Dogs of the Devil 5/11/15

Dear Family,

It was so good to talk to you mom and dad and Richard and Lisha for a little bit! Wow, I could talk forever! Most exciting Mother's Day I've ever had- haha!

We had an eventful week! On Wednesday we went on exchanges with the other sisters.  Sister Johnson came back with me in Wanica and Sister C went back with Sister Walsh. I was sad to let Sister C go but happy to spend some time with Sister Johnson. We had a good time together and I took her to see some of her favourites. We saw Bro Leim, Rita and Sister Zaalman. Sister Johnson hasn't been too happy in Tamengha. I wish she could see her amazing potential and dominate. She'll get there! I think she'll be opening up the new area for sisters in the City next transfer.

So here is the dog story we have all been waiting for. So Thursday night we were biking back from a members house. They don't live in our area so we weren't completely sure about our surroundings. Sister C was biking in front of me. All of a sudden these three dogs come running out of a yard and start chasing us (nothing out of the ordinary). One of the dogs goes ahead and is chasing Sister C but the two others kind of cornered me on my bike and then one bit my leg!! Finally a car comes and scares them away. We continue biking and I say, "Sister Christiansen! I think that dog just bit me!" she says, "What?! Are you bleeding??" "I think so!" So we stop and sure enough I'm bleeding. The zone leaders took us home and I talked to the mission doctor. The bite wasn't terrible but it was very swollen and sore. Anyyyyyway part 2 is that we were going back to the same members house to help clean on Saturday. I was so scared to go by this house again. So we are going and think that we are in the clear and then all of a sudden in the corner of my eye I see this dog sprinting down the long driveway coming after me! I yell to bike fast! So I'm biking as fast as I can and on the other side of the road this dog is running as fast if not faster! At some point they stop. BUT Sister C is yelling to me behind that her shoe fell off as she started biking fast. So we get off our bikes and start walking towards this pack of dogs that have huddled at the end of the driveway. I see Sister C grab a HUGE stick on the side of the road and carefully go for her shoe, put it on and back away slowly. It was a hilarious site but also terrifying! Let's just say we took a longgggg detour home.

Other than that the best thing was Mother's Day!  Sunday was great!  Church went really well that day and I got lunch after church so I consider that a success.  All these primary girls gave me the gifts they make for their mom's.  I kept saying, "Noooooo!  Give it to your mom!"  They said, "Nooooooo!  It is for you!"  So, now I have a lot of hearts that say I love you mom.  I don't think I'm bringing them home....ooops!

Primary Children

So Jackie and Pansa! Quick update on them! We didn't see a lot of them this week but Jackie came to church on Sunday. We had a lot of Saramacan speakers that day so everyone was helping her. She just had a blast that day. We saw them later that Sunday and she was so happy! Well they both were. They are still reading!

Some of Kosviello's siblings

Kosviello and family are still doing well. None of them came to church though! It's hard to get families there! Hopefully we will have some good lessons with them this week! 

The dutch is continually coming. The best help I have is just listening and talking. I understand almost everything now so that's cool!

I love you all so much! I have the best family ever!

Zone Sports Day

Love,

Elizabeth

Thief! 5/4/2015

WOW! Happy Birthday Jacob and Hazel!! Don't worry I promise I'll be there for the next ones. Did you both have eventful days? I'm sure Hazel was a party animal. 

Sam and Kaeli, I got your letter today! Such cute pictures of Leona! I'm excited! The reason I got it so fast was because the AP's are in Suriname today. Lucky! Also mom, Frank Taylor wrote me. It was really nice. I'll make sure to send a letter back.

About Skyping! I'll call Sunday night my time at around 7:30 pm. Hopefully that will work! I'm really excited! I get the usual 45 mins to talk. It's crazy! I can't believe it is time to talk again!

