January 18,2016

Hallo Hallo iedereen! It's been another great week in Uitkijk. Definitely a bit of a struggle this week but we still have awesome stuff going on this week.

I led out the area again, this time with Elder Bowen. We had a fun day in Groningen being able to see a couple of less actives, visited President Schipper, and then went by M and the R's. We had a great lesson with Melissa. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ that lesson. We then challenged her to a baptismal date and she accepted! She also agreed to come to church this Sunday. That was my first baptismal invitation that I'd ever given in Dutch. It was a bit rough but she got the idea.The R's are absolutely awesome (as usual ;) ). We have had a couple of lesson with them this week and they're doing great! Sunday attendance this week was a bit rough. There was a power outage just hours before church started so not too many people came. Neither M or the R's came this week which was disappointing. BUT, when we went by the R's Sunday night, they said that they got ready for church (they even got up at 7 to go), but weren't able to because they needed gas in their car and with the power outage they weren't able to pump gas into their car. They did make the effort to go to church though. Their baptismal service is scheduled for this Saturday. We can still technically baptize them according to mission standards. Elder Dibb and I are a bit hesitant but we think we'll continue with their baptism this Saturday. They are so ready for baptism, and so excited for membership in the church. We'll keep you posted.

Not too much has been going on other then that. A lot of lessons have been falling through this week. We didn't get nearly as many as what we've normally been getting. We have been doing a lot more of contacting this week. We were able to get a good number of contacts, nothing too promising from what we've been finding. But we keep going at it, finding those that the Lord would have us teach. Dutch is coming pretty good though. I feel like I can speak basic Dutch. I can understand a good amount too (but at the same time it depends on who's talking haha).

A great lesson I've come to learn this week is to always have gratitude in our hearts, no matter our circumstances. Being able to have gratitude for what we've been given makes it soooo much easier to have charity for others. I've really found that it is so much more easy to have charity for others when we're focused on the blessings we've been given. We're generally more happy and we're able to help others more. As Moroni 7 says, charity never faileth. What an awesome scripture!!

I am absolutely loving being a missionary here. All our difficulties that we have are swallowed up in our joy in Christ and the gospel. Thanks again!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Dutch Beach cruiser 

Hindi donut

AMAZING SUNSET

MULTI ZONE SPORTS P-DAY

Jan 11... pictures

 Synagogue and Mosgue right by each other. Only place in the world that these 2 are together

downtown Paramaribo

scripture case

Pictures

not the easiest way to cut a tree down

With Elder Dibbs

local Church building

Dutch Bikes... little hard to fix

water in Groningen

January 11, 2016

Hallo iederien!! Het was een andere geweldig week in Uitkijk geweest! It's definately an exciting time to be a missionary in Uitkijk with lots of awesome things going on.

Wednesday I was on a trade off in Koerasan (the branch just east of Uitkijk) with Elder Prosman. Prosman is another missionary from the Netherlands. . We did a ton of service that day. I was able to use een hower (machete) a bunch. We cleared off some vines and plants off of a building, taught a few lessons, and then went to another member's house to cut down some trees (yes using a machete). I did get pictures I'll send them after.

This week we were able to go to an area called Calcutta. It's an hour's drive west of Uitkijk, past Groningen and Tigercreek. As far as we know, me and Elder Dibb are the first missionaries to go as far out as Calcutta, which was a cool feeling. We had received from referrals out there and so me and Elder Dibb were able to make it out there with Broeder Bakker, a recent convert here. Our first appointment was a referral given to us from the RS President in Paramaribo. He showed us around his orchard that he has, gave us a tone of fruit, had some roti (there was a lot), and then had a lesson with them. Our second appointment had dinner with roti for us as well. That was very nice of them to do. I felt sick from how much food they gave us on the car ride back haha. They were very friendly, don't know how serious about the Book of Mormon they are, but it was cool. Quite the adventure being the first missionaries there.

We did a lot of service this week. We crushed up some charcoal for Gerde, one of the members here. It turns into some powder used in pot making. I got some fun blisters from it. That same day we also went to the church and cleaned up the front of the church. The church looks a lot more presentable. I have before and after pictures that I'll send.

