My Favorite Tool is Called a Chop

This is me with Brother Tjong a Jong, the day that we did service for him.  That tool is called a chop, I think it's my favorite tool, similar to a hoe but shorter handle and a very setback blade.

Next is me and Brother Conrad.  He's one of our best investigators right now.  He looks like a pirate, came to church, is loving the Book of Mormon. 

He's been a bus driver for like 50 years now, and used to work with Brother Tjongajong for a long long time.  We didn't know that until he came to church and they were talking, it was a good experience.  As he was leaving the church he was saying something to the effect  of how glad he was that God had lead him to this church.  He won't accept a baptismal date yet, I'm not sure why, but he knows we expect it.  I'm very glad for him, and excited to work even more with him.  Elder Scott who is coming home in 2 weeks took a picture with him, and made a pirate hook with his finger, it was pretty funny.  

The last is our new district!  we've got 3 trainers and 3 trainees now.  The one in the red is Elder Garcia, he's cool, from sugar house, and looks just like Tyler Otteson to me.  The other is Elder Sadler, from Illinois somewhere.  He seems good too, but I haven't had too much of a chance to talk with him.  The other three elders are Elder Tullis, training Elder Sadler, and I'm so stoked for him, I would love to have Elder Tullis as my trainer - he knows how to make missionary work fun.  Elder Fernandez, of Brussels Belgium is training Elder Garcia, the two spanish root name companionship.  Then there is Elder Job and I, loving the work in Wanica.  Elder Job has lots of interesting things.  He's from Groningen, he's got a girlfriend who is a convert of 2 years and will be getting her mission papers in sometime.  It's funny because he's super dark and she's super light, like way way way white skin.  Elder Job gets tons of mail, from tons of people, nearly every day.  He likes making pancakes in the morning.  He's been snowboarding before, but in an indoor artificial resort, it sounds kind of boring compared to real mountains.


We got together as a zone today, played some frisbee, played some soccer, basketball, everything.  Then went and spent 300SRD at Burger King.  I like the Angry Whopper.  I haven't had Javanese food in a long time...  I should get on that.  For the caramel corn, I just browned some butter, added some coffee cream and sugar and poured that on salted popcorn.  I'm so excited for conference, I love this time of year, even though this is my last conference.  It's so strange being on the downhill slope of missionary work, and seeing other elders packing up and going home.  

I gave a talk on Sunday.  I talked about scripture study.  I am trying to get the branch to learn the doctrines better, because it seems that the understanding level right now is very very simple, and not very converted.  I used the parts that talk about "ask and ye shall recieve, seek knock."  My favorite is in 2Nephi 32:3-5 with the question of, What happens if you do not understand the doctrine?  MMMMM I love restored truth.  Did you get my postcard?  and Elder Job's?

It's great hearing from you.  Thanks for all the support.  

-Elder Hulme

September 12, 2011

So, the first activity was something that Miranjo, the son of the Branch President, and the only active deacon said he wanted to organize.  We said okay and let him do it because he said he could get 16 of his friends there.  When it was done, he didn't have a single friend there.  We were able to get Joan's boy to come and we had a good time with them and all the women that were asked to bring food.  

This second activity was something Elder Job put together.  We invited Joan to teach us all how to make our own kites, and then fly them, snacks and things would be thereafter provided.  We invited lots and lots of people and turned out with 5 investigators there.  Joan and two of her sons, and then these two brothers we met on the street the week previous.  Also many more people from the branch showed up and we had a great time making kites, I can show you all how some day.  The picture is of Brother Meygoe rescuing his kite from the roof of the church.  And some people making kites, and the snacks.  We made a vital mistake with this activity, and didn't have any spiritual benefits integrated into it.  Hopefully we will do better about that in the future, it was good for me to experience it though, and realize if you don't take control and make the spiritual things happen, they simply don't happen.

 

Ricardo is doing really well.  I think that Daboetje lied though - I don't think he's been trying to read for a while, so we've made some plans to crack down on him and get him into the Book of Mormon.  It's incredible seeing his personality develop.  He's 33 years old, and hasn't had any sort of work for the last 10 years.  He spent some time in prison, and on the streets homeless.  All because he was not following the commandments, (surely he was never taught to follow them or what they are, but still) and now, he's working, learning Dutch, learning to read and preparing to receive the Aaronic priesthood.  It's so great being able to see the massive progression and improvement he's had in his life.  I love being witness to it.  

