Goedemorgen! November 14, 2016

Aniel's baptismal service!

Aniel and Josh

Goedemorgen! Het is 'n ander geweldig week in Paramaribo. Het is 'n heel fijn ochtend hier in Nieuwe Grond!

Good morning and greetings from Paramaribo! What an amazing week! This week has been full of spiritual insights and fun experiences.

First off, transfer calls came this week, and Elder Voigt is leaving me. He's headed up to Paramaribo branch. I'm staying in Wanica, and I will be training again! It's been awesome serving with Elder Voigt. I've learned a lot from him. My new companion should be brand new, coming straight from the MTC. I'm excited for this next coming transfer. President Egbert in Zone Conference this week, challenged us to prayerfully select a number of baptisms that we'll expect to have by January, and report that number to our leaders. It's cool because as we've been getting closer to the new transfer, we've been getting an unusual number of referrals from members and other missionaries (it's funny how that works right around transfer times ;) with new companions). I'm excited because these referrals are sweet and will allow us to get a running start this next coming transfer.

Do ya'll remember our investigator Aniel that I taught back in Paramaribo branch? He got baptised this last week! Me and Elder Lewis were able to attend his baptismal service. He was soo happy. I've never seen him that happy.

We had a cool experience with our investigator Peter. His lessons are always so awesome because he actually reads and understands and remembers everything that we ask him to read, so he already knows everything by the time we teach him! We invited him to Aniel's baptismal service, and not only did he agree to come, but he also offered to give us a ride! So how did we get to the baptismal service, by one of our investigators! I've never seen that one before.

Chandra is doing well. We had an awesome lesson with her, themed about receiving personal revelation through prayer and scripture study. It is so awesome to see her faith increase. The Book of Mormon really does bring miracles!

We had a fun lesson with the Sabajo kids this week. We sat in a circle and reviewed a Plan of Salvation diagram me and Elder Voigt made. We then shared with them 2 Nephi 2:27-28 and gave them some Dutch CTR rings, Kies de Goede Weg (literally, Choose the Good Way).

This morning I read in 3 Nephi 28:10, saying "10 And for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one;"

What a wonderful promise the Lord promises each of us if we endure to the end. I find this scripture so important because it outlines that the goal is, what the Lord's goal is and what our goal should be. I'm grateful for the knowledge the Book of Mormon has given me to know that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are constantly, non-stop working to help us and guide us so that we can safely find our ways back home. "God bless us home." a quote President Egbert shared with us from a recent convert in Trinidad.

Have another great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Loves To cook

Lemon bars! Me and Elder Voigt made some lemon bars this week

hello goedemorgen ik ben op! 11-7-2016

Hallo en goedemorgen vanuit Paramaribo!

It's been quite the interesting week here in Wanica. We've had some really sweet experiences this week. I can't believe another week has gone by. Things just keep speeding up, it's so crazy how fast time flies. It's been a bit annoying as we have not been able to sit with our progressing investigators as much this week, due to random events, BUT, on the flip side of that we've been able to meet a lot of awesome people this past week!

I LOVE serving in the gemeente Wanica! There are so many awesome members here that we have the chance to work with. They're so much fun to interact with and are so willing to come teaching with us. They're great help for our investigators. We have been able to sit with Chandra this week. It's awesome to see the transition she's making. She's becoming more involved in the branch and is now a part of several classes offered at the church.

I absolutely love the Book of Mormon and for everything that it stands for. Christ himself commented on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 16:4, saying  4 And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, ... that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, ... [that they ]may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer.

I love sharing and teaching about the Book of Mormon to others, to help them understand the power and the impact the Book of Mormon has. The Book of Mormon is the means by which the Lord will bring about His eternal purposes in the latter-days. How blessed we are to have such a wonderful book!

Have another great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

The synagogue dates back to the the 17th Century

We had the chance to go visit some old Jewish ruins today. Yep, you get another one of my history rants. I love learning about this history. The Dutch have always been known for their religious tolerance. Back during the colonial period, all people living within the borders of the Dutch empire enjoyed the right to religious freedom. That freedom drew many people in Europe to Holland, including Portuguese Jews fleeing persecution.

What we visited today were the remains of the third Jewish synagogue built in the Western hemisphere (The first was built in a Dutch colony in Brazil). It was built by these Portuguese Jews who fled to Holland. These Jews who fled to the Netherlands played an important role in Dutch colonization and trade, and helped colonize and establish trade connections for the Dutch accordingly. Their legacy is marked in Jewish branches that can still be found in places like New York City, Jamaica, Curacao, Suriname, Brazil, South Africa, and even Ceylon and Indonesia in Asia.

old Hebrew writing 

With companion 

Jewish Ruin

Happy Halloween 10-31-2016

Goededag iedereen! Het heeft een ander geweldig dag geweest!

Happy Halloween! I forgot it was Halloween until like an hour ago. They don't celebrate Halloween here. Halloween is an American thing. The Hindus here just celebrated what they call Duwali. It's a holiday where Hindu's celebrate the event of good overcoming evil. They celebrate it by making really good food (nice for missionaries ;) ), lighting candles and putting them in their yards at night, and lighting off fireworks.

We've had some really exciting things happen this last week. Chandra is still doing really well. She has a REALLY strong desire to get baptised and her baptismal date means everything for her. We haven't been able to meet with Ritchelle this week. She's been really sick, but hopefully we'll be able to get back in touch with her this week.

