A Happy Suriname Thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving week you guys! we had a thanksgiving dinner at a members house earlier today and because she used to live in America we even got a real turkey and everything! hahah All the other missionaries were saying that it was really good, I was super grateful we were able to do something for thanksgiving, it's Suriname independence day this week so even though they don't celebrate thanksgiving there's still lots of celebrations going on which is pretty cool, they have tons of those crazy chinese fireworks that sound like cannons. With any luck I can get my hands on some of them through a member or maybe some other means yet to be determined... hahah the work continues to move forward here in Suriname we had a really cool activity just this saturday, we set up tables outside the church in the city and also around a couple shops members of the church owned and did a lot of contacting working together with the members, it was really successful and together we contacted over a hundred something people for all the different areas, our area in specific got 12 new people to see! hahah provided they all accept a follow up appointment, but at least a couple should turn into decent new investigators I hope! My favorite part of the activity was when someone had the idea to draw a diagram of the plan of salvation on the sidewalk, but they needed someone to draw it. My name was immediately suggested, hahah and so we bought some chalk and I drew a cool diagram on the ground! people were really interested by it and I was able to explain what it meant to a lot of people! It was a very effective and creative way of contacting! I'll attach a couple pictures of it. I continue to be impressed how warm it can be here this time of year but whatever, hahah at least im slightly more tan proportionately, so that's nice. I really miss the fall time over there, it's just endless summer here and it's beginning to make me feel a little out of place, I have no idea how my body's going to adjust for the winter, hahah but I can cross that bridge when I get there. Thank you all so much for your love and support! It wouldn't be possible without all of you. and have a great thanksgiving!

Love, Elder Carpenter

It's a jungle out there! No. Really. It's seriously a jungle.

hey guys! this week marks a month in suriname already and a lot has
happened this week! we had a great lesson with one of our
investigators named 'b h' over the restoration and he's
been progressing pretty well in my eyes, our investigator 'J',
with a baptismal date, has been out of town and so we haven't been
able to see her recently unfortunately :( It is still super hot here
hahah, I don't think I have yet to be cold once so far and from what I
hear that's not going to change the entire time! we've had a few rain
storms, we're beginning to enter the small rainy season, and we had a
pretty big thunderstorm last night which was pretty cool. A few funny
things have happened this week, the funniest of which was probably as
follows: During the middle of sacrament meeting yesterday, a lady
walked in and sat down, she immediately raised her hand and told the
speaker she couldn't hear, a few moments later she got up and sat in
the front row, we were all trying to find out if it was someone else's
investigator but none of us knew who she was! in the middle of
sacrament meeting again she got up and handed elder W a 90s
house phone with a cord she was carrying around and asked him to pay
her phone bill... hahahah but the funniest part was definitely as
follows, at the conclusion of sacrament meeting she came over to us
and shook our hands, when she shook my hand, she immediately started
going off and telling me her life story. She told me she didn't have a
relationship and didn't know anybody, and asked if i'd be her friend.
Or at least that was what I picked out from the conversation, she was
speaking fast and her accent was tough to understand. But when she
asked, "zult u mijn vriend zijn" (will you be my friend) I said,
uhh... ja (yes) and a little boy next to me started laughing, I asked
him what was so funny and he told me I'd just agreed to be her
boyfriend..! hahah according to the context she was asking me to be
her boyfriend and I agreed! hahah hopefully this lady won't remember 

it the following week if she comes back...
Something really cool I also want to share with everyone happened just
today! For p-day we went up to one of the tallest mountains in
Suriname! It was a long and humid hike but we found a beautiful view
and ran into some amazing waterfalls! It was literally in the middle
of the jungle! I can't describe how pretty it was in their so I'll
just show you all the pictures! hahah and we saw a pretty big snake
too! It's literally a jungle out there the second you leave the coast
and it was pretty crazy to be out there in the middle of it. Things
are so different here and im still getting used to it, and missing a
lot of the things in america, hahah but its starting to fade out. Its
like a whole different world out here but I'm thankful for the chance
I have to be here and the awesome work I've been called to do! until
next week! Love you guys

Elder Carpenter

 Literally a jungle

 Tunnel?  Well?  IDK

 He must've been exhausted! haha

 Blurry but cool

 Elder Carpenter!!! 