We had one of those weeks where you look back on and you don't really know what happened! Haha. We had some cockroach problems this week. We did a major spray attack and then our cleaning lady came yesterday and did a deep clean. I hope we will be ok. 

This week Sister C's bike got stolen and the thief tried to get away with stealing my running shoes but didn't quite make it and left them in a bush outside our apartment. We had a funny time going down to the police station with the Zone Leaders to report it. So now she is riding the spare which kinda sucks. One good thing is you can hear her from about a mile away on that thing. She clinks and clanks down the road. It's all a part of the adventure, right?  

We also had some awesome lessons this week! The couple we are teaching, Jackie and Pansa (the ones who can't speak dutch only the crazy jungle language) They are super progressing and super excited about the gospel! It's so refreshing to teach them, they are so excited and willing to do anything to get closer to the Lord. The husband, Brother Pansa can speak a little bit of Dutch so he tries to read the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon the best he can. Then he will translate to his wife Jackie. They are the best people! I love them so much. God is just pouring blessings on them right now. They are so willing to try their best to do what God asks them. 

I don't have a whole lot to report on...it just felt like one of those off weeks. But this week will be great! Oh and Sister Johnson decided to come back- haha. Happy to have her back! We are exchanging this week.

Loved hearing from everyone. Mom and Dad, it's so fun to see and hear about your adventures! It's so cool. I can't wait to talk to you and hopefully others!

Love you so much!

Love,

Elizabeth

And I Would Bike 500 Miles... 4/26/2015

Dear Family,

I had probably one of my best weeks on my mission. It isn't that anything too crazy happened but missionary work this week just felt great! 

I honestly don't know where to begin this week! Sister C and I are doing better than ever! Some crazy news this week is that Sister Johnson is leaving Suriname tomorrow. She is finishing her transfer in Trinidad then going to an island to finish her mission. It's super crazy!! They will apparently bring back Sister King and then another english sister. Should be an interesting next transfer. From what I know Sister C and I will stay together but you never know how missions work. I'm very sad to let her go but I hope she does well on the English side.

Goodbye Sister Johnson! :-(

So I'll just start talking about some of the highlight investigators this week:

Kosviello and mom Marveel--So Kosviello aka MK is really cool. He agreed to a baptismal date this week for May 16. He is a very smart kid and desires to do what is right. So this week we had our first real lesson with Marveel. She has 6 kids and her "man" lives is away most of the time in the binnenland. He's a boss of a gold mine so this family is pretty well off. We had one of the most spiritual lessons I have had my whole mission. We taught her the restoration and it was just a really great lesson. We talked about the holy ghost and asked if she felt it. She said, "Definitely, I can feel it deep down." It was a really cool moment. We saw her yesterday and again had a great lesson. She is an amazing women that I'm sure doesn't feel appreciated. That's been fun just telling her how amazing she is and how much God loves her. MK came to church yesterday and loved it. He said he will definitely keep coming.

Jackie and Pansa--They are so cool! Even though I can't speak their langauge, they have been a pleasure to teach. They are so willing. Pansa can understand a little dutch so he reads to Jackie and translates. It's so cool! At church we have so many languages going on. Most of it is in dutch but sometimes the classes are in different languages. They both came to church on Sunday. The Sunday School Lesson was in Saramacans so they could understand and then we had some members translate the others. They really like church too. Yesterday they said they really want to be baptized. We talked to them about marriage and they seemed really fine to talk about it and consider it. They're cool!

So on Friday we went to Kwarason to shadow. It was an amazing day! Oh man I'm running out of time but basically it was the best day. I'll tell the highlight. The branch president has a sister in law that has never been open to the church. But she's been nicer to the elders and been warming up. The last time we were there she taught us how to make donuts. She loves making american food. I guess they said she was the most open with sisters. So this time we got all the pressure on us to slip in our testimony as she showed us how to make cheescake. We did just that and were having a great time. Then we were sharing some experiences and she asked if we would share a story from the bible. She has never done anything like that before. We shared a story from the book of mormon and then she excepted a copy. It was a big deal and such an amazing night! I tell ya...sisters...they're the best.

We went to a butterfly park today and it was awesome. (I know it's Lisha's nightmare). I have just a bunch of pics this week. Hopefully you can figure out what is from what! Love you all and thanks for letters!  Here are lots of pictures!

Love,

Elizabeth

This Week Felt Like a Month! 4/21/2015

Dear Family,

Wow what a week! (Do I start every email with wow?) But anyway we had a very busy and amazing week. First off Sister Christiansen and I are having a blast. We have worked hard this week and talking to people, teaching lessons, and visiting and serving members. It turned into a week full so. much. biking. It was fun though!

We had a mini missionary with us from Tues to Sun. Her name is Monica Collins. She is a member from the branch that Sister C came from so I didn't know her very well but she was awesome. She is almost 17 and she was baptized about a year ago. She is so excited to go on her mission later. She had a blast being a missionary. She didn't want to take of the tag I made for her from another one my tags. But yeah, she is really cool! We had a great time.

Wednesday morning we went and helped Lorna with her garden. It was a lot of fun (that is the first pic). Every time we go over we are using machetes in the garden. It's always a good time. Friday we went to visit our RS pres to see how we could help with visiting teaching. We also saw Bro Leim which is always the best! We also saw the Maghoe's that night. On our way back from the Maghoe's somehow we got completely lost. It was pretty funny but we found our way out. Saturday night we went to a 5 yr old's b-day party from the branch. It was soo fun. People go all out for parties. I attatched some pics from that party. They had a DJ and a party bus thing (we missed the party bus) but yeah it was fun. Sunday night we had a fireside for prospective missionaries. It was a great night with a good turnout. All we did as missionaries was sing and state our purpose. It was a good night.

So missionary work...it's moving. We have been teaching this one boy MK who is very smart and anxious to learn. But this week we got his whole family involved. His mom seems really nice. We will have another lesson with the family tonight. 

Faizel. He's doing good! We are really working on his base/foundation part of his testimony. He says he knows the BOM is true and that JS was a prophet. We brought a member in our branch who is 18. His name is Jason. He was a big help and could be a great fellowshiper for Faizel. Faizel still didn't come to church on Sunday though. We need to see what the problem is with that. 

So we have this couple names Jacky and Pansa. We have taught them some times before but we always have to have a member with us becuase....they only speak saramacans. It is the super jungle language. Only a few members speak this too! But they both have this desire to learn and they get it! We taught the plan of salvation this week and the spirit was so strong. I really hope they felt it. Sister C and I both looked up at the same time and started crying. We felt it that same moment. It was cool. We are seeing them tomorrow with Nicole Ritvield. 

We didn't see Shanifa this week. We tried calling but I think we just have to catch her. We had some good first lessons with other people but I'll let you know how they do once we start teaching them more. 

People do love to sing here. Wanica has a good choir that has harmonies and everything. We sang some cheesy wedding song at the wedding but it's fun. I feel so close to the members here in Wanica. They are all so cool! I know they love me too. We just have fun together.

Sister C and I fasted this week to find the elect here in Wanica. We are having faith that we will baptize someone this transfer. I really think we can do it as long as we are valiant and working hard. Missions are really crazy and sometimes I can't believe that it is my life. But I wouldn't trade any of my experiences for anything. It's amazing.

Mom and Dad I promise you will get used to the heat. I don't even notice anymore. But I remember when I first went out on my mission I was like, "I'm either wet from rain or sweat." Keep loving the people and I can see you are already doing that. So cool! 

Love,

Elizabeth

My Prayers are Answered! 4/13/2015

Dear family,

WOW! So much has changed. I am officially with Sister Christiansen! Life is aweeeesome! We are both so ready to flood Wanica with the water of baptism. It's cheesy but it's true. We have had the best time together and are already seeing success.