We found a really cool new investigator this week named Marlien. We met Marlien through door to door contacting. She recognized us and was very happy to talk with us. We had a lesson with her, and she proceeded to tell us about how she investigated when she was in the Netherlands visiting her sister. She went to church there and has even visited the Dutch temple in Zoetemeer (the Hague)! She didn't know the church had a presence here until we showed up. We're excited to meet with her. We've only had a get to know lesson with her, but we're still really excited to teach her. She's already promised us she'll come to church.

The Wanica branch primary program was this last Sunday. The Primary president asked me to accompany for the children, so it was fun to have a part on the program :) It was very sweet to hear the testimonies of the Sabajo kids as a part of the program.

I've been reading about the story of Lachoneus and the Nephites this week. Lachoneus has become one of my most favorite Book of Mormon prophets. He was the chief judge for the people at the time. The people were sort of righteous, but a little loose on their standards. He receives a threatening brief from Giddianhi, but instead of falling for the pressure of Giddianhi, he prepares his people. The detail given of how he does that is some of my favorite scripture to read. In 3 Nephi 3:25 it says And they did fortify themselves against their enemies;and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus,insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; and they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle.

The principles that Lachoneus gives to "call them to repentance" in essence apply to each one of us. The future seems scary, but we can react the way that Lachoneus acted, and create an armour in our lives through prayer, gospel study, surrounding ourselves with those with our same moral standards, and so forth, as outlined in 3 Nephi 3.

Have another great week! I can't believe that October is already over, and my birthday is in a month! Time goes by so fast.

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

What we do everyday, here are the cobblestone roads

Taxi in Suriname

Sunset on the ride home

Fun cottage in the Jungle

October 24,2016

De tijd is zo snell, voorbij gegaan! The weeks keep getting faster and faster. We've been working very hard this week and we're excited for our investigators.

We've finally found more investigators that have committed to coming to church. We're working on bringing members by to help them progress. Chandra is still doing very well. We showed her a picture of the temple this last week and it really got her excited to go. It's awesome how strong of a desire she has to get baptised. We had a really spiritual lesson with her about baptism that will really help her progress. She's doing very well.

We're also got back in contact with Ritchelle this week! She had been house sitting somewhere else for a few weeks so we didn't get the chance to visit her until this last week. We reviewed the Restoration and SHE asked us for another baptismal date! She even remembered her old one which is cool. We've started making baptismal calendars to give to our progressing investigators so they can see everything that needs to happened before they get baptised. Ritchelle is very excited to start following the lessons again.

We also found another really cool investigator this week named Peter. He's a native English speaker which is weird to give the lessons in English. We were worried at first about how he'd react to the Book of Mormon, having a very active Christian background. He loves it though, and is almost done with 1 Nephi. Another one of the countless miracles the Book of Mormon has wrought. The spirit is always very strong in the lessons we have with him, and he gives us the best answers too. In talking about the Plan of Salvation, we asked him where he thinks we can from, and he responded by saying "Well, we came from where we want to go"! I never thought of the Plan of Salvation like that haha.

We're working to get the members in our area more active in the conversion process of our investigators. We had a fun experience this week after the Primary President for Wanica branch asked me if I could accompany the Primary for their Primary program here in a couple of weeks. Me, Elder Voigt, and our branch mission leader spent second hour of church with the primary, helping the primary conductor teach the children a new Dutch primary song.

A new scripture that I've been pondering about this week was in Helaman 15:7, saying And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth.. and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them.

The more I think about the power of the Atonement and the joy of the gospel, the more I think about change. Change is wrought by repentance, which is one of the largest and most difficult steps of the gospel. Lasting change comes from listening to the prophets and the scriptures, the sources the Lord has given us to learn the gospel. I know it is the role of the scriptures and the prophets to convey the gospel in a way that will enable us to understand the gospel.

Have another great week! Wees netjes!!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Jungle in the Amazon

Crazy Rain 

October 11, 2016

Goedemorgen uit Suriname! Deze week was een beetje gek met alles dat was gegaan, maar ja, alles komt goed en wij hebben goede plannen voor deze volgende week gemaakt!

We've had a fun week this week. We moved apartments again this week. We've moved in with another set of missionaries for a week before we can return to our original apartment (the apartment that was two moves ago haha). Living with the other missionaries is fun but at the same time a bit crazy and disorienting because the apartment is not made to support 4 missionaries. It's comparable to living in a hotel room, that's what it feels like. Doing missionary work from a hotel room. We're moving back to our own apartment this week, and I am SOO excited.

We've had a lot of success finding new investigators this week. We had a cool miracle last Tuesday. We were going through our contacting area (equivalent of going door to door trackting in Suriname), and made sure we had covered every house on this street. Then for some reason we contacted this one house. We had already contacted it, and a girl came outside, telling us her family wasn't interested. But we contacted it again, and another lady walked out. We got in conversation with this lady. It turns out she is from the Netherlands, and hadn't been to church for 14 years. We started talking to her about our purpose as missionaries and the Restoration. Then we asked her if she'd ever wondered why there were so many different Christian churches. She thought for a bit, and then told us "yes, in fact that's why I haven't been back to church in 14 years". That was such an inspired question because it helped us transition into the Restoration. We're teaching her now and she's an awesome investigator. It's cool experiences like that missionaries have that make missionary service all worth it and so much fun. Chandra's doing well. She brought her sister to church last week which was cool. It's awesome to see the change that the Book of Mormon brings when people read it.

I read an awesome scripture this morning in Matthew 11:29 saying Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

It's fun to think about what sort of yoke brings rest to the soul. That doesn't seem like that's what yokes would do. But when we follow the Saviour we learn and find peace to the soul, even in times of the worst trials. That sense comes because of hope that the gospel brings us. Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and stead fast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God

I wish you all the best! Have another great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt