The Lord is Hastening His work and I am grateful for the tools He has given us to do so

Hello everybody!!!  I am so glad to hear that you all had a good week.  I can't believe you bought a motorcycle!  haha It seems like every week there is something new.  This week was another awesome week though!  We had our zone training this week and it turned out really well.  We had been planning it for a couple weeks now, and with all the time and effort that we have put into it, we are very pleased with the results.  The theme of our zone conference was, "Do what YOU do with Jesus Christ".  We focused the first section on what we need to do.  We did some training items and role plays on effective ways to find and how to commit people to baptism.  After that we focused on who we are and what kind of missionary we want to become.  With this big wave that came in last year.  A lot of them have become very robotic and don't enjoy doing missionary work.  They are wearing themselves out and becoming less effective.  it was a great first section helping them find out what kind of missionaries they were.  The second half was focused on the will of the Lord and how we submit our will to His will.  We sang a song and they were laughing and they really learned a lot, so we were very excited about that.  After the training, a HUGE weight was taken off our shoulders.  We were exhausted but so relieved.  We could finally do some normal missionary work again.  We talked to a lot of people this week and taught a really good lesson to this guy named P.

P has been investigating for almost a year now, and he has a lot of potential to be a great member.  He is really smart and interested in the Book of Revelation.  So we have been reading the Book of Revelation with him and explaining it to him in Dutch.  Let's just say they haven't been the easiest lessons I've taught.  We have been tying them in to the first lesson a lot though because it talks a lot about the Great Apostasy and Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel.  We had a really powerful lesson and committed him to read 2 Nephi 31.  We have another lesson this Friday and plan on committing him to be baptized!  We really hope it goes alright.

Saturday, some elders in Amsterdam were having a tough week.  All 6 of their appointments fell through and they had nothing on Saturday, so we went down there and helped them find some more people.  We got some new potential investigators and gave out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon with them, so it was a success. 

That night Elder Cooper and I were asked to go to a Priesthood Meeting in Haarlem.  At the Priesthood meeting, they introduced the 2014 Den Haag Stake Plan for missionary work.  It is incredible!!!  It's called, 'Het Heilswerk Bespoedigen' or, "hastening the work".  The Hague Stake has been chosen as a "test-stake"in Europe for this plan.  It is focused on Mormon.org and facebook.  Like Elder Perry said in the missionary broadcast last year, the nature of missionary work is changing.  The Branch down in Gent, Belgium has a mission leader who has worked with the internet for over 20 years and he created his own blog and worked with facebook.  he has places where people can request different things from the missionaries or even just a visit from the missionaries.  He has invested quite a bit of money in it, but the success they are seeing is unreal.  They got 45 referrals in one month and a baptism came of it. We are launching this in the Netherlands starting with our stake.  The Stake Presidency has been working with Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City to help launch this plan.  The mission is going to EXPLODE this year!  I am so excited to be a part of this.  2014 is going to be a year to remember in the Netherlands.

The Lord is Hastening His work and I am grateful for the tools He has given us to do so.  I love this Gospel and the joy that comes from sharing it is indescribable.  I love you all so much and I am glad you got the package.  I hope you all have another good week and I am excited to hear the surprise for next week.

veel liefjes,

Elder Bishop

OUR ZONE SAW MIRACLES!

Hello everybody!!!  Another crazy week has come and gone and I cant believe how fast it did!  It was another exhausting week but so good!  this was the first week we applied the zone plan and it was a huge success!  Like I said last week, we are focusing a lot on the Christlike attributes each week and this past week was Hope.  The biggest problem was that missionaries would study the attributes, but they wouldn't apply them in their work.  So our plan is to give the zone a challenge every week pertaining to the attribute to help them apply it throughout their work.  bijvoorbeeld, this weeks attribute was hope, and our challenge was for each companionship to focus on one key indicator (baptismal dates, investigators in church, lessons with a member present, new investigators, ect.)  and set a good goal for the key indicator they choose, and then do EVERYTHING they can to reach that goal.  The purpose for the challenge is to help missionaries see that if they really want to reach a goal they can do it, thus giving them more hope as missionaries.  OUR ZONE SAW MIRACLES FROM THAT!  Almost every companionship reached the goal they set, and those who didn't came very close.  The numbers shot up this week and it was so cool to see!  Our goal was to find one new investigator.  We were out talking to a lot of people this week looking for that one, and we eventually found her, but it wasn't how we were expecting to find her.  As we were out contacting on Thursday, an inactive member saw us.  We didn't really get to talk to her because she was in a big hurry, but we must have made a big impact on her because she showed up to church yesterday!  We talked to her more there and got a better relationship.  And today we set up a dinner appointment with a family and they invited her to come along as well!  We worked so hard to find a new investigator, and even though we didn't necessarily find a new investigator, we found an inactive member who came to church, and now we have another appointment with her.  it was a great lesson I learned that gave me more hope and assurance that when we are diligently working, the Lord will provide.  I am excited to see what miracles happen as we apply the other attributes throughout the transfer. 

