24 Maart 2014
Hey everybody! Sorry, I am not good at coming up with good titles for these emails, so I normally just put the date. But I switched it up a little bit today and typed it in dutch haha still lame I know... but that's not important! I am glad to hear you all had a good week except for the fact that everybody is sick all the time!! You guys need to stay healthy! Usually mom is the one telling me this, but now I am telling you, Mom, eat your vegetables! Drink plenty of liquids, and rest :) Shout out to dad turning 48 this week!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I got a present for you that you will get next week that you will love :) Also, props to kevin for going a weekend out with they guys looking for shed antlers and not complaining once! I could never do that haha.
Anyways, I had another awesome week this week! I learned a lot and made some more memories, and I hope that I was able to help others come closer to Christ. Tuesday we were on exchanges again. Some of the missionaries are still struggling as far as companionship unity goes, but I was able to have a good exchange. We had one of the weirdest appointments of my LIFE that day! hahahaha it is seriously ridiculous! We looked up this former investigator, She was a nice older lady who let us in and talked to us. At first she seemed really nice. She offered us some water and we got to know each other. The tv was on silently in the background and she saw that they were talking about that missing plane from a few weeks ago. She looked back at us and said very nonchalantly, "I know where the plane is." I was surprised and asked her where it was. She started explaining to me about "Lichtwerkers" or "Light Workers". She told me that she was a light worker and had communication with the parallel universe or the Galactical Universe she called it. She said that in the Galactical Universe, there are other people kind of like us, but a lot smarter. They watch over us and help us by sending us certain warnings and signals. She said the travel by Ufo's... hahahahaha I almost started laughing out loud when she told us that. The other two elders are newer in the land, and they had a hard time following the conversation, but I had to try so hard not to laugh throughout the whole thing! She then went on to explain that the aliens in the Galactical Universe abducted the airplane to show us their power. She told us not to worry though, because everybody on the plane is safe and happy with the aliens in their universe now!!! I seriously could not believe that a 60 year old dutch lady told me that an airplane was abducted by aliens!! She was very nice throughout the whole lesson (if you can even call that a lesson) but at the end she told us that she didn't need books or anything to help her learn more, and she told us it would basically be a waste of time if we came back. I agree, it would DEFINITELY be a waste of time to go back, unless you are into scifi.
Anyways haha we followed that lesson up with a nice dinner appointment. They had a 16 year old son who was inactive, but really cool. We talked with him a lot. He loves basketball and asked us if we wanted to shoot some hoops with him afterwards. We played some basketball in our missionary clothes on a playground court in the rain for about 30 minutes. It was SO much fun!! Afterwards we told him that he should bring his friends next time and they could play a pick-up game. It was a good exchange overall, I just hope they both were able to learn something from that lesson at the end. Because it doesn't matter how hard you work, if you don't have unity with your companion, then you won't see success and you won't enjoy your mission.
Wednesday was a busy day with a lot of planning. We found out a few weeks ago that the Amsterdam sisters were moving to a new apartment and we needed to help organize that. They told us that the sisters need to be moved by May 1, so Elder Cooper and I were going to worry about that after our zone training in April. We found out on Wednesday that we needed to help the sisters move by the end of that week!!! We had to find a day and get missionaries there to help and coordinate everything with the ward mission leader so that he could bring some members to help that day as well. Luckily, it went very smoothly and the sisters are now moved, but man talk about short notice! haha. That night we had a dinner appointment with J, his wife, and the branch president and his wife. J is the nonmember who got married to a Ukrainian member. He has been coming to church every week for the past couple months with his wife. He isn't very open, yet. haha but it was really good because he got a really good relationship with the branch president. Our branch president, is an awesome guy, and they were friends off the bat. We ate some very healthy Ukrainian food and had a good dinner together. J's progression is very slow, but he is definitely making steps, and he loves church, so it's only a matter of time!!
