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| Amsterdam |
So Saturday for P day we went to the Rembrant House. It was a really nice house on the canal with a lot of historical items and paintings. It was actually pretty cool to see his art studio in the upstairs and all his collections. I just can't believe how much history is in this city. It was a fun P day on Saturday, and that evening we did a lot of preparing for Sunday and I will explain why.
Sunday was a busy busy day! We had church that morning and Elder Alston gave the Priesthood lesson about family history work. He did a great job by the way. Elder Alston is great at presenting, and he has helped me with my presentations. The second hour we both gave the Gospel Principals lesson. it was about family relationships, and we had no idea where to go with that topic. There were only a few in that class who have families. But we came up with the idea to split them up and put them into family units and discuss it on their own. We got back together, did a really funny role play and then had a big discussion. It was a really fun lesson in the end, and a ton of people commented on it afterwards. We were really happy afterwards, mainly because it was over haha. And then for Sacrament Meeting, I gave a talk and Elder Alston translated. It was crazy, but it all went well. After church we hurried to the mission home to have dinner with President and Sister Robinson. Sister Robinson is a great cook, so I look forward to that every time we eat with them. We all drove to the mission office after that and finished up everything with transfers. After the transfer board was set, we called the missionaries and told them. It's always fun calling them and telling them, because they are all freaking out! Some are excited and some are sad, and some are a little awkward haha but it's still fun. We went back and stayed in the mission home that night.
Monday morning we left for the office to get everything done there. We got all the numbers totaled and had our meeting with President. We got some more things organized and planned, and we were there pretty much the whole day. Even though we were in the office all day Monday, we still saw a miracle. That afternoon before dinner, we got a phone call from an unknown number. I answered and it was a lady who was in church a few weeks ago. She was a friend of a member, and the member invited her to to church. She went and she really liked it. After church that day, I told her what we do as missionaries and tried making an appointment. She told me that she would study more online and call us if she had any questions. Basically she gave me a nice rejection, but I gave her a mormon.org card and told her everything she wants to know about the church is found on this website. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to the wrong sources online. We left church that day and I didn't expect anything to happen from then on, but here I was, three weeks later talking on the phone with her, and she told me she is curious and wants to hear more! We set up an appointment for this week! It was a nice miracle that helped me get through the long day in the office. Like I mentioned last week, I saw it again this week, that as long as we are fulfilling our responsibilities, whatever they may be, and working diligently, then the Lord will bless us. We got home late that night (when I refer to home I mean the mission home, because that's where we stayed all week).
We woke up the next morning and went to the airport to pick up the new missionaries! There were 11 who flew in. 5 Elders and 6 Sisters. There were too many to stay in the mission home, so we had a hotel right at the airport called the Sheraton. It was a nice Hotel. We took them straight there and got some legality and financial things organized, and they had interviews with President. After that, they went to Den Haag to pick up their residency permits. While they did that with the office elders, we met with president and assigned them to their trainers. They came back and napped until dinner. Dinner was probably my favorite part though. We went to this restaurant in the hotel that fed us real american hamburgers! They were really good and I remembered how good hamburgers can be haha. After dinner we had a devotional and they opened up their letters for their first area and trainer. They were all SO excited and we pumped them up even more haha. Elder Alston and I got to stay in the hotel that night since we were giving some trainings early the next morning.
Wednesday morning we woke up and went to the breakfast buffet. It was probably the best breakfast buffet I have ever been to haha. and then we got started with the trainings. We gave the first one to just the greenies and got them caught up with what's going on in the mission right now and the mission culture. That was an hour long and then the trainers came in. They met their trainers for the first time and it was fun to watch haha. We then gave a training to the trainers and then we made our way to the mission office and the greenies left with their trainers. Seeing them made me reflect back on my mission and think a lot about all the things I have experienced and learned out here. I remember my first night very vividly and meeting Elder Harvey for the first time, and I realize how long ago that really was! That was in the beginning of 2013! A LOT has happened since then. We were back at the mission office though and we ran a few errands for sister Robinson. We had to drive to Gouda and pick up some plates for the departing missionaries and help them get there bags weighed and everything, and then we drove to the mission home to have their departing devotional and everything. It was weird this time because the 5 sisters going home came in after me. Let's just say I'm glad I get 2 years haha. It was a nice meeting that night though. Three of the sisters'parents came that evening. I saw them see each other for the first time since they left, and it was crazy! I just thought about seeing my family in the airport in Amsterdam in just 12 weeks. Not gonna lie, it made me a little bit trunky haha. I am just excited to see you guys. We had a nice devotional that night though and then went to bed.
We woke up the next morning at 3:30 am!!! It was awful, but we needed to get the missionaries on their flights. We got to the airport and sent them off, and we were back at the office by 8ish. We went back to the mission home and took a nap, because we simply couldn't function by that point. We woke up a few hours later and realized we had a lot of things to plan for for the coming transfer. We went to the mission office to do that. We updated some things and made our schedule for the transfer (it's gonna be another busy one). And we also realized that we were giving a mission leader council the next day! We did a lot of planning and preparing for that. We each had a 30 minute presentation that we needed to give. It was a little overwhelming, but we finally got it all done. We made it back to the Mission home late again. President stayed up for us and made us french toast and bacon for dinner that night haha it was really nice of him.
The next morning was the mission leader council. It went really well! All of our presentations were good and I think the zone leaders and sister training leaders learned a lot. I always feel inadequate presenting at mission leader councils, because there are such good missionaries there who could give just as good, if not, better presentations. But I talked about the Holy Ghost and how we can use the gift of the Holy Ghost most effectively in our missionary work. I talked about living worthy and developing a relationship with him. I talked about the big question, "is it the Holy Ghost or is it just me?" I answered it through D&C 58:27-28. I explained how it is important that we are agents unto ourselves and we make our own choices. We need to use our own intellect and abilities to their fullest extent. That's how we come closer to Christ. If the Spirit makes all our choices and does everything for us, we will not develop. I then explained how the Holy Ghost is a catalyst to our progression. He will help us with the decisions we need help with. He will make up the difference between our abilities and the abilities we need to make the right choices. So as we have this relationship with the Spirit, and we know that he is always with us in all our decisions, then it won't matter whether it's us or him! We trust that he will help us with what we need help with. After that I mentioned how we receive that help from the Holy Ghost and how we can recognize it. After we receive that revelation, we need to act on it. That is when the Holy Ghost becomes that catalyst in our lives and accelerates our progression here on Earth, is when we receive that revelation and act on it. That was my 30 minute presentation summarized into a paragraph haha so I hope it makes somewhat sense, but I was pleased with how it went, and if nobody else learned anything, at least I learned a lot while preparing for it and giving it. After the Mission Leader Council, President took us out for icecream haha. It was another busy, but fun day.
We woke up this morning, and we are both really tired, but what missionary isn't haha I guess it's just part of the job. This week was really fun, even though we didn't get the chance to teach any lessons. I still learned a lot and had a lot of fun. It's fun working with President and Sister Robinson so much. They are great people, and they teach me a lot. But anyways, I gotta get going. I apologize again for the letter. it is just a lot of information that you probably don't even care about haha but that's my life right now, and I am absolutely loving it! I hope you all have a great week! I love you and miss you more than you know.
Love,
Elder Bishop
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