June 27 Nearing the end..... Of rainy season

Hello family and friends, I was prettyyyyyy sick this week :( but i am
since then recovered and so there's no need to worry :p I don't even
know if it was a jungle virus or the flu or what but it was pretty
annoying. Despite the setbacks we still had a great week and we were
able to baptize 'G!' He was so excited to get baptized and there
were a lot of people who came to support him and it was great to see.
We also have a great new investigator named 'C,' she has a
mother who is a member but she's very old and sick, and 'C' goes
by almost every day to visit and take care of her, they talk a lot and
recently 'C' has been getting more interested in the church and
so we've started to teach her. She has a great understanding which is
a nice change of pace and I could really see her becoming a great
member someday! People are saying that the rainy season is about to
come to an end and I'm very grateful for that as well. I can finally
stop carrying my giant umbrella around, it sticks off my bike like 3
feet and has probably brought me closer to death than all of my
mosquito borne illnesses combined. People just drive way too close to
you while you're biking but that's just life here I suppose. Anyways I
hope that you all have a great week!
Lobi!
Elder Carpenter

June 20 two months and 5 days. But who's counting.

Hello! As I am writing this it is dumping tons of rain outside, it appears

we are still not out of the rainy season yet. I bought a huge umbrella

though and have started to just bike around with it so that actually keeps

me very dry most of the time now. We moved 'G's' baptism just one more

week back and so you will all probably get the pictures from that next

week. We needed some time to finish reviewing the lessons since there were

a couple of things we asked him about he didn't actually understand. He has

a mother who talks for a REALLYYY long time and so we have decided to just

meet with him individually and he gets so much more out of it. His dutch is

also not the best and so we just have to take it really slow and help him

to understand what a lot of words mean and why these things are important.

In other news, 'W,' our recent convert, is having a very strange

problem at the moment, in that he has been claiming to be attacked by

demons who keep telling him to burn his book of Mormon... we are going to

go dedicate his house this week with the branch president and are trying to

help W understand that spirits can't force him to do things and that

he has power over them. It has been very stressful. hahah but we are making

do. I hope that you all have a great start to your summer and you'll

hear from me again soon!

Elder Carpenter

Creepy nasty beetle!!

Two of the boys of the 'D' family. They get pretty wild and crazy when they're trying to teach lessons. 

June 13 the long road home

Hello Everyone!! This week was pretty weird for the most part. We had
one night in particular that really took it out of me, we were riding
to an appointment pretty far away when my back tire went flat! I
called the missionaries with the van but the van was getting repaired
so we were left alone to figure it out:p Hahah But it actually turned
out to be a good experience because as we were walking to the nearest
member's house to drop our bikes off for the night to catch a bus
home, we had a really cool opportunity to help a family in need who
were on the side of the road sitting on a couple of benches. They
didn't have anywhere to stay that night and were asking us for help,
we were able to help them out substantially and they were very
grateful, I felt like we were probably supposed to help them that
night, and I was happy to be able to help someone in need. This week a
young girl named 'S' was baptized, she turned 8 and her family are
recent converts to the church, since we teach the family they invited
us to the baptism and it went really well. Next week, one of our
investigators 'G' will be getting baptized! He is really excited
and we are looking forward to that a lot as well. I hope you are all
doing well and that you have a great week!

Lobi!
Elder Carpenter

South zone before the transfer

May 30

Hello! I hope that you all are doing well, I received a transfer call

the other day that told me that I will be staying here with Elder

Geigenmiller for one more transfer! And so it looks like he will be my

4th companion that I have for 3 transfers or more :o I am excited

about the area Wanica South right now because we have lots of people

to teach which is really good. We have two people on baptismal dates

for later in june or early july and I am hoping that they both make

it. One of them is an extended family member of the 'A' family, he is 15 and a great kid who has come to church the past two

months in a row without missing a day! He comes with the bus together

with the 'A' family to church ever sunday. The other is 'P' who I

mentioned last week, he is trying to overcome an addiction right now

and with a little help will hopefully be able to get baptized in the

following months if it goes well. He has a strong desire so I know

that the Lord will help him. This week rained a decent amount, but

that's not out of the usual, I do hope that the rain stops sometime

this transfer though. We did a service project for a member and

returned missionary also named 'W' and helped him cut a bunch of

grass and trees with machetes. He was complaining the whole time how

he's 27 and trying to find a wife. He said one of his few candidates

at the moment is 'A.'  A member in paramaribo who i baptized!

Hahah when I told him that he said that I am going to be the master of

ceremonies so I hope it works out between them. Anyways, I hope you

all have a great week and you'll hear from me again soon!

All the missionaries in Suriname 

Elder Geigenmiller hugging a cactus

Scenery

Their bikes in front of a house

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.