HELLO EVERYONE! WORRY NOT FOR I AM ALIVE! i've had a couple close calls on my bike already but ive made it thus far! hahah I should probably start with Trinidad, What a beautiful place, the beaches were so clear (I didn't go in) and the view from the top of one of the mountains we climbed up (on the way to meet an investigator) was breathtaking, hahah despite only spending a few days there I loved it. I met President and Sister Mehr and they were awesome, they made us food like 4 times a day and the mission home was beautiful, in Trinidad it had to be a few million dollar home. President Mehr gave a really awesome lesson about how he knew our families would be taken care of while we were gone, it just hit especially hard with me when I heard how well Grandpa was doing right when I left. That really meant a lot to me and helped me not be afraid to focus harder on what I'm doing here. I'll send some pictures of everything in a little but first let me tell you about our first lesson. Immediately out of the car someone ran out with a bible to argue with us, I saw a hummingbird, heard a gunshot, and fed a stray chicken (all during the first lesson outside their shack) and later that day I saw an iguana! It was huge! lizards are a common occurence im still getting used to seeing all the time, hahah and the bugs too are pretty huge. What was crazy about trinidad was how beautiful and gross it was at the same time, the landscape and ocean were amazing but there was so much poverty and trash it made me a little sad to see, my experience there was still really cool though. The people were so poor yet so kind at the same time, almost like they had no idea what they were missing, which was another powerful example to me of how you don't need money to be happy. Anyways, now for Suriname! Customs took forever but once I finally made it through the elders were there to greet us at 2 in the morning! Theyve all been great and theres not a single one i didn't like. My first companion in particular is awesome, his name is Elder Dom from Utah, he's been awesome and I think he's a really solid missionary to learn from. Something funny about him is that in dutch "Dom" means stupid or dumb, so he had to get his nametag changed to "Dam" The very next day he had me teach a lesson! I taught a less active named sister p.... about the Sabbath Day, after he said my dutch was really good! I can't communicate without making a lot of mistakes but people understand me and i sort of understand them! hahah he said that for starting out that was excellent, and i can tell its improving a little every day. Suriname is beautiful, im in Paramaribo South, although its still pretty 3rd world here i see some people with some modern stuff like flat screens and smart phones, whats funny is that they have those things but live in a shack, its really weird sometimes. But its just what people here are used to. Some parts are cleaner than others too, sometimes theres just muck on the side of dirt roads, and we saw a dead dog on the street the other day (*tear) but people are so mean to dogs here anyway I don't think it bothers them, there are strays everywhere and sometimes they're not so nice... (I've ran from like 3 already hahah) But anyways let me tell you about my favorite experience so far, we were on a bus (SOOO gross we normally bike) and elder Dom lost the phone! so we had to go allll the way to the store and then alll the way to the mall to get a new one, and then just our luck my bike broke. We were there for awhile trying to fix it, and the day was passing away pretty fast we weren't super happy with the current situation, but it was just then a little twelve year old boy came over and started talking to us! And what do you know he said that his parent's had wanted to have the missionaries over! we gave him our information and turned him over to the missionaries in that area (we had to go super far out to get the right kind of phone) We both immediately said afterwards we knew why we had been put there, I'm sure it will be the first of many times that happens but I never knew quite how it would work until now. As the Lord gives us trials, and we endure them with patience, we'll be blessed, and despite how difficult things can be here sometimes, I know that when I keep my head up and keep working experiences like the one there will be plenty. There's so much more I could say (like the people who yell at us in Srnan Tongo) ((Then we respond and they're super surprised we know it)) but I'll save it for another time when there's not so much to say like today, hahah, it's been a crazy adventure here so far but i'm already beginning to fall in love with it, especially the people. I love you guys all so much and I want to make that especially sincere because I'm still not used to riding a bike with no lanes on the road and people who arent afraid to get REALLYYYYYY close to you, hahah but I do miss you guys and hope all is well Love, Elder Carpenter
Monday, October 27, 2014
Suriname at last
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