I can't believe I am emailing again. This week has gone by so fast! It sounds like it went by fast for you too. I didn't know the baby shower was this week! I loved the pictures though and it seemed like there was a great turn out. Meleese has a nice kitchen by the way. I also can't believe that Ross and Lainey start school next week!!! Where did the summer go? I am glad all is well and everybody is safe and healthy though. This week was crazy as usual for me, and despite the craziness, it was incredible.
So Sunday was church, of course. it was a great meeting and two of our investigators showed up! D and L (the mother and daughter from Columbia). They really really enjoyed it. Here in the Amsterdam ward, there are people from all around the world, and we have a lot of spanish members who welcomed them and sat next to them. By the end, D was even holding one of the members new born babies! haha it was awesome. After church we drove down to the mission home to break our fast with President and Sister Robinson. Sister Robinson is a great cook and we ate like kings. It was a lot of fun getting to know them better. After dinner we all drove to the office to finalize transfers. After a couple more hours and a few last minute switches, we got it done and made some calls. Some people were really happy and some people were not so happy when we called. I felt kinda bad and tried talking it up as much as possible. It's sad to see some missionaries go to a new area with a new companion with the wrong attitude. Your attitude going into a new area sets the tone for the next few transfers. And that's really what makes the difference. Attitude plays a big role in our success. After getting all the calls done, we headed back to the mission home and stayed the night there. It was fun chatting with President and Sister Robinson some more and getting to know them better.
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| picking up the new missionaries |
The next morning we woke up early and made our way to the Airport. We were planning on picking up the new missionaries at 8 and taking them to the office and then Elder Eastmond and I would go back to the airport and pick up the new senior couple at 9:30. When we got to the airport the first time, we looked at all the flights and saw that the senior couple's flight was canceled from Chicago... We picked up the greenies anyways and headed back to the office. While at the office we called church travel and they informed us that the Senior Couple wouldn't be coming until 5:30 pm the next day. The new missionaries signed some papers and rested a little bit while we assigned their trainers. By the way, Elder Hulet is training this transfer and I am so excited for him. He will do a great job and got a great missionary. We headed back to the mission home with all the new missionaries and President and Sister Robinson that afternoon. The new missionaries slept for about 3 more hours. We got some icecream and helped with dinner. That evening we all ate dinner and then had a devotional. It was the same exact devotional I had when I came into the land a year and a half ago. It brought back so many memories!!! I wanted to start my mission again and go for another two years after that devotional. I was jealous that those new missionaries just got here and have their whole missions ahead of them. We all slept at the mission home that night.
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| welcome breakfast for the new missionaries |
Wednesday morning we all woke up and made our way back to the office for further trainings and for the greenies to meet their trainers. We got there and I met up with Elder Alston and we gave two trainings, one to the new missionaries and the other to the trainers. Throughout the morning, all the missionaries going home that day met up at the office. Right after the trainings we gave in the morning, the office got a call from the Johnsons, the new senior couple. It turns out they got the the airport sooner than we expected and nobody was there to pick them up! So of course, Elder Alston and I headed off to the airport. We found them easily and they handled the situation really well, and they understood completely. We drove them back to the office and got them a hotel room so they could sleep, and then we hung around the office with all the missionaries going home. We helped them get checked out and then we all went to the mission home for dinner and their last devotional. While at the mission home, Elder Eastmond's parents arrived! I saw them meet for the first time in two years, and it was so cool. It was a little weird though that I saw my companion meet his parents again... We had a nice devotional/testimony meeting to finish off the night.
Thursday was another early trip to the airport to send the missionaries home. We got there and sent the first group off fairly quick. There was one missionary flying a different route though and we needed to get him to a different gate. We waited in line FOREVER!!! We finally got done and sent him off. he almost missed his flight though haha. It was crazy busy at the airport that morning, and it was weird seeing those missionaries go home. I saw missions begin and missions end in the span of three days. Seeing them begin made me want to start mine again too, but seeing them end and seeing missionaries meet their parents gave me mixed feelings. I don't want my mission to end, but I can't wait to see you guys again! it was really weird those few days. We got done with the airport and went back to work as usual. We had SOOOO much to plan that evening. We have a crazy busy transfer with a ton to do. Elder Alston and I were in the office planning until 10 that night before we made it back to Amsterdam. That was the first time I slept in Amsterdam since the previous Saturday. We were exhausted.
Friday, we were finally able to do some normal missionary work. We had a lesson with D (who was in church last week), and it was a KILLER lesson! We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I love teaching this lesson. It's very simple and very powerful. We first explained Fatih in Jesus Christ. She has been a Christian for a long time now, so that was more of just a review. We went into repentance and then started talking about baptism. We explained the importance of baptism, and the covenant itself. We taught her the Gift of the Holy Ghost next and explained that is one of the blessings of baptism. We commited her to be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and she accepted without a doubt! We went on to explain the last step, endure to the end, and while we were teaching that, she stopped us and asked us if she could say something. She went on to tell us that she used to not look forward to our appointments because she was always so busy, but she then explained how every time we come over she feels so good and feels peacefull, and even after we leave she feels it for the rest of that day. She had a hard time explaining what that was and we told her that was the Holy Ghost! She told us that before we came she invited 3 other religions over to her house to teach her, but we were the only one where she got that feeling, the Holy Ghost. And we were the only one who she invited back. She then went on to thank us for the work we do. it was AWESOME!!! She set her baptismal service in her phone as a reminder and she is coming to church again this week. We are going to try to get her daughter on board for the same date. It was an incredible lesson and SO spiritual. It reminded me, that we as missionaries don't do anything really. We just live worthy of the Spirit and teach the Preach My Gospel Lessons to where they can learn and feel the Spirit testify to them that it is true. The Holy Ghost is the Key to success in a mission. He is the one who converts and convinces, not us. It is very humbling to see.
After the lesson we went back for lunch and then went to the office again to finish up our planning. it was another late night in the office, but very effective. We got a lot accomplished and now we have our feet under us going into this crazy transfer! We are both excited. I never thought I would be doing stuff like this on my mission. It's definitely not my favorite, but I am happy to do it and I am learning so much from it. I am SO grateful that we were able to fit one lesson in there and have it be so successful though. Remember, the Spirit is the Silver Bullet! I love you all so much and hope you have another great week! I can't wait to hear from you again next week!
Veel Lief,
Elder Bishop
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| July Leadership Council |
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