23rd Week

Hello Family and the rest of ya'll,

It is that time again for another Elder Nielson family letter.

The last week was a good one with a lot of hard work and not a whole lot of time to do it all. I'm starting to think that is the normal when it comes to missionary work but what can you do right? Either way the biggest highlight was Thanksgiving and then I have a few other short storiesh things for ya'll.

Thanksgiving in Suriname.
Thanksgiving is only an American holiday for those who are not aware. Because of this they don't celebrate it at all. Saying this though, the 25th of November in Suriname is their version of Independence Day so interestingly enough this year we had a holiday nonetheless. But, Brother and Sister Salijo didn't want us American missionaries to go without our Thanksgiving so they invited us all to come over and have thanksgiving with them. In fact Sister Salijo wanted it to be as American as possible so she made Butterball Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, and some type of bread resembling bread sticks (I personally think they were hot dog buns that they had cut in half, buttered, seasoned, and then put in the oven. They were good). She also made some type of pie but unfortunately all the other missionaries ate that before I could get there. Overall it was pretty cool to have a Thanksgiving even if they don't celebrate it here and we also got to see a Brazil Air Show honoring the country.
Language Mistakes
I thought ya'll would enjoy these.
First I was with an investigator who had his baby on his lap. So I tried to say, "Dat is een grote baby[pronounced baybee, the same as in English]." (That is a big baby). Unfortunately it came out, "Dad is een grote bahbee[again trying to say baby but I messed it up for some reason]." Well I soon discovered that baybee means a small child recently born but bahbee means breast in Sarantango. Imagine my surprise when Elder van Meeteren told me that later.

Second, I was in Munder and I was talking to an investigator trying to say that with the priesthood we can perform miracles. Well I don't know how I did this one but my companion thought I said, "With the priesthood, we can make waffles!" So that apparently explains why waffles at an Elders Quorum event are soo much better right?

Finally, I learned last night that overladen (literally laid off) does not mean unemployed but rather means someone has died. So when our investigator said her husband was dead and I thought she said unemployed and as such went briefly over what happens after the death instead of going into a lot of detail as would have been nice. I don't think this will cost us too much because we recovered nicely and I think she didn't notice my mistake or the weird looks when she kept referencing her laid off husband in regards to death...

Things are going really well here in Suriname. I'm really loving the country and the people. My only complaint is once again the heat but I'm starting to kinda of like it too. We found a pretty solid investigator a few days ago and had a great lessons with her last night about the Book of Mormon. We'd love to baptize her on Christmas and that is the plan for right now. I guess we'll see how it goes!

I'm out of time again and I've gotta run, but I love you all and I'm sorry I wasn't able to reply to every individually. I'll do that next week.

Much Love,

Elder Nathan Nielson

ps. Your right it is only a game, but it is much better when Utah wins!