Nov. 10

Another week has gone by and it was very successful! I finally got a
new bike! It's bright red with white tires, I guess they thought I
wasn't already sticking out enough as is, the good news is it matches
my helmet so when I attract attention at least I won't clash. When I
got here our teaching pool wasn't very large so that was our first
goal, so far we've picked up five new investigators! Which has been
great to see, our favorite is a fifteen year old girl named Jelissa,
she's the friend of a less active and during one of our visits we
asked her if she wanted to come and sit with us, we scheduled a return
appointment where she accepted an invitation to be baptized! We were
super happy for her and i'm really hoping it goes through and she
sticks with it! I also wanted to talk about some of the service
projects we've been doing! last week we got together with all the
members and helped raise awareness about chikungunya and how people
can stay safe from it, we had pamphlets and showed people safe ways to
store water and protect themselves from mosquitoes. The members were
also super helpful with getting referrals at the same time and the
missionaries in the area of the project got about 22 new people to
see! hahah so that was cool, but the service project this last week
was even better, we got to go to an orphanage and help construct
furniture to refurbish it, the owners of it are a wealthy dutch couple
and I could tell they were super grateful to have us all there, it was
a really cool project to be apart of! It's hard to believe how long
i've been gone already the time certainly does go by quick, i'm
technically almost done with my second transfer! Elder Dom said that
there's a pretty good chance we're not going to move our next transfer
and that he'll probably train me the whole 12 weeks but that's fine
with me, I like my area a lot and elder Dom's an awesome companion to
work with. In other news I still search diligently for a sloth but so
far to no avail... Lizards and huge bugs and crazy fruit are
everywhere though. One member always gives us mangos from her tree in
the backyard which I think is pretty cool, we also saw what was
probably the largest spider i've ever seen in person, I have no idea
what kind it was but its legs were only a little smaller than my
hand.... oh and also a truck hit me! hahah he backed right into me
while leaving his parking space it was a little sketchy but hey im
alive :p I love what it feels like to be a missionary so far, there's
no greater feeling than being led somewhere or to someone you just
know youre supposed to teach. I almost count it as a small miracle
every time. i'm certain it was for people like that I was called here
for! I love hearing from all of you, i'm so glad you've all been doing
well and I miss you guys always, don't take for granted everything you
have! I know that you hear that all the time but to experience it...
its almost a lesson you can't learn any other way. Love you guys and
talk to you again soon!!

Elder Carpenter

 New bike!! Mom and Dad can sleep now! ;)

He said this is the nicest area in Suriname

Nov 3

Hey everyone! Another successful week of surviving out here, but first
off happy halloween! I missed it terribly this year, they don't do
ANYTHING for it here so it was just a regular day, it is HOT out here
as well hahah I could really go for some snow right now I have no
doubt we're both envying each other a lot. I still dont have a good
bike, they havent caught the guy who stole our bike money hahah so
it's been a bit of a patience trial getting along with a broken bike,
but other than that I don't think I can really complain! These people
are so different from me, I'm such an obvious minority people just
stare at us. Less than 1% of Suriname is white! Despite these obvious
differences the people here are also a bit more relaxed and love to
just do and say whatever comes to their mind, its not offensive to
call someone fat here, we were asking for someone yesterday and a man said,

 "Oh yeah, the fat one, she lives downstairs." he didn't sense the slightest

 thing wrong about that. I guess theyre not huge about building
each others self esteem here hahah, another funny story that happened
this week was with an investigator we met on the street. We were
biking home and it was getting dark when a man called out to us,
sometimes we don't stop if it looks sketchy (this guy was the
sketchiest) but we felt like we should this time. His name was Herbie
and he wanted us to teach him a couple days later. A couple days went
by and we went to his address, at the gate was a man who we greeted
and said his name was herbie, and for the most part he really did look
like the herbie we met the other day, especially since it was dark, we
told him we were here for an appointment and he seemed like he
remembered and invited us in. Immediately he seemed different, he
seemed... a little slower... than the herbie we talked to before, we
taught a short lesson than decided it was probably best to leave, no
sooner had we gotten on our bikes when the Herbie WE KNEW came biking
from down the street yelling "Ik kom!!!" or I'm Coming!!
hahah turns out we had just taught an entire lesson to Herbie's
younger brother with special needs, and he didn't say a single thing the
whole time, hahahah so we ended up teaching the REAL herbie and it was
a great lesson! I thought that was a pretty funny experience. In other
exciting news I GOT TO PET A MONKEY! hahah it was someone's pet and
they let me play with it it was the cutest thing ive ever seen! they
have such a personality and love jumping and climbing on you it was
hilarious. The way they do everything just makes you smile it was
awesome, I cant wait to see more of them! I hear theyre pretty common.
When I pictured my mission, I never could have imagined what it's like
here, but the longer ive been here, I can definitely see why I was
called here. I think these are some of the best people on the planet,
and i've never seen a group of people better at fellowshipping,
especially when it comes to people in church, they've all been nothing
but nice to me and from what I can tell just everybody in general!
Although it has its own challenges, like heat and the fact people find
white people so strange here, I'm convinced im going to keep having
some great experiences. I know that this church is true no matter
where you go and our message is simple and easy to understand. These
people are not all educated and sometimes I try to over explain when what
they really need is a simple testimony. I'm grateful for this humbling
experience and for these awesome people. I miss you all and love you a
ton!

Elder Carpenter

 

this is a super old cemetary

 

cool graffiti

 

Elder Carpenter's new pet monkey ;)

Suriname at last

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

Last MTC week

Hey guys! Today's the start of week 7 and also the last week here at
the MTC, we've been learning our new jungle language called srnan
tongo and it's been quite the experience, although fun it's a very
strange language, luckily theres almost no conjugation which makes
things a little easier on us. Being responsible for two more new
languages is challenging but I feel like my understanding of dutch is
good enough to be an effective missionary once I get out into the
field. I thought today that I would share a little bit of a spiritual
thought we learned about in class, and that begins with the war in
heaven, we discussed the differences between the plans of Satan and
Christ, and discussed the jealousy and power Satan desired to have, by
saying "The glory be mine" Satan truly desired to dethrone God, his
plan seemed easy, and our salvation was guaranteed. At first more
chose his plan than that of God, but through faith in Christ, and
belief that through his atonement (Which hadn't even been done yet) we
could be saved and return, missionaries went out, and a war of words
was fought. Because of the valiant testimonies of God's elect the more
part of the children of heaven were brought back onto the true road to
eternal life. We know God is omnipotent and omniscient, all powerful
and all knowing, so why allow Satan to do this? The truth is we think
our test started here but in truth it started long ago when we used
our agency to choose good or evil, the plan of christ or of the devil.
There has been missionary work before this life, I am doing missionary
work in this life, and I know there will be missionary work to do in
the next life as well. The war that started in heaven is still going
on and I'm very grateful to know I stand on the right side, I
understand that out in Suriname I will be fighting for the souls of
these people. As it says in the scriptures that the heavens wept when
Lucifer fell I now understand a little better why missionary work will
be challenging, even as I do my very best people will still fall, and
I have no doubt I will have heavy days when someone we have been
teaching loses the battle. But I know that in the end the people who
are ready to come unto christ combined with the joy I find in serving
the Lord will more than adequately make up for that, I want you all to
know how excited I am to be a missionary and that I know this church
is true, I've been very blessed to know that and grow up in a family
who taught me these principles very well. Because I've been blessed
with so much it's my responsibility to share this happiness with
others and I am extremely excited to do so!

