May 30, 2016 Greetings from Suriname

Hello everyone! Greetings from Suriname!

This week has been absolutely awesome! It's been a bit crazy but it's been really fun. We had Anna's and Christopher's baptisms this last Saturday which was absolutely awesome! The baptismal service was beautiful. Transfer calls also came this last Saturday, and Elder Lewis is leaving Munder. He's been in this area for 7 transfers (almost a year) so he's excited to see more of Suriname. It was great to be able to have these last two baptisms while he is still here.

Aniel came to church for the first time yesterday. That was a HUGE step for him. Honestly it was after we brought members by that he started making tones of progress so that showed me the importance of member missionary work. We saw him a couple of times this last week and he is doing awesome. He still struggles with the Word of Wisdom, but we've helped him make a plan to overcome that.

We weren't able to sit with Kolif this last week. He had a family member die this last week and so he's been super busy. He keeps reading and coming to church though! He's practically already a member, he just needs to get baptized!

We were able to have an awesome lesson with Roy and Cheryl this last week. We taught about the commandments and obedience and how obedience brings us blessings. At the end of the lesson Roy said he would like to become more active in the church, and Cheryl agreed to be baptized! Their motivation is finally there, so we just need to be able to get them in the right direction.

We were mainly busy preparing Anna and Christopher for their baptisms this last week. The service went really well and they were both very happy. Their testimonies were awesome as well. Anna got up and bore her testimony about how her getting baptized was the will of the Lord, and that she knows she's on the path to return back to live with Him. She ended and turned to sit back down in the congregation and then real quick, got back up and added "oh, en ik ga zeker blijven volharden!" (and I will for sure endure to the end). Christopher got up and bore his testimony on how the Book of Mormon has absolutely changed his life and how he's felt the love of God during his conversion process and especially at his baptism.

It's been another absolutely awesome week with these baptisms. We have been very blessed to be apart of Anna's and Christopher's conversion process. But like in any other teaching situation, it's not the teacher or the missionaries that convert us, it's the Holy Ghost. It reminds me of a scripture in Mosiah 4:11-12 "11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God... even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God... and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith... and if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you. I know that this is the work of the Lord. I know that he has a plan for each one of us, and we will be able to receive his divine help and guidance as we humble ourselves, rely on Him, and pray sincerely to Him. -and then- we will "grow in the knowledge of the glory of Him" and his divine plan of happiness, which does indeed bring us greater happiness than we will ever imagine. Love you all! Have another great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Anna's special Day

Christopher's Baptism Day

the chapel 

Josh's area

The Suriname North Zone

Add caption

May 23, 2016

Hello hello hello! It's been another great week here in Suriname.

We haven't had anything too crazy happen but this next coming Saturday C and A are getting baptized which is really exciting. They both are doing very well and are very excited to be baptized. We will be rapping up the lessons with them and getting them ready for Saturday.

Honestly other then that we haven't been able to see too many other investigators this last week. We have been having a lot of success with our less actives that we have been working with. I've told you about Roy and Cheryl before, a couple here in our area. Well, we weren't able to sit with them this last week but they came to church. And they stayed all three hours too. It's awesome because they are finally starting to make progression. Some other people have also stayed the last two hours of church which was cool. We hit 101 people in sacrament this last week. Our record right now is like 103 so it's getting back up there.

On Saturday the Suriname North Zone went to Saramacca (the Uitkijk area a.k.a. my Surinamese birth place) and did some service for an investigator by digging ditches for a couple of hours. It was fun to go back to an old area and see the familiar sights. I'm still sore from the service though. We were digging through straight mud and clay. But it was a good time.

Other then that it was a pretty chill week. Talk to you all next week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Lewis, Josh and Sister Williams with kids

Digging Trenches 

Was Elder Josh's first area

May 16, 2016

Hallo iedereen! Groetjes vanuit Suriname!!

So this week has been different. We've had a bit too many struggles this week than we'd prefer. We haven't been able to teach as many lessons as we wanted this week. BUT, the lessons that we have had are awesome! And we've had some awesome miracles happen this last week.

First with the struggles. We've been having a lot of bike trouble this last week. Elder Lewis' back tire went out as we were biking to Gijersflijt. It's 30 minutes to get there from our apartment, and it took us an hour and a half to walk back to the apartment. We thought we fixed the problem but we ended up finding out that Elder Lewis' tire needed a new rim. So we fixed that too. Then my gears were going out, so we fixed that. AND then, the new rim for Elder Lewis' bike was having problems. A day and a half later we fixed all of our bike problems. Hopefully we won't have any more for the next few months.

