."



                                                On the door it says: "Jesus for life"

                         Little Fanny, whom I love so much, sister of Zuster Zeegelaar

Crazy week April 25

Crazy week and unfortunately not much time to email...

On Wednesday we always have a FHE at Zuster Yetty, we decided to talk about missionary work, however when we  got there...Zuster Yetty invited a bunch of Belgian students that were leaving the next day. They had a BBQ, there must have been like 30 more Suriname people eating and talking. It seemed like they were having a great time, I then thought: we might not have a lesson. Zuster Yetty then says to every one: "The missionaries are here to share a message". I was so scared!!There were so many people!! We then decided to watch a Mormon message, I think its called: The Hope of Light. And we than bore our testimonies. The Spirit was ridiculously strong!! It was an amazing experience, so that night we got 12 new investigators!!

We visited a less active, Patricia, she told us that she was really really sick and she could not understand why she had to be sick. She´d prayed to God and read her scriptures. She was really sad. But then I shared a scripture in 1 Nephi. I cant really remember where exactly...but it talks about that God loves us and we dont know the meaning of all things. I reassured her that even though we dont know the meaning of everything, we can find comfort in knowing that He loves us!! She than started crying and said: "Yes I know that He loves me".

We got Ramona on a baptism date! It was amazing, it will be in October, which I know is far but thats because she needs to get married first. We encouraged her to kneel with us and ask Heavenly Father when to get baptized, just another amazing experience! She started smiling and said: "I know I need to get baptized and I want to get baptized as soon as possible". I love her so much, she´s amazing.

This week we had to fill the baptismal font which took forever! Meaning we had to cancel on some people, we also had a lot of bike problems...meaning we had to cancel on a lot of people. Even though those things happened, we were able to somehow have a decent amount of lessons with others. This was just a really good week!

Love you all, hope everyone is doing well! Speak soon!

Transfer calls April 18

On Saturday we got our transfer calls. I will be serving in Kwatta and my companion will be Zuster Jorgenson, so nothing is changing there. However 2 areas will be shut down due to not having many sister missionaries. My old area Balona Park is shut down and so is Paramaribo North. Zuster Wood (my 1st companion) is going home on Tuesday, I´m sad cuz I will miss her, she´s a lot of fun but I´m excited for her to begin her new adventure. With her 2 more sisters are leaving Suriname. Zuster Walsh and Zuster Ibrahim, she will be serving in Belgium/Netherlands. A lot of things had happened and as I could not write last week...I´ll have to update you on that too.

Kalusha is less active, he´s the one who taught us some boxing, and as it turns out..I´m a natural at it :) In his closing prayer he said: I´m grateful that people aren´t giving up on me". He is so cool! Yesterday he came to church, afterwards we checked on him and he then said how he was able to feel the Spirit again. It was just a sweet moment, I´m just so grateful being able to see people´s testimonies grow!

Then there´s Nicole, she has 4 kids, in RS meeting she said how many people told her not to come to this church, but she wanted to see for herself. She has only met with the missionaries 3 times! She continued: "But now that I´m in church, it feels so different from other churches. It feels good! I really feel good inside and I think that this is the right path for me". What a golden investigator. I even had the chance to be in a lesson with her last week as we were on exchanges. So now that there aren´t many missionaries, we will be teaching her which I´m very excited about!

Huge miracle this Sunday..Patricia came to church! She kinda lives in French Guyana, she´s the one who cried in our lesson when I was bearing my testimony. Due to her working in French Guyana we only see her once a month. So you can imagine what a suprise it was to see her coming to church! She was beaming with joy!!

I love the Asmoredgos family!! I love them so much, they are cool, 4 boys with the oldest being 10 the youngest is only a few months old. Sister Asmoredgo was actually in the hospital for a few months. We had a chance to visit her at the hospital, which was nice. She showed us some pictures of her when she was serving her mission in the Dominican Republic. She was the very first sister missionary  from Suriname!!

Zuster Walsh came to Kwatta, so I was on an exchange with her.  Shes a crazy missionary, a good crazy, she just loves every one and she isn´t afraid to talk to everyone. It was a very good experience...also a little scary...she took her glasses off as it was raining...her eyesight being minus 8 which is double of mine...

I´m really excited for this transfer though, we really want to focus on getting less actives back to church and have a service project at least once a week! Somehow giving service here is hard...everyone just says they dont need help with anything. Which is a bit frustating, cuz I just want to help even if its taking the trash out. So my challenge to you... invite the missionaries over to help you, they will love it, they do not see it as a burden!