In other news our district has begun interpreting dreams, hahah we get
people from the entire zone asking us what their dreams mean now
(apparently everyone has strange dreams in the MTC) I'm not going to
lie we've blown a few minds with some of our interpretations hahahah.
Also due to the fact we have one additional week than normal all the
people we came in with left, we aren't completely alone but I do miss
everyone we met! our four square crew was officially disbanded last
week (*tear) However life goes on and I know that just like us this
monday they're off to bigger and better things. Monday is the day im
leaving, by the way, 3:30  A.M. (wow) first to houston then to
trinidad where we spend a few days in training!! I'll take lots of
pictures! Ive heard it's a beautiful island, anyways I should probably
get going but thanks to all of you for your continued support you've
been amazing! You'll be in my thoughts as I'm serving and I have
definitely felt your prayers.

Love, Elder Carpenter

Week 5 Movin' right along!

Hey everyone! Its been an amazing week here at the MTC first and
foremost due to the fact I've been lucky enough to sing in conference!
Ive never normally been one for singing but this was honestly an
amazing experience. The chance to actually see our prophet and
apostles speak and from so close was freaking me out i won't lie. I
hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did this year I thought
some really inspiring messages were shared, I especially liked Elder
Bednar's last talk on the sunday session where he spoke to
non-members. As a missionary it was pretty cool to see that he
perfectly lined out our purpose, I think that talk was almost just as
directed to us as it was to non members. I'm very grateful for the
work ethic I've learned while here as well, at a devotional last night
someone had a really cool analogy in comparing us to rose bushes, they
said that every year, they have to go out and prune their rosebushes,
they trim away everything except a tiny little stick, so that the
plant once again has room to grow and flower. They then compared us to
a rosebush, and The Lord as the one pruning us when we go on a
mission, he takes our cell phones, house, family, friends, and ships
us off into a foreign land to preach his gospel as little sticks, I
thought that was a pretty cool story. Ive certainly been pruned quite
a bit and I think whats started to grow is better than anything ive
ever accomplished in my life so far. Something else that was cool was
we had a speaker named Vai Sikahema, you might recognize him he said
he's on ESPN a lot! he used to be a professional football player for
Green Bay and played in a lot of pro Bowls, he was an awesome speaker
with some amazing missionary stories! including one about how on a
flight to Salt Lake City him and a 9 year old youth were teaching
discussions to a woman on a plane which I thought was funny, they were
talking about adam and eve and original sin and Vai said, our doctrine
is so simple even kids know it. the lady absolutely didnt believe him
so he turned to the kid and asked him to recite the second article of
faith, the woman was absolutely shocked! We also had a big
armwrestling competition in our dorms the other day, I beat everyone
except one person, im not normally one for excuses but he was like 6'3
and 200 pounds. hahah --Just FYI, Elder Carpenter is 5'8"

anyways something else I think you guys might
find funny is that we've instituted a 10:30 prayer time, so when the
announcement comes on saying lights out we all run to our room and
kneel and the last one down has to say it, exactly like my family used
to do at 9, hahah we've already had some funny experiences with that
and it really helps us get to bed on time. What I find so interesting
about being a missionary is the change in desires I've had, things I
used to find dull and boring have suddenly become fascinating and I
truly look forward to studying scriptures and doctrinal topics on my
own. It's amazing the new things you can learn when you show Heavenly
Father that youre ready to receive more information. I learned
something new that would take this entire paragraph to describe and
its really just been blowing my mind! I know that the Lord has amazing
and endless information ready for us and to receive it all we have to
do is ask and show the Lord how much it means to us by studying with a
purpose and with intent. I still miss you all but want you to know how
happy Ive been out here and wish you all the best!

Love, Elder Carpenter