Christmas Day Phone Call

Elder Bell in front, then Elder Hulme, then Elder Guinn

The plan was, Xander would call around 3:30pm our time, and we would call him right back so the charges would be on our line.  We worked on a puzzle to pass time, and finally, after 4:30, he called.  We called back and heard, "We're sorry, this call cannot be completed on this line."  We tried adding 1, taking away 1, checking the country code, calling Comcast from my cell phone to see if we had some international calling problems, calling from all of our cell phones.  We could not get through.  Finally, Xander called back.  He had to go purchase some calling cards, and just make the call from their cell phone.

1)  He hates the dogs.  In Suriname, they are all straggly, barking, mangy beasts that roam the city and are irritating.  Fortunately, they are not vicious dogs.

2)  On Christmas day, all the elders had breakfast at the senior couple's home, the Jansens.   They love the senior couple and it sounds like the Jansens take great care of the elders.  Then they went to the nursing home and wheeled folks over to the church for a Christmas lunch.  He said that was fun.  He didn't think his lady could talk at all, but when he finally parted with her, she spoke perfectly and thanked him.  Later they went to the zone leader's house and watched Toy Story 3.  When we were talking to him, there were huge fireworks going on outside and dogs barking.

3)  He loves the fruit in Suriname, especially the mangoes.  They eat lots of rice and beans and noodles.  The milk is terrible, nothing like our milk.  I get the impression that it's kind of like diluted canned milk in a carton.

4)  He misses large grocery stores.  There are only small markets and you have to visit several of them to find what you need.

5)  He has not seen the ocean yet.

6)  He loves the city.  He suspects that he may stay in the city for the remainder of his mission.

7)  Lots of people ride motor scooters.  He saw one guy riding a motor scooter with two monkeys on his back, and the monkeys looked scared to death.

8)  He spoke some Dutch to us, but it was really hard to understand through the speaker phone.

9)  Just a few days earlier, he decided to get a Christmas tree.  He went into the front yard and cut down a frond from a palm tree.

10)  The Christmas package I sent him did not arrive on time.  He wasn't upset.  Makes me sad, though.

He wears flip flops inside because of all the sand that enters their house.

11)  He says there is one church building in Suriname, and 4 additional buildings that the church rents.  The branch that he attends is good-sized and has great church members.   The branch is larger and stronger than the branch he attended in Alabama.

12)  He told us to enjoy some skiing for him.

Overall, he sounded great.  He seemed happy. We are so glad he is learning, growing, and changing.  Gosh, we miss that kid.  I can't wait until Mother's Day.

New Bike and Tasty Food

This is Xander's new address in Suriname:

Elder Alexander Hulme
PO Box 2932
Paramaribo, Suriname
South America

This week has been good.  I got a new bike and had some tasty food.  Here are my favorites:

Shoarma - French fries, chicken with BBQ sauce
Bami - Noodles
Nasi - Rice
Roti - Like a tortilla with curry, Hindu burrito
Bacabana - Fried plantains

There are lots of bacova that grow here, which are regular bananas, and also banaan, which are plantains.  I've been eating out lots, and with members, and at various different events.  I'm not exercising nearly as much, so I'm losing muscle mass, but putting on fat.  Still the same weight.  We have to drink filtered water, but the other food is basically all safe as far as I can tell.  Except Elder Bell's Bruine Bonen that went rotten and made him way sick.

Elder Guinn's bike broke, so Xander gave him a lift

If we have a good week, we can all get together for p-day.  We will all be together for Christmas, and apparently on Christmas we will watch a movie.  Now it's between Space Jam, Toy Story 3, and Despicable Me.  I'm going for Toy Story 3.

We are in the citiest part of the mission - we've got downtown in our area.  Dus, Ik kan niet zoveel gekke dingen zien als sommige van de andere zendelingen mogen zien.

I love it when Xander writes something in Dutch.  We get an interesting translation

I haven't dreamed in Dutch yet, but we do always pray in Dutch.  I'll be using my Christmas money on bike parts, so it'll be a great Christmas.

From the Eyes of Elder Hulme

1.  You see the sun each day.  It usually rains each day as well.
2.  We are in the "citiest" part of the city, and it's super cool.
3.  In this country, food spontaneously combusts.  I mean, I could go weeks living on the fruit that falls onto the ground - coconuts, mangoes, and things of that nature.
4.  It's completely flat here.  Not even a hill.
5.  They love raunchy pictures.

