Elder Hayden Bishop Belgium/Netherlands Mission: A memorable week with a trip to the Temple and Keukenhof (the Tulip Gardens)

Hey everyone!! Thanks for the emails and updates. It sounds like things are still going great back home. I can't believe the kids only have two more weeks of school!! I bet they are both really excited, especially Ross haha. I still can't believe how pregnant Meleese is... It is starting to scare me how soon that is coming up. I feel like I just found out and she is 20 weeks pregnant already!

This week was a very spiritual week and a little bit more relaxed compared to the past month. Last Monday was pretty easy going for our Pday. That evening we had Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults in Deventer. About 30 minutes in, we called a member to invite her to come. She told us that she had a terrible day and was very depressed and just wanted to stay home. We were really concerned and left straight away to go talk to her. We talked to her for a while and gave her some words of comfort. She told us that she made some pretty stupid decisions the night before and she felt terrible about it. We helped her get in contact with the bishop so she can overcome it. She was nervous to talk to him and still depressed, so we gave her a blessing of comfort and told her to call us whenever she needed us.

The next day was incredible. We went to the temple in the morning as missionaries. I understood a lot more and learned a lot as well. I was talking about goals in last weeks email, and at the temple I was searching for guidance and goals for the last 7 months of my mission. I learned a lot and feel prepared now to finish my mission strong, and I am excited to see how it turns out. After a refreshing morning in the temple, we went to the church in Zoetermeer to eat lunch. On the way we got kind of lost and I ended up driving on a bike path where a ton of bikers were riding!! haha me and Elder Alston were freaking out and flipped around (luckily we have a small car) to get out of there. We finally found the church though and ate pizza with half the mission. It was fun seeing a lot of people who I hadn't seen for a while. After lunch we went to Keukenhof. It is a MASSIVE garden just south of Haarlem. There were a lot of flowers everywhere this year. I walked around with Elder Toole and Elder Goates, both of the missionaries I trained. It was fun being with them again and seeing how much both of them have grown. Elder Toole, my first greenie, hits his year mark next month!!! I couldn't believe how long he has been out already... It was a really pretty garden though with flowers EVERYWHERE. After Keukenhof we talked with the member who was struggling and she told us she would be meeting with the bishop on Sunday to clear things up. She sounded a lot better than she did the day before.

Wednesday was the begin of our exchanges for the week. I was in Hengelo with Elder Frederico that day. It was really fun to be there with him. it was cool too because he is exactly where I was at a year ago, a greenie in Hengelo. We visited some members and looked up some referrals. The work is going pretty slow there in Hengelo right now, and Elder Frederico was getting down about it. He asked me a lot of questions and tips for advice. He asked me how we found people to teach when I was there and how we taught so much. I laughed a little bit when he asked me that and told him that he reminded me a lot of myself last year. I told him that we didn't have a lot going on when I was there either. We didn't do anything special or have any secrets to getting more investigators. I told him that we just worked hard and endured and the miracles followed. He asked a LOT of questions that day and even that night when we were in the apartment. We got to the apartment soaking wet that night after biking in one of the biggest rainstorms I have seen on my mission!!! But we had a really good talk inside the apartment. I told him that missionary work starts with your relationship with God, then your relationship with your companion, then your relationship with the members. He thanked me afterwards, and I hope he can use some of the tips I gave him so he can be ahead of where I was at when I started, because he has a lot of potential. It was overall a great exchange.

Thursday we were in Enschede. I was with Elder Carter. He is a district leader in the zone and he is doing a great job. He is FULL of enthusiasm which is really helping the district. We had a lunch appointment with the Van B Family. It was fun being there again. We also visited the Nauden ten Cata's and ate dinner at the bishop's, Bisschop De Ceuninck van Capelle. Long last name, I know haha but it was a lot of fun. I also convinced Elder Carter to apply to SUU haha I want to get as many missionaries as possible to go there so I don't get too lonely. Not a whole lot happened that day, but it was still really good seeing familiar faces.

Friday we finally had time to do some work in our own city!! We didn't see a lot of success though haha NOBODY was home. We did visit that member who had been struggling that week though. She really appreciated the support we have been giving her. And she was continuing to do better and better every time we saw her. We had a dinner appointment that night with sister S. She is this tiny old lady from Austria. She makes us the same meal every time chicken with potatoes and green beans. Half the time the chicken isn't cooked fully and we have to sneak the raw parts in napkins and throw them away haha but luckily it was all cooked this time. it was a fun appointment and she is a sweet lady.

Saturday was a busy day! We woke up and got our studies in and then had a lunch appointment with a recent convert. she is a single mom with two boys who remind me of Tanner and Gavin haha but they might be even crazier!! All six of the missionaries were there. halfway through the lesson we heard a ring at the doorbell and there is another mom with two more kids and birthday presents in their hands. After that a couple more came haha there was a birthday party that we didn't know about!! It was CRAZY!!!! we tried doing a spiritual thought and sharing a mormon message but the kids were just running around screaming hahaha it was one of the funniest spiritual thoughts I have ever been a part of! It was fun though and a great memory. Afterwards, we had a baptismal service! The Deventer Elders had a baptism. They are the elders who were called here chinese speaking. They baptized a chinese guy, he is really cool and it was a nice baptism. The deventer elders will be having another baptism this saturday too! His name is Wu Quing. haha they are gonna baptize all the Chinese people in that city!! That night we had to write the big report on the zone. We call it "The Beast". We went to KFC and got a bucket of hot wings to make it a little more enjoyable haha.

Sunday was a great day. There is a new guy who is from czhek and was baptized in England who moved to our ward. He is a 25 year old kick boxer haha we have helped him get his records in this ward and we are excited to have him. I translated for him in Priesthood and there was another visitor I translated for too. He lives in Colorado but went to college at SUU!! it was a state college back then but he thought it was really cool I was from Cedar City. After church, we talked to the member who had been struggling all week She talked to the bishop and was doing SO much better! The first scripture I thought of when I saw her again was about Alma telling his conversion story to his son Helaman, "Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy." - Alma 36:21. it's cool that Mom and Meleese learned so much about Grace through the Atonement of Jesus Christ this week at Women's conference. I saw a first hand testimony of that this week. If we fully repent and turn our lives to Christ then we will feel the joy of His Grace, and through His Grace, we will change. I bear testimony of that again as I have seen that in myself and so many others out here on my mission. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!! I can't wait to skype with you on Sunday! It's crazy how that will be the last skype of my mission... De tijd gaat zo voorbij, Ik kan het bijna niet geloven.

Veel Lief,

Elder Bishop