Monday, April 18, 2016

Adrian from New Amsterdam (last area) got baptized ! April 18, 2016

Hallo iedereen! Fawaka vanuit de Surinaamse mensen!
Hello hello! Been another great week here in de stad van Paramaribo! We have had some really cool miracles and lessons this last week. We also got transfer calls this week, and I broke my record(s)!! I haven't 1) switched countries, 2) switched areas, and 3) switched companions. Me and Elder Lewis are staying together for another transfer. This will make 10 months for Elder Lewis in the Munder area. I guess the Lord has more miracles for us to facilitate!
C has been doing AWESOME! He's been to church 7 times now and loves reading the Book of Mormon. He heard the member's testimonies of the temple in sacrament meeting and now really wants to go to the temple. Hopefully his baptismal date goes through for the 30th this month. We still have a few things to teach him maar alles zullen goed komen!
Ch also came to church for the first time this last week, and he loved it! Turns out he actually knows a lot of people at church already! He's been telling us how it seems like all this stuff he's learning from us and the Book of Mormon he's learned before. It was cool to teach him that we did learn about all this stuff before, in the pre-existance.
I know J from Uitkijk my last area is still on date to get baptized at the beginning of May.  Do you remember Adrian from New Amsterdam? He's the boy we found there.  I just found out he got baptized as well!

We also have been teaching another lady, A, and we've had some awesome lessons with her. She comes from a very active Christian background but is very interested in the Book of Mormon. She won't agree to a baptismal date until she has an unmistakable answer that the Book of Mormon is true, but it'll come. She's been saying all the right things an investigator should be saying and experiencing. The spirit has been so strong at her lessons. She had a cool quote this last week, saying "Het koningkrijk Gods begint met u zelfde. Het begint met u ziel." (The kingdom of God begins with yourself. It begins with your soul), which has a lot of truth to it. The minute we allow God into our lives and the many things he gives us, we receive so many different blessings, and we'll also he able to help build God's kingdom.
Other then that it's been a pretty chill week. We hit 103 in sacrament this last week! We'll get our own church building here soon! It's exciting.
Elder Lewis' bike tire blew out Saturday. So for 2 days we've been walking. And I will tell you I am very grateful for our bikes!!! They make the work so nice (and faster)!! We'll fix it today so everything will be back to normal.
Have a great week!
Ik hou van jullie!!!
Elder Hunt  


The Paramaribo district with Jordan Beschizaar (right) who just got back from his mission from the Netherlands.

Church building in Paramaribo, Suriname... It is 2 stories
Dahl food










I'm so fortunate to have the best calling one can get, BEING A MISSIONARY! April 11,2016

Hallo iedereen en groetjes vanaf deze Surinaamse land!

It has been an awesome week this last week. We've had our first week in a long time where we didn't have any interruptions with General Conference or people visiting Suriname. We have been able to have a lot of lessons this last week which is awesome!

It's been a bit odd this week because a lot of the members are still on their temple trip in Manaus, Brazil. Between hearing the stories that members have been relating and the encouragement everyone heard at Conference about going to the temple has excited the remaining members here to make it a goal to go to the temple. It's interesting because a lot are planning on going with the district to Manaus again in September, and others want to visit The Hague, Netherlands temple as well. Pretty much everyone here either has lived in the Netherlands, has family in the Netherlands, or has at least visited the Netherlands. So in the travels that people will make in going to the Netherlands they'll visit the temple there in the Hague. Surinaamers are optimistically confident that given time, Suriname will get it's own temple though. I can't wait for that day!

C is still doing awesome! He keeps reading and we had good lessons talking about tithing, scripture study, and daily prayer this week. It's been a bit hard to visit him though because he's been busy. We'll have to bump his baptismal date back a week since we need more time to visit him. So hopefully he'll be baptized on the 23rd. 

Ch is doing great as well. He has a baptismal date for mid-May and continues to read the Book of Mormon like crazy. He's in 2 Nephi 11 now. He's been so receptive to the message of the Restoration and the message of the Book of Mormon. AND it's been awesome to see the change it makes in him. We as missionaries are here to teach and invite investigators and members to keep commitments. It's then the spirit that wroughts that change that is so cool to see in people.

We also picked up a really awesome investigator this week named S. She's been an awesome investigator to have. She comes from a Hindu background and doesn't know too much about Christianity, but she wants to believe in Jesus Christ and is so anxious to learn more about the gospel. After establishing a good foundation of who God and Jesus Christ are we've been able to teach her the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. She said she's also received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, stating simply "Elders, ik heb een antwoord gekregen door de geest dat het Boek van Mormon waar is!" It'll be awesome to continue teaching her.

It's been another great week here! I'm so fortunate to have the best calling one can get, BEING A MISSIONARY! It's been challenging but also really fun. Fun Fact: This last week we contacted a really cool lady, and turns out she listens to the Spoken Word program the Mormon Tabernacle Choir puts out every Monday. Apparently they show the Spoken Word on the gospel channel here in Suriname haha. We've picked her up as a new investigator this last week so it'll be fun to teach her.

Have a great week! I'll talk to you all later with more to come!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt