Forget yourself and get to work

One of my biggest miracles this week was zone training. I had prepared quite a bit for it, but the last couple of days before had been crazy and I just didn't feel very prepared right before. I prayed so much right before, but I just wasn't sure how it was going to go. I also really just don't like talking in front of large groups of people, so basically I was scared. But the Lord helped me so much with it. I was able to feel the Spirit working through me and it went so well, better than I could have imagined. That was not me. I had nothing to do with any inspiring thing that came out of my mouth. It wasn't that I was saying anything unusual or unexpected. It isn't that I was saying anything super profound. But I could feel the Spirit there and I know that the other missionaries felt the Spirit there as well. And that was incredibly powerful and humbling for me. I know that the Lord makes up for us where we fall short. I know that the Atonement covers that part of our service--the part where we've given everything but where we alone are not enough.

We had lots of other really cool miracles this week! We were able to talk to one of the recent converts who was baptized back in March and almost immediately went inactive. He still wants to come back, and even though I don't quite get what's holding him back, I have faith that he will come back. Also, we've had some really incredible experiences finding people! We're booked the rest of the week almost, and that is super exciting for Assen. This is the Lord's work and He is doing it!

In other news, transfers are this week and Sister Hoff and I are both staying! I'm so excited to be here in Assen for another transfer! It's going to be awesome!

I love you all! Stay strong and keep being amazing!

Ik ben een kind van God (I am a Child of God)

Yesterday a girl returned from her mission to Latvia home to our branch, and Sister Hoff and I and her mom and another sister in our branch sang "Ik ben een kind van God" (I am a Child of God) complete with alto and obligato. And the homecoming was super cool.

And, this week was great! We worked really hard and saw lots of miracles. One of the biggest for me occurred on Friday at/after Mission Leader Council. I learned a lot there. One of the bigs things I learned was about sacrifice. Sometimes we have to sacrifice the small disobedient things that we are doing--like staying up late or coming home late--sometimes it's bigger things that we need to sacrifice, like pride. And sometimes we have to sacrifice our fears, or laziness, or the things that we're not doing. I was thinking a lot about sacrifice as we got on the train to go home and decided that I would make an effort to travel contact--that was my sacrifice (because I don't really like travel contacting). During the first few trains/fellow travelers that I talked to, nothing really happened. I was able to have short conversations with a few of them but mostly not very much happened. But during the last train I talked to a woman to whom I was able to give most of the first lesson. At the end she had some questions but we were out of time so I got her number and she got mine (she was actually the one who asked for my number first) and she seemed interested in talking more. She lives in Rotterdam, so I passed on the referral to the zone leaders there, but it was just unbelievably cool for me to see my sacrifice honored in that way. The Lord sees our hearts and knows our efforts. And He does and will respect and honor every honest sacrifice that we make.

I love you all! Keep up the good work!

Hurray for Members!

I have to say, the members are often the highlight of my week. On Saturday we called one woman to ask for a joint teach for that evening, even though she lives about half an hour away, and she came. And when she found out that we would be somewhat in her area to contact a referral, she fed us dinner beforehand too. And she was a perfect joint teach for the woman we were teaching. The woman still dropped us, but it was so great to have that member there. Lots of the members are helping us out, and that makes things a lot better.

This week I learned a lot about the Atonement. This one woman we're teaching is really struggling right now with a lot of things in her life and we were trying to teach her about Jesus Christ and the Atonement and she just didn't seem to get it. And that hurt so much because I know how much the Atonement could help her. And I know that because I know how much it's helped me. Not just in repentance, but in getting through hard things. We saw some hard things this week with investigators. But the Lord is making me into something better and the Atonement is carrying me. I know that Heavenly Father has things under control and that is enough.

We had two pretty fantastic miracles this week with investigators. One of them is a self-referral from mormon.org. We went to her house right after we received the referral, but she wasn't there so we left a note. We tried to go back a few other times but it never quite seemed to work out. But last Monday evening we finally made it over and she was home and let us in. We had a first lesson with her and extended a baptismal invitation and she accepted! She is super prepared already--she'd been reading the Book of Mormon online but wanted her own copy. She has lots of her own ideas, but is very open to the Spirit telling her what is right--even if it means that her own ideas are wrong. Sister Hoff and Sister Larson went back on exchange and gave her much of the second lesson and asked her to think about being baptized on a specific date. She couldn't go to church for some reason, but she said that after she does go to church she will pick a date. She is amazing. Another big miracle of this week is a JoVo (young adult--jong volwassen) from Africa (Angola) who had had lessons from the Elders for awhile, but always with a group of people, so he missed some things. But he had been going to church just on his own and has a strong desire to do what is right. We'd been trying to work with him, but wasn't progressing a ton. Also he said that he had already been baptized and thought that was enough. But we'd managed to teach him some things, and he finally set up a real appointment with us and we went through the first lesson again and asked him what it would mean to him to know that it was true and he said that if it was true he'd be baptized again! That was super exciting.

Missionary work is the best and the church is true! I love you all and I hope you are as fantastically happy as I am right now!

Tegenstelling Brings Miracles

Well, this week was pretty crazy! We had lots of exciting miracles, but as always we had a healthy dose of tegenstelling (opposition) to go with it to keep us humble and healthy. Tegenstelling is sort of like the vegetables in a meal. So you need to have lots to keep up your vitamins.

One of the most exciting things that happened was that when I was on exchanges in Apeldoorn Sister Hoff had a first lesson with a baptismal invitation with a couple. The woman is a member referral and we've had to reschedule our appointment with her twice now. She was actually an investigator about 15 years ago, but one of the problems seemed to be her boyfriend. But it sounds like most of the lesson was for him, and he accepted a baptismal invitation (if he comes to know it's true, of course)! That was very cool.

Thursday we set a baptismal date with that man that came to church for the first time last Sunday! That was super exciting, but he called us on Saturday and said he had to leave town for a month or more, starting on Sunday. That was, obviously, disappointing, but here's what I wrote after that in my planner (this is one of my big lessons learned this week): "This is it. I've done all that I possibly can. I can go no further. Now is the time to 'Be still and know that I am God.' (See Psalm 46:10) I've got to turn it all over to the Lord and He will take care of the rest. He promised. And I believe and trust Him. I know that He will keep His promises." One of the reasons this was difficult is because he was our second baptismal date that dropped us this week. But it's okay because we're doing everything we can and we're still seeing lots of success. This is just an extra good reminder that this is the Lord's work. On the bright side, he actually called us to tell us that he was leaving, and that he would make sure to make contact with us when he got back, and that he would take his Book of Mormon. So it'll just take him a little longer to get baptized, that's all.

We also lost our phone last night, which makes things a little trickier, but it'll get worked out soon. And we've got lots of appointments this week to keep us busy, which is always the best!

I love you all!