6 SISTERS 6/9/2015

(This post is out of order- sorry! )

Dear Family,

It's been a wild adventure this week! To start we went out to Uitkike this week for a shadow with our district leader Elder Mercier. Uitkike is the most jungle area we got here. I've always died to go there so I was really excited. It was awesome! First of all Elder Mercier is one of a kind and Elder Bowen is awesome! We biked an hour to get to this one part of the area we were going and it was through straight up jungle. So cool! We taught some really cool lessons and ended the night with a cool investigator family they found. They fed us Suito Soup. It's really good stuff! Anways there are some pictures from that. Such a blast!

We had MLC on Thursday. Since are mission is so spread out we get a nice big skype session. It was President and Sister Mehr's last one. I will miss them so much! I'm also excited for the next mission president. I think it's cool I get to have two. They taught us about getting referrals, desires and the law of the fast. I've learned a lot about fasting on my mission. I thought fasting for 24 hours was impossible but I live to say it is. Even when biking all day. I will never complain about fasting again in my life.

Lucratia is officially ready for baptism this Saturday! It will be exciting. Her family is so prepared! She came to church on Sunday and we have all our appointments laid out for the whole week. I love her! In our mission we say come to church at least 3 times but we definitely like to see more.

Dobien also came to church again. She is super cool! We have been having some great lessons with her. We taught her about fasting and invited her to do so. She fasted for 24 hours with us. It was her first time and she was nervous but she did it. She said that night before all her siblings were coming to her with their food saying how good it was but she stayed strong. She is really cool!

Kosviello and them didn't come this week to church. Sometimes it's hard to get that whole family there but we aren't giving up! We had an awesome FHE with them last monday.

Jackie and Pansa also came to church. We didn't see them this week but we will this week! My Saramacans is coming along! Haha ;)

Roxanna also came to church with her kids. She is in 2 Nephi now and still going strong. We are going to get her on date this week hopefully!

We have been seeing miracles and it's been a blast! We now have 6 sisters in Suriname. Sister King is back and she is with an english sister, Sister Jensen. She is suuuuuper cool. I'm excited for her to be here and of course I can relate with her. She is really cool. 

We tried to go to these cool waterfalls today in the jungle but because of the rainy season there was two much water on the road to get there. But we got some cool pictures. 

My dutch is really coming. I understand almost everything now. It's a miracle truly. A lot of relief comes from understanding. The speaking is good too! WOW!

I love you all. Thanks for the letters!

Love,

Elizabeth

Great Weekend! 06/16/2015

These are extra pictures in E's letter.  We know
the is the landlady, but we aren't sure what the
party is about!  A wedding?  The landlady takes
really good care of Elizabeth and Sister C.

Dear Family,

 To start off with, last week it was busy and great getting Lucratia ready from baptism. She is really solid and such a great girl. We saw her almost everyday and Friday she had her baptismal interview. The zone leaders said she did great, knew the answers to everything and really has a testimony. She had a great baptism. There were two others getting baptized that day. We had lots of Relief Society sisters there to support. And we had some great talks from members in the District Presidency. It was a wonderful day! I knew Heavenly Father was very happy with her. Sister Christiansen and I wore pongi's these traditional skirts people wear here. Lucratia's aunt made them for us. It was very nice of her. Sunday she received the HG from our branch president. Everything went so smoothly. It was wonderful!  

Friday we shadowed the zone leaders...I have to say sometimes I do not want to shadow. It definitely wasn't one of the better shadows I've been on--bless their hearts. I don't think they have a lot of investigators. We went contacting in the rain for two hours. Had lessons fall through, people yell, and some other happenings. Did I learn something...maybe something in there! 

After the baptism on Saturday we went and picked up the French Guyana Sisters. They were here for Zone Conference. We had a blast with them! Sunday we went and saw Marveel with a member. We had a powerful lesson about fasting. It was so fun and I can really see Marveel changing. She is really starting to be converted to the gospel. We had a lesson about scriptures last week because she wasn't reading much. The next time we saw her she said that she didn't get her laundry done because she spent all night reading. Her kids all have a BOM study session before school. It's so cute!