In terms of investigators we have some awesome stuff going on. The R family are absolutely on fire right now!! They came to church again last week, which was awesome to see all 8 of them there! I won't go into detail but the R family have been going through some struggles. And instead of putting the gospel off, they're doing the exact opposite. They're having family scripture study as well as family prayers everyday which is awesome. The last appointment we had with them, Zuster R  said "Het macht niet uit, wij gaan naar de kerk!" (no matter what, we're going to church!). It is absolutely awesome to see the blessings of the gospel blossom in this family. They just need to come to church one more week and they'll be set for baptism.

We haven't been able to meet with "M" this week. She lives in Groningen area and has been really busy with work so it's hard to meet with her since we only go to Groningen on certain days. We are also Zondag, also in Groningen area. He has had some struggles with the Word of Wisdom and now wants to meet with the missionaries so he can over come these problems he's been having. We have taught him a couple of times. In our last appointment we taught him the Restoration. In that appointment he said "Ik wil meer van dit in mijn leven." (I want more of this [happiness] in my life). He's been reading the Book of Mormon and is very much so interested in learning more.

Other then that it's been a good-old, exhausting week this week. We biked a good 120 miles this week with some fun service like smashing charcoal and chopping down trees with howers. It's an awesome time though! I absolutely love it out here. It's awesome to see the miracles and blessings and power the gospel brings not only in the lives of our investigators, but also in our lives as missionaries. It's really cool to see.

Thank you all again!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

The Calcutta.. one hour drive from where they live

January 5, 2016

Hallo iederien! Het heeft een andere gekke week hier in Suriname zijn! It's been another good old Uitkijk week here with tones of cool stuff happening.

Good gracious! New Years here puts anything you see in the states to shame!! It's a war-zone here at New Years time. I had to put in earplugs to get any sleep. Thankfully I slept through the entire night which I consider a blessing. A lot of our appointments fell through for New Years which was a bit of a bummer, but it's like that around holidays. We had a branch New Years party on the 1st which was fun. We had a little testimony meeting and then ate some Pindesoep which is like Peanut Butter in soup form. You eat it with these little balls of dough with some chicken. It's a fun little Creole food here in Suriname.

Wednesday I led out the area of Uitkijk. I know right? I've only been in the area for 2 weeks with only 2 weeks worth of Dutch behind me. It went pretty well though. We biked the 70 minute bike ride to Groningen, where President Schipper lives. We had a little lesson with him. We usually then work our way back with some other people that we visit. But coming back I got a flat on my back tire. And let me tell you,DUTCH BIKES ARE COMPLICATED! Luckily I had a Dutchman with me, Elder Van Den Herik. Elder Van Den Herik is from the Netherlands and understands Dutch bikes really well so he was able to help me get my bike fixed and up and running again so we could bike back that night. Fun stuff.

President and Sister Egbert have been in Suriname for the past week or so. They spent Sunday in Uitkijk and came to church here. Fast Sunday here was awesome. The R's came to church which is AWESOME! They're on line right now for baptism on the 23rd this month. They just need to come to church 2 more times and they'll be ready. Sister Egbert says thank you, mom, for making me play the piano. She says I'm one of only a handful of people she knows that came play piano in the entire mission. President Egbert got up and bore his testimony in Dutch which was cool to hear.  Broeder R also got up and bore his testimony of how the gospel has blessed he and his family. Zuster Ronerajo started to cry by how powerful the spirit was there in that meeting.

The R family are doing absolutely steller! We had a lesson on the Atonement with them Sunday night which was an awesome lesson. Some how that lesson evolved into going to the temple and family history work. They have said they are planning on going to the temple here within the next year after their baptism which is awesome. They also want to start doing some family history after their baptism so me and Elder Dibb have been looking for the best ways of going about doing that. They're absolutely awesome!

We are continuing to teach M. We were supposed to see her Wednesday but because my bike broke down we didn't have enough time. We were able to meet with her Sunday and teach her the rest of Het Heilsplan(Plan of Salvation). She's continued to read and accepted the invitation to be baptized. The next step with her is getting her to church. Hopefully we'll see her there within the next week.

