Hi y’all! Okay so this week has been interesting… Funny too…

So we got to visit the Suriname Branch! Or the interim branch while the new one gets rebuilt! It was really cool! These friends do so much with so little. Everyone has a split assignment or more.

Tuesday was a big hug from Jehovah, but also an overload of information on the needs here in Suriname and Guyana. We left having mixed feelings of receiving all the love from the friends here, and also feeling like we don’t have much to offer to support the needs here…we’ll see. But when I say the love shown blew us away—it’s an understatement. 💛💛💛 We got to eat lunch there and talk more with the amazing zealous hard working friends here. A sister randomly asked us if we had plans to eat after the memorial (which we didn’t) and said come over to our place! Seb and I looked at each other and telepathically said “ we just got here and don’t know anyone, of course we don’t have plans!” We said yes!

Wednesday morning we packed all of our things and moved into our new place. Our apartment for the time we are here. It’s the bottom portion of a house. The landlord lives upstairs. A quiet neighborhood. Older building. Lots of quirks. More on that to come.

We were feeling like we weren’t spending enough time in the ministry inviting people to the memorial so Thursday we did our best to informal and invite as many people we could talk to…at the mall! We did get to talk to, invite, read a scripture to some people! Worth it. Oh did we mention that we had a long conversation with the brother in Service Department? He was telling us the needs in Suriname are Spanish, Sign Language, and native languages like Auken, and Saramaccan. Who would’ve thought that in Suriname we would be speaking Spanish more than we did before?? So we really tried inviting in Spanish….😅

So all the quirks of our new place: the first night our shower clogged. Our A/C units weren’t working. Mosquitoes galore. Our microwave exploded. We can’t have a/c on with the washing machine going. The layout of our place is unique. But we have prayed to Jehovah a lot about if this place is right for us…please pray for us.

Saturday we were getting ready for meeting for field service and I’m pretty sure we would’ve made it on time but the power went out as Seb was in the shower because he tried turning the water heater on higher. He was upset and I had to take a cold shower (imagining I was in paradise under a waterfall…then the water only trickled out lol) 😂 So he had a talk with the landlady as I finished getting ready. As I realized we were going to be late for arrangements, I prayed for Jehovah’s spirit to be on Sebastian as he talked with her. He came back inside and said, “she used to study ! And she is willing to receive scriptures of comfort and videos!” (Maybe this is why we are here after all).

We did not let this ordeal stop us from the ministry. We went to a different mall and we ran into some young bethelites we just met on our tour Tuesday! We said “join us!” And they did. It was really encouraging to see these young brothers give their whole life and youth to Jehovah. Very impetuous spirits like Thomas. One of them from Curaçao was given a 3 week notice to come to Suriname. He is now here in the service department for 3 months. We dropped them off at their housing which are containers turned into small homes.

Sunday meeting at our new congregation, Pontbuiten.🌷The sound kept cutting in and out of the song How does it make you feel? And everyone kept singing despite the technical difficulties, like an acapella remix. We just knew this place is for us. 💛