And...It's That Time Again. Transfers!

Transfers truly are inspired. Looking back at my experience so far as a missionary and also seeing the experiences of others, I know that transfers are exactly right and inspired by the Lord. I´m really excited for this next one, just as I very much enjoyed this last one.

So, the news. Sister A. is leaving Dordrecht for Utrecht and I´m going to be companions with Sister T! I´m way excited, I worked with Sister T a little while I was in Assen, so it should be a great transfer.

We saw some pretty good progress with our investigator this week. This week we've really been emphasizing faith and that we have to act in order to develop more faith. He really is making an effort to act on his faith, even though at the moment it´s small. We also looked up a former investigator yesterday and he actually let us have a lesson with him on his porch, which was really neat. He didn't want to meet again, but he did say that he would read and pray, and he seems really sincere, so that´s awesome.

The Atonement gives me hope that no matter what, I can improve. I know that I´m not perfect now. But I also don´t have to be. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, growth and change is both possible and (usually) gradual. I have learned so much as I've studied the Book of Mormon (with the rest of our mission) during the last two transfers, but I love the fact that I've learned that the Lord loves us and is so patient with us. It doesn't matter where we are. We can always grow and change and progress. That opportunity is available to everyone. And I love the opportunities I've had on my mission to see how the Atonement changes people. It really is a miracle.

The Church is true! I love the gospel and the Book of Mormon and all the other restored truths that we´ve received, as well as the Bible.

Spring!

Hoi hoi!

Spring has definitely come to Nederland! The weather has been beautiful and warm.

In other news, on Saturday we organized an activity for our investigators, to watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. Only one came, but we invited a few members and a few of them came too. It was a really neat experience: the Spirit was super strong, and at the end our ward mission leader bore a powerful testimony. It also seemed to really help our investigator-we´ve been working on helping him prepare for the baptismal interview questions and his new baptismal date, and Joseph Smith was one of the first things we wanted to work on. He really is making a lot of progress now. So we´re hopefully planning on doing an activity like that every month, which I think will be really good.

This week was faith week. Prayer truly brings forth miracles. We do need to work for them, and we can always improve on that that of course, but we also need to pray for it more. The Lord does hear and answer our prayers. And He loves us all so much.

I hope you´re all doing well! Sorry for the short email...we´re sort of busy today. :)

Kinderdijk last P-day!

Large Boats and Large Miracles

We went to see the Ark of Noah last p-day. That was pretty exciting. It´s a life-size model of the ark. Complete with real animals. I´ll try to send pictures sometime.

 

We´ve been busy this week! It´s always exciting to see the potentials turn into investigators. Or, at least, stronger potentials. We had a lesson on the door with a potential found during a blitz a few months ago. He is looking for faith.  We taught him the whole first lesson, and while he is not sure if he believes yet, he is sincerely interested in learning more and trying to develop more faith. He has already read a significant part of the Book of Mormon (he said about 20%, but he wasn´t sure exactly) and is just so sincere. Another one of our miracles, at least for me, made up for a bit of a heartbreak. We had found a potential who willingly accepted the Book of Mormon and just seemed really cool. But when we went back for our appointment, he said that he wasn´t willing to investigate at the moment because of his fears of how the people at his work would react (he works for Salvation Army). But he said that he would read the Book of Mormon, and maybe at another time in his life. But what was really cool is what he said at the end. We gave him a card for the website, partly because it sounded like he might have heard/seen a little anti material too. And he took it and said, "Thanks, but I don´t need to look at it. I´ve seen enough. I´ve seen you two. I can tell that what you have is good just by talking to you." That was super cool for me to hear, and I´m grateful that he said it. We have plenty of people tell us they don´t want to talk to us anymore, for a variety of reasons. So it is very neat to encounter a sincere seeker of truth who is open to the Spirit, even if circumstances in their lives make it difficult to hear our message.

Where our thoughts and focus are make a really big difference in our attitude and how we approach the work, which in turn affects the work, just like a small tiller moves a large boat. If we focus on Jesus Christ and His Atonement, that makes all the difference for us and for those we come in contact with. I also came across this quote that I really liked: "Thanks to His love, it is possible to change."--Elder Ulisses Soares

Oh There´s Sunshine!