We started finding work in a new area this week too.  It's close to the church, and home, and just feels like the right place to be.  We have one street called Kroondijkstraat that we have 4 investigators on.  Also, Ricardo lives nearby and we hope to take him to visit some of the people with us, to get him used to doing missionary work.  I like this new place, it's very calm and quiet, and lots of kids playing around doing crazy stuff, chasing each other and all that good stuff.  Also there isn't other churches nearby teaching anti to all the people, that makes them far more receptive to our visits.  

I've been studying repentance like President Gamiette told me to.  I've begun repenting as much as possible, and as quickly as possible.  I've learned a lot about how the Holy Ghost can purify us of our sins, and how without the ordinances such as baptism and confirmation, you can't get cleaned from sin.  I read 3 Nephi 19 this morning, and it's incredible looking at the manner in which Jesus prays, and the things he says about the people in the land of Bountiful.  When I entered the MTC I think I had maybe 3 verses of scripture memorized. I've been working on that really really hard and I think I know about 200 verses now from the standard works.  I read each Ensign completely the month it comes out.  All you have to do is put it by the toilet - it's a perfect plan!  I love being a missionary.  

We made a discovery this week, after realizing how disappointed we have been due to the lack of berries here.  There is only one berry, and that's the podosiri berry, AKA Acai.  They are all over and way cheap.  The discovery is this: the flavors of all fruits can be found in Suriname.  I bought some green bananas, they never turn yellow.  These bananas contain the flavor of the blackberry, but in banana form.  We had some other ones too, called Zuiker Bacova, sugar banana, it hides within it's peel the flavor and tartness of an apple.  I tried this morning a new zuiker bacova, and it is in the essence of strawberry.  This is an incredible step for the science of mankind!  

Ik hou heel veel van jullie. 

-Elder Hulme

September 5, 2011

Elder Job (from the Netherlands) and Elder Hulme

In the Suriname style Dutch, the word Gerechte is used as the english "dish" and Kwak is one of these dishes.  It's made from Kassava and ginger and quite good.  That's a really good translation though, I laughed at least.  I didn't get any shoes because they were all so awful.  I'm going to look into finding a cobbler.  In another few minutes, the Jansens will pick us up and take us to their house to eat, and we as a whole zone will be watching the newest Joseph Smith movie with lots of extra footage and stuff.  I'm happy to go and will enjoy being able to relax a bit.  I hope to find some more time to study though.  I've realized that I don't know nearly enough about repentance and forgiveness and things. 

Upon further investigation, Ricardo had been reading, just when Jerome wasn't home, so he didn't know about it.  That cleared him for baptism, and Brother Ricardo Babel is the newest member of the Wanica Branch.  It was great seeing him prepare and make the covenant.  It also really built up Dudie, the referrer of Ricardo. Dudie is the girlfriend of Ricardo's older brother.  She explained that while Lucian was giving his talk on the Holy Ghost she really was struck by it.  She really wants to get married so she'll not longer be living in sin.  I hope they take care of that quickly.  I think if you've been dating for 5 years and you're still not married, that is just bad planning and a bad idea. 

Zone conference was Saturday.  It was nice, we had President Gamiette present, and also President Vinas a member of the first quorum of the 70, meaning he is a general authority. All members of the 1st and 2nd quorums of the 70 are general authorities. I didn't know that until this weekend.  We talked about the atonement.  Many of the thoughts shared were verses that I felt I had been lead to in the month previous.  It was a cool experience seeing that God really has been leading and guiding me all along the way.  We got our transfer calls - Elder Job and I are staying in Wanica!  I'm so pleased with that.  Elder Tullis and Elder Fernandez will be working in Koewarisan, another area in our district.  I'm glad to be able to go on exchanges with them and have a good time with them.  

This whole week seemed abnormally hard, and stressful, and failure ridden.  I think, however, that Elder Job and I learned a lot due to the stress.  We organized a young men's activity, since there is no young men's president or anything.  It was a success all in all, but we didn't have as many people there as what would have been ideal.  We're doing a "learn to make a kite" activity on Thursday.  Elder Job did that one pretty much all by himself - I was very proud of him for it.  

I'm out of time, enjoy life.

Elder Hulme

August 22, 2011

Life is good here in the Carribean.  It's hot and sweaty and our washing machine is still awful, but we eat like kings and have been working hard, and learning a ton in doing so. 
Roberto got dropped, I may have mistyped Ricardo, who will be on the 3rd of September.  Good work at Payson lake, and good luck building a garage.  I think that once you get it on there, nobody will have anything to complain about right?  The number of houses here without a garage is many. 

