Conta bai? (How are you?) - Sep 29th

So, learning Papiamento is so hard! But Im studying it every day and I can say a few phrases. I was given the opportunity to bear my testimony yesterday, in Papiamento. I did the beginning and then the rest in Dutch. I would´ve never thought I would say this, but i miss speaking Dutch. I actually really love speaking in Dutch!

Tuesday till Thursday, I was in Trinidad, so it was really cool being there and getting to know more people. We had Zone meeting which was awesome!. I also had to fill and update some paperwork for my visa for Surinam. And got the chance to proselyte with Sister Ortiz & Hermana/Zuster Peterson. Herman Peterson used to serve in the ABC islands so she taught me some Papiamento. President Egbert also gave me a blessing before I left.

Hermana Johnston & Palmer

Thursday night I got to meet my new companions, Hermana Johnston & Palmer, they are awesome! Very obedient, which i like and just very motivated to do the Lords work. Sometimes during the lessons when I don´t understand anything, I miss being in Surinam, but then I try to remember that this is the Lords time and that I should just be grateful to serve at all!

Curacao of course is BEAUTIFUL, very HOT and has A LOT OF HILLS!!! Not fun to bike!

I find it a lot easier to go contacting here, every one is actually pretty interested in the gospel and they are pretty chill and just super chill ;) We almost have a lunch appointment every day! The classic is just rice with a lot of other things. We get fed so much!

The highlight of this week: we visited a less active family and the mom told us during our visit, the Spirit that I an feel is undeniable strong, its a wake call and I want to come back to church!

The gospel is so true. I love it!

Ayo (goodbye)

Hermana Vernes

Curacao

Iguana

Steelband

Leaving Surinam - Sep 19th

Tomorrow I will be leaving Surinam! Due to a visa problem, Zuster Parker and I will be serving in Curacao for approximately 3 months!

So that has been stressing me out this week, saying goodbye to people, I´m pretty sad to leave just because I really love the people Ive been working with! I´m worried about certain less actives and investigators but I also know that I do have a purpose in Curacao. But then again at the same time I am pretty excited to serve there ;)

I was online this morning but then we had a power cut, we are currently at a sketchy cyber place so i don't want to risk sending pictures and then getting a virus as that has happened to previous missionaries. So you´ll just have to be patient and wait till next week.

I hope that everyone remembers the Chinese guy that we contacted, any ways he is super cool! He is very interested in the church, a friend of his has given him a Book of Mormon however Zhang lost it when he moved. His wife actually started investigating as well. he told us that he respects what we are doing and he wants to know more! I´m a little sad as I won't be able to teach him due to the transfer. But i know that he will be in good hands and there is a reason why God has lead us to his house!

This week we also had an opportunity to teach Zuster Nahoja dutch. (They moved here as they were being obedient to Gods commands in keeping the law of the land) She's so sweet and it was so much fun teaching her. I never realised how hard it is for others to make the "G" sound. It was pretty entertaining though.

I am also trying to learn Sranan Tongo which is fun. I can pray in it so that is cool but I might have to pause on that now in order to learn Spanish and Papiamento.

Sorry this is short but just know that i love you all so much!
Speak soon!

Zuster Vernes

Developing Christlike attributes - Sep 13th

This week was awesome as usual. More down than ups but I don´t get discouraged anymore! I try to see the positive in everything and through the not so fun parts you get to develop more Christlike attributes.

With the Kersout family we played the cereal box game, where you cut the cereal box and try to grab it with just your mouth, so much fun! I have grown to love this family by the minute. And it has helped them to open up a lot more to us and now we just feel like we are part of their family!

The gate to our house broke so we had to climb over it in order to get inside and then our front door didn't want to lock. We called our landlord and he took our key but he did not fix it for a good few days which was a little scary as we could not lock the door. But I know that angels kept protecting us from any danger and luckily it is now fixed ,)

Very strange that I have reached my half mark, I don't like think about it because I LOVE being a missionary!

Melinda, our investigator, I love her so much! She has´t been praying about the Book of Mormon yet and she finds it hard to close a prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, as she has learned t differently. However, in our lesson we invited her to pray and specifically ask God  if the Book of Mormon is true. Whilst she was praying, my companion and i had a little prayer in our hearts, that she can remember to close in the name of the Saviour. And SHE DID!!! Not only that but the Spirit was just so incredibly  strong! I love teaching her!! She is very smart and just incredible, I´m so excited to see where this will go.

Brother Simon is a old guyanese man, we have to basically shout whilst speaking to him as his hearing is very bad. We had a very good lesson with him. Before we started our lesson we asked him how many snapbacks (hats) he own as he always has a different one. He laughed for ages!! To the point where we could see tears in his eyes, he then responded: "Sister, just one" which is definitely not true but it was pretty funny.

I think it was last week when we taught Amisha how to bike. Anyways, when we went this week...she was biking like a pro! She then told us that her cousin (9) wants to learn how to bike, so we were able to teach her too.

Our favourite Sister Salik, is also from Guyana, she is the craziest and funniest woman I have ever met. Everyone knows her and loves her. She told us to wear our bags as hats and made us dance with her. It was so funny.

One time we "klopped" (knocked) at her house and she opened the door yelling: "Sisters welcome"

Saturday we got to do some service at Ezzard´s house (yard work) good thing the Elders came to help because it was a lot of work, my arms are so sore.

