Aio!

I do not have a lot lot of time because the computer is soooo slow. But just wanted to let you know I am doing great. The trip to the islands....I will tell you about next week, because that was the craziest thing. Oh my .. but I love you all and the work I am a part of here. 

Aio (that means bye in Papiamento)! 

zuster parker

The Crawfords!

The Egberts!

    So this week was amazing (everyweek is). First; exciting news, I am going to Aruba and Curacao for 2 days! Me and Zr. Vernez have to leave the country for visa things and come back. But for those who are reading this and are confused; my mission has 6 countries in it, and 5 are islands. I am serving in Suriname, in South America (but is still considered apart of the Caribbean), we have the ABC islands, and Trinidad and Tobago islands, and then a country in South America called Guyana.   Me and sister Vernes are so excited to go and meet the other missionaries that we would have never meet!
    Fun thing president Egbert and sister Egbert came teaching with me and my comp zr. Ashcraft, and it was really nerve-racking at first. I mean the president of the mission is going to see you live in action teaching! But it turned out amazing! I love them. This week we had the Egberts with us, and we had an amazing zone meeting with them, and helpful interviews with president. Also in our zone meeting we talked about God, and how important it is to understand who he is, and his relationship with us to be strong. It was so spiritual, and how we need to have our members, investigators, and rcla's understand who He is. Because if you do not understand who He is, you do not understand who Jesus Christ is, that Joseph Smith saw them both, that he translated the book of Mormon, and that this is the true church on earth today. Sometimes we focus too much on the other things, and briefly go over what we think everybody should know and understand already, but we need to start there; the core. Because it is from there that we can then strengthen everything else. I know this to be true. Every lesson that I have done about god, I have learned something knew. I have grown so much closer to God, even though I am the teacher. Those lessons are the most spiritual.
     I invite everyone to get to know our Heavenly Father better, because he knows you.
I love this church. I know it is the restored church on the earth today, that this is Jesus Christ's church, and our Heavenly Father provided us with this church so we can return back to him in the highest of glory!

I love you all and I love this mission.
Lobie Zuster Parker

Just your average Suriname sky!

Same here, after a long day it is nice to see some beauty!

Rain, rain and more rain!

    This week, so much rain! Haha. I know we are in rainy season, but it is crazy how fast the streets get flooded. It is gross also! Today on our way over to the cyber, the canal dingen (which is just filled with gross water all the time) was overflowing onto the street.....it was soooooo gross!!!! We had to bike through it! Definitely washing my feet when I go home! and legs! Haha. The main things I do not like about biking in the flooded streets are:
1. The water is nasty, we always see people(guys) pee on the side of the road, like everyday..
2. SNAKES!
3. You can not see through the water, and the roads are terrible, so next thing you know you ran through a pot hole and you are like half way in!.
      But you know, I still love it! I love the adventures like this here. Where else am I going to say I have done these things?! Also the comments people say while we are biking! The best! On our way here one guy was telling me,"Bruintje! Je bent en bruintje!" Haha so I guess that is better than bakra! (that means white person).
    Also last night there was a crazy storm! Loud thunder and crazy lighting! It was close to our house, it took out some of the power in some of the missionaries apartments (luckily not us). Then also we have been hearing that we are in a hurricane... or one is coming, but I really do not believe that! hah they always say things, they say oh it is rainy season now, and then the next person says oh this is not the long rainy season, in December it is,(but it is actually now) and they say oh rainy season is over, and the other says it will go till August... hahah so I just do not ask anymore.
    Sister Zeegelaar leaves tomorrow to go to her own mission in Utah! I am so sad! She is amazing, but Utah needs her. I can not wait to see her in Utah though!
    The work is going great! We are so busy!!! it is awesome! we always have someone to see, almost tooo many! But we are happy! I hope I can stay here for a long time, I love my area!
Love you all!
Have an amazing week!

Probably my favorite baby in Suriname, we are teaching her family, her mom is the perfect investigator, i love her!

 

Me and zr. Zeegelaar. found the cutest place in Suriname!

 

 

 

 

Me and Zuster Ashcraft

So Busy!!

