Well,
I guess its another week. So I better write another letter...
I'm currently on the run as an illegal alien in a third world dutch
speaking country. By on the run, I mean that I'm wearing a white shirt
and tie, on a bike, talking to people with a horrible American accent,
and I'm white in a predominantly non-white country. So not really
running per se but more of sticking out. Luckily for me, the computer
has not been around in Suriname for a long time so they don't know I'm
illegal most likely. Oh well. I guess the paperwork got to SLC on
Thursday and they would have got it all set for me, but someone here
took a paper out of the package at the last second. Which means an
incomplete paperwork set got sent. So we sent the new paper on Friday.
Should be in America on Tuesday, not sure if that means Utah or Miami.
Other then that, I just wait and do legal things so I don't get picked
up.
I've received a few question about food so I thought I'd mention a few
people. Currently we have only one member that will feed us with any
sort of regularity, by that I mean every time we come over. His name
is Benjamin and he is a big hunter. By big I mean he goes out every
night if he can. The funny thing here is that he won't eat his own
kill. If he kills it and cleans it he won't eat it. Instead he saves
it for the Elders and gives it to us. Does that make sense? No, but do
we like it? Yes. So far at his house we've had pig, chicken, fish,
alligator, and haas. I don't know how haas translates but it is like a
giant rabbit. I mean really big. He is currently looking for a boomkip
for me (Iguana) and he says if he finds one he'll shoot it and then
cook it for me. I'm pretty excited about that. Hopefully soon..
Hopefully soon...
Other then that we are currently working with a few different
investigators. David, a brother of a member who has fried himself on
drugs. Progressing the most problem is he only speaks Sranantongo. I
don't speak that yet so I just do a lot of listening. Sharon and
Sandy, both are kind of plateauing. We need to do a better job of
keeping them progressing but that means they need to come to church,
the eternal problem. Yolanda, a 65 year old creole woman who again
really only speaks Sranantongo. She is fun because even Elder Van
Meeteren can't understand her most of the time. Those are our main
investigators.
Everything is going mainly well. I'm on the search for a new bigger
bike so hopefully that will come to fruition but other then that all
is well. I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you!
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
28 th Week
It has been a crazy and hectic week to be sure. We've been super busy rushing to appointment to appointment. Great example is that we had to rush about 5 kilometers to get to impromptu appointment. We did it in 20 minutes. I was pretty pleased about that especially because it seemed not matter which way we turned the wind was in our face. The stupid wind always seems to be in our face but maybe thats because we go so fast?
Here is your visa update. We apparently needed one more paper, that we didn't know about, and so I completed that last Wednesday for the most part. Only problem is that I needed to do finger printing on the form. Normally wouldn't be a problem but the question is will they accept Suriname finger printing? We shall see. The greatest difficulty with the finger printing is that Suriname's police don't do it unless you've been arrested. So we had to have a member who is on the police force arrange it for us. That wasn't completed until Friday. They then decided to give the paper work to the President of the mission to take him to Trinidad and fedex it from there. So he got the paperwork and took it with him to Trinidad today. Hopefully it'll get sent in the mail today but I've got a feeling it won't be out in the mail til tomorrow. So the paperwork has to get to Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. Get walked/mailed to the police there and then returned by walking/mailing and then the form can be faxed to us. My visa expires on the 16th but the visa offices are closed on the 15th and 16th because it is the weekend. So it really has to be back before the 14th at about 3pm. My gut tells me it won't be. In that case I think they'll be bringing me to Trinidad to wait out my papers arriving and then send me back to get a new visa. I honestly have no idea though. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
This last Saturday we had a Zone Conference with President and the Assistants and also the Elders from French Guiana. It was really good very spiritual and uplifting and really encouraged me to do a better job to be a better missionary. We talked a lot about finding which seems to be a weak point for me so hopefully I can no apply what I learned and do better. I guess that is always the test in the end. I'm really loving the work and I don't want to be anywhere else right now, but I would prefer it a bit colder.
Here is your visa update. We apparently needed one more paper, that we didn't know about, and so I completed that last Wednesday for the most part. Only problem is that I needed to do finger printing on the form. Normally wouldn't be a problem but the question is will they accept Suriname finger printing? We shall see. The greatest difficulty with the finger printing is that Suriname's police don't do it unless you've been arrested. So we had to have a member who is on the police force arrange it for us. That wasn't completed until Friday. They then decided to give the paper work to the President of the mission to take him to Trinidad and fedex it from there. So he got the paperwork and took it with him to Trinidad today. Hopefully it'll get sent in the mail today but I've got a feeling it won't be out in the mail til tomorrow. So the paperwork has to get to Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. Get walked/mailed to the police there and then returned by walking/mailing and then the form can be faxed to us. My visa expires on the 16th but the visa offices are closed on the 15th and 16th because it is the weekend. So it really has to be back before the 14th at about 3pm. My gut tells me it won't be. In that case I think they'll be bringing me to Trinidad to wait out my papers arriving and then send me back to get a new visa. I honestly have no idea though. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
This last Saturday we had a Zone Conference with President and the Assistants and also the Elders from French Guiana. It was really good very spiritual and uplifting and really encouraged me to do a better job to be a better missionary. We talked a lot about finding which seems to be a weak point for me so hopefully I can no apply what I learned and do better. I guess that is always the test in the end. I'm really loving the work and I don't want to be anywhere else right now, but I would prefer it a bit colder.
Monday, January 3, 2011
27th Week
Hello Family,
Once again I neglected this email to the last and so I don't know if I have room for everything but I'll try my best.
First on Wednesday, we got to play the "black" market as Elder Jansen calls it. For money here in Suriname the church gives us 315 USD. When we pull it out of the bank ATMS though generally we get a conversion rate at 2.7 or so. That isn't too bad but our senior couple the Jansens discovered that the Cambio's(Free Market money exchangers) will actually give an exchange rate anywhere between 3 to 3.5. So they decided that they'd get us all together, we'd all withdraw our money is USD and then take it to the cambios to see how much we could get from it. It was a wild success and while we normally get 840 SRD this time we got 1057 SRD. Not too bad. The only problem with it is that it took four hours to finally get it all done! That's a lot of time for just 200 more SRD. I don't know if it was worth it but I won't lie I like the extra money.
New Years
So Surinamers take New Years to be pretty serious.. I should have realized that when all the fireworks stores were still open after Christmas. By the way when I say fireworks I don't mean like sparklers I mean the stuff that only firemen/professionals are allowed to have and operate. So what happened is that as missionaries we were required to all be in at 6pm that night in order to protect ourselves. Then the leaders pick us up and when went to the Jansens for dinner and a bit of entertainment before going to the Zone Leaders and watching "Despicable Me" (I really like that one by the way and it is worth a watch if you have time). After that we played games until midnight when we went out to watch the fireworks. Saying this though the rolling thunder that was the fireworks continued to build and build till midnight. At 10pm it was just a constant blur of sound outsides. At midnight the skies were alight with fireworks. There was soo much smoke that you couldn't see down the street. You could only see the brightest points of fireworks in the sky. It was incredible. It literally felt like we were in the middle of a war zone with the sounds and the lights. It was like the USA was practicing on invading Suriname. After the fireworks we played a few more games and finally got asleep at 3am. Only to have to get back up at 6:30am. Might not have been our smartest idea to stay up so late. Oh well what can you do right? :P After that it was a normal work day and away we went. Hopefully that makes a bit of sense I'm not sure if it did. In short, Fireworks crazy, movie good, time with other Elders good too.
Really quick because I'm out of time, can I have you all pray for my paper work to go through this week? My visa expires on the 16th of January and this a bit of paper work problems. I'd rather not be illegal in Suriname if you know what I mean. Prayers would be great.
