That is one of the biggest lessons that I have learned on my mission, that Love HAS to be our motivation.

Hello everyone!  This week was INCREDIBLE!!!  It sounds like you guys had a pretty average week ;)  haha no it actually sounds like you all are doing great!  I'm very glad to hear that everything is going good.  This week I learned that it is definitely possible to be "Spiritually Drained".  That's how I feel right now.  I will explain by starting off on Tuesday.  I was on an exchange with Elder S.  He was a greeny in Gent, Belgium back when I was in Brugge as his District Leader, so this wasn't our first exchange.  He is a really cool kid though and we get along great.  He is a very patient missionary  and does a great job.  We talked a lot about his strengths and how he can utilize them to help fulfill his role in the mission.  It was a great talk!  That night we had a dinner appointment with the M Family.  This is the family where the wife is the only member and the husband is a tulip farmer.  They are a great family,  and I really get along with the kids since they are all around my age.  I planned this awesome spiritual thought that was an object lesson, and I was very excited to share it with them after dinner.  As I was pulling out the materials I started explaining it to them, and I came to learn that they had already had that lesson before!  I was a little disappointed and felt bad.  They said that it was no big deal, but I just grabbed my dutch bible and shared one of my favorite scriptures, 1 John 2:6.  I bore my testimony on how that short verse has changed my life.  Even though it didn't go as planned, it still turned out really well and the Spirit was very strong (That last sentence summed up the life of a missionary haha). 

Not a whole lot happened on Wednesday.  Elder Cooper and I had to fill out some surveys on a mini missionary in our zone and send them to Salt Lake for further evaluation to see if he is able to serve a full-time mission.  and then we spent the night in Hoorn.  We ate dinner with the Elders there and then went to seminary.  The two youth who were there are really cool.  One of them isn't even a member, and the elders in Hoorn are working with him right now to try to get him baptized. 

On Thursday we had mission leader council at the mission home in Leidschendam.  It is a big meeting for the zone leaders and sister training leaders that lasts for 6 hours!  It was sooooo good though.  The Assistants gave some presentations and then Sister Robinson talked about 'divine motivation'. It was a great talk where she listed 6 points of motivation, the first one being the worst form of motivation and the 6th one being the best.

1. for riches and honor

2. to obtain good companionship

3. out of fear of punishment

4. out of duty and loyalty

5. hope for an eternal reward

6. love of God and love of fellow men

It's cool to look back this past year on my mission and see my motivations change.  When I got to the MTC, my motivations were hanging around 3 and 4, and then in Hengelo they moved down to 5 and now I am down at 6.  I still have traces of other motivations, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but my biggest motivation is love.  I came out on my mission with the mindset, "God has been really good to me, and this is a way that I can try to 'pay him back'", I learned really quick that it doesn't work like that!  The harder we work the more we are blessed.  It is impossible to 'pay God back'.  We will Always be indebted to him.  So now my mindset is "God has been so good to me.  I want to show Him that I love Him by diligently working, keeping His commandments, and serving those around me."  That is one of the biggest lessons that I have learned on my mission, that Love HAS to be our motivation. 

I learned a lot during the mission leader council though, and elder Cooper and I have some good ideas of what we want to do differently next transfer, that is, if we stay together next transfer.  Cross your fingers!!

Friday was another very spiritual day.  We went down to Amsterdam to give some baptismal interviews.  There was a mom and her daughter.  The mom is about 30 years old and her daughter just turned 8.  I interviewed the mom and Elder Cooper interviewed the daughter.  it was the most Spiritual interview that I have ever given.  She came in contact with the church through her sister.  Her sister is a convert of a few years and just got sealed in the temple.  She was mad that she couldn't be there for the wedding and thought that her sister went crazy, so she got online to find out more about the church and what her sister was getting herself into.  She saw the facebook page of the church and some members sent her the address to the closest church to her (the one in Amsterdam).  She showed up to church and LOVED it!  she loves how we not only preach of Christ, but we follow him and we do what he asks us to do.  I asked her how she gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  She told me about the feelings she had when she reads.  I shared Gal 5:22 and told her that these feelings were from the Holy Ghost testifying that it is true.  She broke down in tears.  The Spirit was so strong!  We talked a little more and I finished the interview and congratulated her at the end, telling her that she would be baptized that Sunday.  She was SOOOO happy!  She grabbed my hands and thanked me over and over again.  She begged us to come to the baptism, and so we told her we could make it.  That night we had an appointment with our investigator P.  We read some more from revelations, but it didn't really get anywhere.  We want to start teaching him some more fundamentals of the Restored Gospel and get him coming back to church!  He is a nice guy though and we always have a good time when we go over there. 

Saturday we spent the whole day filling out a report that we call "The Beast".  It is a massive report of evaluations on every missionary in the zone and how they are doing as companionships and recommendations and evaluations.  It is ridiculous and I hate doing it, but I survived...

Sunday was one of the best days of my mission!  We had an awesome church service and then left right after to go to the baptisms.  4 people got baptized in Amsterdam yesterday!  2 of those were the mother and her daughter.  They were soooo happy and very grateful that we came.  It was cool to see their faces and the light that they received.  After the baptisms we had a dinner appointment with the De B family.  They are a very strong family with 3 kids.  The oldest is a returned missionary and married, the middle child is a girl about my age and she has been inactive for a few years now, and the youngest is a 14 year old boy who is active and looks up to the missionaries a lot.  We ate so much meat that night and had a lot of fun with them!  But it was after we ate dinner when the really cool part came.  Elder Cooper and I gave a spiritual thought based out of 1 Cor 2:12-14.  We talked about how our testimonies come through the Spirit, not by logic, but through our feelings.  We asked the parents to share their conversion stories and that brought the Spirit so strong!  We closed with our testimonies and as we bore our testimonies, the youngest boy started crying.  The inactive daughter, who was fighting with him 10 minutes earlier, came around the table and gave him a big hug and told him that she loved him.  She went back to her seat and she started crying too.  The Spirit was so strong and we sat in silence for a long time.  The mom started talking some more and she started crying as well.  I couldn't believe how strong the presence of the Holy Ghost was in that room.  We talked about receiving testimonies through the Spirit and we all felt it and I am confident to say that all of our testimonies were strengthened.  I gained a stronger testimony knowing that God knows us individually and loves us more than we can comprehend.  it was the best spiritual thought that I had ever been a part of.

That night, Elder Cooper and I were Spiritually drained.  I began to understand a little bit of how Ammon felt in Alma 27:17 haha.  It was such a good week with so many experiences and I am glad that I was able to share most of them with you.  Mom and dad, I hope you realize how big of an influence your testimonies have on us as your children.  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Bishop