Zo is het leven! (That's Life)

Hey everybody! This week was interesting, I ended up being in Paramaribo South twice! Once with Elder Hood the second time was with Elder Burr! I did service with him and he fell through the roof, partially, we also traded ties! I've also been having some bike problems, so I managed to delay the inevitable by using my bike lock to hold up my fender for the time being! So most of my bike problems are better, just love handles now! Sister Christansen is dead (in the missionary world this means she's not really dead, just returned home after serving a full-time honorable mission- missionary jargon) and has returned to America but the work continues to live on! The weird thing about her leaving is that I've been having mixed feelings; part in relation to going home the other part in being out here! I miss home, family, friends and things like Dr. Pepper, deep dish pizza, people not yelling that you're a part of a cult, etc. Although I'm missing out on all these wonderful, tasty and non-insulting things I know that this is WHERE I NEED to be! Something alarming, I now officially have to shave everyday, it's not fun! Growing up I thought I would enjoy that but little me was very uneducated about adult tendencies! This week was also transfer calls! Elder Lewis and I are still staying here. I've been here for a very long time; my entire mission in fact! Oh well, zo is het leven! Ik zal gaan waar hij will ik te gaan; of blijven, voor 6 maanden! So Elder Lewis and I are still in the running for the Elder Carpenter trophy, that is being in the same area for a year! I've been in Suriname for almost 6 months so we'll see! Well that was all for this week! Tot ziens!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Final group photo with Zuster Christiansen!  

How you fix bike problems in Suriname 

Not so weakly anymore!

Hey guys! This week I promise this letter will be (a bit) better. This week has been interesting since we've been having to worry about moving to a new apartment but it's certainly needed, that thing had Elders living in it for 8 years! That place looked like the last time it was cleaned was back when cellphones had to be big. It felt a bit surreal looking and seeing all the things taken out since I'd lived in that apartment for all of my mission so far! Thankful, we're now living above Sister Marlena and she's promised to spoil us, so I'll loosen my belt a little bit and prepare for the worse! This place has been interesting since we've been in Munder a bit more, I like Munder because we've been meeting a lot of cool people! We met this guy name Rusland and the other day I called him to try and make an appointment, the phone went a little like this (translated into English of course) "Hello?" "Hi, is this Rusland?" "Yes, who am I speaking with?" "This is Elder Hardy." "Elder Hardy!" It was pretty funny, really cool guy, prepared too but the only problem is he's working all the time! Maybe some day we'll be able to sit with him! Also, there is a missionary dying (going home) named Sister Christiansen! She's really cool and she's heading back to America! This last week was her last time in Suriname so we took a picture of the ones that were there, two of the sisters were sick. I hope you guys are all having a wonderful start to your new year!

Love,

Elder Hardy

Elder Hardy & Burr, Zuster Jorgenson & Christiansen(going home), Elder ? & Lewis

View from new apartment

Short and Sweet....

Hey guys! The new year is off to an interesting start, for one I'm still sick! Fortunately I've been healthy enough to still work though! This week we went contacting with our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Jubitana (attached at bottom) he's an ex-Rastafarian and one of the coolest and most faith promoting people I know! I don't have too much time this week so sorry I'll have to make this short but I recently learned that they're opening up a new group in Comowijne and I also am finally getting medicine today that should hopefully help me!

Tot ziens,

Elder Hardy

Elder Hardy, Brother Jubitana, Elder Lewis

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Ironically enough, everyone here understands that phrase. This week was very interesting, New Year's Eve was exactly what people said it would be, World War III. It was pretty nuts! That night we came home a bit early because I was feeling pretty sick, I have a cold so it isn't anything TOO life threatening. Elder Lewis told me that at 12:00 he said "Happy New Year" to me but I too out of it, but then after some very loud booms we both jumped upright! We went outside for a bit (only playfully apostate) and the smoke was so thick and there were fireworks everywhere! The fun part about South America is that this is where all the fun and illegal fireworks live. I wanted to take pictures but it was too dark and in all honesty a picture just wouldn't do it justice! The days leading up to New Year's and even now, people are still shooting fireworks! The day after New Year's I was sitting in a chair just dying because I'm sick and someone was shooting off fireworks again, at 7:30 in the morning! Maar, ik voel me blij omdat ik ben hier! (But, I feel happy because I 'm here!) Today we played 4 square, if any of you didn't know, missionaries absolutely love playing 4 square. We played for a while and it got a lot more fun/intense when we played doubles! We have a new sister missionary whose name is Sister Vernes who will be going home the same time Elder Christianson, Lewis and I head home. This last week we had Zone Meeting with President Egbert, it was very cool! He talked about how important the Book of Mormon is for our conversion and bringing us closer to Christ, so the next day all of our lessons (literally) were lessons about the Book of Mormon! It was very cool to see how my Dutch has grown when it's directed at things relating to the gospel as well as seeing their faces when we teach about it! Unfortunately since I'm sick it's been very hard to find energy to do anything! Yesterday I was too tired to even want to make food (yes I still ate) Well I hope you guys all had a fun and safe New Year's Eve and I wish you all health!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

A bunch of remnants of firecrackers that people were shooting on the street, all firecrackers.