Sports and Book of Mormon Trivia!

Hey everyone! Fawaka? Hope you all are doing quite dandy! We had an awesome week here in Paramaribo! Hope you all did as well!

Elder Hood is feeling way better and just doing great again! We were able to have a full week which was so nice! We had a super fun Priesthood activity on Thursday where we all came together and played some basketball, volleyball and soccer. The problem was that there was water on the court and it made it like ice and quite a few people took some brutal hits. Elder Lewis had it the worst though, he completely faceplanted with nothing to stop him and it swelled up to the size of a ping pong ball immediately... It looked so bad but he's doing fine now so no permanent injury which is great! I was able to show the people here how volleyball and basketball really should be played which was super fun and it was great to play some sports again! I did get a pretty bad sunburn though.. Whoops! Sorry mom! Forgot sunscreen!

Sister Jorgenson and Walsh had a baptism on Saturday which was so great! Baptisms are just the best and the Spirit was so strong. It took two tries but it was so wonderful anyways!

We had two investigators come to the baptism which was super awesome and they had a pretty good experience and have baptismal dates for March 26th and we're super excited for them! Astrid and Eevert! They're so great. After that baptism there was an awesome ZTV (relief society) activity that Sister Marlene put on and it was Book of Mormon trivia! So fun and it got people pumped to read the Book of Mormon more! Marlene is so great! Edmund came to that and is playing a huge role in the branch since he can speak Portuguese! So he translates for the Portuguese people and he's just the best! Great week overall this week!

Lilian is also doing well and we had a sweet lesson with her yesterday on the Priesthood and then offered to give her a blessing and we gave her one. Very Spiritual and she felt a lot better afterwards she said. She was in the hospital for a few days this past week but is doing a bit better now so we're hoping she feels all the way better soon!

I've been really able to see in my missionary work how important it is to rely on the Lord. As we put our full trust in him and rely on him for all that we do, he will help us fly and just do our work so much more effectively. Elder Hood and I have fasted every week and the miracles that have come from it have been so amazing! We found Edmund, Lilian, Astrid and Eevert all from fasting. I have a strong testimony now on the importance of fasting and the power that comes from fasting with a purpose. Miracles everywhere! 

That was our week and we're excited for this next one! The Lord is great and the Priesthood power truly has been restored on the Earth. Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

--

~Elder Burr

 Missionary Life!

Priesthood sports activity

 Pretty great sunburn from sports

Bruine Bone that I made.  So tasty! Learning how to make awesome foods here!

SICK!!

Hey everyone! Pretty uneventful week this week since my companion had Zika pretty much the whole week which stunk...

 But we got to go out on Saturday and Sunday and see some of our progressing investigators and see Edmund again! Man that guy is a stud! It was great to get out again though because I was going a little insane. All good though. Today we went to the Binneland (interior of Suriname) to a place called Overbridge which was like a little beach thing with a huge river! Super cool and super fun because we played a ton of beach volleyball. Super fun and good to spend time with all the missionaries! Suriname missionaries are so united and it's super fun! Love it here! We hopefully will get to teach tons this week!

We also got to see Lilian! She's progressing so well and is so determined to bring her whole family to the temple after she is baptized! Man she's a stud! Very very excited for her! 

Also a puppy got hit by a car that was going super fast, flew like 20 feet through the air, rolled for a while and then popped back up and ran away. That puppy is made of something else! It's a champ!

That's all for me since it was a lot of looking at the wall and studying scriptures this week! Hope you all had a great week though and hope that you also have a great week this week! You all are awesome! love you all!

--

~Elder Burr

 Cookies!

 Yes, I made them.

 Volleyball at Overbridge!

The Highs and Lows!

Hey everyone! Man this week was a great week! And it also stunk a little bit! Oh well though, what can you do?

Edmund's baptism went so great! He passed the interview no problem, everyone prepared their talks, the font got filled and everything just went so well! Very spiritual baptism and he was so prepared to get baptism and "become a child of Christ" as he always would say. His son gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and did amazing and started crying in it. The Spirit was super strong and he did such a great job! Ivaldo is the best! And so is Edmund! We got to help confirm him yesterday as well which was also super spiritual. Edmund is just the best and he is going to be a huge help in the Paramaribo branch! He can speak like 6 different languages and is going to be helping translate into Portuguese since there's quite a few Portuguese people here. He is such a joy and is so excited to bring the gospel to everyone! Just wonderful!

We had a pretty great week because of the baptism and we have an investigator that is just progressing so well! Her name is Lilian and her dad is the Branch President in Koeresan and she is so prepared as well! We had a lesson with him there on Friday on the Plan of Salvation and the temple and it was just amazing. She got so excited about the temple and is very prepared and willing to change her life. Very excited for her.

One thing that stunk is that Elder Hood and I got sick... Elder Hood got very sick and it looks like his Zika is back (or however you spell it). So we've been spending some time inside the last few days while he's been recovering and we're hoping to get back out soon! I just had a little cold and am feeling better now so no worries. Other than that we had a great week though!

And quick shout out to my dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Man I have the best dad in the world and I am so grateful to have him in my life! He's an inspiration to me! I hope you have a wonderful day because you really deserve it! Love you!

Other than that, this week was pretty normal! The Vroom family gave us food one day which was pretty awesome of them! They are just awesome!