I am loving it here, and I love serving with Elder Cooper.  this is the most fun I have had on my mission!  We are both so tired helping the zone, planning for zone training which is tomorrow, yikes!, and setting a good example in our own area, but I have never been so satisfied on my mission.  This year will be totally different than the previous.  It is a totally different mission now, but I am learning a lot and having so much fun!

Also, do you remember J who got baptized back in Hengelo?  She has the two cutest little kids ever and her husband, who has been smoking since he was 9 years old, stopped smoking and is taking the lessons from the missionaries!  He wants to be a better example to his family and wants to be in it with his wife as well.  He should be getting baptized within the next couple of months!  I will keep you guys posted.

I loved reading your emails and seeing that everything is going awesome back home.  It is gonna be so different when I get back!  I love you all so much though, and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Bishop

pics

Elder cooper and I in our matching volleyball outfits ready to go play with the branch in Alkmaar.  We told them that this is how everybody dresses for volleyball back in America hahaha.  They laughed at us...

  

Elder Cooper and I on an empty train

A true leader is willing to sacrifice their success for the success of others, and that is something I understand and am willing to do.

Hey everybody!!!  sounds like you all had a great week with a lot of big news!  That is so awesome!  Things are going great here too.  This week has been one of the most exhausting but one of the most fun as well!  This week I got Elder Cooper as a new companion and we have had so much fun!  We have also been very busy.  We got two new elders for Hoorn this week and so I had to show them around Hoorn and the people we are working with there and I also had to show Elder Cooper around and the people we are working with.  We also have to give a zone training next week that will last 4 hours!  so we are doing a LOT of planning for that.  We spent most of Thursday and most of Friday planning for our Zone Vision for the transfer and our Zone Training.  Our theme that we came up with this transfer is "Do what YOU do with Jesus Christ".  There are 2 main parts to this vision. 1. Do what YOU do.  There are so many missionaries who come in to the field and are told what to do and turn into robots.  It wears on them and they end up not enjoying their mission.  We are going to help them find out who they are as missionaries and find out what they want to accomplish out here.  The second part 2. is finding out who the Lord is and what His will is for them personally.  And the goal for this transfer is to help them align their will with the will of the Lord.  Elder Cooper and I have both experienced this in the first year of our mission.  It has changed, not only my mission, but my life.  We are SO excited to work with these missionaries and hopefully help them experience the same change.  The role of a zone leader involves a lot of planning.  It is a different type of missionary work.  We still have investigators and teach them, but we focus a lot more time on the members of the zone.  A true leader is willing to sacrifice their success for the success of others, and that is something I understand and am willing to do.  I have learned so much by doing that too.  I love it and really hope that I can help these missionaries come closer to the Lord and become more effective at helping them bring others closer to Christ.On Saturday we visited the members of the zone and introduced the zone plan to them.  They are very excited about it and we made sure to tell them that we cant do it for them but it needs to come from themselves.  They need to open their hearts, and I pray they will.  Sunday was church, and on the way I got pulled over by a cop!  They were out that morning just pulling random people over and doing a Breathalyzer test haha so I had to blow into this thing.  Don't worry,  I wasn't drunk :)  We had a great day at church.  This morning we came to Amsterdam to give a District Leader Council.  We almost ran out of gas on the way haha but by the grace of God we made it.  It was a good council and the district leaders liked it.  It wasn't much of a pday though but it was still fun.  Anyways, I am running out of time and I gotta go. I love you all so much!  have a good week.
Elder Bishop

That is the only thing I wanted, is to find just 1 person!!! Instead of us finding one person who wanted to listen to us, that one person found us! it was such a miracle and I was so happy!

hey everybody and happy New Years and Happy Birthday Ross!!!  It sounds like you all had a wonderful Holiday season with a lot of family and fun.  Sounds like things are going great at work and the kids are excited to be back in school, especially Ross haha.  I hope Dad and Meleese are feeling a little better though.  This week was also an awesome week for me, just like every week.  Tuesday was New Years Eve.  We woke up and fireworks were already going off by 9 am. We had District Meeting in Amsterdam and afterwards we blitzed the city.  That means that we had 20 missionaries split up and talk to people.  It was a lot of fun and we saw some success.  Amsterdam is a cool city to do missionary work in mainly just because of the irony haha.  There are always people to talk to though and quite a few are open.  We had to be back in our apartment in Hoorn by 4 pm because it is dangerous.  by 6 pm the fireworks started going crazy, then midnight hit and it sounded like Germany was attacking again, and it didn't stop until early the next morning.  It was pretty cool.  While we were inside we made a ton of pancakes and Elder Farmer made his famous syrup.  It was a lot of fun and very relaxing just to sit down and take a break for a second.