Wednesday was exchange day. We saw Faizel that day and had a really good lesson. He says he knows the BOM is true. He says that he has prayed to God and he knows. Whenever he is having a hard day he reads from the BOM and feels better. It was exciting. There is still potential there but he didn't come to church on Sunday. We have to get him there! But still, he's coming back to life.

We helped decorate the church that night for a wedding the next day. There was a family in the church. The kids were baptized but the parents were not because they weren't married. But the Elder's worked hard and they agreed to get married so they could get baptized. They were so cute and excited. The wedding was on Thursday night. I attached a pic of me singing with the choir for the wedding. The wedding dress and colors was another story. The wedding was a great time. Like I always say, the members here are the best! 

Wedding Day

Friday and Saturday were great days of missionary work. We had good lessons and got to visit some members. It just feels like a blur but I know that it was good. We saw Mohan and agreed to work on his divorce but it turns out that Mala doesn't want to marry Mohan because she gets money from the Government for being a single mom. Grrrrrrrreat. Haha. We will see. It will give us some time to really find out if he is legit. 

We followed up with that one contact Shanifa that we found when the AP's were shadowing us. She is really cool and we both see some good potential there. This week we are going to be talking to a lot of people and search for the ripe people of Suriname. 

My new companion, Sister Christiansen
We are so excited to serve together!

Church was good! Funny story Sister C told me was she was sitting in between all these little girls in sacrament meeting. They were playing with this rose (probably left over from the wedding) and in the middle was this bud of fabric type thing. One of the little girls starts pulling out this fabric in the middle. It's like this string. All of a sudden one of the little girls holds up this string in front of her and Sis C realizes that she's holding up this red lingerie thong!!!! I wish I saw this but I was sitting somewhere else. Sis C said it was so funny. The girls were just wondering what it was and Sis C told the girl to put it down and started rolling it back up. I thought that was so funny!

Oh man it's going to be a great transfer. We are trying as a zone to get 7 baptisms and I think we can do it! It's exciting. It's just going to be awesome. It feels too good to be true honestly.

Love you all! 

My last picture with Sister Johnson.
I will miss her!  We became very close.

Love,

Elizabeth

Missionaries.....Unite! 4/6/2015

WOW!

I can't believe my parents are serving the Lord! It was so fun to read the letter! Haha, you guys are going to be great! I agree with Sam. I had no idea where I was for like a week! I later realized a house (I don't know how we got there) was just down the street. It all starts working together once your internal GPS starts working. When it comes to getting adjusted to a whole new culture...like has been said before just love the people. When I start to love the people I love the place that is home to them. Tell me about all the crazy things every week! And don't worry about filling anyone else's place. The Lord put YOU there for a reason so just be yourself.

First mom, before you worry- my package came! I don't have it with me yet because it is in the North Zone but I'll get it in the next couple days. TRANSFERS are tomorrow. Sister Christiansen is coming to Wanica! I'm so thrilled. We are both super excited to work together and work our butts off. We have a ton of work to do but I'm thrilled to do it. It's going to be awesome. I'm working for miracles this transfer.

This weekend was General Conference! I loved it! We get to have kind of a missionary weekend because Tamengha is a little far where we watch it and it ends late so we sleep over there. Man where to begin. I have to agree with Stephen on Elder Holland's talk. I was so scared and started crying too haha. It was a powerful testimony of the Saviour. I also loved Sister Burton's talk about men. All the Elders were saying, "I think that's the first women's talk I really liked." I was thinking no duh, it's because she is praising men the whole time haha. But it really was a great talk. I also loved the metaphor about hearing the music. I was thinking about how sometimes in the world we are dancing/living the gospel and the people look at you like you're the weird one but it's only because they don't hear the music! 

I had 5 questions going into General Conference and all were answered. How can you make sure you are living up to God's potential for you? How can I come to a better understanding of Christ's atonement? How can I prepare now to be a better wife and mother? How can I make the most of my mission? How can I see miracles?