President and Sister Egbert are in Suriname again. We had zone Conference on the temple! And it was awesome! But it did take a lot of time out of our proselyting time. We had interviews, Zone Conference, and then the missionaries were asked to sing at a Fireside that President Egbert was doing. It was really fun as I was the official accompanist.

As there was a lot of this stuff going on we didn't have as many chances to go visit investigators. K, C, and A all came to church again. They're all doing awesome! C and A will be baptized in two weeks, and we're working on getting a baptismal date for K in June.

Miracle for this week. A couple of weeks ago, maybe a month, I was talking about our  investigator A. He wanted a change in his life and decided to meet with us. He wasn't making much progress so me and Elder Lewis were thinking about dropping him. We wanted to bring a member by before we officially dropped him though. There were a couple of weeks where it was hard to meet with him. We were finally able to make contact this last week and brought by some members, and the lesson was awesome! Al asked when was the soonest he could be baptized. We're still working on getting him to church but he's making a lot of progress right now. We heard him pray for the first time this week which was awesome.

President Egbert gave a really cool Zone Conference this last week on temples and he as another awesome quote. He said "You go to the temple to receive a fullness of the Holy Ghost. If you go to the Lord and seek to confirm something, if you feel the same way you do in the temple  it's right. We go to the temple to learn how the Holy Ghost feels". It reminded me of a scripture I read this morning  in 3 Nephi 11:3 "for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice;nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center"

The spirit is one that is felt through our feelings, not necessarily our minds or our brains. The spirit can do that, and we can receive spiritual impressions, but the spirit talked about in this verse is more of a feely thing. Often times spiritual guidance doesn't come from a thought of the mind, but a feeling from the heart. Cool thing to ponder about.

Love you all! Have another great week.

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

basketball court- swimming pool

Elder Burr, Elder Lewis, and Elder Josh

Lots of Rain in Suriname

"White rain" in Suriname

sunset at the Chapel

Branch meets in the building by the two cars

May 9, 2016 Lots of RAIN

Hello hello hello! It's been another rainy week here in Paramaribo. Fun fact, alot of our appointments have been falling through due to flooding that's been going on. That's been a bit difficult this week but the lessons we've had this week have been awesome. Christopher and Anna are doing great. We tuaght Christopher last night and he pretty much bore his testimony about how the gospel has changed his life for 40 minutes. But it was really cool to hear. We've changed his baptismal date to the 28th so he'll be baptized the same day as Anna will be.

A is doing awesome as well. She's been reading and is getting accustomed to the church's culture and the Relief Society sisters very well.  She is so ready to be baptized! (We just have to teach her the rest of the missionary lessons first.)
We haven't been able to sit with K this week because of the crazy weather we've been having but he came to church yesterday which as good. We've been having fun teaching the less actives here too.
Sorry this email is short. But we'll have some more stories this next week
Ik hou van jullie!!!
Elder Hunt

May 2,2016 White rain in the Amazon.. A foot of rain on the roads

Hallo vrienden en familie! Gelukig Moedersdag! Happy Mother's Day mom!

It has been a very rainy and very wet week here in Paramaribo! We've had a weather condition here the locals call 'witte regen' (literally white rain) when the sky is completely white and it pours down rain. It's been raining for a solid 4 to 5 days now, on and off. I have officially bike through flood streets up to a foot high (yes pictures are coming). Suriname has a really good draining system for a 3rd world country but still there are those parts of the city that are not very well systematized (hence the 1 foot flooded streets).

K is doing very well. He was able to attend a baptismal service this last week. Four people were baptized on the same day from different branches which was really cool to see. He loved the service. We asked him if he'd like to be baptized the following week which he said is too fast... so he won't be baptized for another bit. We haven't had a chance to talk to him about since the service but we'll be seeing him tomorrow so hopefully everything will work out.

C is also doing very well. He keeps coming to church (K actually brought him to church which is cool). Our investigators are car pooling to church haha. It's fun to see them build that relationship though.