Gotta Go,
Love you all
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Once again I neglected this email to the last and so I don't know if I have room for everything but I'll try my best.
First on Wednesday, we got to play the "black" market as Elder Jansen calls it. For money here in Suriname the church gives us 315 USD. When we pull it out of the bank ATMS though generally we get a conversion rate at 2.7 or so. That isn't too bad but our senior couple the Jansens discovered that the Cambio's(Free Market money exchangers) will actually give an exchange rate anywhere between 3 to 3.5. So they decided that they'd get us all together, we'd all withdraw our money is USD and then take it to the cambios to see how much we could get from it. It was a wild success and while we normally get 840 SRD this time we got 1057 SRD. Not too bad. The only problem with it is that it took four hours to finally get it all done! That's a lot of time for just 200 more SRD. I don't know if it was worth it but I won't lie I like the extra money.
New Years
So Surinamers take New Years to be pretty serious.. I should have realized that when all the fireworks stores were still open after Christmas. By the way when I say fireworks I don't mean like sparklers I mean the stuff that only firemen/professionals are allowed to have and operate. So what happened is that as missionaries we were required to all be in at 6pm that night in order to protect ourselves. Then the leaders pick us up and when went to the Jansens for dinner and a bit of entertainment before going to the Zone Leaders and watching "Despicable Me" (I really like that one by the way and it is worth a watch if you have time). After that we played games until midnight when we went out to watch the fireworks. Saying this though the rolling thunder that was the fireworks continued to build and build till midnight. At 10pm it was just a constant blur of sound outsides. At midnight the skies were alight with fireworks. There was soo much smoke that you couldn't see down the street. You could only see the brightest points of fireworks in the sky. It was incredible. It literally felt like we were in the middle of a war zone with the sounds and the lights. It was like the USA was practicing on invading Suriname. After the fireworks we played a few more games and finally got asleep at 3am. Only to have to get back up at 6:30am. Might not have been our smartest idea to stay up so late. Oh well what can you do right? :P After that it was a normal work day and away we went. Hopefully that makes a bit of sense I'm not sure if it did. In short, Fireworks crazy, movie good, time with other Elders good too.
Really quick because I'm out of time, can I have you all pray for my paper work to go through this week? My visa expires on the 16th of January and this a bit of paper work problems. I'd rather not be illegal in Suriname if you know what I mean. Prayers would be great.
Gotta Go,
Love you all
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
26th Week
Whoa! Family and Friends it has been another week in this place we jokingly but really are quite serious call eternal summer. The days are long but the weeks are short. Is that good? I'm really not sure but I'm going to call it okay. As you are all aware Kers (Christmas) was this last week and it sure has been an interesting one to say the least. I especially enjoyed the spirit of Christmas and finding truly understanding what Christmas in July means.
Our adventurer begins on December 23rd.
Exchange to Uitkijk:
The night of the 23rd my companion and I rode to the middle point in the long/not-too-long road between our area and Uitkijk's area. We exchanged companions and then I rode with Elder Tullis to Uitkijk. Elder Tullis is from Logan Utah. He is awesome. He spent a year at USU going through Marines ROTC and wants to join back up with the Marines when he gets home. Although, I have no intention of joining any of the military branches his stories almost make me want too. Hopefully, I won't be his companion for a long time before I come home or I might be shaving my head and enlisting.. .Just kidding... Kinda of... Either way we had a great time working together on the twenty-fourth of December and I think we were fairly productive. We didn't do a ton because Elder Tullis still doesn't know Uitkijk a ton but we did our best and I'm proud of what was accomplished
Christmas Eve:
We got back in at 6pm on Christmas Eve because we were told we would get picked up right around then. Only to have to wait for an hour and an half for Elder Jansen to finally come... I didn't use to handle being late that well as most people can attest, but I'm getting better. Suriname is making me be better. Especially when Sacrament meeting starts late and it is the first meeting of the day. So we went to the Jansens and had snacks such as hot chocolate (It was 85 or so degrees outside) and other things such as pretzels and others. It was pretty nice. The Jansens then gave us all a Christmas gift of a nice fluffy white towel with West Indies Mission and the Suriname flag stitched into it. It was really nice and they brought them all the way over from the Netherlands. They are the nicest. After that we headed to the Zone Leaders so we could hang out together. We exchange our secret santa gifts and I got one of those boards where the pen has a magnet on it and you place it on the board and can write things. The last few days I've changed it to something motivational every few hours to make me feel good about everything. We then went to bed because it was about 2am.
