Tuesday, September 15, 2015

what we learned from a friend who served there 20 years ago


“I spoke French and served in French Guyana and Guadeloupe. When I was there 20 years ago the Surname elders had 1 apartment and transfers were literally move from this room to that room. The People in Surinam are terrific and he should have fantastic success. They are very accepting. he may spend a stint in st Marteen which is beautiful. 
I was just there (The mission not Surinam) last summer and I am Aching to go back again. Elder Gamiette is the area general Authority he is from the Islands and a fantastic man. I had the privilege to meet the mission president while we were there I can't remember the names but they were fantastic as well. It is a fantastic mission he will see plenty of wild life lot's of monkeys. My personal favorite beast was the Sloth very cool.

There are several mission blogs that should give him a good flavor for what to expect. 
It is awesome he is going to the greatest corner of the world created.”


So its a different experience for dutch speaking missionaries, because there are only about 12 or 16 of them. He will most likely know all of his companions as transfers sometimes are just moving bedrooms in the house they live in. The poverty of Suriname and Guyana is noticeable, and their are big bugs etc. but he will adjust. He will on occasion have to take bucket showers, deal with power outages, and bad food. However, the missionaries are take care of there. They have very nice apartments and have plenty of money for food etc. 

They eat a lot of rice and chicken. It rains and everything turns into mud. People still use donkey karts to haul things around. Some of the most spiritual moments of my life came sitting on five gallon buckets in the dirt floor homes of people we were teaching in Suriname and guyana. With that said, dirt floors are rare. 

They will not be tracking in the jungle. He will be in cities with faithful members. The church has been there since 1990. If he does fine camping, Suriname and Guyana will be a breeze. Trinidad is very nice and very much like the states. 

It really is a special mission. Not many missionaries are called there. He will meet many Hindu and Muslims, Christianity comes in a close 3rd. 

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