    So this week felt like a year and also a day! We were so busy! We finally got the hang of this 2 area thing, and the lord is blessing us! The Rainville area is prospering! We have been getting so many lessons, The problem for us is that we do not have enough time to fit everyone in in the day! Or the week! We have more people than we have time for, but that is also a good thing, better than the opposite right? The investigators are progressing, and the ones that were not and we were not seeing were being humbled, and are prepared! We are meeting way cool people!
    So, story; On Sunday we went to a potential investigator that we met in church. a member from the Temenge branch invited her and she is really sick, she is in a wheel chair, she got a priesthood blessing and she said she felt a lot better after! So we saw them that night! First of all she came to the church with her mom sister in law and brother. So when we got there, and oh man......the whole house sat with us! We were teaching 7 people all at once! I felt so intimidated! Everything I knew just left my mind! How to teach, all of it! I was like oh man they are all looking at us, and they were, and they were all intensively listening. Sooooo scary! But then I was thinking about faith and trust; I am a missionary, I have been called to do this work, Heavenly Father will bless me with what to say, I just need to have faith and open my mouth, and so that is what I did. Once I did that I was no longer scared or nervous, it just felt natural, and I know my companions were feeling the same, we talked about it afterwards. Haha we had to take a minute and stop before our next appointment, a little overwhelming. Haha and they were saying that they are going to come to church every Sunday! Haha, that was a good day! We were asking ourselves, why are we being blessed? Haha we still have no idea, but we are thanking God everyday! One thing we also noticed, the really prepared people we are teaching are referrals from the most strong members. They are so strong in the gospel, and because of their light, others want to find the source (the book of Mormon). I am so grateful for them!! I am grateful to be a missionary in Suriname!

I love you all!!

Bishizards house! We go there to teach them every Sunday after Church, they feed us lunch. They are members, Jordan served his mission in the Netherlands, he is the one holding the camera.

This is what happens after they feed us..

Fourth of July

Fourth of July

Fourth of July

Fourth of July

Fourth of July

 

 

Suriname is killing it again!

    Clarice got baptized!! Three people were baptized Saturday! You could say it was a good day. They all were so strong. You could see how strong they were when they bore their testimonies of the church. The spirit was so strong!  Another miracle! Dwayne (two transfers ago when I was with sister Ashcraft, we were teaching him and I was really sad to leave him because I knew he was going to be baptized. Well we have been teaching him still and he told us at an appointment that was originally going to just be helping him with English, he asked us to have a lesson instead. He said how he talked to his parents about it...and that they want him to and so does he! We were beyond happy! Because this is a huge step for him! Next transfer he will be baptized! Me and sister Ashcraft put our hearts into him, testifying over and over again of the truthfulness of this gospel. and now we will be able to baptize him! If this is my last baptism for the rest of the transfer I will be so happy still. I guess I kinda gave away transfer calls. But for once; everything with me is staying the same, finally no changes during this transfer. It is kinda nice to not have to worry about that!
    Nothing crazy well probably but it is all just normal life for us sisters here. I am thankful for this chance to be on a mission. and to help people come closer to Jesus Christ!
I  love you all!!
Zuster Parker

Clarecce got baptized!!

The North Zone

The North Zone!!!

Ik ben een beetje dikker geworden.

    So miracles!!!!! I feel like all this time; just planting seeds my whole mission, I feel like it is paying off! We are going to have an amazing girl Clarice be baptized! She was going to be baptized 2 months ago with another sister, but she backed out and kinda lost her testimony, or never had a really solid one. Well we were able to meet with her and just invited her to give it another chance, and she came to church and now she knows without a doubt this is the true church and so we set the date for this Saturday!! She is so sweet! I am so excited for her!!!!
    Second; we met this family, Rhanda and Lawrence, and they are so prepared!!! So much that he had people calling him (after our first lesson with him) and telling him bad things about the church, and you want to know what he said? He told them that the book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ just not in Jerusalem but in the Americas, and that it make sense. He told us this and that he doesn't care what they say he has made his decision.  In that same lesson he told us how they want to get married (and they have 2 kids together). They want to get married asap, and this was before we talked about chastity! Then the next lesson he told us how he wants to stop drinking, and this was before we taught him about that! They say the perfect answers, and it comes from their heart!! We love them!!! Haha, there have been some amazing miracles here.
    Nothing crazy going on, or everyday is cray, just depends on how you look at it.  I am just getting used to the crazy here.
    I am just grateful we did not see any flashers this P-day! Haha people here are crazy, but I love them!!!
I love you all!! Lobie!
Zuster Parker

Me and Zuster Vernes

Our service project

Laugh!

    The magnificent trio is still going strong! We are teaching with more unity now! We love our areas and each-other! There is not a day that goes bye that we do not laugh! We are always laughing and also working hard. We have accomplished the perfect balance! We tease each-other (in a loving way) and give support, and teach with power and authority.
    We had to really use these skills this weekend, because president Egbert came into town, and he had a conference with all the members, investigators and missionaries in Suriname. He asked me and my comps to do the role-play...... in dutch!!! We were beyond nervous, but we did it! And lets say it went a lot better than my talk! People afterward seemed to love it!! So it was good! I am just glad it is over! I do not like talking in front of a lot of people, but I was glad I had my comps with me.
    Zone conference was aaamazing! We talked about temples, and I wished I got this before I went through! It would have been more helpful even though I feel like I was prepared enough. I got more excited to go to the temple when I go home, I miss it so much! One thing I loved that he said was, "We go to the temple to also know the feeling, so that when we are not in the temple and we are making a decision and are asking Heavenly Father for confirmation we know what it will feel like; like the temple." I loved that!
    I am grateful to be here on my mission and to help the people here and to help convert my self into the gospel!
I love you all!! Lobie!!