I love you all so much, cant send pictures this week cuz I forgot my camera at home, which just means you´ll have more pictures next week ;)

Pictures cuz I dont have time for email April11

   

                                               

                                                        Boxing lessons with Kalusha!

Bruinsberg Waterfall

We woke at 4 am this morning to meet up with our zone. We went to Bruins-berg, a really cool waterfall...however it takes forever to hike over there. On the way to the waterfall...I fell A LOT...not fun. I dont even enjoy hiking but it was fun being with the missionaries, especially the sisters, which are in different areas, so I do not get to see them often. Anyways I was able to hear the waterfall as I looked up (as I fell again), it was super slippery for some reason...and it was beautiful! We climbed up, it was really cold but oh so beautiful. My mission is AWESOME!! I love being able to enjoy all nature that Heavenly Father created for us.

We finally saw Elizabeth again, as she was in Guyana due to her back surgery, we invited her to conference and she said: "Sisters I wont miss it! I wont allow it, nothing is going to hold me back. Nothing...she then stops and says: okay maybe one thing and that is death but other than that not nothing is keeping me from coming to church." And as promised she came! In fact she was half an our early for Saturday and Sunday meetings. At the end of General Conference she said: " I feel very good inside, my heart feels good. Its the Holy Ghost."

We also got a call from someone called Hanan. My companion and I both did not know him, he sounded very panicky over the phone and asked if we can come to his house that night. He kept saying: "I need the missionaries to come over." We invited a member to come along just in case Hanan was crazy. As we arrived at the beginning of his street, he was already waiting outside his house for us and said: "Hurry, hurry." We then rushed inside and he explained that his sisters baby is very sick and hadn't been eating or sleeping, he´s constantly crying. The mothers baby was worried and asked if we could give the baby a blessing. Luckily we had a worthy Priesthood holder with us, so he was able to give the baby a blessing, as soon as he said "Amen"...the baby started to laugh and be its normal self. They are not members but the guy, Hanan, who contacted us, is an investigator in Paramaribo. He told his sister that we can help.

I am so grateful for the Priesthood, I am so lucky to have worthy male members in my family that were able to give me a blessing when I needed it!!
The child's mother felt the Spirit and wants to know more about the church; we will be able to have a lesson with her before she goes back home to the Netherlands.

I love you all! I love this gospel!!

Church historian, the rescue, big "mosquito", the Sannas kids

Our P-day was changed in to Tuesday due to Easter, this week Elder Richard E. Turley came to Surinam. He is a church historian. We had an hour and a half with him. And he told u so many cool facts about the church but mostly about Joseph Smith, it was very spiritual and so cool. Wish I could share something but I do not have my notes with me right now.

Elder Richard E. Turley

The Rescue...my companion and I are basically trying to get all less active members back to church. We´ve been "hunting" so many down but there´s a lot more in Kwatta. I am so excited for this though because so far we have met some very cool less actives and most of them just know they need to come back to church. For example Patricia, actually lives in French Guyana due to her work she comes back every month to Surinam for a few days. She´s had it very rough these last couple of months, but she has been reading her Book of Mormon every day and prays. Her testimony is strong but something is keeping her away from church and honestly I've got no idea what it could be, she loves the church and still does. She has mentioned that her sister does not approve of her being a member. So that could be the reason for her not to attend church anymore as she´s living in French Guyana with her sister. As I was bearing my testimony about the church...she started to cry. She told us how much she misses going  to church and to partake of the Sacrament. She then bore her testimony about the Sacrament. Too often I forget how special the Sacrament really is! I was very grateful to be reminded by her this week, I know that by partaking of the Sacrament that we really do have the Spirit within us. I am so grateful for the Savior and for giving me the chance to become better.




Lately we´ve been having a lot of new investigators. And I want to talk about Rogan, Big Mosquito and the Sannas.

Rogan is an older woman, she came to the  Paramaribo Ward and demanded to have DVD´s about Jesus Christ. Apparently there were elders that promised her a few months ago that they will stop by and give her some DVD´s but she still haven´t received any. We asked her which missionaries told her that, she said:"I dont know...they´re all white and look the same".)

We found out that Rogan is in our area, we went by and gave her the DVD´s, she was super excited and we got a return appointment, unfortunately when we came again she told us that her brother got shot, so she has to go to the hospital right now. After we said our goodbye´s , my companion and I were talking to a member we took with us, Rogan than comes back out and says:"I have got my fake teeth in today" She then takes them out...it was random but really funny ;)

Zuster Jorgenson, my awesome companion

Big Mosquito and Josephina, she´s a referral that we´ve received from the elders. We finally had the chance to go by her, her husband then comes outside, shakes our hands and says:"Don´t be scared of my name...I am big mosquito" My companion was so confused, I just started laughing, it was so funny mainly because you did not expect it. Anyways his last name is Mochete which sounds a lot like Mosquito. He told us some really funny stories which I wish I could write but it would take way too long. They are both in their 70s, they are definitely being prepared. I love them, they are just so much fun.