 

Wednesday We did a lot of finding with no luck.  The only thing that kept us going that day is the dinner appointment we had scheduled for that night.  They are a really fun family and feed us a lot, so we were excited. 6:00 finally hit and we went to our dinner appointment.  He answered the door and let us in for a little, but he totally forgot about our appointment!  We just played it off like we were in the neighborhood and wanted to say hello.  haha we just got some doners that night (turkish fast food) and went home a little disappointed.  Later that night the guy called and realized he forgot about our appointment.  He felt SO bad and told us to come the next night haha so that made it a little better.  So the next day we went on exchanges with the Elders in Amsterdam.  I was with Elder Sosa in Alkmaar.  I went to pick him up and it was crazy because I had to drive in downtown Amsterdam and it is so busy there!!!  with all the trams, buses, bikers, and American tourists, you always need to be watching for something.  We survived though and went beck to Almaar and had a good day.  We did a lot of finding that day too (we need new investigators bad) but we didn't have any success that day either.  But we did have a great lesson with an inactive who is working on coming back to church.  So that was good, and then we went to that dinner appointment which was awesome.  He cooked a LOT of food because he felt so bad.  It was a fun day and Elder Sosa and I got along really well.

 

Friday we did some planning, finding and had a dinner appointment with one of my favorite families.  The mom is the only member in the family and she is married to a tulip farmer and they have three kids between 16 and 23.  I like the kids a lot and we get along really well.  They are starting to open up and listen to our spiritual thoughts now.  We gave a really good spiritual thought about priorities and they all liked it.  Hopefully we will continue to see progress because one of the daughters has a lot of potential, and I think she could be baptized this year. 

 

Saturday was another finding day with little to no success, but then Sunday came around, and Sunday always seems to be the miracle day.  We had done a lot of finding that week, as you have already read, and we didn't have any success.  We planned to set some more time apart to talk to people after church, and we prayed and fasted that we could find at least 1 person who wanted to listen to us.  That is the only thing I wanted, is to find just 1 person!!!  We went to church that morning and right after priesthood began, one of the members pulled me into the hallway and introduced me to this guy named P.  He met the missionaries about a year ago and just decided to come to church!  He said he didn't have a lot of time and would need to leave early.  I told him that was no problem and took him into the priesthood lesson and introduced him to a cool member who I thought he would get along with.  After Priesthood I found out that the member I introduced him to was the Gospel Principals teacher.  So us 4 went into a smaller class for the second hour and taught him a lesson.  He liked it a lot.  After the lesson he texted his friend and cancelled whatever he had planned so he could come to sacrament meeting.  After church I talked to him for a while.  He was born in Alkmaar and is only 23 years old.  He is majoring in Biology and explained that after a lot of thought, everything leads back to the fact that there has to be a greater power, namely God.  He is really cool and I found out his parents got married in Las Vegas hahaha.  I told him I have family there and go there a lot and he thought that was cool.  He said that he would be coming back and he can meet with him again.  HEAVENLY FATHER HEARS AND ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS!!!  Instead of us finding one person who wanted to listen to us, that one person found us!  it was such a miracle and I was so happy! 

 

That night, we got transfer calls from President Robinson.  Elder Farmer will be going to Haarlem and Elder Cooper, my MTC companion, will be coming up to Alkmaar with me!!!  I am so excited about that!  we were really good friends in the MTC and he is a great missionary.  We are very similar and we are gonna get this city rolling.  I cant wait.  I love the mission and I am so excited to see what this year has in store for me.  I know that 2014 will be a year that I will remember for the rest of my life.  I hope you all have a great 2014!  It wont be as good as mine, but it's ok.  Try your best haha.  I love you all so much!  The Gospel is true and God answers our prayers in His own time and His own way.  We will need to be patient, but He will answer us.  Isaiah 55: 8-9.  Have a great week!

  Love,

Elder Bishop

 

Tulips we got from the tulip farmer

 

Alkmaar (cheese city)