May 23

Hey family and friends! This was a good week, with both ups and downs,

the good news is that we had a couple new people come to church, one

was a man named 'P' who is an ex-hindu who has been really interested

in the lessons that we teach. The other was an older lady who is the

mother of one of the recent converts in the branch. Both really seemed

to enjoy church and I'm excited to go back and teach them. I'm really

tired of the rain. This is transfer week. We will find out Saturday so I'll let you guys know next week. I also saw an anaconda! it was like 10 feet long but i dont have any pictures since it was raining and i didnt bring the camera. I

know that's totally lame to say and then not have any pictures to back

it up but i guess you just have to believe me that it was huge. We

went to the city for pday today to hang out with the north zone

missionaries and it was pretty fun. 

What's cool about the guy 'P'

we're teaching is that he is actually known around this side of town

for just being a lazy bum who drinks a lot but we are seeing a real

change in his life and I could tell everyone was very impressed when

he came to church this sunday. I thought that was probably the coolest

experience of this week. I love you guys and hope you all have a great

week!

Lobi, Elder Carpenter

May 16 baptism!

My fellow Americans, this week was full of events, including a zone
conference, district fireside, and my favorite, 'W's' baptism! The
baptism was attended by ALL of the suriname missionaries AND President
Egbert! Mostly because it was right after zone conference and so
everyone just stayed after to support the baptism. It went really well
though and I feel very blessed to have been able to find and teach
W. Just last night, Me and Elder Geigenmiller were asked to
present a role play at a district Fireside. Almost all the members in
the ENTIRE country were there! I know almost all of them but it was
still a little nerve wracking. It ended up going very well though and
I thought it was a success. We talked about introducing the Book of
Mormon, even to member families, and how we should all be meeting
often with the missionaries and strengthening our testimonies through
daily scripture study, I have learned how important it is to read
daily from the scriptures and have found that to be something that if
left undone, can often leave a large hole in our hearts, and they
become heavy. I'm thankful for the chance I have to be here and I love
that I can be happy even in less than desirable circumstances. I hope
you all have a good week and I'll see you all soon!
Elder Carpenter

May 9 cows, goats and the viper

Hello and happy day after mother's day!! It's been a great week here
in 'Nam and 'W' is still good for his baptism this saturday so all
is good at the moment. We've been trying really hard to set some more
baptismal dates and that's been going well, I had to use a spare bike
this whole week which was absolutely terrible :p it went like 3 miles
an hour and was a test of patience for sure. I am trying to think if
anything crazy happened but this week was pretty bland. I was a
litttle disappointed in it. I tried to give a restoration pamphlet to
a goat and a cow tried to charge me but other than that there wasn't a
whole lot. I drank straight out of a coconut as well though and that
was weird, I decided it wasn't my thing but everyone here loves them.
The highlight for sure was probably just skyping my family. They are
the best!! I'm so grateful for the chance I had to see them again. I
miss you guys and hope you have a good one. Until next week!
Elder Carpenter

This large cow likes to charge passers by.

The viper Elder Geigenmiller ran over that tried to bite him!!

The goat is in the middle of the road...I guess we need to turn around.

Contacting a goat.

"Unique" architecture in Suriname.

May 2 on Carpenter Street

Hello everyone! This week was really good, we continue to teach

'W,' who gets more and more excited for his baptismal date as it

draws closer, and also were able to teach some really powerful lessons

where we challenged a lot of people to baptism and to come to church.

We have been focusing really hard recently on teaching what the spirit

would have us say instead of being comfortable with just getting

lessons across. It has been going well so far and I'm excited to see

what kind of a difference it can make. Elder Geigenmiller ran over a

snake with his bike that almost tried to bite us after so that was

pretty funny, we took a picture of it and someone told us it was a

kind of viper! hahaha so we may have almost died but it's all a part

of the job i guess. For the first time since i've been in this area we

actually got a really good member referral! It was actually really

good and it was for a lady named 'S.' we had one appointment and

she was really happy to see us, she also lives on a street called

temremanstraat, which is srnan tongo for carpenter street! So I think

that's a good sign, anyways, i hope you all have a good week and I'll

talk to you all again soon.

Elder Carpenter