Elder Hayden Bishop Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Theme for my week; "The Fruit of the Spirit" I had different experiences throughout the week where I could strongly feel when the Spirit was present, and when it wasn't.

Amsterdam

Hello Family!

Thanks for the emails and updates. Meleese is SO pregnant!!! haha that is so exciting. Keep me updated and I will be anxious every time I email to see pictures of my new niece :) I CAN'T WAIT! I am glad that all is well back home, and I am happy to let you know that all is well here in rainy Holland.

Saturday was a nice P day, but a little stressful as well. I drove us to downtown Amsterdam on a Saturday, and that wasn't the best idea haha there were people EVERYWHERE!!! It was hard to find parking too, but don't worry, we made it safe and sound and enjoyed a nice breakfast in Amsterdam. I ate the best french toast that I have ever eaten before, and it was a great way to start off our P day. Afterwards we looked around the centrum a little bit and then went home and napped. We were both so tired, so that was a nice way to end our P day.

Sunday morning we went to church, and there was a 70 visiting the Amsterdam ward. His name was Elder Charles from England. He and his wife spoke during sacrament meeting, and they gave great talks about the Holy Ghost, and how we can recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost. He was very loving and also very bold. He stood up at the pulpit and was very intense while speaking. There was one line he said that Elder Alston and I try to copy. He said, in his intense and loud British accent, "When the Holy Ghost speaks, there, are, no, rules!" Haha it was a classic, and Elder Alston can do a really good impersonation. They were great talks about the fruit of the Spirit though, and that was probably the theme for my week; "The Fruit of the Spirit". I had different experiences throughout the week where I could strongly feel when the Spirit was present, and when it wasn't. I will explain throughout the letter, but the first instance happened that same evening after church.

1. We had a first lesson with a new investigator. He has had contact with the church before and was really positive! We taught a great first lesson and shared the powerful message of the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong, and because he felt it, he loved it and he believed it. We set a baptismal date with him and he accepted. We asked him to pray at the end, and it was a very heartfelt prayer and a great way to finish off the lesson. We all could feel the power of the Holy Ghost testify of the truthfulness of our message.

That lesson was a great ending to our Sunday, and it pumped us up for the coming week.

Elder Alston and Elder Bishop showing how much they love office work!

Monday was our office day, and we were very busy... Numbers went really smooth, thankfully, and the mission actually really improved this last week, so we were happy about that. We had our faculty meeting and then lunch, and then we had our meeting with President and Sister Robinson. We did a lot of planning for the coming presentations we would be giving in Mission Leader Council and Zone Conferences. It took a lot of time, but we got a lot accomplished. After our meeting, we finished up some last minute tasks in the office and then began to plan for Mission Leader Council. We were there pretty late, and we were exhausted by the end of the day. We were happy to come home to our beds and get a good nights rest before our busy schedule started.

Tuesday morning we left for Den Haag (The Hague) to go to their district meeting. It was a killer District Meeting and very focused. That's exactly what we were aiming for when we came up with the new program last transfer. After district meeting we met up with the Rotterdam Zone Leaders to exchange with them. I was with Elder Krebs for the day in Amsterdam, and during our drive back to Amsterdam was the second experience I had with the fruit of the Spirit, but this time it was opposite...

2. We were waiting to turn right at a light in Den Haag. The light turned green and we began to go. As we turned the corner, a car came flying past us and cut us off. He started backing up, so I needed to back up a little bit. He stopped his car in the middle of the road, opened up his door and got out of the car. He started walking towards us when I hurried and locked the door, noticing the angry look on his face. This middle-aged man came up to my window and started yelling at me! I have never seen anyone so angry in my life! He was yelling at me in Dutch that I didn't go fast enough at the green light haha. It was RIDICULOUS! I didn't even do anything wrong, but he carried on to yell at me for a solid minute. I looked back at him with the most plain look pretending I couldn't speak dutch haha. I didn't know what else to do, so I just let him yell at me until he couldn't yell anymore, and then he spit on my window and started walking back to his car. Half way back to his car, he turned around again and spit on my car again. This was a busy intersection and it caused a lot of traffic haha. He flipped me off and got back in his car and drove away. Talk about road rage! I definitely didn't feel the fruit of the Spirit there, but rather, I felt the Spirit of contention. It was NOT a good feeling at all, and totally opposite of the powerful feelings I felt just two days before.