Thursday we had a lunch appointment with an older couple in the branch. She is from Suriname which is a dutch colony in South America. She made us a surinames meal, pindasoep (peanut soup). It was very different, but VERY good! she gave me the recipe, and it calls for one jar of peanutbutter! you know how much I like peanutbutter haha. It was definitely a weird combination, but it was really good. I will makie some for you guys when I get back. We got back from the appointment and saw a paper on our fax machine. It was a mormon.org referral! Looks like those few days of handing all those mormon.org cards out wasn't a waste of time! We haven't got contact with her yet, but apparently she wants a Book of Mormon and a missionary visit! Hopefully we can get in contact with her this week. We had an appointment with the V R family. she cooked us some dinner and we played the piano a little bit. She then showed us a mormon message with her son who isn't a member. it was a good one and she absolutely loves it! She is a nice lady. I think she has given me at least 6 different piano books haha not pieces, books! I don't know what to do with all of them!! After our dinner appointment we had another appointment with P. it was a great lesson. We talked a lot about prayer, and not just praying to God, but consulting with Him. It was a very spiritual lesson. We committed him to read and study Enos and continue to pray about baptism. He is so ready!!! I hope he finds his answer soon.
Friday was mission leader council at the mission home. It was a good council and I learned a lot, as usual. Sister Robinson Always gives the best talks! She gave a great talk about mercy, and you will see later on in the email that grace and mercy came up a lot this week. I guess the Lord needed me to learn more about that this week. Maybe I am merciless or something I don't know haha. But It was a good council, and that evening we had a sweet dinner appointment with one of my favorite families, the M's. I have mentioned them quite a bit in these last few emails, but they are SO cool! We have become good friends and go over on a weekly basis now. The mom is the only member, but the middle child, is continually showing more interest. We had a good appointment with them and invited them to volleyball the next night. Instead of churchball, they have church volleyball here haha. They said they would come though!
Saturday was a long day. We had to write a report on all the missionaries in the zone. We send it to the assistants and president to help them with transfers. We call this report, "The Beast" and that's exactly what it is... It takes FOREVER!!! but we finally finished and then went to our dinner appointment and then volleyball. Volleyball was so much fun! Sister M was there with her husband and two of the three kids! haha L is so unathletic though! She reminded me of Meleese at times hahaha ;) She had fun though and she is going to FHE tonight in Amsterdam with us! She is starting to make a lot of progress!
Sunday was an awesome church service! The whole day we learned about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how we receive mercy through the Atonement. I received a lot of personal revelation that day. The things I learned that day confirmed to me that my mission goal I came up with in Brugge was inspired! My mission goal is pretty simple. My goal is to become more Christlike and develop the attributes of Christ, specifically, loyalty and love. Those are the two biggest attributes that define me as a person. The scripture this goal is based off of is Moroni 10:32-33. It talks a lot about Grace and becoming "Perfected in Christ". I studied it more today and read a fantastic talk given by Brad Wilcox in a byu devotional titled "His grace is sufficient". I would encourage you to read that. It honestly changed my outlook on the Atonement and life in general. I wish I had more time to explain it, but I will share a few of the things I learned. The first thing is that we are all saved by grace. That is possible because of the Atonement. So if we are all saved by grace then why do we need to keep the commandments and follow Christ? For a long time I thought that I kept the commandments and followed Christ to do my part, and then He would cover my mistakes and the things I didn't do through His grace. In 2 Nephi 25:23 it says that we are saved by grace after all we can do. So what is all we can do? and when does grace kick in? The answer is, Christ's grace is sufficient for all. He paid the full price. His grace is Always there! We don't keep the commandments and follow Him to "do our part" or, "pay Him back". We can't do that even to the smallest degree! The reason we follow Christ is because we love Him. We try to become like him. We all know that we are saved by grace, but the real question is, "Are we CHANGED by grace?" As we follow Christ and keep His commandments because we love Him, then we will become more like him. The whole purpose of this life is to transform; to change by grace so that we can become perfected in Christ. "If we deny ourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all our might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient, and by His grace we will be perfect in Christ. I am sorry if that is a little confusing. I don't have a lot of time and it is hard to explain, but I want you all to know that I have a powerful testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Thanks to Him we can change. We can become like Him. First, we must know Him, and then we must follow Him. I know that if we get to know him through the scriptures and prayer, and if we follow Him and keep His commandments, then we will have a better understanding of how much He really loves us. His grace is sufficient for ALL of us, no matter what we have done. We can change and strive to become like Him. That is the message of hope in this life, and I am so grateful to be able to share that message with others who need that hope so badly in their lives. Not only is this my mission goal, but this is my life goal, and I hope you all have that same goal in the name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Ik hou van jullie allemaal en ik wens je een fijne week. blijf gezond en blijf gelukkig. En die gene die ziek zijn, beterschap!! Ik bid voor je elke dag!
Elder Bishop
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