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

MARCH 13, 2017

Goededag iedereen! Ik hoop iedereen een mooie dag heeft gehad!

Today is Pagwa in Suriname. Pagwa is that Hindu festival of colors. Our missionary district celebrating it by going to a member's house and celebrate with great food and lots of colored powder. I'll send pics afterwards.

We had a fun week. We were able to sit with Shariesa again. She is very excited to get baptized. She understands the Restoration thoroughly which is awesome to see. It's been great to continue teaching her. We also had a lesson with Frank and Jane about the Book of Mormon. They are very excited to read it. Frank even asked for the Gospel Library app so that he could put it on his phone. He reads at work in his extra time.

We were also able to find a wonderful part member family in our area. The father is a less active and his wife and six children are nonmembers. They were very happy to see us after having little contact with the church for so long. We had a wonderful lesson with them about Heavenly Father. Those lessons honestly end up being very powerful.

We had a spiritual experience teaching a man in our area. He is very old and when we visited him, he was very distraught. His wife was taken a few days ago to the hospital for a lung problem. He looked very worried when we talked to him. He wasn't too actively religious, but we had a wonderful lesson about the atonement and that God knew exactly the difficulty he and his wife were going through. It was amazing to see the hope that he received. You could see the light come into his face. We left him with a Book of Mormon and he immediately started reading after we left. That was a wonderful experience of how the gospel gives hope.

I read an interesting parable in Matthew 19 about the laborers and the wages they recieve in the kingdom of God. I think it's interesting about how all laborers recieve the same wage. We all as God's children receive the same wage if we work our hardest and do the things God asks us to do. We need not think we decerve more or others deserve less because we go out of our way to make our selves Latter-Day Saints [having to 'endure' longer than others], but the Lord promised us eternal life, the best, when we endure.

Again, don't have much time but I'll send those pictures off. It's great to see the fruits of the work that we've put into this area. Have a great week!

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

Cobblestone roads, we bike for 40 minutes on this straight road

Celebration of Hindu Festival of Colors

District color party

Having fun

with the local kids

Name Tag shot

March 6,2017

Goedemorgen iedereen!! Ik hoop iedereen een prachtige week heeft gehad! Onze week hier in Commewijne was zeer prachtig!

We had a great week here in Commewijne. The church here is very new. We only have a handful of active members within the radius of a 3 hour bike ride. As my seminary teacher would put it, it's trail blazing work! But it's fun, and we have had such great lessons this week.

I told you all about that couple last week, where they moved back from Brazil and the husband is a painter. We went back to that couple this last week and had one of the most special Restoration lessons with them, that I've ever had on my mission. As a missionary you teach the Restoration many times in a week, every week, your entire mission. But this lessons was extra special. One of those moments you get as a missionary where you say "this all just makes sense". They understood everything, and they were very excited to read the Book of Mormon. We're going back to talk more about the Book of Mormon tonight.

We're also working with a part member family in our area. We sat with the father, Br Kromodemedjo this week. He's a recent convert and has a rock solid testimony, especially of the Plan of Salvation. He shared with us a cool experience, about how his perception of God changed after he started taking the lessons. He said "I didn't realize it, but my perception of God with his children here on earth, is that we're all in this ant farm, and God is the keeper of the ant farm". He went on "but as I read more of the Book of Mormon, I realized that God as our Father, and we as His children, is a literal comparison. God loves us, and wants the best for each on of us. It's love, it's identity". It's  so fun as a missionary when people you're teaching get those 'aha' moments. We're not the teachers as missionaries, the spirit is the teacher. We create an enviorment where the spirit can testify and teach. That's for any teaching calling in the church. We're not the teachers, the spirit is the teacher.

As a part of my personal study these past couple of weeks, I've been reading Jesus the Christ along with the New Testament. Jesus the Christ has really helped my to gain a stronger appreciation for the New Testament. This morning I read in John 10. Here is says "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine".

It's easy to brush off the symbolism of this parable. But it's very inspiration to ponder about. We all know and want to follow the good shepherd. We know His voice; we've felt His love. We follow Him because we know He'll grant us life eternal. If one of the sheep strays, He goes after that sheep. He goes through all that work, so that He may rescue that sheep. It's a wonderful demonstration of love.

Have another great week! I'll talk to you all later.

Ik hou van jullie!!!

Elder Hunt

A great bridge in Suriname

What streets look like by the jungle

Sunsets are amazing