Fawaka everyone, it's time for yet another update from good
ole' Uitkijk! This week was very interesting! (So it'll skip to the best parts)
On Thursday night Elder Lunceford flew in from Trinidad, I'm going to be his
new trainer or as we like to call it in the mission field, his
"Father".
It's been interesting working with someone straight from
America, I didn't realize how much I actually knew of Dutch until I had to
start translating it for someone. Elder Lunceford is really cool though; he
actually can understand Dutch and speak it more than I would've expected! He
teaches very well, we've been having some wonderful lessons recently.
Something funny; on Elder Lunceford's first day here in
Suriname, we were biking around when all of a sudden Elder Lunceford gets hit
by a guy on a scooter (bromfiets) and it wrecks his front tire. Miraculously
enough, he was unharmed, he didn't even get knocked off his bike! The guy drove
away and all of a sudden basically everyone in the neighborhood gathered around
us and were telling us what we should do, it went something like, "Go to
the police!" "I know where he lives, break his bike!" "If
you don't want it, can I have your bike?" and things like these. We called
some people and we headed back to the apartment, luckily it wasn't too far so
we were able to switch to a spare bike and we went on our merry way.
This week I also had this weird guy telling me about
vampires, evil spirits and voo-doo...
A really cool part though was we were sitting with this one
guy who was a less-active; he was baptized when he was younger but fell away a
couple years later. So last night we were able to sit with him and we read the
introduction out of the Book of Mormon with him. It was very cool! Mostly
because he wasn't the most intelligent but as he read and as we talked, I could
see the wheels turning and even though he had to read a few times, the greatest
part after was when he said, "I understand it now, Elder."
It reminded me of a verse in Alma chapter 32, verse 28,
Now, we will compare
the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your
heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out
by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will
begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions,
ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good
seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it
beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to
me.
He promised to read everyday and pray about it, I'm excited
to sit with him again!
One last story I forgot to mention; we were contacting one day and Elder Lunceford was in front, we were biking when this guy- in what seemed like a small party with his family- called us over. So we turned around and he basically sat us down in the midst of about 9 people. We started talking with him and laughing with him and at one point he asked me,"You're American? I've been looking for some medicine to restore my grandma, do you have anything like that?" Doing my best to keep my poker face, I said, "I don't have medicine but I do have something like that" and then I pulled out a pamplet that talks about The Restoration and I gave it to him. He started dying with laughter. "Ahaha! You got me, that was a good one!" Everyone else agreed. We had a good time talking with them, we had some fun talking with them and they were impressed that we could actually communicate. They also kept telling us how we need to find wives in Suriname so we could become neighbors! We got the guy's info and told him we would come back sometime, he actually seemed excited and loved the pamphlet! #PartyHindus
Thanks for your time and have a wonderful day!
Lobi,
Elder Hardy
Attached are pictures of Elder Lunceford and I, his bike and
my tan line versus his sunburn
Here is a little excerpt from my letter from my dear boy:
Wan fu jahri ti dai, wan fu jahri ti dai, wan fu jahri wan
fu jahri wan fu jahri ti di! (sing to the tune of Happy Birthday) This is how
we sing it in Sranan Tongo!
I miss you a ton! It's crazy to think that I have 9 months
left, being with a brand new missionary puts things into perspective! haha I
miss you tons and I hope you are doing well!
Lobi!
Elder Hardy
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