"Broeders, ik moet je eerlijk zeggen, oud worden is vervelend! Oud worden is niet gemakkelijk!"

Fawaka allemaal!

This has been yet another fabulous week out here in 'Nam (Suriname)!

These past few weeks have been going by like lightning, it feels like I just wrote one of these.

Anyways, this week we got to visit the Sabajo family, we had an unofficial family home evening with them and it was fun because I got to use pictures! At the end of the lesson, two of the kids wanted to say the prayer so to decide who would say it, I flipped an American quarter the younger one got to say it. To make the older one feel better, I gave her a quarter and then snowball effect, I gave them all quarters! It was fun trying to teach them how to flip it properly.

We also had some fun contacting, it was really hot so we were trying to find someone to talk to. We looked over and saw some people sitting on a porch so we walked over. I wasn't sure how to introduce ourselves right away so I decided to make them laugh by speaking Sranan Tongo. It worked! They invited us inside and we got to share a little bit of our message, they also taught us some new words in Sranan; the language itself is kind of like Dutch but with an I at the end and sounds more hilarious.

My favorite experience was when we went and visited 94 year old Brother Liem. He's gotten to the point of where it's too hard for him to make it to church but we try to visit him at least once a week. We stopped by once and he had some questions about family history work, on Saturday we brought him a little book called, "My Family" it has space in there to make your own family tree and fill out their information. We gave it to him and he was so excited! I realized that his great-grandparents were here when Suriname was still being first developed.

Brother Liem was also pretty sick, he'd been having trouble sleeping and he had a lot of pain. He asked to give him a priesthood blessing so we did. He asked me to say the blessing. As I laid my hands on his head, I felt peace and my heart burned within me, I also felt God's love for Brother Liem. In the blessing, it talked about how much God loves him, how he would would be healed and talked about how valiant he was before he came to this Earth and how wonderful an example he is setting for his children as well as success in his family history work.

Afterwards, we were talking with him and he was in tears; he talked about how much faith he had in the blessing and how he knew that the things which were said were true, he could feel it. Seeing him overcome with emotion, I felt like I needed to ask him if I could give him a hug. I asked him and he laughed and said, "Jawel!" We helped him stand and we gave him each a hug.

I love the Priesthood!

Well that was my week, thanks for reading and I wish you all a beautiful week further!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Title Translation:  

"Brothers, I have to tell you honestly, getting old is annoying! Getting old is not easy!"

   

Attached: Elder Fleming and I had some bike problems, our landlord got us coconuts, I got injured playing soccer so I took some pictures on the sidelines.

"Zullen we alle vier versen van Zingt Schepselen van Onze Heer?" "Jawel, vandaag is paas."

Fawaka allemaal!

This week was pretty crazy. So first off, the reason why I'm emailing today is because yesterday was second Easter, it's Surinamese holiday. It's like normal Easter but on the second day, everyone just chills and closes most of the shops. It's alright though! 

This week, we didn't have anything too crazy happen. We did have a cool lesson with Selvion though, we started to talk with him again and just like last time, it started to rain! We went inside and mostly just got to know him and we talked more about God. It was really cool, he's also in the military so he has some funny stories.

We also gave the Crawford's (the Senior Couple here in Suriname) a cake and a book full of letters from all of us missionaries as a token of our gratitude for all of their hard work they do for us. On the cake we wrote a quote we always hear from Elder Crawford, "Alles is mogelijk!" or Everything is possible.

We did have a fun lesson yesterday: we headed over to this man named Smith that we made an appointment with and he was sitting with his extended family outside, they invited us over and we sat down. They had some questions about our church and we were able to answer by explaining why we talk about "The Restoration" we explained that we believe that this church is the same church that Jesus Christ established when he was here on Earth. They really liked our message and they said they want to come to church. They also appreciated the fact that we could speak a little bit of Sranan Tongo, it always makes them light up when we say, "Fawaka!"

Well, sorry about the short email, not much this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Title Translation: "Shall we sing all four verses of Creatures of Our Lord?" "Yes, today is Easter."

Fiets problemen, regen en roti!

Good morning everyone!

I've officially been back in Suriname for a week, it's good to be back, feels like I never left! I had a good week though, I met a lot of interesting people! We met one man named Selvion (Silver in Latin) and as we talked to him he said he had a friend named AJ or Silly who went to Venezuela for his mission, I realized that we knew him but he went to the Dominican Republic, it was funny though because now we know Jerome's nickname! He was really cool though, we made an appointment to come back, it started raining pretty hard as we were getting ready to go but considering I hadn't gotten soaked in while, I welcomed it!

A spiritual experience this week was when we taught a man name Daryl, we taught about the purpose of life and what happens after we die and it was amazing to me that not only did he believe in what we said, all of his questions were wonderful! I found peace through what the gospel brings and as we read the scriptures with him, it was cool to watch him learn! His little son was funny too, he wanted to bring his dirty bike inside the house and ride so we likened it to the scriptures, "And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom". It was an awesome lesson.

I also had the chance to bear my testimony this Sunday to introduce myself, it was fast and testimony meeting so we started and nobody was standing up to go and share so I walked up there, Brother Ritfeld gave me an approving thumbs up. It was cool to watch because after I sat down, it was almost a continuous stream of people getting up, sharing their testimony and then sitting down! Very uplifting sacrament meeting.

My tire also popped Saturday night, I'm officially re-instated as a Suriname missionary!

Other than that though, not much happened this week! Take care of yourselves and remember one thing: I love you, God loves you and Satan hates your face.

Lobi!

Elder Hardy

Title Translation: Bike problems, rain and roti!

Attached: Elder Fleming, Carillo and I on exchange and Elder Crawford teaching family home evening at one of our members' house

"Wat is een zendeling?" "Kerkisma!" "Oh!"

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm officially back in Suriname, wan mooie kondre! It's been pretty fun, I've only been here since Thursday night but it's been an interesting few days: we got to go teach some lessons on Friday but Saturday and Sunday we had general conference. 

The airport in Trinidad was pretty fun, I met some Surinamers when I was there. I was sitting down, saying a silent prayer that I could talk to someone and right after, a guy came over and asked if this was the Suriname gate. He sat down and we started to talk, Surinamers are so funny, it turns out he's from the Sarramacca/ Uitkijk area! Which just so happens to be my old area so naturally we had a good conversation about that. As we talked, another woman heard us speaking in Dutch and asked me if I was from the Netherlands and then she joined us in our conversation! I wish I could say more people joined in but at that point we started boarding.

I met a cool Chinese guy from Beijing, he's on vacation but he was really funny.

A cool experience I had was when we taught a man named Daryl, we took a member named Jerome with us and it went really well. We were talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and also about the Pre-earth life, we discussed the fall of Adam and Eve and he had a lot of questions. We read 2 Nephi Chapter 2 with him, two verses that stuck out to us in particular were verses 24, 25 and 26:

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

Jerome explained the need for opposition in our lives, without it, we can't grow!

I'm grateful for it because it helps me appreciate the sweet things in our lives. Have a great day!

Lobi,

Elder Hardy

Title Translation: "What is a missionary?" "Kerkisma" "Oh!"

 Mens Priesthood Session