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!

I love to see the temple!

The highlight of this week, obviously, was temple conference! We went to the temple in Zoetermeer on Tuesday and it was such a good reminder of why we do what we do. That's the goal, is to help people go to the temple. There is no better place on earth. It was also super cool go to the temple in Dutch. Then we had temple conference afterwards with President and Sister Robinson and the APs and that was fantastic. Always a good spiritual boost to get you going again!

This week was packed full of miracles. Aside from temple conference, which was wonderful, we had all kinds of incredible things happen. I went on my first two exchanges (one to Leeuwarden, and the other with the Groningen sisters, but I was in Assen). We saw a lot of success and had a lot of fun too. During the last three days we were able to get ahold of 4 people that we've been trying for forever (sometimes 2 months or more) to get ahold of! One of these investigators came to church yesterday and he talked for quite a long time with some of the members afterward. He's really positive and now excited to go further with the lessons! I'm really excited about that and about some of our other investigators.

Since someone asked about my duties as a sister training leader: I go on exchanges with the sisters in my zone -- there are 3 other sister cities in Zone Apeldoorn. These are Leeuwarden, Groningen, and Apeldoorn. So that's at least 6 exchanges per transfer, plus more if I feel like it's necessary. Sometimes we go on splits with the sisters in their city to help them out finding or whatever. Plus I go to meetings, but not too many. There are some pictures on the mission blog. (http://belgiumnetherlandsmission.blogspot.com/). Also, when there's zone trainings (just with our zone, run by the zone leaders, as opposed to zone conferences which are with more than one zone and run by President and Zuster Robinson and the APs), I'm supposed to participate in the training with the zone leaders. That's pretty much it.

I learned a lot this week. One thing that I learned (or re-learned) is that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies, even if He has to make you into a totally different person to do it. I've always really looked up to the other leaders in our mission and always thought that they were just super good missionaries, and they are. But with me I know for a fact that I'm not a sister training leader because I'm all that good. I have literally watched the Lord take my meager capacity and make it better during those couple of days on exchanges with Sister Western and Sister Larson (Sister Larson was one of my MTC companions and it was so wonderful to be with her again). I was a better missionary during those two days than I think I've ever been before. I don't know why I am a sister training leader, but maybe one reason is because I needed to witness that--how much this is the Lord's work. I am just grateful that I am close enough to witness and sometimes participate in it.

The gospel is true! I love you all!

Hope Transfer

Well, transfers always bring all kinds of exciting things! We need to keep changing in order to keep growing, so that means we need lots of change. Sister Hoff is a fantastic companion: an excellent teacher and a great friend. We're going to have a great time in Assen.

We had some pretty fantastic miracles this week. The biggest I would say is that we are now teaching two families! We're still not sure where it's going yet with either of them, but that was something that we've been praying for for the last two transfers, so that's a big deal for us. The first family we met a few weeks ago langs de deur (literal translation, through the door), and she gave us 9 referrals on the spot. We had a lesson with them on transfer day and it went really well. They had already read 3 Nephi 11, Alma 32, and Moroni 10 because it was on the Questions of the Soul card and said that they really liked Moroni 10. We taught them the Restoration and extended a baptismal invitation, and they said they want to meet with us again and that they're going to keep reading! The Spirit was really strong and it was a super good lesson. We don't have a follow-up appointment yet, but we do have a promise of one, and I think that it'll go through. The other family was found by some of our Elders during the blitz. She hadn't taken a Book of Mormon after our first lesson because she thought we were a sect, but we had a super powerful lesson with her the other night and at the end she wanted a Book of Mormon. Her husband wasn't there the whole lesson, but he was in the background for part of it and I know that she tells him everything. I've got very high hopes for both of these families!

Every transfer I work on a Christlike attribute from PMG, plus whatever one I'm working on during the week. My Christ-like attribute for this transfer was hope. I can't explain how much I learned about hope this transfer. Hope conquers discouragement. Everyone has trials. But when we keep on keeping on and keep hoping and keep knowing that things will work out for our good as we put our faith and hope and trust in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, then eventually we will see the blessings. We will see miracles! This week was a week of miracles. The last day of the transfer was when we got our baptismal date, even though that was our goal the whole transfer. The Lord hears and answers prayers and He keeps His side of the bargain. I love Alma 25:17 ("Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni, and their brethren did rejoice exceedingly, for the success which they had had among the Lamanites, seeing that the Lord had granted unto them according to their prayers, and that he had also verified his word unto them in every particular."), especially after reading Alma 17:7-11: (excerpts: "they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct. ... And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.")

