Elder Hayden Bishop Belgium/Netherlands Mission: I LOVE Amsterdam. I LOVE my companion and I LOVE this work. I have never been so tired in my life, but I have never been so happy in my life either.

Hey guys! This week has gone by so fast! I can't believe I am emailing again already. It went by fast, but it was jam packed. It sounds pretty similar to how your week went. I can't believe it was the Horlacher reunion this past week! It doesn't seem like too long ago I was there with everybody. I hope you all had a great time catching up with the family.

So this week in the mission we had Zone Trainings, and Elder Eastmond and I were busy attending half of them while President and Sister Robinson attended the other half. It involved a lot of traveling and sitting and listening, but it was very spiritually uplifting, and I learned a lot from them. But I will get to those a little later. First I will start with last Sunday. We had church in the morning, and it was really nice, but it was so hard to focus because last Sunday was really hot, and they don't believe in Air Conditioning in this country. So we were sitting in an oven wearing suits for three hours. It was SO hot! After church we taught a few lessons. There was a guy who the other elders found on the street who came to church that morning. He had big dreadlocks and was wearing a camo vest. We joined the elders in the lesson with him and he was going off about so many different things! it was so hard to keep the lesson going, but we finally had a minute to share the Joseph Smith story. And after we shared the first vision, the Spirit was so strong and we had his full attention. We committed him to be baptized and he accepted! He has some addictions he needs to overcome first, but he definitely has the desire. The other elders will continue to keep teaching him, and we are hoping that everything goes as planned. It was a cool lesson though to see how the Spirit can grab someone's attention so fast, and the quickest way it comes is usually by sharing the restoration lesson. It is so powerful and my favorite lesson to teach! Afterwards we went with the sisters to the hospital to visit a member who had an aneurysm a few months ago. Before I got to Amsterdam she couldn't speak or do anything really, but when we visited her, she was able to communicate with us a little bit. She was SO happy to see us. We sang a couple of hymns to her and she really enjoyed it. It was sad to see, but she is making a lot of progress. Afterwards we had a dinner appointment with this member named Lucky (no I'm not kidding. That's really her name haha). She is a really cool member from Taiwan. We had a nice lesson with her after we ate. She LOVES the missionaries haha. It was a fun appointment.

Monday was our office day. Yay! ( haha not really, but it wasn't too bad) We got numbers done quickly in the morning and they are still on the rise which is nice. There were 5 baptisms last week in the mission which was good. We met with President and Sister Robinson and talked a lot about transfers. It was long but fun. I have really gotten to know the mission a lot better in these past four weeks, and it's cool to see how the Lord works through President Robinson with transfers. We got done and then went on splits with the office elders that evening. I stayed here in Leiden and the other two went back to Amsterdam. We talked to a good amount of people here in Leiden and got the information of two different people who both seemed pretty positive. We had a dinner appointment which was a lot of fun. We ate spaghetti, (the typical meal missionaries eat either in their own apartment or at members' houses haha). It was still good though. I worked with Elder Lyman and he is a great missionary.

Tuesday began the Zone Trainings. The first one was in Amsterdam which was handy. They talked a lot about conversion and consecration. I loved it! That subject is one of the biggest ones I have studied out here on my mission. It was well done and a good reminder for me to always strive to become more consecrated to the Lord. Now is the best time for me to do so. We met with the Zone Leaders afterwards and talked about how the zone did this transfer and goals they have for next transfer. It is part of the new program we made with president, and it will help us see what's going on in each of the different zones. Afterwards we drove to Apeldoorn to do the same thing. I got to meet with Elder Bourne and see him again. He is doing really well in Apeldoorn and I have seen a lot of growth since I was first with him. He is a great missionary. We got back to Amsterdam that evening and had a lesson with this lady named N. It was a pretty quick lesson because she had family over, but it was still good. We talked about prayer with her and read the story of Enos. She is a christian and is already familiar with prayer, so it was a good lesson. We asked to set up another appointment and she said she would love to, but she is going on vacation until 20 August!!! Everybody takes the longest vacations out here, it's crazy! People go on vacation for 8 weeks every summer. That is a normal thing to do where they just get work off and leave haha it's crazy. And that vacation time still doesn't include their Christmas vacation time, new years, 1 pentacost, 2 pentacost, 1 ascension day, 2 ascension day, 1 easter, 2 easter, and spring break. Haha so many vacation days here! But it's okay. We will just look her up when she gets back.

