Wanica--language barrier

Oh boy we had such a good week! I absolutely love it here in Wanica! It's so fun working in a new area. It's so different here, it's such an adventure! And this week we had one of my favorite members from Tammenga (my old branch) come on a mini mission with us. Her name is Monica and she is amazing. She is almost 17 and she has been baptised for about a year and she is so excited about missionary work. She always says she just wants to be older so she can leave on her mission! She had a vacation from school and she begged her mom to let her come out and work with Zuser Wood and I for the week. I'm so impressed with her. I don't know if I would've wanted to give up my vacation to go out with the missionaries when I was 17! She's a boss!

So suriname is crazy. There are so many different Languages that people speak here. So you have Dutch, which people learn in school, then there is Sranan-tongo which is the street language everyone speaks, then Saramacons and Ocons which are the jungle languages. Those are the languages that people speak who live in villages out in the Jungle. It's crazy right? Well Zuster Wood and I are teaching a couple who only speak Saramacons, they know a little Dutch but not much. So we have to bring a member who knows Saramacons who can translate. So this week we had my first lesson with them and it was so cool! I was speaking to the member in Dutch and then he would translate what I would say into Saramacons. We were talking to them about the plan of salvtion. And the women, Jackie told us that she had 2 children who died when they were very young and how it broke he heart and all she wants to be is a mother. When she told us that the spirit hit me so strong. And I testified to them (in dutch) about how she would be able to be a mother to her children one day and that she would be able to live with them forever. The spirit was so strong in that lesson we were all in tears. It was so cool because even though there was a language barrier and we couldn't really understand each other the spirit was the same. And we were all able to feel it! It's so awesome! 

Well I hope y'all have a good week love you

-Zuster Christiansen