We also brought them to a recent convert, Bernard. He speaks French and Sranan Tongo. So we can't even teach him really. He was thrilled to talk to the sisters in French. He just had a blast and was so excited. I was grateful that they could see him. We then just saw some other awesome members here.

Zone Conference was yesterday! Wow, it was the last West Indies Mission zone conference. Crazy! President and Sister Mehr are truly amazing. I can't wait for you to meet them one day. Sister Mehr talked about testimonies and President Mehr about the Savior. Sometimes we forget how special we are, to be on the earth at this time. It's interesting to think about why we were foreordained at this point. It makes me want to do better. Never fall short of the person I told Heavenly Father that I would be. I'm really grateful I decided to serve a mission because I feel like I've just elevated my life to a new level. That I'm becoming closer to the person that God needs me to be. 

I'm really grateful for my decision to serve a mission. I honestly can't imagine not going. It truly is preparing me for the rest of my life. I can absolutely see that. 

I love you all and I'm so grateful that I was sent to the family I have. You truly are all amazing and I'm so grateful for you all.

Love,

Elizabeth

And the Rain Came A-Tumbling Down! 6/1/2015

Dear Family,

I didn't know about L. Tom Perry's death until your letters! That is so sad! He was always to happy and joyful. I loved seeing him at BYU basketball games. He was there for almost every single one I'm sure! 

You are definitely right about it being the rainy season here! It rains every single day. Not all day though so there is still sun. But when there is sun it is really hot and humid. As always, I'm either wet from rain or from sweat. 

Riding our bikes in a flooded road.

This transfer I feel, has been absolutely crazy! We have these crazy weeks all the time where you just look back thinking, "What did we do this week?!" We were still both getting over our colds this week so that took a toll. We do a TON of biking. It will take 40 mins to get to some appointments. Biking honestly takes a big chunk of our day. 

So this week, man! Well,  we biked to district meeting which is in Koewarason. That's a pretty long bike ride. We are seeing this woman named Roxanna. She is from Wanica North. She is a really cool lady! She is 28 and has 4 kids. She is super solid and reading from her Book of Mormon. She is in 2 Nephi. We also taught her sister this week too who is really sweet. 

Lucratia and that whole family are awesome! They are a really prepared family. Sunday was a crazy amount of rain so not many people were in church. Lucratia didn't come. We can't decide what to do with her concerning her baptism this week. She's been to church plenty of times but it would have been nice to see her there the week before her baptism. We'll see!

Kosviello and family are doing well! We fasted for them this week and then had a really great lesson and testified of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. Marveel seems to be back on track and excited. We are going to have FHE with them tonight. 

We are teaching Dobien who is Kosviello's cousin. She is really cool. She is 15 and already reading and gaining a testimony. She came to church this week with her younger brother. She loved it! Which was surprising to me because I didn't think it was a great Sunday but whatever! 

On Saturday we went to Tamengha for some baptisms and then went to a mission farewell for a sister here. Her name is Cheniffa and she is awesome. She is going to Atlanta, Georgia. 

At Cheniffa's farewell

I also ran into this wooden board from off a house. I turned right into it. It didn't hit my eyes though but I have an ugly scab. It'll be ok though! 

Ran into a board! 

I have to say I'm pretty sad to be missing the beach. I've been thinking of it all week! But next summer we can all be there. Send me pictures!

I love hearing about your mission mom and dad! It seems like you two must be busy all the time! Yes, we have Self Reliance classes here. What's big happening here is BYU-I pathway. It's such an awesome program. Do they do that there? The rain here floods people's houses but it just seems like they are used to it because it doesn't seem to bother many people.

Sister missionaries and a bunch of girls from the district
in one van.

                                                                                            Love you all,

                                                                                                Elizabeth