Anyways, we laughed it off and drove to Amsterdam to do some work there. A lot of people are still on vacation, so we didn't get contact with a lot of people we wanted too, but the last look up we did was home, and VERY positive. Her brother is a member in Suriname and she wants to know more. We got her number and set up an appointment. It was a good day with Elder Krebs despite the angry guy at the beginning.

Wednesday I was back in Den Haag on exchanges with those Zone Leaders now. I was with Elder Moomey. We also did a lot of look ups that day in Den Haag. We had a lesson with a guy named M, and that was the third big experience I had dealing with the Spirit. This was also an experience dealing with the Spirit of contention though.

3. We were let inside and found M with two other friends. They were all sitting around the table smoking. That's never a good sign when you get let in to teach a lesson. They insisted that we stayed and gave more background on the Book of Mormon. We began to give an explanation when one of the friends started laughing and asked us if we had ever seen God. That is also not a good sign haha. He went off asking us these crazy questions and when we tried to talk, he would interrupt us and tell us how we are a couple of kids who don't know what we're talking about. He said a lot more things that I won't repeat. But it was terrible, and I felt that same feeling I did the day before sitting in the car, the Spirit of Contention. We got outta there quick.

Luckily we had a lesson afterwards that was uplifting and brought the Spirit back. And we also found a really positive potential investigator on the street that day. It was a good day overall. A lot of missionaries want to serve in Den Haag, but after the two experiences I had there, I have no desire to go back haha.

Thursday we woke up and went to this yoga class that one of the members does in Den Haag area. I tried yoga for the first time haha and it was super funny, but I actually felt really good afterwards! We exchanged back and spent most of that day finishing planning our presentations for Mission Leader Council the next day. It was another long day of planning, and we got to the mission home that night to stay the night.

Friday morning we woke up and got ready for the council. The presentations went really well. I focused a lot of my presentation out of Preach My Gospel pg 6, and how the message of the restoration is the foundation of testimony, and from there we build faith. That is where my fourth and last big encounter with the Holy Ghost happened.

4. I gave the presentation and bore testimony of the truthfulness of the Restoration. I know that God lives and He loves us. We can communicate with Him through prayer, and He listens. I know this because I have developed a personal relationship with Him. My favorite part of missionary work is helping others build that personal relationship with Him. I know He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, so that we may live. I know that Christ established His Gospel because He loves us, and He wants the best for us. And I know that that same gospel has been restored in its fullness today through the Prophet Jospeh Smith. I know that because I have read the Book of Mormon and seen the difference it has made in my life. It is the Keystone to our religion and the Keystone to my testimony. Whenever I question or have doubts, I think back on that book and its truthfulness, and my questions and doubts go away. I know this to be true because of the Holy Ghost confirming it to me. As I bore my testimony of the Restoration in Mission Leader Council, I received another confirmation through the Holy Ghost.

The Apostle Paul said, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such, there is no law." (Gal 5:22-23).

And Christ said, "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the Spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another."(3 Nephi 11:29)

I saw both of those this week and it was so black and white for me. Sometimes they aren't so black and white, but I have really learned on my mission how to recognize the promptings and the fruit of the Spirit.

That night we were back to planning, this time for Zone Conference next week. It just never ends! haha we just take it one day at a time though, and it all works out. I am glad to be with Elder Alston, because we make it fun.

This morning I woke up still sore from yoga and made some green eggs and ham. The green food coloring got all over my hands and now my hands are green. haha I hope it comes off soon. We are gonna go to another museum today and then take it easy and catch up on some rest. Next week will be another good one! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week as well!

Love,

Elder Bishop

Amsterdam

Rayco and Sister De Brujin

* Note on the following photos

So in the 1600's Holland prohibited the practice of Catholicism. They were required to Practice a protastant faith. There was a man in Amsterdam named Jan Hartman. He was a wealthy business man and a strong catholic. He didn't want to stop practicing his faith, so he bought two canal houses in downtown Amsterdam, took the walls out and created a hidden church in his attic! He was never caught and it wasn't found until after the laws were changed back. We visited this museum on Saturday and it was incredible! It has been a museum since 1888 and I want to take you here when you pick me up. Everything is SO old