Christmas Day:
Christmas day started at 6:50 with us all rolling out of bed and getting dressed quickly so we could go sport. We went and played soccer and then a bit of ultimate Frisbee. I, naturally, got my goal during soccer and had a few good plays during Frisbee. Didn't win but that is okay maybe next time? We then went showered and got changed so we could head to the Jansens for breakfast. Pretty good breakfast to say the least. Always gratefully for what they do for us. Then we went to the Old Folks home requisitions a few of them and took them to the church. At the church, we sang for them and talked with them and I got an opportunity to bear my testimony in Dutch about the birth of Christ. It went really well and they really seemed to enjoy it. The coolest thing, in my opinion, is that most of them were sitting in nice blue wheel chairs that had all been donated by the church a few weeks ago. Gotta love that. After that we headed to a baptismal service and saw a child of record and a convert get baptized. Both baptism had a few problems so each was rebaptized a few times :P At least it got done right? Then we went to the ZL's apartment and started to watch Toy Story 3. I didn't get to see all of it though as I had to make my family phone call. It was worth it though as I'd much rather talk to my family then watch the movie. Although I was the one who suggested it and fought for the idea and everyone thought it was the best movie ever. I guess I was right again! After all of that we had two hours to go home rest and sleep before we had to start a normal day of Sunday work. Overall it was a great Christmas.
Everything is going really well for me right now and I love you all. I also hope you all love illegal aliens because I'm about to become one! More on that later.
Love you all,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Our adventurer begins on December 23rd.
Exchange to Uitkijk:
The night of the 23rd my companion and I rode to the middle point in the long/not-too-long road between our area and Uitkijk's area. We exchanged companions and then I rode with Elder Tullis to Uitkijk. Elder Tullis is from Logan Utah. He is awesome. He spent a year at USU going through Marines ROTC and wants to join back up with the Marines when he gets home. Although, I have no intention of joining any of the military branches his stories almost make me want too. Hopefully, I won't be his companion for a long time before I come home or I might be shaving my head and enlisting.. .Just kidding... Kinda of... Either way we had a great time working together on the twenty-fourth of December and I think we were fairly productive. We didn't do a ton because Elder Tullis still doesn't know Uitkijk a ton but we did our best and I'm proud of what was accomplished
Christmas Eve:
We got back in at 6pm on Christmas Eve because we were told we would get picked up right around then. Only to have to wait for an hour and an half for Elder Jansen to finally come... I didn't use to handle being late that well as most people can attest, but I'm getting better. Suriname is making me be better. Especially when Sacrament meeting starts late and it is the first meeting of the day. So we went to the Jansens and had snacks such as hot chocolate (It was 85 or so degrees outside) and other things such as pretzels and others. It was pretty nice. The Jansens then gave us all a Christmas gift of a nice fluffy white towel with West Indies Mission and the Suriname flag stitched into it. It was really nice and they brought them all the way over from the Netherlands. They are the nicest. After that we headed to the Zone Leaders so we could hang out together. We exchange our secret santa gifts and I got one of those boards where the pen has a magnet on it and you place it on the board and can write things. The last few days I've changed it to something motivational every few hours to make me feel good about everything. We then went to bed because it was about 2am.
