I Didn't Hold a Sloth, But Nonetheless- Great Week! 9/21/2015

Dear Family,

I don't have too much to report on this week. We got transfer calls and guess what!? They are taking my daughter away from me! Haha Sister Jorgensen is moving to Paramaribo with Sister C. They will have a great time. It's hard to let go of her so fast! But it will be nice to be back in a pair.

This week we had some cool experiences. First was with Nelly, the lady we contacted last week. We continued to have some cool lessons with her. She came to church with her daughter and grand daughter. I think she really liked it. Bad news is Gospel Principles was a terrible lesson on Law of Chastity and a baptist lady was visiting the church and she gave Nelly a card and told her to visit. WOW. Oh and also bad news is that Nelly teaches school in the Jungle and leaves next week. SO SAD! You never know what her future holds though.

Other miracle was with Matilda. We had a turning point with her this week. She didn't come to church but still it was awesome. We had this one lesson on Thursday night and she just completely opened up and told this long story and how she needs all these answers. It's too long to tell but lets just say we were able to testify of how the gospel can help answer all her questions and they little by little she will be able to have the life she wants. She just cried throughout the whole lesson. It was really powerful. Sheyenne is 13 and just on fire. She's awesome. I have no worries about her. She prayed and knows it is all true. She LOVES church, and reads her BOM everyday. I'm not a fan of teaching these younger kids but man they just progress so much faster than their parents. She's great. 

We did more contacting and finding. Finding Nelly gets me excited to find other great people. Our area is just getting better and better. I hope to leave it better than how I found it. 

I'm really sorry everyone but I honestly don't have a whole lot to report on! I gave a talk on Sunday about fearing God and not man. That has been my fav mission topic that I have studied. I love it! 

Have a great day!

Love,

Elizabeth

Pictures!!

FUN DAY IN THE JUNGLE!

Adventure is Out There! 9/15/2015

Dear Family,

Don't worry everyone I saw the sloth again! I'm in love but no I will not take it home! Pretty cool though. Kind of another wild week. We had a mini missionary with us, Sarafina. She is 19 and in our branch. She wants to go on a mission. She is great!

So let's see. I'll start with my miracle of the week. Wednesday I was on splits with Sara because Sis Walsh went to the doctor because of some back pain. We were on our way to an appointment which naturally fell through. We said a prayer together and started walking. We both felt like we should go see this one lady we talked to the night before. We were asking her to see if her neighbors were home. But we never contacted this lady. So anyway we went back to see her. We told her we came to see her. She was really friendly and let us sit down. We just started having a lesson about God is our loving Heavenly Father. We just testified that she was important to God and that he had a plan for her. I felt impressed to tell her that the spirit guided us to her that day. She said, "Well I have a story for you." She went on to tell us that for the past 5 years she has been scammed by this guy. And she was dealing with all the results. She had been praying to God for help and asking if he was there. She said, "I think you are my answer!" We went back a couple days later and had a cool resto lesson. She couldn't come to church this week but she said for sure the next week. I feel really good about her. I hope it will continue well.

Consuella is doing well. She is so ready to be baptized. We haven't caught her boyfriend this week but we have a game plan to get him this week. The key is going to be him. We have to get him pumped and ready to go. It's gonna be quite the challenge but hopefully it will all go well.

Matilda is so so. Her daughter Sheyenne is still doing really well. She is pumped on the gospel. She came to church this week by herself and just loved it! She is a real cutie.

A little boy named Christopher
fell asleep on my lap during a discussion!

Friday I went on exchanges in Wanica with Sister Jensen and Sister Ashcraft. The picture you see is me wearing Sister Jensen's clothes for a service activity we were going to do. I'm wearing a classic Sister Jensen outfit so it was sooo funny to be wearing it. Sister Jensen is awesome! I love her a lot. I had a fun time in Wanica. We did service for Sister Rama. Classic. She fell this last week so she can't walk. There was a lot of work to be done fore. Had to bathe her this week. It's super hard work taking care of her. I'll take care of you mom and dad but I'm not working in a old folks home. We had some other lessons with some members. None that I was super close to but it was still fun. 

Saturday there was a great baptismal service from a family in another branch. They were so cute and so happy to be baptized. They were referrels from a couple in my branch the Kabelie's. The Kabelie's are awesome! So solid and they were just baptized end of last year. 

Today we went to Brownsberg which is this cool place in the jungle. It was soooo cool and pretty! We had a lot of fun. I love getting together with Sister Jensen and Sister Christiansen. They are my homies. 

Love you all so much! Thanks for the prayers.

Love,

Elizabeth

My Mission is Complete 9/8/2015

Dear Family,

Well all is well in this wild country of Suriname. How did I get here again?? Haha. We had a crazy week with lots of adventures. If you're wondering about my subject line the reason behind it is that I held a SLOTH! Dream come true. It was pretty awesome. They problem is the picture was on Sister Jorgensen's camera and she lost it. Good news is we are seeing it again tonight. It was cute. It hung on like a backpack. 

So this week. I don't know what it was about this week but we had so many lessons fall through! Besides all that we did pretty well. We dropped some people that weren't progressing and did a lot more finding. That means I got a nice tan. I really am getting quite tan which also means tan LINES. Oh boy...haha. 

Wednesday I had Sister Jensen and Sister Ashcraft with me in Tamenga. We had a fun time together. Of course we had a day filled with bike problems and lessons falling through. But what are you going to do? They are both great missionaries. 

Update on some investigators. We had an awesome lesson with Consuela this week but her man wasn't there. It's hard to get them together! The spirit was really strong again. I know Heavenly Father wants them so bad! I hope I can help them make those steps. Consella was at church with her daughter. She has lots of friends in the church so that's nice! She bore her testimony in Relief Society. 

Matilda is so hard to meet with. I feel like she is always too "busy" to sit with us. Her daughter Sheyenne is still doing really well. She remembers everything and always reads. 

We took Sister Ibrihim out teaching with us yesterday and we saw this one investigator we hadn't seen since my first day here really. Her name is Beppi.  She is this really sweet older lady. We always bring members when we see her because she loves asking them questions. Sister Ibrihim was answering all these questions Beppi had about the BOM and our church. It was really fun to listen to their discussion. Sister Ibrihim is the best!

This week we prayed as a companionship on how many people the Lord has prepared to be baptised by the end of next transfer. We feel that there are two people so we will acting completely in faith knowing that there are two people waiting. It's exciting. We are also praying to know what members to go seek referrals from. Member referrals are always the best. When I'm home one day I'm going to refer basically anyone I meet to the missionaries!

Like I said we did a lot of contacting. I've gotten a lot better but I still hate it. I'm glad I'm not in a mission where they have to contact the whole day... no thanks.

Dutch is still coming along and I've been making improvements. It feels actually normal to speak. I'm still not perfect though and I know I never will be. 

I got Stephen and Richard's packages this week! Thanks sooo much! I loved it all and really appreciated the thoughts! Mom still no card yet...

Well I don't have any pictures this week but I love you all! Missions are hard and tiring but always an adventure.

Love,

Elizabeth