And now the Sannas...I´m pretty sure I have talked about them before, I love those kids, they are the best. 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl...they come to church every Sunday by themselves. Two are baptized, however their parents never had any lessons with the missionaries so far. We were able to have our first lesson with the entire family. What I loved most was to see those children faces! They were so happy to see their parents reading the Book of Mormon and to finally just have a family home evening lesson together!The Spirit was so strong! And I know they felt that!! I just know that if they keep reading the Book of Mormon and live the gospel, that it will strengthen their family in so many ways! I might have shed some tears whilst bearing my testimony at the end of the lesson. I am so grateful for being able to grow up in the gospel with my family!

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!

1 1/2 days in Trinidad

What an unusual week this was. So Tuesday I flew into Trinidad with Zuster Parker. I really love Trinidad, I kind of didn't want to go back to Suriname, but I also really do love Surinam, I feel like both countries are so different from each other.

On our way to Trinidad

In Trinidad I was in companionship with Zuster Summer and Zuster Roubidoux, they are cool missionaries, I´m so grateful that I was able to serve with them for 1 1/2 days.

We were teaching a 8 year old girl who is about to get baptized. Her name is Princess, she´s hilarious, we asked her what the Book of Mormon is and the she said; "It´s the word of God" We then asked: "Princess, why do you want to get baptized?" Princess answered:"Because I love God!"

Its just so simple, this little girl already has a testimony! It was so nice teaching her and just realizing that we need to become more like children. Too often I see many people going the wrong path and they start making their lives complicated. But when we love God and follow our Savior´s example our life will just be so much easier.

I also met an awesome young woman in Trinidad. Her name is Rebekah, she´s my age and has been investigated the church for 2 weeks. When I met her she was baptized 2 weeks ago and she´s now doing her mission papers. She´s also a vegan which isn´t important but it was cool finally meeting someone who doesn´t eat meat. Rebekah is awesome, she´s so sweet and she´s already an amazing missionary, she goes out with the sisters almost every day after work. What a great example she is to me!

So I know everyone is wondering if I have eaten meet on my mission. And the sad truth is...yes I have, but only twice. The first time I ate it I felt bad for the member. But I got really bad stomachache after I ate it. After that...I refuse to eat meat again, I try to avoid it at all cost. In Trinidad a less active member made us some food which looked pretty sketchy, so I only ate the rice, however Sister Sommer and Sister Roubidoux had all of it.

Me eating only rice

Contacting in Trinidad is different than in Surinam. The missionaries here have to yell: "Hello, good day inside". Which is so weird, then it was my turn to do it said Sister Roubidoux, when I did my voice cracked and it just sounded super creepy. At the end of contacting we were so thirsty but none of the sisters knew the area too well. I then saw a woman walking, I tried to get her attention but she must not have heard me. Normally I would have just left it as she was further away. But somehow I ran after her, as I catched up with her I asked if she knows any stores in this area. She did not look happy in fact she looked really sad. Normally I would have just thanked her and left...but something kept me there and encouraged me to keep talking to her. As she was done explaining where the nearest shop is, I said: "Thank you, I have another question for you. Do you know that God exists and He loves you?" She then started to smile and said: "Yes I believe in God". Her daughter has recently passed away. We assured her that she will see her daughter again and that they can be a family again. The other sisters took her info, we hugged and left. I wish I could stay in Trinidad to see her faith grow.

Everything is going really well. I´m excited to be back in Surinam and I am so motivated to do work! I also really love my companion Zuster Jorgenson, she´s so cool and I have learnt a lot from her!

 While visiting with Reynold, we saw this guy running, Sister Summer asked him how his run was, we contacted him and he already knew that we are missionaries because he´s been to America a lot and he´s training for the Olympics. I wrote down his name but I cant find it at the moment.

This is Reynold, an awesome member

My Trinidad companions

a view on Trinidad

Rebekah & Reynold

It felt great not having to bike for 2 days,on the Motorway you´ll see people selling food, car equipment, stuffed animals, balloon and everything else.

Enjoying my ride as long as possible ,)

 Some yummy food...called Dubbles..really yummy

Sister Roubidoux killed a cockroach on her arm

Sister Summer is holding a turtle in it´s cage

Enjoying Dubbles