May 8,2017

Goedemorgen en groetjes uit Suriname!

We've had a great week. One of the best we've seen in Commewijne. It's been raining a tone this past week! Many Surinamers are saying it's the big rainy season now. That means it rains everyday, and it dumps when it does! It's been making the dirt roads here very muddy, and that's not fun to bike in. My shoes are getting destroyed too...

We are seeing great success and progress in our investigator Rosieta and her daughter Somalie. They were so excited to go to church! We agreed that we would meet them at their house and walk with them to church. Not only was Rosieta ready, but she had two of her daughters with her, and 4 grandchildren! We walked with our little brigade to church, where the members gladly welcomed them. Commewijne finally got a piano! Keep in mind that church is still held at someone's house. They were all very happy to have accompaniment for sacrament. It'd been weird because the weeks before was the first time I did not accompany in nearly 15 months.

my scripture I'm sharing this week is in D&C 19:23

Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.

It's interesting to think about what it means to walk in the meekness of [the Lord's] spirit. What does that mean? According to a church source meekness is defined as "Godfearing, righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering. The meek are willing to follow gospel teachings". So we should walk godfearingly, righteously, humbly, teachably, and patiently. Only then do we find the peace of Godliness that the gospel brings. It's an interesting concept to ponder about...

Have a great week! Sorry this week is a short letter, I'm short on time today.

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Pink Skies

Muddy roads of Voorburg

MAY 1,2017

Dus is al de tijd snel gegaan. Maar wij hebben toch veel wonders in ons gebied gezien!

Well well well, another week as already rolled passed. We had a great week, full of miracles! We've been busy finding more people to teach, and have been able to set a few on date.

We got transfer calls this past week. Both me and my comp are staying in the same area. We're going on transfer 3 together. Longest I've every had with any companion. We were sort of anticipating our area being split. There's been talk of of the mission splitting our area in half, because it is way too big for us to structurally manage. We helped the senior couple find a new apartment for a new missionary set last month. 2 new elders were supposed to come in this transfer, creating a new are. But, one of them does not have his visa, so we're staying all the same. They'll probably split Commewijne in half the last transfer of my mission.

We have started teaching a wonderful mother and her daughter, Rosieta and Somalie. We've been able to visit them a few times. We had a wonderful Restoration lesson with them, and both accepted a date in June. They're very excited and we're very excited for them too.

Another example how I've seen we've been led to investigators was yesterday actually. We had an appointment to go to, just before we went in for the night. The lady ended up not being home. We decided to follow up on a referral we had. When we arrived at the street, we realized we didn't have a house number for the referral. So we start "kloping" (knocking) at the houses on the street to find the referral. This one house wasn't answering. A man walked by and asked if we needed help. He kloped for us, but no one ended up answering. We ended up talking to this man though. Turns out he was a previous investigator in Guyana, and was super excited to sit with missionaries again.

President Egbert shared with us a great quote last week. It says:
"If you are poor, work. If you are happy, work. Idleness gives room for doubts and fears.
If disappointments come, work.When your faith falters and reason fails, just work.
When dreams are shattered and hope is gone, work. Work as if your life is in peril, it really is.
Work faithfully. Work is the greatest remedy available for both mental and physical affliction."

I testify as a missionary that that is true! Work is the way we show our faith. We may not understand way things happen the way they do. But we keep going. We keep working. In the end, everything will work out. The Lord will consecrate our efforts. That is the beauty of this gospel.

Love you all, have a great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

May Amazing

Dutch home

Look Up

Drink Up

April 24,2017

Hallo iedereen! Ik hoop iedereen een mooie week heeft gehad! We've had some struggles but also successes this week, and we're really feeling the Lord's had helping us in the work. 

I'll start with the bad news first so I'll end off with the good news. Charissa dropped us. We have no idea why. We haven't been able to get in contact with her via phone or going to her house. I'd been so confused because we had such a great lesson with her last Saturday and she was so excited for her baptismal date coming up.

But we've been able to see many miracles coming up and happening this past week. One was on Saturday. We met a wonderful lady named Venesa, a referral from our landlord actually. She lives in the same area as we do and as we were leaving our apartment, I got the impression that we should see if she was home. We went by and she let us right into her home. We had a great lesson with her and have a return appointment to teach her family tomorrow.

We had a couple of appointments lined up Saturday afternoon that ended up falling through, so we decided we'd go contacting after trying to see if there was anyone we could see. As I grabbed my bag to walk out the door, we get a phone call. This man named Djin called us, a previous investigator. He simply said "It's been a while since I've seen you, can you come over today"? It had been nearly 7 months since he'd received any sort of visit from the missionaries. We bike the hour bike ride to his house and had a great lesson with him.