Could I get some photos of Lacey's wedding thingy?  That sounds nice absolute.  Tell her hi for me too if you can.  Also the rest of that family.  Is Tyler still around?  Oh, I sent Jayson a letter to his mission address.  And one to Elder Knecht.  

I found a way to trick this computer into letting me send photos.  I hope it works.  If it does, this is me and Ricardo.  He doesn't speak Dutch or English.  I can only communicate with him in Sranan Tongo, or in Paramakans if I could speak that.  He was sick with evil spirits for a long time, and he's been completely better since he's been coming to church.  He smiles way big, it makes everyone else smile.  He's also quite possibly one of the largest people I've ever met.  His arms are like trees. 

Elder Hulme and Ricardo

The other one is me and Elder Job being photo friendly in the cyber, because we haven't taken any pictures together yet.  It's been too busy with missionary work for things as futile as that.  I did however go to Koewarisan on exchanges.  It was so incredibly beautiful there.  The locals claim that it is the garden of Eden.  Elder Lundgren and I had a good time, I've always wanted to work with him. 

Elder Hulme and Elder Job

We are going with the Zone Leaders to buy Elder Job a new bicycle.  Its about time, all the time playing bike wars didn't do as much damage to my bike as allowing him to use it.  It's ok though, I still love him.  

I studied the Atonement this morning.  It was intense I learned a lot and understand a lot better what's going on right now.  I love reading the scriptures, and Amulek is a good teacher.  Alma 34 is one of my favorite places to learn.  Verses 42-46 blew my mind. 

We taught a less active recent convert this week.  ZR Wijngaarde, she doesn't like taking the bus to church, so we were calling to set up a ride for her.  Mid phone call, our phone died and we lost the call.  Elder Job and I both prayed for a way to make the call knowing that this would be able to get the woman to come to church.  We asked someone, and they happened to have the same phone as us, so we just borrowed the battery long enough to make the call.  Cool little miracle. 

I honestly have no idea what else happened this week. 

Two new missionaries came into the zone this week.  One being trained by Elder Guinn, the other by Elder Pederson (who just got here 3 months ago, he's good). 

I love you all lots.  Thanks for not forgetting I exist. 

-Elder Hulme

 

The Monkey

Yes my Dutch is improving a ton.  Elder Job speaks perfect English.  It seems that the only country in which you don't learn another language is the United States.  Also, everyone learns English from TV and video games... That makes it easier I'm sure. 

I had no Idea that Eric and Austin were already mission ready, that came so fast.  Ghana Africa is the highest baptizing mission in the world last I heard.  East side of Brazil should be similar to where I'm serving.

I drove to French Guyana today.  Turns out if you don't stay there very long and if you leave at 6:15 in the morning, it's not too long of a trip. We arrived in Paramaribo at 3:15.  It was basically uneventful.  I had some guy yell at me when I asked him where I could pee.  I don't understand why people are so easily mad.  Volgens mij is het net als wat we lezen in 1Nephi16:2 waarin als je een grote zondaar ben, het word makkelijk om pijn te voelen in God's licht.  Ik heb geen Nederlands naar jullie gestuurd in een lange tijd.  Hopelijk schrijf Ik duidelijk genoeg voor je google translator. 

 

The Monkey.

Wednesday was great.  We had an appointment fall through at about 2:30, the absolute hottest part of the day.  So we were chilling in the shade of a tree cooling down a bit before going back into the sun.  We started talking about monkeys and before we left we prayed that whoever has a monkey that we find that day would be baptized.  We then went about our business for the day.  6:30 appointment fell through, and as we were walking away, I asked the woman that we were going to visit if she knew anyone with a pet monkey in the area.  She pointed out where, and we found the monkey.  Klopte de deur en er kwam een jonge buiten, we vroegen hem als hij het goed zou vinden om van Het Boek van Mormon te lezen.  Hij zei ja, zo we deelde een les met hem en z'n broetje.  Het was een geweldige les en ze vroegen ons om terug te komen.  

Looks like they have a real chance at progressing.  Oh, and their names are Roberto and Dilano.  Nothing in this country is spanish except the names. 

Thursday was great.  We found 9 new investigators on Thursday.  I've had entire weeks where we didn't find that many new investigators.  The only issue was that none of those ones in particular were from members. We're going to be working on that this week.  Elder Job is great to work with.  He's not scared of the people or of teaching or anything it seems. 

Oh!!! big news.  Marina, our investigator in Munder, got baptized on Saturday!  Boy was that good to hear too.  All those days wondering what we could do to help her, fasting with her and praying with her really payed off when Elder Guinn told me about that baptism.  And the family that we found together, family Roos, is still progressing and doing really well. 