A is doing awesome! We've been able to have some more really cool lessons with her. We finished teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She had another really cool quote this last week. Teaching about the gospel, we asked her "what does it mean to take upon yourself the name of Christ"? Her response was awesome! She said "Het is een heel grote verantwoordelijkheid! Wanneer wij de naam van Christus aan ons nemen, hebben wij een verlangen en nastreven om zoals Jezus Christus te worden, elke dag van onze levens" (It's a very big responsibility. Taking the name of Jesus Christ upon yourself is a desire and striving to become like Jesus Christ everyday of your life). She is doing absolutely awesome. She's was also telling us how she has been loving church, specifically the hymns and the Relief Society lessons. Her testimony is growing so much. It's so cool to see.

We've also been able to see some other miracles this week as well. R and C are a couple that we are teaching. R is a less active and C is a non member. We've been teaching them off and on with little progress. But this last Saturday we had an awesome lesson, for which they were very grateful. They said they'll come to church (still working on that one), and read out of the Book of Mormon every day.

We've also been teaching another less-active, S.  is an earlier member of the church here in Suriname, and she has been less active for several years. We've been having awesome lessons with her and she keeps agreeing to come to church, but she's never come, until this last week! She finally broke a streak of no church attendance (which has lasted for years) this last week, and came to church! Those are very cool moments on a mission.

This past week I've been studying and pondering Helaman 5: 35
35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

I've been pondering all lot about what it means to yield our hearts unto God. Among a number of things, it's realizing and getting rid of our pride, and humbling ourselves before the Lord. We're then promised 4 specific blessings from this scripture. This yielding brings the miracles and blessings of the gospel. It brings us the joy our Heavenly Father wants us to have. Among the many complications there can be is yielding and humbling and surrendering our will, is the promised blessing that we will find greater joy. Very cool!

Love you all! Have another great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Four Baptisms in their District

Elder Burr collecting books

Amazon rain season, a foot deep

Amazon White Rain rained for 5 days!

Soaked for Days, how waterproof are his shoes really?

Elder Lewis 

April 28,2016 Time is flying by!

Hallo iedereen!! I can't believe that it's almost the end of April. Time is flying by! Everything's been so busy that you lose track of time.

This week has been another rough week of investigators. We've been able to meet with Kolif, Christopher, and Anna but other then that not too many other people. We've had a normal amount of lessons but it's felt like we've had a lesser amount for some reason.

Kolif is doing great. He's reading like crazy and loves learning from the missionaries and church members. He keeps coming to church too. The only thing that's holding him back from being baptized is that he wants to see a baptismal service before he is baptized. We've had like 3 that we've tried to take him to. The first two were canceled and he couldn't make it to the 3rd one. BUT, there's four baptisms this next Saturday, and one of them is bound to go through so he'll see one yet haha.

Christopher is doing awesome as well. We've started teaching him the commandments and has been very receptive to everything. He came to church again and he says that he knows a good amount of people at church already which is awesome! In Gospel Principles class he was giving all the answers which is cool to see an investigator do.

It is so awesome to teach Anna! She has been absolutely loving the discussions and she loves it at church too! She keeps calling us for appointments and she called a member we took by her for a ride to church. She's always so happy when we go see her. She is such an honest seeker of the truth and always shares the most powerful testimonies with us. She keeps saying "ik honger naar de waarheid!" (I hunger for truth). Me and Elder Lewis always leave her lessons dazed, but also on a spiritual high.

Other then that we've had a pretty chill week. We met and taught this new investigator that we have named Steve. Steve works in the millitary and is a bit of a rougher guy. He definitly wasn't interested in what we had to say when we contacted him, but after teaching him the Restoration the first lesson, you could tell that he felt something heavy. The spirit was so strong, and you could feel it working on him. It was obviously the first time he had ever had such an experience. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and agreed to read it. It is so cool to see the change the spirit wrought in this guy. He went from being a rough guy in the military who had nothing to do with religion to agreeing to read the Book of Mormon! The catch- he's headed to the binnenland (interior) for 2 weeks since that's where he works in the military. But we'll definitely see him again.

Love you all! Have another great week!

Ik hou can jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Note the Hindu temple on the left and the Islamic Mosque on the right

Suriname close to where they live

they have been passing a lot of these out and working on family history

Commowijnebrug Bridge connects Paramaribo to Eastern Suriname

the colors are so bright and colorful

1000 miles on his bike in 5 weeks!!!

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