Hope you all have a great week and choose the right! Y'all are awesome!

~Elder Burr

Flags

 The baptism!

(He doesn't usually look so scary, but here's Edmund!!)

 Some random guy!

 Elder Hood

There's a Second Time For Everything!

Hey everyone! This week was full of miracles and I'm running out of time so I'll do my best to get them all! First of all, shout out to Uncle BJ and Uncle Jordan! They had their birthday's this week so happy birthday!! You guys are the best!

We had such a great week! We got a referrals from Sister Ashcraft and Sister Parker and she is the branch president's mom from a branch in Koeresan! She is amazing and we committed her to read from the Book of Mormon and she apologized and said that she didn't read very much so we asked how far she was. She responded with page 33. WHAT?! That's so many pages! She's awesome and has such a desire to change and be baptized!! She's looking for other work so that she doesn't have to work on Sunday's and is just super prepared!

For the title of the email, yeah I crashed again. Lame! It was absolutely pouring rain on Tuesday as we were biking to an appointment and I thought that I saw where we needed to turn! But it turns out that it was a gutter and then a curb so yeah is didn't make it over it and fell into the street and it was kinda like a slip n slide since it was so wet. So that was fun but also stunk because my pants ripped by my ankle. That stunk! But don't worry I'm fine!

Edmund is getting baptized on Saturday! We gave him a practice interview and he is going to absolutely kill in on Friday for the actual email. So inspiring every time that we go see him! Just leaves you feeling so happy and the Spirit is always so strong!

We had district conference this last week and man was that awesome! The district president, President Verwey is only like 26 and he is AMAZING. Such a great guy and an amazing teacher and he's still in missionary mode! So so cool! All the speakers did amazing and the branch president's daughter in my branch (Sister Abdoelhamid) absolutely killed it! So good! President Egbert did amazing and it was just all great from what I could understand.

We had zone conference on Friday on the Atonement and man... Mind blown! The Atonement is so amazing and Christ's suffering is just incomprehensible. Such love for us that I can't even imagine.

President Egbert came teaching with us last night and that was awesome! We have an investigator named Astrid who is doing well but her husband wasn't really listening to us and man the lesson on the Plan of Salvation yesterday changed that! He just said how he felt super good in his heart and that he really wants to listen. What a miracle! We found some more cool people this week and are just experiencing so many miracles it's crazy!

One, that Elder Hood and I have really been trying to do is to always rely on Christ with all that we do. Inspired lessons, pray before and after every lesson, pray for our investigators and always remain humble and thank the Lord for everything. The Lord truly has been blessing us and we are just having the time of our lives! I love Suriname and I love Paramaribo South! 

I hope everyone has a great week and turns to the Lord with all that you do! I love you all!

~Elder Burr

 Lunch!

 Parker and Elder Hood

 Another ripped pair of pants ... or maybe just a picture of him soaking wet!
(He didn't label this one)

 Me

 Elder Hood in a Pnagi

 Elder Hood and Elder Burr in the rain

 Elder Burr, President Egbert and Elder Hodd

 Tired

 Elders Quorum President baptizing a child of record. So cool!

In Sranen - means "God is our leader!"

Missionaries enjoying the rain!

Elder Hood, Elder Lewis, Elder Hardy, Elder Burr, Sister Walsh?, Sister Jorgensen, Sister Ashcraft?, Sister Parker

Edmund is the Man!

Hello once again everyone! We had such a sweet week this week! Lots of success and lots of miracles! Missionary work here in Suriname is booming!

Highlight of the week was definitely Edmund. He is just soaring right now and is the best. We gave him a word of wisdom pamphlet and he read the entire thing, then committed himself to drink less cola, to eat vegetables with every meal, to not have tea anymore and all because his body is a temple. He's reading from the Book of Mormon every day, his relationship is getting better with Ivaldo and he's just amazing! Such an elect person and he's just the best ever. Always a joy to go teach him because he always does every committment! He also made a committment to go to the temple a year after he is baptized and is just so converted! Never had anyone like him before and he's getting baptized a week from Saturday! Can't wait for that!

We had a lesson with his son Ivaldo and put him on the 21 day challenge (look it up its awesome) to try to get some refferals from him and he is soaring as well. Read 23 chapters of the Book of Mormon in 2 days, is fasting for people that he can find to hear the gospel, wants to always go teaching with us and he's just the best! So good to hear! Ivaldo is the man!

We got some people on baptismal dates this week as well which is just super cool and missionary work is just booming here in Paramaribo South! We had 8 investigators and 10 less actives at church which was sweet! The branch had 100 people at church and if we have an average of over 100 for 6 months, we get a building! That would just be the coolest ever!

Super excited for the branch and their progression! The Vroom family here is also getting converted! Their kids are all members but they just need to get married and I think they're getting close to deciding to get married so we're very excited for that! Just so much stuff is booming here!

Lots of lessons this week and we really felt the Spirit a lot and it was just a really good and fun week! Working hard all the time and I don't know where the days go! THey just fly by!

Sorry it's a little shorter this week and for no pictures but we're at a sketchy email shop that is safer if I don't try to send pictures since it will probably get viruses everywhere. Next week though! Running out of time so I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!-- 

~Elder Burr