In other news, we had mission leader council on Friday at the mission home. It was super duper good and I learned a lot.

This is the Lord's work and it's true. If life was easy it wouldn't be hard, and if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth it. But it is ALWAYS worth it.

We've got temple conference tomorrow! I'm so excited!

Transfer Calls!

Well, as you can maybe guess, transfers are this week and the calls for them happened last night/this morning. And they were a bit exciting, mostly because a week ago we weren't expecting changes. But, here's the verdict, to be declared after a short inspirational interlude about miracles from the week.

Biggest miracle of this week is that our recent convert is all right! He's going through a hard time right now, but we hadn't been able to get ahold of him for over a week, so when our branch president called us and said that he'd been over and gotten to talk to him we were pretty relieved. Then we were able to talk to him today and Sister Watkins had a chance to say good-bye. He's going through a hard time, but he's still got a strong testimony of the gospel. Baptism is the best, but unfortunately it's not a miracle pill that cures all opposition. And actually, that is good, because we do need opposition to grow, whether we want it or not. 

Another quick miracle is that we were able to talk to the lady that said she'd pray about the Book of Mormon (and who thought we were a sect) and we've got another appointment with her! She actually still thinks that the Bible is enough, but she agreed to set up another appointment. Also, her husband was a lot more positive this time, which was cool.

So, verdict. I'm staying in Assen, and Sister Watkins is being transferred to Utrecht. My new companion is Sister Hoff, who was trained by Sister Nielson the transfer after I was companions with her. I was also called as Sister Training Leader for our zone, so that should be exciting.

The gospel is true and the Lord has His hand in our lives! We just need to look for it and to ask for it!

Missionary work is the best!

Christmas for Missionaries

The highlight of this week was General Conference! As you can maybe guess from the title of this email, we discovered that General Conference is a lot like Christmas for missionaries, at least here. We get to sing hymns about the prophet during companion study the whole week, we spend the whole day with other missionaries and members (and sometimes investigators!), and we also eat and are spiritually uplifted for most of the day. It's so wonderful! We watch the Saturday morning session on Saturday evening from 6-8, then on Sunday we watch Relief Society or Priesthood in the morning, Saturday evening in the afternoon, and then Sunday morning in the evening. We miss Sunday afternoon, but that's what the Ensign is for. :)

On P-day today we are going to the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit in the Drenths museum with our district.

The weather has been crazy. It was cold last week but warmed up this week. It gets quite chilly with all the humidity, even if it stays dry (which is a huge blessing; it has been dry lately).

Highlights for me from conference: all of the talks! I especially loved the talks from the First Presidency, and of course all the ones about missionary work. Exclamation Point! Also...one of our investigators came to conference! (She was referred by a member who is still very much involved in helping her, which is so exciting to see.) She really enjoyed it and she also told me how much our lesson helped her, and how she's now praying morning and night, which is something that she had never done before.

I learned so many things this week. One of the lessons came originally from district meeting, a quote from Elder Holland from when he was in Apeldoorn as saying "Don't think for an instant that Heavenly Father isn't working with one of His children." I love that becasue it's such a good reminder that we're not in this alone. We're the Lord's servants, not the other way around. It's not that we're here worrying about all these people and the work and everything while the world and all the forces of Satan are combined against us and boy, what a lucky thing it is that we have prayer. Oh no. What it really is is that Heavenly Father and other sources are working very personally and individually with every person on this earth. Some of them are currently refusing help. Some are pushing aside the work done with and for them and are using their agency the way they originally hoped they wouldn't--at least for right now. But some of them are prepared and when we exercise our agency and "wait upon the Lord" and work hard and exercise faith, the Lord grants us the blessed privilege of being a part of HIS work. This principle was confirmed to me in Conference from Pres. Eyring.

I love being here, I love being a missionary, and I love love love the gospel and the Savior and his Atonement. The gospel is true, and I love you all!