The promptings of the Spirit are very real and we have a very real need to follow them. And when we do we will see miracles. A few weeks ago we were going langs de deuren [door to door]in a not-very-polite neighborhood. When we asked people at the end of the contact if they knew anyone with interest in our message, someone told us to try their neighbors who weren't home at the time. They told us that some very religious people lived there. So, I have to admit that I assumed (based partly on past experiences) that they would be Jehovah's Witnesses or something similar, and/or just have absolutely no interest. Plus the neighborhood was not close by where we usually work and the night that we were knocking they were fairly hostile. But it was a referral so we tried a few times with no success. And I honestly wanted to give up. I had absolutely no desire to keep trying to contact them. In fact, I probably had, if anything, negative desire about it. But today we were heading towards another potential and I got the feeling that we had to try them. And I did not want to. At all. But we did it anyway. I have to admit, I was nervous, so I prayed all the way up to the door, and, I admit, lost nearly all hope when I saw through the window that they were older (older Dutch people, particularly the religious ones, tend to listen to us the least). Well, this older couple let us right in on the spot and we had a wonderful conversation. We talked a lot about the Restoration and his questions, because he´d run into Elders 10-15 years earlier. He had wonderful questions, and pretty much all of them we were able to answer with Church doctrine--and he agreed with pretty much all of our answers (even though many other religious people would not). Apparently he is the leader or something of a group that tis concerned with the unity/coming together of other Christian churches/groups. They have a lot of things that hold them back--for example, he has hesitations believing Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but he said that he would read it! And they really are so sincere and kind, I´m sure that he will read the Book of Mormon. They wanted some time before meeting again (like a few months), which is too bad, but they are really neat people and it was so cool to be able to experience that.

I would say that that is one example of how I´m motivated by diligence to the Lord. I can´t explain most of the time what exactly it is that motivates me so much to be diligent. Sometimes it´s nothing more than a very strong sense of duty. But the core motivation is love for my Heavenly Father and Savior. It´s been really interesting this week--people have been asking questions in contacts like "Do you really believe that?" And my answer is, of course. I would not be here otherwise. I believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came to earth to atone for the sins of the world. I believe just as strongly that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth again. And I know that the Book of Mormon is true. These things have brought me so much absolute joy and peace and happiness that I just can´t help but want to share it with people. I know it´s true, and I´m so grateful for the privilege that I have to be here.

In other news, the sun is shining and has been for the last few days! One of our baptismal dates is doing great, we´re busy with him. And the work goes forth!

Love,

Zuster Stevens

Fire in Dordrecht!

That fire would be us, by the way. We´re doing pretty fantastic right now. Our biggest miracle we met on the street in the centrum a week ago and last Tuesday set a baptismal date with him on a Restoration lesson in the park. He is super prepared. Our next appointment with him fell through, but he came to church yesterday! He came an hour early too: we were still at our apartment and the Bishop called asking where we were. So we headed over early and were actually able to give him the lesson we had planned on teaching a couple days before. He is still super positive and just has a very special spirit around him. He is probably at one of the lowest points he´s been at in his life but he is an incredible example of humility and real intent and desire to learn more. Also, last Monday our other baptismal date made a huge breakthrough! He felt the Spirit and believes that God exists! That is an enormous step for him. And he´s actually been reading the Book of Mormon, which is something else that he´d been struggling with. He´s still got a long way to go, but he´s truly making progress. Also, last night we had a super member present lesson with him with some fantastic members from our ward and they set up appointments to have him taught two more times this week at their house! Super cool people, and that will help him a lot. The father of the family shared his conversion experience and said that at the time he didn´t believe in God, but that the missionaries invited him to pretend for a week like he did, and do everything that he would expect to do if he did believe in God (read the scriptures, pray, etc.), and see if there was a difference in his life. So he did and that is when he received his testimony. So we challenged the investigator to do the same and I think that it´ll make a difference for him. We´ve been seeing a lot of other miracles lately too, in finding and teaching.

This week was knowledge week, and last transfer was knowledge transfer for me. One of the biggest things that I learned about knowledge is that it is necessary for our salvation. What we are doing as missionaries is bringing people knowledge about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Plan of Salvation and the gospel. These are the things that will make their lives immeasurably better, in ways they would never expect and ways that we can often not describe. But it is real, really and truly. It comes through patience, faith, and diligence, as well as study and prayer. I love my personal studies every morning because it is studying the scriptures that gives me a better insight into the principles of the gospel that will bless my life and the lives of my investigators. I have seen again and again how my study has helped me be more prepared for my daily challenges and also for the challenges of those I work with. It´s funny because while I´m doing it I don´t notice it, but I would say that my personal study has a huge impact on my personal conversion. I am a different person now than when I came here.

I´m loving Dordrecht and I hope everything is going well with you all too!