18th Weesk

You wouldn't believe what happened to me...

On Wednesday my companion and I were tracting around about 3:30 when the mission office called us. Because we'd received a few calls from the office that day about this and that we thought it was no big deal. When Sister Mortenson answered the phone she asked for me. Elder Badal handed it over and the Sister said, "Do you have your running shoes on?" I replied I didn't but we'd be happy to do whatever she needed. She then proceeded to inform me that our visas were on the way and we needed to be in Farragut at 930am and to be ready to depart right then. We went back to the apartment got everything packed and I was ready to roll. We got to the Office at 9am. (Gotta be early) Then we found out our visas were coming Fedex and may not be there until 10:30am at the latest and we had a 11:25 flight out of Knoxville to Dallas. It is also a 30 minute drive from the office to the airport. Luckily, our visas got there at 10 and we were able to make it airport with no problems. We quickly checked the bags and away we were off the see the world. We got into Dallas and had a quick turnaround so we were back on the plane in no time. We were flying on a 777 and I guess the church had to get us business class tickets which were pretty sweet. The plane had a few problems so were off 30 minutes late which forced a run in between gates in Miami to make our flight to Trinidad. What this really meant is that we had absolutely no time to call Mom and Dad at home and I guess they didn't find out until Tennessee called them. Sorry we meant to call, I promise.

We arrive in Trinidad only to find out the Church hadn't given us very good instructions or at least clear instructions. I got through immigration but Elder Lundgren got held and we got separated which was the longest 30 minutes of my life. In a foreign country separate from your companion with no idea what to do. I proceeded to get my bags with the idea of trying to find our pick up outside. Apparently President Gamiette heard we had problems so he was able to save Elder Lundgren and we were out of the Airport and into the apartment for the night at 2am in the morning. We were up the next day and were in the Mission Office at 10am trying to get things taken care of, paper work and the such. We had dinner that night with President Gamiette's wife and then flew out to Suriname and arrived sometime around 2am in the morning. Gotta stop those early mornings.

Since then we've been working in Suriname in the oppressive heat and humidity. There is only two rooms in the apartment with air conditioning, the bedrooms. So when you are in them the door is closed and the air condition is on. We bike everywhere which is interesting to see the country and I don't speak Suriname Dutch I've found. I speak MTC Dutch which is no where close to the same.

I guess ultimately, I've got a lot to learn and little time to do it,

I love ya'll hope you are doing well.

Elder Nielson

ps. My new address for mail/packages/whatever is:

Elder Nathan John Nielson P.O. Box 2932
Paramaribo, Suriname
South America

Be aware that anything and everything sent will probably be inspected and opened so no money or really expensive things the only way to send things securely is through FedEx but I've heard that is super expensive. For letters and such emails are probably the best way to do things. Though I'd like a letter or two sometime.