Christmas Day:
Christmas day started at 6:50 with us all rolling out of bed and getting dressed quickly so we could go sport. We went and played soccer and then a bit of ultimate Frisbee. I, naturally, got my goal during soccer and had a few good plays during Frisbee. Didn't win but that is okay maybe next time? We then went showered and got changed so we could head to the Jansens for breakfast. Pretty good breakfast to say the least. Always gratefully for what they do for us. Then we went to the Old Folks home requisitions a few of them and took them to the church. At the church, we sang for them and talked with them and I got an opportunity to bear my testimony in Dutch about the birth of Christ. It went really well and they really seemed to enjoy it. The coolest thing, in my opinion, is that most of them were sitting in nice blue wheel chairs that had all been donated by the church a few weeks ago. Gotta love that. After that we headed to a baptismal service and saw a child of record and a convert get baptized. Both baptism had a few problems so each was rebaptized a few times :P At least it got done right? Then we went to the ZL's apartment and started to watch Toy Story 3. I didn't get to see all of it though as I had to make my family phone call. It was worth it though as I'd much rather talk to my family then watch the movie. Although I was the one who suggested it and fought for the idea and everyone thought it was the best movie ever. I guess I was right again! After all of that we had two hours to go home rest and sleep before we had to start a normal day of Sunday work. Overall it was a great Christmas.
Everything is going really well for me right now and I love you all. I also hope you all love illegal aliens because I'm about to become one! More on that later.
Love you all,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Monday, December 13, 2010
25th Week
Hello dearest family and friends,
It spites me that I was unable to write a family email to ya'll last week, but I was so busy and caught up on other required things, reports to President and such, that I was unable to find a time to write this letter. I'm sorry. Either way, I've dedicated a full 30 minutes to this letter so hopefully it turns out to be something you will all be proud of.
First off, it has been an interesting week to say the least. A week that was rougher then I expected and taught me quite a bit. I guess that is good. If everyone was great you wouldn't know the bad right? Either way, we strive to do better and to be better every day. Truly it seems that missionary work is not about changing your investigators but rather changing yourself and helping them want to make the change. The spirit changes people, we don't. I don't know if I've seen any major miracles yet, but I feel like I see the foundation of miracles every day. When you talk with someone and you see the spark in their eye that says, "This might be true." or "I want to learn more." It really is indescribable but it is a marvelous experience and one that I'm sure everyone missionary has on a daily basis. One you strive more, One you hope for, One you yearn for.
On that note let us talk about last week and what has occurred
As you can see by picture number one. I took a spill onto the pavement earlier this week. It was an interesting experience I'd rather not soon repeat. I was riding along the side of the road when my tires slipped off the road. Not a big deal happens all the time. I hurried to recorrect and did not anticipate the change of direction with my speed. Next thing I know, I'm rolling on the asphalt, my helmet is flying away, and my companion is starting to laugh. As I was sitting there to be honest, in a bit of pain, I hear my companion say, "Hold on! Don't get up! I need to get a picture!" Thus we have now digital evidence of my pain and anguish. Luckily no permanent damage just an inside-the-pants skinned knee. Maybe also a bruised ego, but probably not. We've had a good time joking about it to say the least.
The only other things that I think is of note is something I ate this last week. That would of course be a fresh watermelon. I appreciate that most of you are in places that is not very warm right now! The benefit of eternal summer is you get to eat eternal summer fruits such as watermelons! I love it!
The other photos I attached are one of an investigator and myself, Weasly. He was the investigator under house arrest. Also a picture of a sunset captured while riding my bike, probably not safe in retrospect, and also a picture of my every cluttered desk. They say a cluttered desk is evidence of a cluttered mind. I say a cluttered desk is evidence of a missionary you doesn't have time to clean off his desk.
