Elder Mason Garcia: Letter from 9/24/2012

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Letter from 9/24/2012

This week has been a roller coaster. Stress headache, courage, defeat, confidence, insecurity. But I have loved it. I love being District Leader I love serving the Elders that I am responsible for. I love getting to know them more and really allowing them to feel my love for them. This calling has brought me out of my comfort zone. And I am so grateful for that. I am so grateful that you made contact with Laurna. She is one of my favorite people in Suriname. She will be serving in Provo!! I am so glad that you talked to her.

So no further news concerning Elder M. has come through. He is going to be like me I assume, just flown in when the visa goes through. So we are anxiously awaiting his arrival but in the mean time it has been wonderful to be with Elder Q. He is a stud. I love him a lot. But my new area is HUGE and I am still not sure how I want to it. It gives me a headaches sometimes. But it has humbled me and driven me to my knees. And I know with a surety of hope that we can improve the circumstances. We just have to get out there and work hard. Revive the members and give them hope again. I love my mission!! I love these people. And I want to help them. I want to give them peace in Christ and help them to see themselves the way He does. And that is what we are trying to do. I have never been more challenged in my life but I have also seldom been more grateful.

Elder Garcia

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Info on Suriname

Geography

Area: 163,820 square km. The smallest independent country in South America, Suriname occupies a small, tropical area along the Northern Atlantic Ocean coast between Guyana and French Guiana and north of Brazil. Most reside along coastal areas, preserving the rainforest of the interior. Rivers, lakes and rolling hills occupy the interior whereas swamps and plains are along the coast. Deforestation is the primary environmental issue. Border disputes continue over defining the boundary with Guyana.

Population: approx. 490,000

Peoples

Hindustani: 37%

Creole: 31%

Javanese: 15%

Maroons: 10%

Amerindian: 2%

Chinese: 2%

White: 1%

Other: 2%

Hindustani, Javanese and Chinese arrived as workers during the colonial period. Creole inherited a mixed ancestry from African slaves and whites.Maroons are descendents of black slaves who escaped into the interior.

Languages: Dutch is most widely spoken and the official language. Other widely spoken languages with over 50,000 speakers include Hindustani, Sranan, Javanese, and Guyanese Creole English. There are less than 10,000 speakers of Amerindian languages.

Literacy: 89.6%

History

The Spanish first explored Suriname in the 16^th century followed by British settlement in the 17^th century. Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667 and did not achieve independence until 1975. Slavery occurred until 1863. Workers were subsequently relocated to the colony from India and Indonesia. In 1980, a military regime took over the government and established a socialist government which fell in the late 1980s. Political stability did not return until the early 1990s. A democratic government was instituted in 1991.

Culture

Suriname shares many cultural similarities with Caribbean nations with large Asian and black communities like Trinidad and Tobago. Due to the large number of Indians and Javanese, Hinduism and Islam have also shaped the culture and integrated cuisine from Asia into local foods. High ethnic diversity has not resulted in ethnic violence.

Faiths

Christian: 40.7%

Hindu: 20%

Muslim: 13.5%

Indigenous beliefs: 3.3%

Other or none: 22.5%

Christians

Denominations Members Congregations

Catholic 110,664

Seventh-Day Adventists 3,724 17

Jehovah’s Witnesses 2,317 45

Latter-Day Saints 1,057 7