The work last week was very slow and then we were shadowing the Zone Leaders on Friday and gone for the weekend so we didn't see a lot of people. Honestly I don't have anything to report on investigators (thumbs down) #noemojis.

This week is my 6 month mark and it's been crazy to look back. I have gone through so much already and I'm prepared to see what else Heavenly Father has planned for me because he's done a lot in just 6 months! 

I love you all so much! I love hearing from you all! Keep being awesome!

Love,

Elizabeth

Sight Seeing 3/30/2015

Dear Family,

Can't believe mom and dad are taking off! You will be the best missionaries! I remember my time in the MTC since it was so fast was just such a roller coaster and emotional. I cried more in the MTC than ever on my mission. The spirit is so strong and you just feel this change coming on. It's pretty cool! I've heard of Elder Jex here! That's cool you met him! 

Well, we had quite the week! The work went well this week. I have to start with a funny story. Sister Johnson and I went to visit a 91 year old man in our branch named Brother Leim. He is amazing. Lives all alone, can see, hear, walk. Do it all! Plus, he's just hilarious. We see him about every week. So last weekend he got surgery. He had this sore cleaned out. He was saying how he is in pain. I said, "Where is your pain?" He stands up and pulls down his pants and in my face points to his bum. Haha I almost died of laughter but of course hid it from him. Every time he turned away I laughed more. He's such a character. 

Wednesday the AP's shadowed us. We only had them for a couple of hours so we set up solid appointments. One was with Mohan. Show up and he's completely distraught and drunk. His "wife" Mala is in the hospital. She has some sort of surgery on her stomach and I think she is now in a coma. I've called him on the phone and he just cries. We tried stopping by and checking on him but he hasn't been home. Hopefully he's ok. After that appt falling through we realized the other Elders took our next appointment teaching with them. I talked to this one guy on our way to the back up. He was Hindu so we asked if he knew any Christians. He gave us a name. We went and checked it out and we ended up having an awesome lesson with this girl named Shanifa. We will go back to her for sure! After that the Sabayo family fell through too so we met with some members. It wasn't quite the night I imagined but it worked out.

Friday we went to Kwareson to shadow our district leader Elder Alpeter and his comp Elder Prosman. We had a great time there! At the end of the night we went to the branch president out there's house to make donuts. I think he sent you pictures in facebook message mom! Check! He's the best! I love him and his wife. 

Sunday we had interviews with President Mehr. First I have to explain the President Mehr is going home and there will be two brand new mission presidents. Also I asked him why he chose me to come to Suriname before he even knew me. He said I just looked at pictures and your little bio. Then make logical choices as in more mature and blah blah and the spirit does the rest. He told me that I have a great amount of faith and that people see me as a strength here. The big news is the Sister Christensen is most likely coming to Wanica for next transfer. I'm more than thrilled. The work will take off! Sister Johnson seems really excited to work with Sister Walsh and go back to her new area. All is good! 

So excited for General conference. We get to sleepover with the other sisters since sessions are at 1 and 5. It'll be an amazing weekend! 

I don't have much to report on investigators only that no one came to church. Faizel is doing alright...not knowing if we are seeing progression. We had a good talk with Ernesto but I don't know if he's quite into it still. 

These are our landlords.  They are awesome!

My Dutch is cominnnnng. Kinda. Haha. Some days I'm like wow I can kinda speak this language and other days nothing comes. But my thoughts are turning to Dutch a bit and I know it's coming. It's pretty interesting. I love Suriname!

Some Ritvield Sisters

Also I got the Vineyard Ward Letters! Haha!  Kaeli, please tell them that I loved them.  They all sound like great ladies!  Also, got Sam and Kaeli's Valentine's card.  No package yet, but I'm sure I'll get it this week!  I'm so excited!

Love you all!

Love,

Elizabeth