We've been seeing all sorts of small miracles in the work this past week. We might of lost an investigator but we've been finding plenty more. We've seen plenty of success and really feel like the Lord is preparing our area. Helaman 5:2-3 Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit have great views of that which is to come;

Ik hope you all have a great week. Talk to you next week! 

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Group in Suriname

Native Flower

Main road in Suriname

APRIL 18, 2017

Goededag en gezegende passen!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. Suriname has a thing here called "Tweede Passen", second Easter, the Monday after Easter. So we're emailing today. We've had some really cool experiences this week.

We had a really cool experience a new investigator named Rosieta. She is a very nice lady. She's currently going through a great many problems though. We've had some very spiritual lessons with her though. I remember one lesson she was expressing to us in tears why she had to deal with all of these problems. I remember my heart aching for this lady, and I remember praying to know what on earth I could say to help her. A confirmation to me said to teach her the Restoration, like we had planned to do. We ended up having a good lesson, and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. It's amazing to see how the Lord prepares people to hear the message of the Restoration, and how he puts people like Rosieta in our path so we can teach them about the gospel.

We had a good Easter. We saw good church attendance and enjoyed listening to the testimonies of the members. We had studies and did some contacting. We were then headed to our evening appointments when I crashed my bike trying to avoid a snake in the road. Sorry, I wasn't able to get a picture of the snake. But I promise it was a cool pink and black stripped snake. I bent my front wheel and sprained my left hand in the crash. We were out in the middle of no where so we had to walk back to our apartment. It wasn't too far though. I enjoyed listening to some conference talks while icing my hand for the last part of Easter haha. Mission memories :)

Sorry, it feels like my email time keeps getting shorter. I have to go, but I wish you all a great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Eating Lunch with a member

Hanging out in the jungle

Missionaries in Suriname

Waiting for a Ferry

April 10,2017

Goedemorgen en groetjes uit Suriname!

We had quite the week this week. The assistants and the Egberts were here in Suriname this past week. We were able to go out teaching with both of them this week.

We had an amazing Zone Conference this week on the Gathering of Israel. We are all literal fulfillment of the gathering of Israel, and for me, it helps me think about how important this work is. Prophets and peoples have heard about our day for thousands of years, and how the world has entered this final chapter of its history. Really cool!

We had a great experience teaching with President and Sister Egbert this week. We were able to visit Charissa with them and had a wonderful lesson on the Priesthood; one of President Egbert's favorite subjects. After the lesson, we get back in the car, and President Egbert, from the driver's seat, looks back at us and says "Elders, you found the elect". Then Sister Egbert adds "Yeah you did, she could give the reader's digest of the Book of Mormon!" I guess we've been doing a good job ;)  Charissa is doing great! We're excited for her to get baptized here soon. We're starting to teach her 3 kids too.

I am so grateful for President Egbert and for his leadership here in the Trinidad Port of Spain mission. We've been able to see growth here in Commewijne, and we will continue to see it grow. I've learned how powerful the simple things of the gospel really can be. Such as simply teaching someone about who God is. Some of my most cherished memories have been teaching people simple truths like who God is. Jeremiah 16:15-16  But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

16 ¶ Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Talk to you later!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Trying to find the road, love the Amazon

Pres. Egbert took this picture, where we found one of our investigators

MARCH 20, 2017

Goedemorgen en groetjes uit Suriname! Het is een mooie week hier in Commewijne geweest!

I hope everyone had another great week. We were able to have an awesome week to end off the transfer.

It's been pretty hot here this past week. It's getting to that time of year here in Suriname where the weather dries up a little before the big rainy season sets in. We've had a fun time contacting this last week. Our contacting area we're focusing on reminds me a lot of Idaho actually. Commewijne in general reminds me of Idaho. Rexburg at least. There's a good amount of people, but everything is spread out. And the houses here are randomly scattered through out the bush, so we're exploring these jungly streets. The picture shows an example.

We had an absolute wonderful Sunday! We were able to see three investigator families come to church!!! It literally doubled the attendance of church here. Shawn and Veronica came with their little boy, Lorenzo and Nancy were able to come with their two children, and Sharissa was able to bring two of her children with her. It was so great to see everyone at church! For me it was a very sweet moment because we had worked and worked and WORKED to get investigators to church. Not a single investigator came to church the entire transfer, until yesterday! That was a testimony builder for me that the Lord does recognize the work we put in as missionaries to build up the area. He's also busy preparing other people so they are prepared to receive His blessings too.

Sharissa bore a powerful testimony during gospel principles about how she had been searching for the truth for so long, and now she's found it! She said she loves all the couples that come to church with their children, which encouraged her to involve her family more in church. As a missionary it's so great to hear an investigator say that! We're very excited to help her prepare for baptism.

Matthew 22: 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. I hope you all have another wonderful week! I'll talk to you all next week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt