Goede Middag of Avond!

This week was interesting, mostly because for this week we were surviving off of rice and chicken nuggets! We got our missionary funds (money for food) today so it was very refreshing to know that we don't have to do that anymore! This week was pretty good, we've been having a lot of lessons with the more less-active members of the church, it's been an uplifting experience to see the light of Christ re-enter their lives! The life of an Uitkijk Elder is very interesting, we look at our plans for the day and we only have one confirmed appointment (usually for 7pm) and that's about it but it always works out! It's been very cool to see that as we do our part to plan and work as best we can how the Lord will help us to reach what we need to do. An inspirational quote I found today was, "In and of myself I feel very weak, but if I am faithful and humble I know that the Lord can increase my strength and my power to do good" -George Q. Cannon. Whenever things are tough just remember that as we look towards God that we will be directed towards good and given the help we need! Well that's the report this week folks! I'll try to start doing better emails in the future, it's hard!

Veel Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Still no pictures, but I'll share this cute note. 

Funny Story: The other day we did were biking and this car full of girls started woohing at us and Elder James said, "They want some Elder Hardy stew" I replied to him something along the lines of, "Foolishness!"

Weekly email time!

Hey everybody! First off sorry about the lack of photos, the computers here at the cyber won't let you upload pictures so I'll do that first chance I get. We got transfer calls this week and Elder James and I are staying together here in Uitkijk! This week was good, we've been doing a lot of contacting recently and it's partly because of a contacting game we've made up. It's not really a contacting game but it's something; we take turns leading at the front and talk to the first people we feel like we need to talk to, then we switch. We've met a lot of good, interested people as well as a lot of crazy people who don't need too much explaining! This week in church we managed to hit the double digits! The branch president asked Elder James and I to bear our testimonies and it was a very cool experience, I talked about something I studied that morning in 3 Nephi 19: 7-13

7 And the disciples did pray unto the Father also in the name of Jesus. And it came to pass that they arose and ministered unto the people.

 8 And when they had ministered those same words which Jesus had spoken—nothing varying from the words which Jesus had spoken—behold, they knelt again and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus.

 9 And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them.

 10 And when they had thus prayed they went down unto the water’s edge, and the multitude followed them.

 11 And it came to pass that Nephi went down into the water and was baptized.

 12 And he came up out of the water and began to baptize. And he baptized all those whom Jesus had chosen.

 13 And it came to pass when they were all baptized and had come up out of the water, the Holy Ghost did fall upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

A lot of my study recently has been focusing on the Holy Ghost and how I can have it's influence in my life more, as I've been reading about the life of Christ in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I've been learning quite a lot. The "Beattitudes" from Christ's ministry in Israel and the Americas talk about how we should live our lives, I recommend studying and praying for inspiration as to how you can apply them to your life!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Time for some more reading!

Hey everyone it's Monday again so you know what that means! This week was pretty interesting, we've been doing a lot of biking lately but not more than when we biked to Calcutta (2 1/2hrs each way), hopefully we never have to ride that far again! We've been doing a good amount of contacting but we are currently out of Books of Mormon so we've lost the drive a bit to contact more since it's what makes us really stand out from other churches. Yesterday we had the chance to run by a woman we contacted, luckily her daughter didn't cry the entire time we were speaking to her mom. This time, she actually blew us kisses as we were leaving, it was pretty adorable. Something pretty funny as well, we were talking with an investigator of ours and her friend was over. Turns out her friend has a daughter and she wants one of us to marry her! We explained why that wouldn't work and she's hoping that we change our minds at the end of our mission. It's been pretty dry lately which is kind of ironic since we're supposed to be in the rainy season. It started raining a bit today but it's mostly been on and off. The other day we were biking everywhere and we got sun-burnt a bit but luckily it didn't last, the next next day I was all better! Today was a pretty fun p-day, we went over to Koewarasan; we made fried chicken, fries and played Star Flux! It was a pretty fun time. Currently in the cyber I am emailing at there are a couple of little kids playing a game, it's pretty funny hearing little kids talk to each other as they're gaming, it's even weirder when I realized I could understand them (children are strange creatures) but I digress or as my companion says, "I digest" Well I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I wish you the best!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Week 40

Hey all!

This week was interesting, tons and tons of biking! We doubled our regular amount of biking and we're definitely feeling it! Today we're just relaxing so that's nice at least! We got a referral the other day from the Elders in Commowijne and it took us about 2 and 1/2 hours to get to them! The referral himself wasn't there but his wife was there and was very excited about the gospel, she asked a lot of good questions; "Why are there so many Christian churches" "How can I know which one is right?" Some of my favorite questions to answer! Her name's Sharon and she has just recently converted to Christianity from Islam. We have an appointment to go back and teach her and her husband so that's exciting! This week was conference and I absolutely loved it! I loved President Eyring's talk during the saturday morning session as well as Elder Holland's talk in the sunday afternoon session! If you haven't seen them yet I suggest going to https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04?cid=HP_SU_3-4-2016_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng and checking them out! Conference was an amazing experience and I hope all of you have the chance to listen to the words of the prophets!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Suriname Missionaries with Elder Turley, Assistant Church Historian

Elder Richard E. Turley Jr., the assistant Church Historian, visited the Caribbean to tour several missions and shared his testimony of the importance of keeping a record. He interviewed church pioneers, held member devotionals and our missionaries were treated to a special presentation on the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. We accompanied him throughout the mission, as we visited six countries in nine days. The missionary meetings were exceptional and the spirit witnessed to all in attendance that the Book of Mormon is truly “the keystone of our religion.” A question and answer period was offered and the missionaries asked very insightful church history questions. It was a definite testimony builder to be able to understand all the sacrifices that have been made by our church pioneers to allow each of us to have the blessings of the restored gospel. 

I finally got around to ordering Cam's International Drivers License. Not sure if he'll ever get to use it with the amount of bike riding he does, but he is hopeful someday he will serve in an area where he will actually be able to drive. haha Here's to wishful thinking. His mission president encouraged all to get them just in case. It'll be a nice birthday surprise for him.