We played Ultimate Frisbee this morning for 5 hours.  It was fantastic.  When you ask someone how they are they reply with the word "rustig."  It means rusty.  I think when people ask me how I am, I'll begin answering, "I'm rusty."

We had a baptism last week.  Her name is Zuster Malats, which means leprosy, which is a bit unfortunate.  She was already converted when I got here, so I didn't teach her anything except some commandments.  But now I've been able to teach her lots of stuff, namely the new member lessons that everyone is supposed to receive.

This photo is right-side up on my computer,
but it won't stay that way here!

The bike issue here is tough because nobody sells any tools.  All of the bikes here are these cheap Chinese beasts of one or two varieties:

1)  Euro style, dropped toptube, 700c fat tires, coaster brakes.
2)  America style, simple means beach cruiser, coaster brakes, with "s" shaped cranks.
I'm currently using someone else's America stye bike.  He's painted the old Utah Jazz colors on it, purple, green, and yellow.  It's quite ugly and hilarious.  Chains here stretch out in about a week, but flats aren't as bad as you'd expect.  I may have to buy a bike from the muslim store (likely a stolen bike).

Elder Hulme and his MTC companion Elder Freeman reunited in Suriname

I (VaLene) want to be this lady's friend.  She looks like a hoot.

2nd Week in Suriname

I didn't find out that I was going to Suriname until Wednesday at 7pm.  I landed in Trinidad on Monday, November 15, got to the bed and breakfast around 2am, slept until 8am.  Tuesday, went to Mission Leadership Training.  Went proselyting from 5 to 9 that evening, then back to the bed and breakfast for food and sleep.  Wednesday, we went to the 2nd part of leadership training, then we went to the embassy to get visas.   Then we had a little introduction to the mission, they gave us our own debit cards, then we hopped on a big Caribbean Airlines 757 jet at 10pm and took the 1.25 hour flight to Suriname.  We had met up with Elder Tullis on our layover in Miami and we flew and lived together until Suriname.  We have to leave Suriname every 3 months to get our visas renewed.

The food here is fantastic, when it's not me building the cakes.  I've got Nutella for snacks, tuna, rice, etc., that can somehow become meals.  There is a place called Roopram Roti that is completely delicious.  I got some pumpkin roti there, and it blew me away.  The vegetables are not good, but the fruit makes up for it.  It's mango season right now.  I just need to learn how to shop here.

(I believe this is where the elders live.  Photo stolen with no permission from Elder Bell's Mission Blog - I don't even know who that fellow is - VaLene)

Elders Bell, Baker, Guinn, and myself all live in a sweet house.  It has a kitchen downstairs, and everything else upstairs.  We've got the whole thing to ourselves.

Dutch is coming.  I can now understand some, but not all people.  And not everything they say-more just the theme of what they say.  The buggy part is that in English, I know how to ask questions that will get the person to think what I want them to think.  In Dutch, I can only ask simple questions.  I don't yet know how to put the right inflections or words in to make it more useful.

Lots of rain this week, but every day we see the sun.  In leadership training, I felt so out of place because everyone was so dark.  I am a lot darker now.

Keep riding bikes and just know that these bikes are so so much worse than Huffers.  They would be better off using recycled garbage bags for bearings, than the metal used.

Suriname, Surprise!!

 I'm in Suriname, Paramaribo.  This place is nuts.  Lots of bike riding, and the drivers here actually can drive around cyclists!  It's such a relief.  The visa specialist here is a senior sister named Sister Ellison, and she worked some kind of tricks to get us into Suriname, but we will be driving to French Guiana quarterly to renew the limited use visas.  


I had a great flight down here, almost got stuck in Trinidad with the immigration people, but made it through alright.  There is not any food in this country!  I've only been eating Bacova, which is bananas.  They are only a dollar for 6!  Exchange rates here are in my favor,  $1US=$2.8 SA.  Back to the Bacova, it's one SA $ for 6 bananas, and they are completely delicious.  I bought a $10 pineapple too, which was simply incredible.  Besides the fruit though, I have no clue what to eat, and we've only been fed once, which I hope to change, because that seems to be the way to get good food.  