We have a number of other investigators that we are also working with. We haven't been able to see them much, if at all this week because of New Years and Christmas. Everything will resume back to normal this next coming week hopefully.

I am absolutely loving Uitkijk as usual! It is so much fun down here! Yes mom and dad I got your package with the new camera. I am having way too much fun with this thing. I may or may not have already taken a few hundred pictures on it. I do need to apologize. The computers here are a bit sketchy so I can't send home pictures without getting a virus. But I promise I have taken TONES of pictures. I promise I'll catch up haha!

I absolutely love being a missionary. It's definitely a privilege to be able to do the Lord's work here in Suriname. The gospel is absolutely amazing! I am very grateful for it and for the chance that I have to be able to share it with others.

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

January 5,2016

Sweet questions from Elder Hunt's sister to him:

Do you and your companion have the same bike? We don't have the same bike. Both of our bikes are Dutch imported though.

Do you like the food there? The food here is great. You can get a lot of Dutch food and American food from the big stores here and then everyone usually feeds us Guyanese or Asian food.

Can you get milk chocolate there? Yes the Chocolate milk here is amazing! Not as good as the states but definitely very tasty!

Is there a beach close by?  When we go up to Leiding (which is the north part of our area), we are about 3 miles from the coast. But no I haven't been to the beach yet. We're hoping to go within the next couple of weeks.

How are you able to email us?  We go to internet cafes to email. There aren't any in Uitkijk area so we're also allowed to email from our church building in Uitkijk.

What time dose your church start?  Church starts at 10am.

Were do you and your companion sleep and have your meals?  We have our own small house that we live in (pictures on the way).

December 28,2015

Hey everyone!! Vroelijke Kerst! It's been another awesome week here in Suriname! A lot of exciting stuff has been happening here

We had an awesome/interesting Christmas!  Monday all the Surinamer missionaries got together and had a big Christmas party.  We got some food, did a White Elephant gift thing and played some Ware-wolf. We were supposed to have a Branch Christmas party but it got cancelled last minute. We knew the members were going to be bummed about it so we decided to fire up the oven, bake some cookies (thank you for the recipes mom;) ), and go caroling to all the members here. We invited those we caroled to, to come with us so by the end we had a pretty good amount of people caroling with us.

Christmas itself was cool. Our first appointment for the day cancelled on us so we headed to Koerasan (the branch just east of Uitkijk) where we were going to go Skype. Skyping was fun, but did feel a little short. We were only allowed like 30 minutes skyping. After skyping we headed back to the apartment and then headed to the R's who invited us over for Christmas dinner. It was fun eating with them.  I brought some of my no bake cookies to the dinner. Apparently they were really good because Zuster R asked for the recipe :)

The R's themselves are doing awesome. We got them back on date for baptism in late January. They said they would make it to church for the next three weeks. It'll be very exciting to see them at church. They've continued reading and praying which was awesome. We were going to share a lesson with them after dinner but then a huge car accident happened on the street outside their house so they ran out to help with that. The accident completely blocked off the road, and it took an 1 and a half to 2 hours to clean it up. That street was our only way home so we didn't get back home until like 11 at night.

We also were able to have another lesson with M on Sunday. We weren't able to teach her last week because of the Christmas craziness. She was very excited to tell us not only what she read in Het Boek van Mormon but also what she was learning from it. We had a lesson with her on the plan of salvation and she was very receptive to everything. We are hoping to get her on date for baptism here in the near future.

Other then that Uitkijk has been pretty fun. I was pretty amused when I heard Dutch reggae music for the first time haha. Suriname's quite the interesting place. It's pretty fun to be out in the jungle quite honestly.  It's not crazy like in the city.  It's very content and quiet.  Sometimes we'll be working/proselyting somewhere and off in the distance you can hear a group of baboons in the jungle.

I am absolutely having the time of my life out here in Uitkijk! The people are great and I love speaking Dutch even if I can only speak a little.  My package hasn't come yet so I don't have any pictures as for now< Thank you for all your support! I'll be back next week with more to come!!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Gifts that they took to their investigators. Each had a message on it 

No Bake cookies that everyone loved, and Danish bread with cream cheese and another topping

Peanut Butter  Cookies