One Day Trip to French Guiana

Happy Birthday Mom, I hope you get my letter.

Here's me and Elder Freeman, and our house.  We've got this tiny place in comparison to the other house.  We live in the same house with an old lady, but in an extension. this is against the rules, so we will be moving on the 24th.  The new place is absolutely gorgeous. I hope to remain in this area for a long time. Elder Freeman and I are having a great time together. This morning he was singing some non-missionary song, so I started singing Sweet Hour of Prayer really loud.  He starting playing air guitar and pretending to sing along, we were doing this massive lip-sync concert in our kitchen on the way out the door.  It was completely hilarious.


I didn't get to go grocery shopping last week, so I haven't had any food at all this week. The interesting part is that I haven't been all that hungry anyway. I made rice for breakfast this morning. Apparently if you get "par-boiled" rice it is horrible.  It's not sticky at all. I attempted to make Nasi, but it just didn't work.  I will gladly take a trip to the store in a few hours.  I think I've got some extra SRD saved from last week too, so it'll be just great.



I don't know if the rest of you have been reading the Jansen's blog, or if they will post this story on there, but here is what happened Friday:
Because I didn't get the extended stay "MKV" I have to exit the country every three months to renew my normal visa.  That trip took place on Friday.  Elders Guinn, Tullis, and I slept at the Zone Leader's house Thursday night, had a good time, and the Jansens came at about 8 in the morning to take us to French Guiana for the day.  We were instructed to not eat any breakfast before they got there, so that we could stop on the way.  We started driving, crossed the Suriname bridge for my first time, and stopped for some Broodje's. (This emailing place is playing the worst of 70's love ballads.)  After the breakfast break, we got down to the 100km trip.  This road is nuts.  It's by far, absolutely no comparison, the bumpiest road in existence.  We had to strap ourselves down in our seatbelts to keep from flying through the roof of the truck.  Elder and Zuster Jansen sat in the front, Zuster Jansen driving, and the three Elders in the back.  The entire trip, Zuster Jansen was laughing her head off, because all three of our heads would bounce up at the same time, and it was apparently really funny.  We told stories, in the smooth parts, learned lots of Dutch and saw lots of the beautiful KonKondre trees.  Then, we got to the river that separates Suriname from French Guiana.

When there, we talked to this guy who agreed to take us via boat across the river onto the French side.  The boats they have there are about 30 feet long, and super thin, with a little fishing motor on the back, it was sweet. They took lots of photos, but I left my camera, so I'll try to get some if you can't see them.  Once on the French side, we got some stamps for our passports and went to this Chinese restaurant that sold all sorts of food. I figured I'd get an omelet, since I was in the best place I could think of to get french style food.  Ordering was hard. Between me and the 2 the Chinese people and our 3 languages, we couldn't communicate at all.  Got the food, and it was good, apparently Cervettes means shrimp.  Shrimp omelet.  Then we hopped back on the little boat, and went to Suriname again, got some more stamps and am now clear to stay for another 3 months.

Computer translations are so funny!

I absolutely love the Jansens. Upon our arrival in Paramaribo, it was 8pm, none of the missionaries were home, and none of us had keys to get into any of our houses, so we went to the Jansens.  We looked at pictures, and ate grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream.  I was snacking on the whipped cream, just squirting it on my finger and eating it.  Zuster Jansen came up to me yelling "Jongen! Je bent verkeert.  Doen zo," She then threw her head back and opened her mouth, implying that I should immitate, so I did and she filled my mouth with whipped cream.  Not just put some in there, but filled it, heaping over the tops of my lips with whipped cream.  It was great, everyone started laughing.  Best vacation I've had for a while, even though my back was so so so sore on Saturday, I couldn't believe it.
Things are good here, I love you bunches everyone, I'm glad to hear from you.  
-Elder Hulme

Transfers

Big news on transfers. Here's the lowdown:
I'm going to take Elder Norton's place in Blauwgrond as Elder Freeman's companion.
Elder Guinn is taking my area with Elder Badoni.  Elder Guinn will be our district leader.
Elder Bell is going to Uitkijk(jungle).
Elder Norton will be the new Zone Leader, with Elder Thompson.
So I'm going to be moving about the time everyone leaves to school.  I'm pretty excited to have my own house again. The bummerest part, is that we finally have some people progressing now.  It will be nice to have something new and fresh. I do however get to remain in the same branch.  Different work area, same branch.  Now I know which members to work with from the one area, and I'll learn who to work with from this area too, it should be a good asset.  