I love you all. 

-Elder Hulme

In Wanica with New Missionary

I finally got grandma's package, and it was wonderful.  Everything was still fresh and uninfested by ants.  (VaLene speaking - we shipped that package the ordinary way clear back in the middle of April!  It took 3.5 months to arrive!)


The Wanica apartment is nasty filthy, but I've found new shirts and socks there, so I don't have to buy any more new ones:) I will likely want to get the shirts tailored, but that's way cheaper than new ones and more custom fit. We'll hopefully have a half hour or so to clean it, but I'm not sure because Elder Job's proved to be quite a bike killer.  He keeps up though, so that's way good.  He's from Holland, and has been helping me a ton in learning the language.  He was born, however, in Curacao, and both his parents come from there.  Its nuts when I realize that he's only been a missionary for  24 days. I assume he knows things that there is no way he would know.  He's cool, loves working hard, and is full of ideas and ways to improve, I love it.  I don't have a way to send photos, I need to purchase a card reader next week, because I don't have one.  


We got to Wanica, taught Elder Tullis' investigators twice (he's in Blauwgrond) and determined that they weren't progressing and had to be dropped.  All but one, the boyfriend of Vallerie Ritveld.  We taught him last night and realized he has absolutely no testimony of the Restoration.  No biggy, I know how that can come to someone.  The issue is that he's supposed to be baptized in 12 days.  Wow!  So I need to figure out how to get him studying hard and stuff.  I'm out of time, sorry.
-Elder Hulme

Transfer to Wanica

I got your package!  Thanks so much, pictures were number 1!  I still haven't seen or heard anything about grandma's.  Thanks also for putting cash in the box, it makes it a lot easier to pay for.  

After the trip to the binnenland, Elder Guinn and I thought we were going to get busted hard.  We called the assistants and asked them about it, they asked President Gamiette, and nothing happened.  The whole thing turned out just fine.  


Transfers
I got a crazy crazy transfer call.  I'll be working in Wanica.  I get to serve as a trainer for an elder fresh out of the MTC name Elder Job.  He's from the Netherlands, but his parents are from Curacao.  He arrives Wednesday morning at like 2, and I'll be working in Wanica with Elder Tullis until he arrives.  I'm very relieved (and a little sad) to not be the zone leader anymore.  That's a really big mantle and I can feel the weight of it lifting off me already.  I will miss driving though.  I get to learn Dutch from a native now too, that will help lots.  Elders Guinn and Pederson will also be training.  Their trainees got stuck due to visa delays, but they shouldn't be held up long though.  Elder Norton is going back to being zone leader, with Elder Scott, who will be coming back from Guyana - he left a few months ago and gets to come back.  
I'm down with going to BYU, I'm a bit torn between BYU and UofU.  BYU has a good scene, but I think UofU does too.  I like this list of ideas.  I've been pondering about becoming a physics professor.  If I do it at BYU, I could also remain associated with CES, where I could further improve my teaching skills.  
Marina is doing well, she will be baptized on the 6th of August.  We found a family too, the Roos. That means pink.  They are sweet, and should be baptized soon


There was that same iguana who used to live in the tree outside my window, we found where he's living now.  He was hanging out on our big water tank this morning.  So we started chasing him around.  What it finally came to was us walking around behind this boomkip and now he's stuck on our balcony where we chill on the hammock.  Pets are not allowed, but I don't think it's bad to leave nature where nature wants to live right?  


Studies have been a lot on obedience if you can see the irony there.  There is this quote by Bruce R McConkie "Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness.  It is always given when righteousness is present, and the greater the measure of obedience to God's laws the greater will be the endowment of Faith."  If you mix this quote with Ether 12:12 you get miracles.  So I've been trying to become more righteous.  Trying to lift myself from the physical to the spiritual side of things.  Then yesterday morning I received some of the best revelation I've ever received, it came from a talk given by Kevin W. Pearson. "The ability to focus and be steadfast , continually holding fast to true principles, nothing wavering, even when the mist of darkness confronting us is exceedingly great.  This quality of faith is exceedingly powerful."  When things get rough and the mist gets thicker what can you do?  There are really only two options.  Stop and start sliding backwards, or press forward.  Using Lehi's vision, how would one take steps forward?  If you can't see anything but want to get to the tree, what could lead you there?  There's only one thing really, the word of God.  It's been a good week of studies.

I haven't written a letter in 4 months, sorry everyone.  Actually, I did send Tyler a post card a few weeks ago.
I love you all lots, hope these photos go through easy.
-Elder Hulme