Probably the biggest lesson I learned this last week was one of perspective. My old basketball coach, who didn't win a whole lot, used to have a saying on the wall of his classroom. Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are correct! The key to missionary work, and it is work, is believing that it is possible. The minute you walk out the door saying, "Well today is ruined, we aren't going to have any success." You don't have success. You have to always have the perspective that everyone you meet will be baptized, confirmed, endowed, and sealed. If you don't have that, you might as well not even begin.
I love you all, and although I haven't received any letters in a while I know it is because they are on the way, right? I wish you the best this Christmas season and with the First Presidency join in saying that we must have a good perspective for Christmas. I just got to hear the Christmas Devotional a few days ago and I love it by the way. What inspired leaders we have. They surely are the best leaders in the world. I love them so very much.
Once again, I love you all. I wish you the best. I pray for you all when I can remember too!
Elder Nathan John Nielson
PO Box 2932
Paramaribo Suriname
South America
It spites me that I was unable to write a family email to ya'll last week, but I was so busy and caught up on other required things, reports to President and such, that I was unable to find a time to write this letter. I'm sorry. Either way, I've dedicated a full 30 minutes to this letter so hopefully it turns out to be something you will all be proud of.
First off, it has been an interesting week to say the least. A week that was rougher then I expected and taught me quite a bit. I guess that is good. If everyone was great you wouldn't know the bad right? Either way, we strive to do better and to be better every day. Truly it seems that missionary work is not about changing your investigators but rather changing yourself and helping them want to make the change. The spirit changes people, we don't. I don't know if I've seen any major miracles yet, but I feel like I see the foundation of miracles every day. When you talk with someone and you see the spark in their eye that says, "This might be true." or "I want to learn more." It really is indescribable but it is a marvelous experience and one that I'm sure everyone missionary has on a daily basis. One you strive more, One you hope for, One you yearn for.
On that note let us talk about last week and what has occurred
As you can see by picture number one. I took a spill onto the pavement earlier this week. It was an interesting experience I'd rather not soon repeat. I was riding along the side of the road when my tires slipped off the road. Not a big deal happens all the time. I hurried to recorrect and did not anticipate the change of direction with my speed. Next thing I know, I'm rolling on the asphalt, my helmet is flying away, and my companion is starting to laugh. As I was sitting there to be honest, in a bit of pain, I hear my companion say, "Hold on! Don't get up! I need to get a picture!" Thus we have now digital evidence of my pain and anguish. Luckily no permanent damage just an inside-the-pants skinned knee. Maybe also a bruised ego, but probably not. We've had a good time joking about it to say the least.
The only other things that I think is of note is something I ate this last week. That would of course be a fresh watermelon. I appreciate that most of you are in places that is not very warm right now! The benefit of eternal summer is you get to eat eternal summer fruits such as watermelons! I love it!
The other photos I attached are one of an investigator and myself, Weasly. He was the investigator under house arrest. Also a picture of a sunset captured while riding my bike, probably not safe in retrospect, and also a picture of my every cluttered desk. They say a cluttered desk is evidence of a cluttered mind. I say a cluttered desk is evidence of a missionary you doesn't have time to clean off his desk.
Probably the biggest lesson I learned this last week was one of perspective. My old basketball coach, who didn't win a whole lot, used to have a saying on the wall of his classroom. Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are correct! The key to missionary work, and it is work, is believing that it is possible. The minute you walk out the door saying, "Well today is ruined, we aren't going to have any success." You don't have success. You have to always have the perspective that everyone you meet will be baptized, confirmed, endowed, and sealed. If you don't have that, you might as well not even begin.
I love you all, and although I haven't received any letters in a while I know it is because they are on the way, right? I wish you the best this Christmas season and with the First Presidency join in saying that we must have a good perspective for Christmas. I just got to hear the Christmas Devotional a few days ago and I love it by the way. What inspired leaders we have. They surely are the best leaders in the world. I love them so very much.
Once again, I love you all. I wish you the best. I pray for you all when I can remember too!
Elder Nathan John Nielson
PO Box 2932
Paramaribo Suriname
South America
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