Wednesday we traveled to Rotterdam for their Zone Training. It was also really well done. They talked about the Character of Christ. I learned a lot from that as well. Elder Cooper did a great job. It doesn't seem like too long ago we were giving a zone training together! We met with them afterwards then stopped by the office to get a few things organized. We got home that evening and looked some people up, but NOBODY was home. It was kinda frustrating, but whatever. Missionaries always have days like that and I am used to them by now.

Thursday we traveled to Eindhoven in South East Netherlands for their Zone Training. They also gave a good one about motivations. It was a good self evaluation for me going over my mission the past year and a half, and I saw the motives I have had and how they have changed for the good. It was based off a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks called "Why do we Serve?". I would recommend it. It was a good training and also a good reminder of where my motives need to be. We visited with them afterwards then drove to Antwerp, Belgium to meet with the Zone Leaders there. We got there late and ended up having to stay the night because we were too tired to drive back to Amsterdam that night. While driving down to Belgium, you cross the border and immediately feel the difference from the roads. The Dutch roads are very nice and smooth and then you cross the border and it's only a half step up from a dirt road haha. That pretty much explains the difference between Belgium and The Netherlands. Belgium is super ghetto, but I love it SOOOO much. I would love to go back and serve there one more time... It was fun staying the night in Antwerp, but it was so hot that night! Belgium doesn't believe in AC either. We woke up the next morning and drove back to Amsterdam. I almost peed my pants on the way back, but we made it just in time, safe and sound.

That afternoon we went out to lunch with some members who are traveling here in Amsterdam. He is from Texas, and his wife is from Malaysia. They have lived in Hong Kong most of their lives, but travel a ton. They were in France the week before and met Elder David Cardon as well haha small world. They took us to the Hard Rock Cafe though and it was super fun. We got nice big american burgers... I remembered yesterday how much I love REAL hamburgers. Afterwards we had an appointment with an inactive member also from Malaysia. We have gained a really good relationship with her, and she talks a ton! We got done with the appointment and then took the other elders and sisters out to dinner. It was Elder Larsen's birthday yesterday so we took him out for that. We went to this nice Italian restaurant called Vapiano. It is in downtown Amsterdam in a BEAUTIFUL area. There are so many canals over there. It was not fun driving there though, especially on a Friday. There were a ton of tourists, and I have never seen so many bikers in my life. And it doesn't make it easier that I have to drive on a tram line as well, so I always need to be watching out for them. We made it though (don't worry mom, I am a good driver). We did some more look ups after that and talked to some people, we met this one lady from Columbia and she had heard of the Mormons back in Columbia. She was SO excited to have us over and give her a book of Mormon in Spanish. She was very positive, but... She is going on vacation!!! AHHHH!!! haha but she will be back next month and can't wait to meet with us. And she told us that she would read the book on vacation too. We got home that night and were SOOO tired, but we still had a birthday party for Elder Eastmond and Elder Larsen haha it was a lot of fun. they were all in the back yard and I went upstairs to my study room and dropped a water balloon on them from the second story window. haha They got pretty wet and we all had a good laugh. We laid in bed that night and I

was out. I have never been so tired in my life, ever. It is so hard to stay awake, but I love it so much. I am so happy that I have this opportunity to serve members, nonmembers, and missionaries. It is so fulfilling and I am so happy right now. I LOVE Amsterdam. I LOVE my companion and I LOVE this work. I have never been so tired in my life, but I have never been so happy in my life either.

Next transfer is going to be even busier too. We have an apostle coming to the mission, Elder Ballard. And we have a Zone Conference that we will be presenting on top of that. Plus our monthly Mission Leader Council, Zone Leader Meetings, and a presentation that my next companion and I will be giving at the regional YSA camp. It will be busy, but it will be a blast. I can't wait! These next three transfers will go by so fast though. I am a little nervous. It's weird because my companion is going home in a week and a half and I will see his parents because they are picking me up. It has made me think about you guys picking me up, and it's gonna be awesome. I love you all so much and I hope you have another great week!!!

Groetjes,

Elder Bishop