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

I'm so fortunate to have the best calling one can get, BEING A MISSIONARY! April 11,2016

Hallo iedereen en groetjes vanaf deze Surinaamse land!

It has been an awesome week this last week. We've had our first week in a long time where we didn't have any interruptions with General Conference or people visiting Suriname. We have been able to have a lot of lessons this last week which is awesome!

It's been a bit odd this week because a lot of the members are still on their temple trip in Manaus, Brazil. Between hearing the stories that members have been relating and the encouragement everyone heard at Conference about going to the temple has excited the remaining members here to make it a goal to go to the temple. It's interesting because a lot are planning on going with the district to Manaus again in September, and others want to visit The Hague, Netherlands temple as well. Pretty much everyone here either has lived in the Netherlands, has family in the Netherlands, or has at least visited the Netherlands. So in the travels that people will make in going to the Netherlands they'll visit the temple there in the Hague. Surinaamers are optimistically confident that given time, Suriname will get it's own temple though. I can't wait for that day!

C is still doing awesome! He keeps reading and we had good lessons talking about tithing, scripture study, and daily prayer this week. It's been a bit hard to visit him though because he's been busy. We'll have to bump his baptismal date back a week since we need more time to visit him. So hopefully he'll be baptized on the 23rd. 

Ch is doing great as well. He has a baptismal date for mid-May and continues to read the Book of Mormon like crazy. He's in 2 Nephi 11 now. He's been so receptive to the message of the Restoration and the message of the Book of Mormon. AND it's been awesome to see the change it makes in him. We as missionaries are here to teach and invite investigators and members to keep commitments. It's then the spirit that wroughts that change that is so cool to see in people.

We also picked up a really awesome investigator this week named S. She's been an awesome investigator to have. She comes from a Hindu background and doesn't know too much about Christianity, but she wants to believe in Jesus Christ and is so anxious to learn more about the gospel. After establishing a good foundation of who God and Jesus Christ are we've been able to teach her the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. She said she's also received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, stating simply "Elders, ik heb een antwoord gekregen door de geest dat het Boek van Mormon waar is!" It'll be awesome to continue teaching her.

It's been another great week here! I'm so fortunate to have the best calling one can get, BEING A MISSIONARY! It's been challenging but also really fun. Fun Fact: This last week we contacted a really cool lady, and turns out she listens to the Spoken Word program the Mormon Tabernacle Choir puts out every Monday. Apparently they show the Spoken Word on the gospel channel here in Suriname haha. We've picked her up as a new investigator this last week so it'll be fun to teach her.

Have a great week! I'll talk to you all later with more to come!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Pictures of a hike and waterfall in Bruinsberg..

Elder Hunt loves hikes.. got up at 4 am to go on this hike

With zone

Group after their hike in the amazon jungle

fog in the jungle "Lord of the ring shot for Jake he said"

Amazon jungle

Amazon RAIN on them all week

Hallo iedereen! Het heft een andere geweldig week zijn! April 4, 2016

Hallo iedereen! Het heft een andere geweldig week zijn!

This week has been awesome! Things have just sort of exploded this last week with a lot of good stuff going. The Paramaribo Branch has been on a temple trip in Manaus this last week. We're all jealous of their trip but it's awesome what they're doing. This small band of 21 people are taking over a 1,000 family names to the temple this trip! These names come from Suriname, the Netherlands, India, and Indonesia. These people are spending a solid 10 days in Manaus doing temple work. It's really exciting to see and the members love it as well!

K is still being awesome! He came to the last session of conference yesterday and said that he loved it! We may need to kick his baptismal date back a week so that we can get through all the lessons in good time. But other then that he's been doing awesome!

We've also picked up some awesome investigators this last week. One of these investigators is C. We received C as a referral and went by to introduce ourselves and give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. In the space of two days he had read through the entire first book of Nephi. He's loves reading the Book of Mormon. He said "Dit klopt wel! Wij zouden andere getuigenisen van Jezus Christus en zijn word moeten hebben!" (This just makes sense. Why shouldn't there be more than one testament of Jesus Christ). He didn't make it to conference which is okay. Hopefully he comes to church this coming week.

We're also teaching a man named A. It's been really cool to teach A because he's gone through is continuing to go through a lot of hard trials in his life. We've taught him about Christ's gospel and how it can not only bring strength in his life but also more happiness. He too has been excited to read the Book of Mormon and will hopefully start coming to church this next week.

To end of the week we had GENERAL CONFERENCE which was the BEST! We watched it at the Temmega chapel. Most people watched it in Dutch but there's enough English speaking members here that they also have it available in English. And of course all the missionaries watch it in English. There are so many cool messages that were brought to the pulpit this last conference. What I've mainly taken out of it is to remember the Savior and what He's done for us, and then to let His light shine in us as we go about doing the Lord's work. This gospel not only helps us but it allows us to help others more effectively as well. Having charity for others is basic in the Savior's teachings. We're able to receive His strength as we go about our various responsibilities and callings in the church as well.

To end off this crazy week, all the missionaries woke up at 4 am this morning to go on a 2 and a half hour road trip to a place called Bruinsberg, a mountain here in Suriname. It's deep in the interior, and is completely covered in Amazon jungle. We hiked to some waterfalls which were really fun to see. My favorite part was the mere fact that we were hiking in the Amazon jungle. (Pictures are coming).

Love you all! Have another great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt