Elder Hayden Bishop Belgium/Netherlands Mission: " My testimony was strengthened...that God really does live and He loves us. And when we know that, then we can look at life with hope to change."

Hey guys!!! I can't believe it is August already! The time is flying by and the weather is really nice right now. Not only has the weather been nice, but the work has been progressing and I spent half the week in Belgium, so this week has been INCREDIBLE!!! This week has also been one of the busiest weeks of my mission too. I have so much to say, and not a whole lot of time, so I will get started.

Saturday was a fun P-day. We went to "Het Scheepvaart Museum" (The Ship Museum) In Amsterdam. I learned that my mission has 3 of the 4 biggest poorts in Europe (Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Amsterdam). The one in Amsterdam was really cool and fun to see. That evening we had an appointment with an inactive member. He is origionally from Dallas, Texas but has been living in Amsterdam for the past 10 years. He is a black comedian and super funny with his thick southern accent. We had a good dinner appointment with him and are going to start working with him more to get him active. It was a fun appointment and a great Pday.

Sunday was a busy day at church. Elder Eastmond and I gave the Priesthood lesson about Geneology and Family History Work. We didn't know much to say while preparing it, but it actually turned out really nice, and I was able to share a few stories about John William Dutson and how he has helped me throughout my life because of the example he gave me. After church we had a baptismal service for C and N. They are both Young Single Adults and really cool. They both really enjoyed their baptism. N was actually found through the big facebook campaign back in April! He requested the DVD via facebook and they started teaching him. He was a drug addict and had a lot of problems, but over the course of 4 months he was able to turn his life around and now he's baptized! The work is hastening in the Amsterdam Ward. After the service we stopped by the hospital again to visit A. She is the one who had an aneurysm a while ago. She is continually doing better, and she enjoys our visits every time. It was a nice, spiritual Sunday.

Monday was our office day. We were really busy talking about transfers with President and getting all the numbers together. We managed to make it out by 4 though and drove back to Amsterdam for a dinner appointment with this member, Sister J. She is really nice and LOVES to talk! We didn't mind, but we had to drive to Antwerp that night, so we needed to get outta there! It's hard being in an appointment with someone who loves to talk when you need to leave haha but it all worked out and we were at the zone leaders apartment by 10 that evening. and thus began the Belgian journey :)

Tuesday we were on splits with the Antwerp Elders. I was with Elder Peterson from Salt Lake City, and we had a lot of time to contact people! I hadn't done that in a while and I was really excited. While out on the streets of Antwerp we ran into two people with very different perspectives, and it was incredible to see the difference it can make in someone's life. The first example was a guy we ran into in the centrum. He was from Morocco and we sat down next to him and started talking to him. He used to be a muslim but later became an athiest. We asked him the three big questions (Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going?) And he gave very scientific answers. He had no hope for a life after this one. He had no purpose for his life here, besides money. We introduced to him a different perspective and showed him the Book of Mormon. We talked a little bit about prayer and he rejected us hard. He asked us, "Why would I ever talk to someone who doesn't exist?" After talking to him for about 30 minutes we decided that we just didn't agree and it was pointless to go any further. He had nothing in his life except the desire for money. What a sad perspective and lifestyle! The next guy was born in China, but spent most of his life in England. He is addicted to hard drugs and struggling to keep his family due to those addictions. If he had the same perspective as the first guy, then he would be hopeless. But he doesn't, he does believe in God. He wants to follow him, and he told us that he wants the happiness that he sees in us. We talked about the Atonement and what we need to do to apply that to our lives. We told him that was the source of our happiness and hope in this life. We saw his countenance change and we invited him to come to church on Sunday. He accepted. This was a perfect example of the difference it makes believing in a loving God. My testimony was strengthened from talking to those two people that God really does live and He loves us. And when we know that, then we can look at life with hope to change. It just takes that step of faith for God to reveal Himself to us. There is actually a brand new Mormon Message about this that you should watch. It is incredible!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001

Anyways, Tuesday was an incredible day filled with Miracles. We contacted a lot of people, and a lot of people wanted to listen. We got 5 new potentials that afternoon.

Wednesday we exchanged with the Zone Leaders in Antwerp. I stayed for the second day in Antwerp with Elder King. It was also a lot of fun. We were together at the very beginning of my mission and hadn't worked with each other again until now. We did a lot of catching up and did a lot of lookups and more finding. We found a really positive lady while knocking doors (the first door we knocked actually). She was interested about the Book of Mormon and we set an appointment with her to teach her more. That night we ate dinner at this lady's house from Ghana. She made us this traditional dinner called fufu. It was this hot soup with a type of potaoe mush at the bottom and goat meat. They only eat with their hands, so we rolled up our sleeves and dug in! haha It was actually a lot of fun even though she dished me up a TON of soup. She told me that I couldn't leave until I ate it all. It was soooo hard, but I finally finished haha. it was kinda gross. I thought about Layne the whole time I ate it haha. It was a fun night though with a cultural experience.

Thursday I was back in Amsterdam. I was on exchanges with Elder Alston which was fun because we were companions a couple transfers ago. We had a good time working in Amsterdam. We did this look up who was in a pretty sketchy part of Amsterdam. Don't worry, I didn't see anything bad, but there were a lot of shops with marijuana and crazy people. We heard some tourists speaking some american english and we couldn't believe that people would come on vacation to Amsterdam and hang around in those areas! There is SO much more to see in this beautiful city! We looked up the former investigator and got out of that area pretty quick, but it was ironic that we were walking around preaching the Gospel with so much blatant sin around us! It was an interesting experience, and I am so glad that I have the Gospel in my life. We had an appointment that afternoon with a kid named I. He is 24 years old studying here in Amsterdam and he was recently baptized. He is so solid! He has already read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and he is going through the Bible again. It was a good lesson to get to know him better and read with him a little bit. He is a smart guy! After the lesson, we had a dinner appointment with a member from germany. He is an interesting guy, but very nice. They made us a nice german meal including a whole pig leg for each of us! haha It was a ton of meat, but it was good. I told him that my dad made jerky and he would love some! so when you get that big elk dad... haha you gotta hook a brotha up! It was a fun night with Elder Alston.

Friday was our 4th and last exchange of the week. We were with the Alkmaar Zone Leaders. I was in Amsterdam with Elder Chantry. He is a cool kid and we had a nice day in Amsterdam. We did a lot of look ups and finding, but nothing too special that day. That night we had another cool dinner appointment though with another African family! They are one of my favorite families in Amsterdam. We had a similar meal as I did in Antwerp, but instead of potatoe mush, it was a sticky rice ball. My fingers got soggy from eating the soup with no spoon. They looked like I just got out of a long shower haha. It was a fun night, but I was so tired after that exchange! 4 in a row is not easy, but it was still fun. It is fun working with other missionaries and learning from them and hopefully teaching them a thing or two as well. I went to bed early that night though.

This morning we woke up and had the busiest Pday of my mission to finish off the busiest week of my mission. It was awesome though. We woke up and went to the Anne Frank house early in the morning. That was my favorite museum that I have been to so far in Amsterdam. It was incredible walking through that house, behind the bookshelf that led to the secret annex. I saw her room and pictures and writings, and it brought everything to life. It was incredible. Everybody was very reverent through the whole thing. We got out of the quiet house, and what did we see...? The Amsterdam Gay Parade!!! It was ridiculous!!! haha it was a canal parade and there were boats everywhere with people wearing pink and all different sorts of bright colors. I couldn't believe it. That went on all day, 5,000,000 people celebrating. I was speechless, and still am... haha after the Anne Frank house we drove up to Northern Amsterdam to this cool area called Zaanse Schans. It doesn't get any more dutch than that place. There was a klompen museum where they make the wooden shoes. There was a cheese museum and a ton of windmills around. It was a lot of fun. After Zaanse Schans we made our way to the Van Gogh Museum. It was cool seeing all the art, but I'm not too big on that stuff haha but it was still fun. After that we had to go to our dinner appointment, and that's why I'm emailing so late haha sorry. It was such a fun day though. The only thing.... I am even more tired today than I was yesterday!!! It just never ends I guess. It was a great week though with fun experiences and a lot of spiritual ones too.