Jan 25 lucky number FOUR!

Hey Fam, cool experience we had yesterday, we had the opportunity to

do a service project at an institution for handicapped children. It

was probably one of my favorite places to help out at that i've done

on my mission. We were able to do a lot of cleaning at the facility

and I mowed their entire lawn with a brushcutter! The kids there were

so sweet and adorable and it was a really cool place to help out, I

could definitely tell they appreciated it. We also found our transfer

calls out! I will be staying ANOTHER transfer here with elder Van Den

Herik! It will be our 4th transfer together! Making him the longest

companion I've been with, which i'm fine with since we get along so

well. The only actual change is that they asked me to be a zone leader

here! It should be a good time, I'll be driving a humongous white van

around to pick up other missionaries in so that's going to be pretty

crazy! Especially with the way these people drive so wish me luck. Our

investigators are doing well, we set a baptismal date with 'E' and

so hopefully that goes through in one of the first weeks of February!

Other than those bombshells nothing too crazy going on down here, all

the prices continue to go up in Suriname but we learned they finally

adjusted our missionary support funds to it so we won't starve :)

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you again

next week!

Elder Carpenter

Wanica Branch members

The place they gave service this week. This building on the property looks like an ark!

Jan 18 More farming and soccer!!

Hello Everybody!! To whom it may concern I'm continuing to have a

great time here in Wanica with elder Van Den Herik. Although it's

possible it could be our last full week together since transfer calls

are on Saturday, we aren't sure what exactly will happen but we both

think at least one of us will probably get sent somewhere else.

Personally I kind of hope I stay just because the area's pretty good.

One of our investigators, 'E,'has come to church the past two weeks

in a row and so we're excited about that. We helped out again at one

of the member's banana farms and put a whole lot more wooden poles in

the ground he's going to eventually use as a vegetable garden! He

wants to plant something calledd "sopropo" a surinamese vegetable

somewhat similar to green beans just a whole lot more bitter :p

Highlight of that service project was probably getting ambushed by a

cow but eventually giving it water and befriending it until it

eventually let me pet him. He nearly charged me like 4 times but other

than that he was reasonable. Haha we played soccer with all the

missionaries in Suriname and that was pretty cool, we took a group

photo because one of the sisters, sister Christianson, is going home

in 10 days! She flies to Trinidad on saturday and so she's on her way

out. In suriname we all know each other so well that it's always a big

deal when someone heads home, a couple more sisters will be headed out

in the following transfers after but as far as elders go me and my

group of five are pretty much the next ones :O crazy stuff. anyways,

hope you all have a marvelous week and I'll see you guys next week!

Elder Carpenter

Attacking cow!!!!

Caught Elder Rodas sleeping on the job ;)

They got a LOT done!

We think he had a rambutan. He said it was kinda like a grape but with a crazy shell. 

Soccer pday!!

Jan 11 a lotta nagging gets pictures!! :)

Hey Guys! All is good this week, we had a great time and had a couple

cool things happen to us this week. The first was a sweet service

project we did for a guy named brother "m". He lives pretty far

inland and took us to a piece of his property where we helped him set

up a future garden and trim banana trees! Hahah it was a blast and

such a cool place to see. The other cool thing was that we got a great

member referral from the "Ab"Family, a really cool family in our

branch. They brought her to church last week and everything and so

we're really looking forward to meeting with her this wednesday. The

south zone elders decided to go golfing again this pday, and that was

super cool again, I improved significantly from the first time and had

a few decent drives. (we're fairly certain one was over 325 yards) so

that was pretty great. I almost got killed as well by a guy on a

motorbike yesterday, he wasn't looking as i went over the crosswalk

and skidded his bike! hahah I felt kind of bad for him it was pretty

close, nobody pays attention while they're driving or biking around

here you have to be really careful. There are lots of car accidents

all the time, they're really just terrible drivers. In other news all

of the prices in Suriname have begun to go up as well, it seems like

the dollar is getting more value so their trying to increase their

prices on everything to keep up. Luckily our missionary funds cover it

and so for us it's not a huge deal. Anyways, that's about it but

You'll hear from me again next week! Lobi!

Elder Carpenter

One of the members new puppy named 'spider'

Elder Carpenter flying his R/C mini drone

The gecko that lives in their shower drain

Sunrises and sunsets

Suriname's newest banana farmer

Service project Elder Carpenter and Elder Van Den Herik did. Building a garden and trimming banana trees. 

The Elders Taking a photo op. 

Trying a 'sweet bean'. He said it wasn't very good. 

What kind of tree is this?!  Found on the golf course on pday. 

South Zone golf pday. 

Jan 5 Happy New Year 2016!

Hello and Happy New Year's everybody! This was a great week for us,

we were able to see our mission president and have interviews, which

was cool. No zone conference this time around, that won't be for

another 6 weeks probably. But it was really great to see him and we

had a great district meeting with him there. Me and Elder Van Den

Herik were actually given charge of the lesson while he was there,

which was a bit nerve wracking with president and sister egbert there.

But the lesson actually ended up being great and we got a lot of

compliments. In fact at one point Sister Egbert was so glad with

something I said she stood up and gave me a high five hahaha it was

pretty funny. Anyways since they could only meet with us on Monday we

pushed our Pday to today, and so far it's been great. We went and

played basketball at the church and invited some members to play with

us. One of them lost both the soles to his shoes while he was playing

hahah he was balling a little too hard apparently. I also had a good

New Year's, we received instructions to not stay up until 12 or go

outside since it can be crazy but it was impossible to sleep through

the fireworks. Apparently they had a roll of firecrackers over a

kilometer long! Hahah they take New Year's very seriously around here.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great holiday season and wish you all a

successful 2016!

Elder Carpenter