Well, we had a great week! I say washed out because this week there was a lot of rain. Haha, I really don't mind the rain though it just makes my clothes smell by the end of the day. We are in the short rainy season right now apparently. I'm not quite sure how the seasons work yet...
Faizel wasn't baptized this week. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he was very upset over the idea of tea and coffee. You just feel like that is so dumb as a missionary. You're going to ignore the entire testimony you feel over tea and coffee?? But anyhow, we explained all the reasons and testified but he still was not having it. It wasn't that he couldn't stop, it was that he didn't want to. The next day we went back with a member and they explained it again. I thought he got it. But as we were leaving I heard him talking to his neighbors about it and obviously they're saying wow, that's stupid. So we went the NEXT day with the elders because they were shadowing us. We had another really good spiritual lesson about it. He committed to try going a week without it. We are seeing him tomorrow so we will see how it's going. This is the only thing holding him back. He knows it's all true. Hopefully he'll open his heart and be willing to give it a try. He's a really good kid.
Ernesto is 15. He is our branch mission leaders nephew. He's been taught by the missionaries for a while now. He's pretty lazy- haha, but he really is smart and loves the gospel. We finished teaching him all the lessons this week and he's like yeah, I'm ready to get baptized! We are planning on his baptism for this weekend. This week we are just gonna work on solidifying his testimony.
Mohan...well, he's still kind of a challenge, however he is progressing so I don't really know what to do. He loves everything we teach him. He reads everything we leave him. I'm just never sure if he really gets it. He lives with his wife and son. They are so nice. His wife only speaks Sranamtango which is the language the slaves made up way back in the day. Everyone speaks it here and some only speak it which makes life hard. I'm here learning Dutch and trying to speak it and they don't understand me cause they don't even know Dutch. Hopefully I can pick up on that one after I get a little more Dutch down.
We are teaching another Guyanese lady named Rita. She is so sweet and very spiritual. She's also a talker but she definitely has potential. She is the ultimate Christian, just wanting to do whatever God asks of her. We had Area Conference broadcast yesterday and she came. I think she liked it!
We are also teaching a family of 8! All of them have a baptismal date except for the two youngest. They are a great family. The only problem is getting them to church. The Dad was in the Army and only has one leg. They don't have a car and the Dad doesn't want any of the family to go to church without him. We are working on finding some sort of ride.
I've been working on setting up appointments to go visit members. It's been really nice to get to know them more. I still have lots more to meet! Remembering names is hard here because I can't say most of them...
Dutch Dutch Dutch. I feel like i'm learning so slowly! I can't believe I've been here for 4 weeks. I can read really well and my word recognition is getting better. I can understand most of what people say. However speaking is still a challenge. I will learn how to say something and then forget it fast. I'm constantly asking how to say certain words or phrases in Dutch--they tell me--then I say it--then I lose it! I have to say something over and over and over till it gets in my mind. I'm really good at saying hi, how are you, how was your day. I know how to say other things but forming sentences is difficult. In Dutch they have things called kickers. It causes sentences to be backwards basically. Which makes it almost impossible to translate from English to Dutch in your mind. I'm hoping I wake up one morning speaking Dutch magically. Elder Prosman teaches all the missionaries in my zone so I can't say it's the basics but it's useful info I can use later I guess.
I can teach a few things in Dutch. My goal is to be able to teach the first lesson in Dutch by the end of the transfer.
In my package I just got the two story books. I love them though. I got a Dutch one too, so I have been going through and translating the Dutch one and then checking myself in the English one. It's been pretty fun doing that. I'm so mad I didn't get the chapstick or chocolate though :(
Biking is probably one of my favorite parts of the mission. I'm getting really tan biking. I've fallen over a couple times but just because I got caught on my skirt trying to get on. Nothing like a wipe out.
I like the food here! It's better than in St. Vincent. They have great Indian food and Roti. Lots of rice and chicken though like anywhere. I had really good BBQ last week. The fresh juice here is so good. Just all the fruit in general is so good.
I'm sending some pictures of me with Lucien's monkey, My branch mission leader's daughter and me, and then some pictures of where we did service for a sister in the branch. She lives kind of on a farm. It was beautiful.
Keep going Mom and Dad!! I'm sure it's hard! It'll be cool to pick up on some language. I'm so excited for you both. Thanks for the letters everyone. I think I have the best looking nieces and nephew in the world!! Send me more pictures!
Love,
Zuster Elizabeth
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