So far I've seen lots of animals.
Street dogs: Dogs that are just strays running around.  They aren't very interested in chasing people for the most part, only three have chased me.  The dogs here are small, about the size of our dog, but skinny.  I've seen a few rottweilers, but those are only at the rich houses.  
Lizards: A few big green ones, like 16 inches long.  They run fast and aren't very catch able
Frogs: plenty of frogs.  I haven't caught any yet, except the one that was playing in our drying dishes earlier this morning.  It was tiny though, most of the other ones are great biggies.  
Geckos:  Geckos are all over the walls and stuff of people's houses.  They run funny because their legs don't seem to separate very well.  The ones I've seen are yellow, hopefully I can find some other cooler ones. 
Parrots: The main parrots you will think of are the Macaw ones, they are big and red, or big and blue.  Most of the parrots however are green, and as big as a rock dove.  They are the more tamable ones though.
Sounds: when the sun goes down there is an entire chorus of various different animals singing, it's enjoyable I think.
Bugs: there aren't really very many bugs here.  No big mosquito issues like in Alabama.  There are lots of ants, but they are super tiny.  Not really an issue when you put your table in bowls of water so they can't climb up.  I've used dish soap to drown a number of them. 

It's pretty hot, even going into the rainy season.  Not nearly as hot as some of the days in Alabama, but always humid.  We have an "airco" unit in our bedrooms, but the rest of the house is wind cooled, or just toasty.  We have a whole house!  My Companion is named elder Bell.  He's from somewheres in Utah. He's a bowler, he's bowled a 300.  He's lost 40 lbs as a missionary so far.  He leaves the airco on all night so when I wake up, it's always freezing.  The shower water is tough, because the ground is still cool showering at 6:30am.  Everyone here is super super super tanned, I'm catching up quickly.  Even when wearing sunscreen. 

Elder Hulme with strange smile, and Elder Bell looking very relaxed

I'm pretty culture shocked but doing well. I'm glad to hear that Grandpa's funeral service went well.  I miss Alabama.  Quite a lot actually.  But it's going to be a brand new adventure and I'll make it work.  

Another Change

I received another e-mail today from President Holzapfel saying that they are now flying out this Monday, November 15, instead of Thursday.  Bon Voyage Elder Hulme!

Farewell Alabama

(VaLene talking here)  President Holzapfel called us today at 10:30am to say that the church has decided to send Elder Hulme and Elder Guinn to the West Indies mission, English speaking.  We assume they will be in Trinidad/Tobago, but we don't know for sure.  Other English-speaking islands in the West Indies mission include Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, and St. Vincent.  I don't know if their Visas for Suriname were ultimately denied, or if the mission folks just gave up on waiting.  I believe it was the latter.  I do not know if there is still a chance that they will get to Suriname and speak Dutch.

Click Map of the West Indies Mission to see all the countries and islands that are part of the mission.

Departure Date: Thursday, November 18
Depart Alabama 1:05pm
Arrive Miami, Florida 3:55pm
Depart Miami, Florida 6:50pm
Arrive Port of Spain 11:30pm

This will be exactly one week shy of his 8-month mission mark.  I can't wait to talk to him and find out how he feels about all of this.  We are very excited for him.  He did mention in a recent e-mail that if/when he leaves Alabama, he will likely experience mission-president-shock.  President Holzapfel seems to be one in a million.  Here is the e-mail that Pres. Holzapfel sent to the families, the bishops, the stake presidents, and to the elders.  And he included this photo from their recent zone conference.

Dear Elders Hulme and Guinn,

Here is your travel plan for November 18. We will arrange your departure interviews and dinner this coming weekend. Your efforts to prepare Elders Kirk and Chugg to take your responsibilities in the Ensley Branch will be appreciated. New zone leaders will be called before you leave. I ask you to visit with them as soon as we announce their assignment.

Thank you for your service in the mission. Your lives exemplify the kind of missionaries the Lord needs today to fulfill his purposes. Thank you for your inspired leadership as the Bessemer zone leaders. The recent conference you conducted was exceptional and training and discussions were most helpful. I commend you both for your dedication, obedience, and service.

Blessings, President Holzapfel

GOOD LUCK ELDER HULME AND ELDER GUINN!!!!!!