Well it's been a roller coaster week. Some good days and not so good days. Heavenly Father gives me some good days once in a while to keep me going. Thanks for all the nice emails! I really appreciate them all!
Well, to start off, biking is pretty fun! I'll send a pic of my bike. They sell bikes from the Netherlands here so it's pretty cool. We are in the short rainy season now so yeah...it rains a lot. There's not much drainage so it just puddles. It really is very civilized here. More than St. Vincent. A lot more people have cars and there's a lot more shopping. Not really grocery stores but there are these Chinesa Winkels everywhere that you get groceries at. There are nice paved roads but there are also a lot of sand roads.
I'm super impressed with the church here! It runs great from what I can see. There's lot's of priesthood holders. So there is one district in Suriname. There are 5 branches and 2 or 3 groups. They even have a church building here. We helped with the district YW New Beginnings. It was awesome. Everything feels right when it comes to church. The members are all super nice. Very kind!
So we have a very small teaching pool at the moment. But we have some Young Men that seem really cool. One named Faizel. I think he's 15. Always comes to church. I've met him, but since I have been here we haven't had a lesson. Another is named Ernesto. He's our ward mission leader's nephew. He's really cool. He didn't come to church on Sunday though. We met a man named Mohan. He's Guyanese which is awesome cause he speaks English (YES!). He's a really funny man though. Maybe a little crazy, I don't know yet. But he loves what we teach him--does he really get it? Not sure. That's about it. We have such a big area that is untouched. It gets me really excited. I wish I could talk to people more but that will come.
Sister Johnson and I are doing good. We both like One Direction so that's a plus. We had some good experiences this week catching lizards and frogs in our apartment. We have a pretty nice apartment. Nothing compared to St. Vincent but it's ok.
Dutch, Dutch, Dutch. I know how to say some things and I learn more everyday. I'm hoping that over time it'll just get better and better. It's coming. At least I already know more than I did a week ago. I read the BOM out loud everyday to work on pronunciation. I'm getting faster. I've memorized half of My Purpose in Dutch. In lessons most of the time I speak English and have Sister Johnson translate if she can. In my zone we have a Netherlands Elder that is giving me dutch lessons twice a week starting this week so that'll be very helpful. I got all the learning materials.
Last week I meant to say that I was Sister #4. We have two complete companionships of sisters. Sister King and Christensen are awesome! Great girls. We are going on exchanges this week. We really are pioneers in Suriname. Sister King goes home in August and Sister Johnson in September. It's hard to believe at some point I'll probably be training someone in Dutch myself. There is a Dutch sister in St.Lucia right now. Apparently they lost all her visa papers so she may not get here for a while. When they get another sister here they are opening an area in the city with a temp.
Thanks for the fasting and prayers. I feel them! On Tuesday I felt a lot better and I thought someone must be praying for me.
I can't believe Leona! Wow, she's so cute and I can't believe that Sam is a dad sometimes- haha! Not in a bad way just it's crazy to see your brother as a father. I love it! I'm excited to hear how your language study comes along Mom and Dad!
By the way, my package got forwarded to me in Suriname. My new address is PO BOX 2932, Paramaribo, Suriname, South America.
Love you lots lots lots!
Elizabeth
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