Rain.  Usually rainstorms come in little bursts.  If it looks like you can dodge it, sometimes we'll just find some shelter and wait a few minutes for the rain to pass.  If it looks like a wet day, you just make sure all your stuff is in plastic bags and get wet.  When it rains it feels really cold.  The temperature is really about 75 degrees (in the rain), but in contrast it's freezing.  I don't know what I'll do coming home, it's going to feel so cold without this humid blanket.  

That's sweet about reading out of the BoM every night, it's something that I commit people to do every single day!  I've been studying tons out of the scriptures, and have learned to absolutely love it.  Despite the problem I had this week where all of my studies seemed really dry.  I read 3 Nephi 17, it's when Jesus was chilling out with the Nephites and he starts praying for them, and it was so incredible that nobody can describe it.  I hope to learn to pray like that some day, where people can't even describe the prayer.  

Here's to your questions...
Yes, we've been working with a woman named Rachel and her brother and children, they came to church this week.
I'm way healthy, I've been working out hard in the mornings, and getting stronger.  I still have lots of fat on me, but it should fade.  I couldn't afford any snacks this week, so that will probably help. 
Chocolate is fine in the mail.  Here's something to keep in mind though.  The ants here are nuts. They are super tiny, and don't collect food at all, they are rogues.  So they get into everything.  So any chocolate stuff you send, make sure it's covered in plastic.  Bij Voorbelt, the Christmas chocolates had tons of ant corpses all over them.  I ate them gladly disregarding the ants.  
I haven't learned anything new about Suriname.... I saw a nasty dog yesterday, but couldn't get a picture of it.  
Usually we go out to eat together on p-day, I like that a lot.  We've gone to Roopram, and McDonalds and BK and Jawa (my personal favorite), and different warungs.  Last week we went to the zoo, it was hilarious watching Elder Freeman look at the monkeys.  He was so thrilled by them!  Love you all.
-ElderHulme  

January 31, 2011

Milldew, you looked very nice for your concert, I hope you enjoyed it.  I feel like I really missed out eating Cold Stone with everyone! I sure miss Cold Stone, the ice cream here is ok, but nothing quite that caliber.  
 I was way sick feeling yesterday, stomach ache and achy all over, just dragging.  Elder Bell was great, he rode bikes slow for me, he wasn't grumpy at me at all, just hanging out enjoying the rain.  I don't know why it's been raining so much, but it's been raining lots lately.  And luckiest thing of all is that I'm not feeling sick today! It was a sub 24 hour gig.  
President Gamiette sent us a way cool email this week.  It's about a purification for ourselves.  Turning ourselves completely to the savior and stuff, I will forward it I think.  I'm excited to become better.  It's just like Nephi, who in my mind is one of the best prophets ever, in 2 Nephi chapter 4 he describes how even he has sins that do so easily beset him.  It's interesting that we are fighting such a gloomy looking battle, but know who wins at the end.  I like righteousness.  
We had two investigators at church this week, which was a huge relief.  Unfortunately, we haven't taught either of them. One just came because we asked him to on the street, and the other came with a member.

Things are great, the food here is fabulous, I feel bad that I'm in such a beautiful country and none of you are.  Have a great week :)  Thanks for the super good update.  
Hows the snow?
Is it way cold or medium cold?
Who has the longest hair in the house?
Did anyone learn anything cool in church yesterday?
Drive safe in that snow.
-Elder Hulme