Lot of work to do

Love giving service

Working hard

Sunday, everything fell through, but thats okay we just decided to go contacting. Its not always as much fun, as it seems in the LDS movies, anyways no one wanted to listen but we still stayed optimistic. We then pass a van and Zuster Parker says: " The monkey was going crazy in there" so I thought: "Sweet, we can contact them and hold a monkey"
The monkey was going crazy in there and we decided to save it. Once we flopped, we noticed that there was Chinese sign, so we figured that the owner won't be speaking any english or dutch. The man looked at us then said: "Oh" and went back inside his house. I then thought: "Great another rejection". However we were determined to save the monkey. After 3 minutes 3 Chinese men came out of the house, looking a bit intimidating to us, 2 of them went inside the van and the monkey cringed onto his owner and they drove off. So yes, I still haven't hold one ;)
The owner of the house was super nice but he only spoke Sranan (Surinamese) so we couldn't really communicate but God somehow made it clear to us what he was saying and he could understand from our body language what we were saying. We also then called a member who speak Chinese and amid an appointment with Zhang. I can't wait to see how this lesson will go.

Love you all, keep reading the scriptures!

Zuster Vernes

Photos - Sep 5th

Ezzard, me & Zuster Ashkraft 

"Crazy" grandkids - from Remi

The weather does not look too promising

Learning to make Baca Banana & Pinda with Zuster Bishesar

Coconut Water

Service makes me happy - Sep 5th

On Thursday we had the opportunity to do some service. We taught Amisha (12) biking which was THE best. Alisha is a member, she´s the Branch presidents daughter. anyways we taught her in front of her house, however it is just a dirt road and so it is very hard to bike on there. Auster Parker and I would ask her questions so then she wouldn't focus too much on the biking because we noticed that she would then loose her balance and fall. One time she was explaining something whilst biking but we let go of her bike for awhile and so were just running along and it was just so cute because Zuster Parker and I had a huge smile on our faces a she has been biking by herself for at least 5 minutes. Then Amisha started smiling because she then noticed that she was doing it on her own. It was just the cutest thing.

I love doing service it just makes me so happy being able to help!

On Friday we had an exchange, I was still in my new area (Rainville) and Zuster Ashcroft came over there. It was a great exchange, not too many appointments fell through, so that was nice.
Some exchange highlight:

- We visited an active member, Ezzard, he pointed at our name tags and said: "De Kerk van Jesus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen, dat is waar God wont, dat is zijn adres." (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, thats where God lives, that´s His address)

- We ran into a less active, who lives in my previous area, Kwatta, we´ve called him before and tried to contact him but has told me on the phone that he simply won't come to church. He works at the same place as a member, so we went over there, as we had to drop off something. And he came and spoke to us and said he wants to come back to church, so Zuster Ashkraft was able to set an appointment with him in her area. It was so cool to experience that as we tried so hard to meet up with him!

- On Saturday, basically everything fell through, we were close by a members house (Zuster L.) so Zuster Parker and I decided to stop by. As we were about to enter, a guy came up to us and asked when we can come by him. I honestly thought that he was just a creeper so I then said that my companion will take his number. Later I found out that he actually is the son of a member who missionaries have tried to get in contact with, but he always denied. However that night when we stopped by at Zuster L, she told us the she put her son on the 21 day challenge.

The 21 day challenge is basically a chart with different verses from the Book of Mormon. As missionaries we give this to anyone we feel prompted to. For 21 days they will pray in the morning and at night and read the scripture for that day. Before they even start we kneel together and they (the members) will offer a prayer and ask God who is ready to receive the gospel in their lives. After the prayer the Holy Ghost will give them names (friends, family members, acquaintances, less active etc.9 they write the names down, gives us the information and then for the next 21 days they will pray for the people they have been prompted to write down.

It´s a very unique challenge and I have seen so many wonders in this. It is a great way for people to do missionary work and we then receive many referrals which helps us a lot. I hope I was able to explain that well enough.

with Amisha

Kalusha...my favorite

Hope everyone is doing well!

Zuster Vernes

New area and my birthday Aug 29th

Not going to lie, it is very weird being in a new area especially having a birthday whilst being on a mission. That was weird, but it was still fun so many people congratulated me and I didnt really tell anyone. It was very nice. Zuster Parker and I went to a nice place to eat for my birthday, she then told the workers (who we are friends with) that it was my birthday. So they all came out and sung happy birthday in English, Dutch and Sranan with a free ginger brownie and ice cream!

One of the successes this week was contacting and receiving referrals from members.Everyone is getting more pumped to do missionary work which I LOVE!

I love the members in Rainville, they are so nice, they give us a lot of food though and its very spicy.

We also had a great lesson with a member, talked about FHE and just doing things together as a family. It was great as you could see the Spirit witnessing to what we were saying was true.

We took a member with us to our investigator, it was such a good lesson, she was awesome, she bore her testimony, was helping our investigator understand the Word of Wisdom, she was backing us up in what we were saying and the Spirit was very strong. There´s a huge difference when its just your companion and you teaching and when you bring a member along. I encourage all of you to go out the missionaries because it will not just strengthen their testimony but also yours. Its important that we create our own spiritual experiences.

Brother Simon, is a super way cool. This is what he said to us: "God is happiness." Simple but powerful! He lives in a tiny house in the middle of nowhere.

I´m excited for this area. I can see myself stretch and grow more than ever. I am thankful for my companion, Zuster Parker, she oi awesome. I have already learned a lot from her and we work really well together.

We also contacted a guy that works at the graveyard, he got very excited and gave us a whole tour of the graveyard. The graves are interesting here, anyways he wants to know more about our church and I´m excited for the lesson we´ll have with him.

I love you all, keep reading the scriptures and write in your journal.

Mi lobi yu...my Sranan is getting better...tomorrow no fara

Zuster Vernes

Saying goodbye and wanting to hold a monkey Aug 22nd

I was able to feed a monkey, that was so cool. My goal is to hold one but as this one was a bit crazy and I really did not want to get rabbies.

Saying goodbye to Ramona 

Bizarre bean we´ve had