Elder Hunt: 2016-05-01

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

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